You heard it here first: Senior Planet is starting a (virtual) book club!
If you find you have a lot more time on your hands these days, then you’re in the perfect position to cozy up with some tea (or something stiffer) and dive into great book along with fellow Senior Planet readers.
Each Tuesday, we’ll post a thread on SeniorPlanet.org inviting your comments on the next section of the book.
But first! We’ve put together a shortlist of five very funny books (because we could all use a little more levity these days) and it’s up to you which one we kick off with. Read on for details about each book, then take the poll at the end and tell us: What should the Senior Planet Book Club read first?
All of these books can be ordered from Amazon.com and delivered to your home. If you’ve got an iPad or Kindle, you can order an e-book version and read it on your device; or, you can take an e-book out from your local library.
The Books:
Tepper Isn’t Going Out, by Calvin Trillin
“Tepper Isn’t Going Out is a wise and witty story of an ordinary man who, perhaps innocently, changes the world around him.” – Amazon.com
Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
“People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be skeptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. But what if, for once, the predictions are right, and the apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea? It’s a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon now finds themselves in. They’ve been living amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse.” – Amazon.com
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
“Masquerading as her diaries, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes follows Lorelei as she entertains suitors across Europe before returning home to marry a millionaire. In this delightfully droll and witty book, Lorelei’s glamorous pragmatism shines, as does Anita Loos’s mastery of irony and dialect.” – Amazon.com
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
“A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole’s hero, one Ignatius J. Reilly, is “huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans’ lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures.” – Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times
Me Talk Pretty Someday, by David Sedaris
“David Sedaris’s story collection, Me Talk Pretty One Day, tells a most unconventional life story. It begins with a North Carolina childhood filled with speech-therapy classes (“There was the lisp, of course, but more troubling than that was my voice itself with its excitable tone and high, girlish pitch”) and unwanted guitar lessons taught by a midget. From budding performance artist (“The only crimp in my plan was that I seemed to have no talent whatsoever”) to “clearly unqualified” writing teacher in Chicago, Sedaris’s career leads him to New York (the sky’s-the-limit field of furniture moving) and eventually, of all places, France.” – BookBrowse.com
Take the poll!
Photo by Paul Schafer on Unsplash
COMMENTS
14 responses to “Introducing the Senior Planet Book Club”
I would like to thank senior planet for these reading recommendations
I also recommend
Navigating Life With Dementia, by Dr James Noble, a book that is written like a conversation you might want to have, but cannot find the words . I know it’s a different genre, but it’s an easy, informative read.
I can not find a link on senior planet home page to this discussion. When are we planning to begin our book club?
How do I get an e-book? Don’t have kindle or a library, and have never done e-book.
Hi Tressa! There are a variety of ways to get an e-book. Once we pick the book, we’ll post specific links to how to get the book we choose. Until then, there are hundreds of free books available on https://www.gutenberg.org/. Thanks!
Both Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook have free downloadable software. If I could do it, anyone can! Then you can read on your computer or tablet. I’m an author and my publisher is offering some free ebooks during this time. See Never Retreat, a clean contemporary romance, https://www.totallybound.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=70758
A number of public libraries are still offering ebooks for check out.
Bonnie McCune
You can also contact your local library system as many of them lend books online. They would be able to advise how you access this service
the kindle app is available for almost all devices including a PC
R
At NYPL .org you will see the link for “SimplyE “it will tell you to get (download) the app. If you have an ipad or iphone then you will go to the apple store. If you have an android device (not Apple) then go to google play. To get the app.
You will then be able to choose loads of titles. You also need to download the Kindle app for reading the book. You need to have an amazon account but the books from the library are all free for borrowing. You can get an online library card as well from NYPL.
And just perhaps an Amazon Fire device can use the overdrive app to find library material. Fire has their own Amazon app store.
You can read Kindle books on your phone or tablet, including I-phone or tablet. If you have an iPhone, here is a link telling you how
https://www.imore.com/how-to-purchase-download-kindle-books-iphone-ipad.
If you have Android, go to the Google Play store and download the Kindle App.
Please consider one of author, Lauren Belfer’s books. She writes historical fiction. Well researched. Recently read: City of Light, A Fierce Radiance and Afire the Fire. All of these books were page turners. Please consider one of them for future reads.
Thanks for the recommendation, Michelle!
I may vote with you after we finish with our session on humor.
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