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Welcome to our final Online Book Club discussion of Zoo by James Patterson!

Were you able to finish the book this week? Did it meet all of your expectations? Do you enjoy reading doomsday-types of books? It’s hard for me to enjoy these types of books because I just keep imagining how I would react in that type of situation. It’s really stressful, and I feel like I can’t relax and enjoy the reading process. Does anyone else feel that way? 

I didn’t think that chapter 63 was a very pleasant place to begin this week. The descriptions of that dog hideaway were just disgusting. I didn’t enjoy picturing that scene or smell at all. I thought about including a video clip of an ant death spiral after Patterson compared the dogs to that, but after viewing one, I thought I would spare your eyes. Google one if you’re interested, but I would caution you to only look if you aren’t creeped out by swarms of bugs crawling around. 

Did you think it was believable that the increase of cell phones and the increase of plastics created chemicals that mimicked pheromones that caused the animals to attack? Was that the answer that you were expecting? Did it make sense that our smell was what was driving the animals to violence? 

Weren’t you glad that when Attila attacked Chloe and Eli’s apartment, he didn’t eat them? I was so scared that something horrible was going to happen to them. I was relieved that Attila was able to remember something about Oz’s kindness to him so many years ago. 

What did you think of the ending? Were you disappointed? Did you think that there should have been more? I thought it was a little unbelievable that the animals made an immediate turn-around once all of the power was off. We knew having no electricity or fuel wasn’t a long-term solution, but once power was restored, were you expecting everything to get bad again so quickly? Do you think Oz and his family will stay safe in his bunker? 

James Patterson has written a short follow-up to this story, so if you want to read more, check out Zoo 2. 

If you loved this story, you might be interested to check out some other books and movies that have similar themes and plot points. Check out this list I created to help you find some similar items. Let me know if you read or watch anything on the list!

I hope you enjoyed reading with us this month and will join us again next month! We’ll be reading Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bassinger. I hope to hear from you in the comments section!

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of Zoo!

How did you enjoy this part? I have to say that I didn’t enjoy all aspects of this section. I thought the part about Natalie’s death was poorly handled, and I didn’t think it was believable that Oz wouldn’t have to serve some sort of jail time for his role in her death. What were his repercussions for having a murderous chimpanzee in his apartment? Wouldn’t he get in trouble? Shouldn’t that have been some sort of plot point in the narrative? Did you think it was believable that Oz could just move on from Natalie’s death? Do you think Patterson should have gone into more detail before moving the action forward five years? 

It was also really hard to read the part about the boy, Chris, who is forced to shoot his family dog after it attacks him. Wasn’t that so sad? I just can’t imagine that. I understand that Patterson has to bring the animal attacks closer to home so that people will understand that they are real, but it’s just sad and weird to think about beloved family pets suddenly becoming wild beasts that have to be hunted down. 

What did you think of the dolphin attack in chapter 58? Wasn’t that really creepy? I hated imagining a bunch of happy dolphins jumping around and rejoicing in the fact that they caused a bunch of men to drown. These animal attacks just keep getting harder and harder to read. 

Were you surprised that the government didn’t automatically take action on Oz’s video?

What did you think about the fact that both Oz and Chloe had that nightmare about being attacked by bears? How do you think that happened? 

This section ends with Oz chasing after some neighborhood dogs and being confused when they just disappear. Where are they going? Are dogs banding together to take out humanity? How will this book end, do you think? Happily? Can there be any kind of resolution to this problem? 

If you want to learn more about James Patterson and how he can publish so many books a year, please check out this video from CBS Sunday Morning. It’s really informative and gives more information about how he organizes the plots for all of his books. Please let me know what you think of the video if you watch it!

I hope you can finish the book by next week. (And that all of these animal attacks aren’t giving you nightmares!)

Welcome to week 2 of our Online Book Club discussion of Zoo by James Patterson. 

How did you enjoy the beginning of the book? Did it make you think about a family friendly trip to the zoo with more trepidation? Before starting this book, I had never read a James Patterson book, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by how the chapters flew by as I was reading. Did you expect to read 33 chapters so quickly? 

Did you feel like the first animal attack, in the prologue, was pretty gruesome? I was a little freaked out by the description of the lion attack. I almost felt like I could feel the fangs cut into my face like they did the zookeeper. Do you think we’re finished hearing about those particular lions? The attack on the golf course was a little too much, didn’t you think? That guy who was attacked was so innocent and was so unaware. I was so sad that he had to die. 

The first main section of the book shows lions attacking Jackson Oz and his guide in Botswana, Abe. The lions were all male and were attacking as a group, something that was very unusual. Again, the attacks were pretty violent. Did you skim over the descriptions? Were you at all surprised that Abe was killed? I wasn’t, since I figured it would be pretty unlikely that both of them would survive an attack like that. 

This section ends with Oz rescuing Chloe from the crocodiles and then they both deciding that they have to spread Oz’s video to convince people that there is something going on with the animals. Do you think people will take their video seriously? Will it make any difference? 

What do you think of Oz? He’s a mess, isn’t he? He doesn’t seem like someone whose theories about a change overtaking all animals you would trust. I am so nervous about his chimpanzee, Attila. Doesn’t it seem like a horrible idea to keep a chimpanzee in his apartment? I just don’t have a good feeling about this “bad smell” that Attila keeps smelling. The end of chapter 33 shows us that Attila is pretty mad, and it seems like he’s ready to take it out on Natalie. What do you think is going to happen? 

As I’m sure you are all aware, James Patterson is a really prolific writer. Did you know that he just published a new book on a completely new format? Patterson recently released a new book through Facebook messenger. I had no idea that was even possible! If you’re interested to read more about his book or how to access it, check out this article from Variety. 

I hope you are enjoying this book so far and are able to keep reading, even though there are some violent sections. Please let me know your thoughts, and let me know if there are any other James Patterson books that you think I should read. And, let me know if you are watching or have watched the Zoo television show adaptation. I’m curious if it’s anything like the book!

Make sure to read through chapter 62 before you join us next week!

Welcome to a new Online Book Club discussion for January! This month we’re reading Zoo by James Patterson. 

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Make sure you check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

Zoo is a thrilling story about a biologist named Jackson Oz who is convinced that animal attacks on humans are on the rise. He travels around the world compiling evidence and trying to get people to understand the threat of this biological shift, but it isn’t until animals start going haywire all over the globe that people take him seriously. After surviving a lion and crocodile attack in Botswana, Oz and ecologist Chloe Tousignant try to warn world leaders about the attacks, and they encounter suspenseful situations and action-filled adventures along the way. 

Zoo was recently adapted as a television show, so if you want to follow along with us but don’t want to read the book, feel free to watch Zoo, the television show, instead. Check out the trailer above to see if you might be interested in watching the television show this month. Feel free to leave comments about the TV series on the blog posts, even if you aren’t reading the book with us this month.

If you want to follow along with our pace, read the first thirty-three chapters—we’ll be discussing those next week. I hope to hear from you in the comments section!

Welcome to the third and final Online Book Club discussion of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.

Were you able to finish the book this week? It was a really fast read, and I really enjoyed it. I’m so confused as to why I never finished it the other times I attempted to read it!

Once the kids entered into the CENTRAL Central Intelligence Building, they faced many hardships. The man with the red eyes was terrifying, wasn’t he? Could you believe how he was able to get into their heads? It was interesting that each child had to scream something different out loud to break his hypnotizing rhythm. Do any of you have any memorized poems or facts that you think would have helped you keep your mind strong against the man with the red eyes? Were you hoping that Charles Wallace wouldn’t submit and allow the man to take over his mind? I couldn’t believe how immediate Charles Wallace’s transformation was once he let the man enter his brain. 

Were you surprised how easy it was for Calvin and Meg to actually rescue Mr. Murry? It seemed like it was more difficult to save Charles Wallace than it was to rescue Mr. Murry. What did you think about the planet and the beasts the crew encountered once Mr. Murry tessered them away from IT? Aunt Beast sure turned out to be a kind creature. 

One of the saddest details in this section was that the little boy who was bouncing the ball out of rhythm in the last section was tortured for his inability to move like everyone else. Did you catch that? I guess the thought was that if he was punished, he would learn to act like everyone else. 

Are any of you interested in reading the next books in the series now that you have read this first one? Check out A Wind in the Door if you want to read the next installment. 

If you’re curious to see the planets from the book, check out this hand painted map by artist Andrew DeGraff. He imagined what all the planets might have looked like and mapped each character’s journey through them. It’s pretty interesting to see!

And, if you’re curious to read Madeleine L’Engle’s speech she gave after she won the 1963 Newbery Medal for A Wrinkle in Time, read the transcript. 

I hope you enjoyed the book this month, and I can’t wait to hear what you thought of the ending. Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment. We’ll be taking the next two weeks off, but I hope you’ll join us again January 7 as we read Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. I hope to hear from you in the comments!

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. 

Is this anyone’s first time reading through the book? I am embarrassed to say that this is my first time actually reading the story. I have attempted to read it several times, but I’ve never actually gotten all the way through. I am really enjoying the beginning so far, and I’m trying to figure out why I never finished the book before.

What do you think about the science fiction elements? The story becomes fantastic right from the beginning since we meet Mrs. Whatsit in the first chapter. Have you found it difficult to visualize everything that’s happening in the story since it’s so outside of our regular world? The most challenging part for me to imagine was when they travel through space to see the Black Thing.

One of the eeriest parts was when Meg, Charles, and Calvin traveled to Camazotz, a town where all of those kids were doing everything in unison. It was also pretty strange when a mother freaked out and hid her son when she realized that he wasn’t synchronized with the other kids. Apparently, the creators of the newest A Wrinkle in Time movie agreed that this was one of the creepiest parts of the book, and they used that scene to help draw interest to the movie. According to this article from The Hollywood Reporter, producers promoted the movie by having kids with rubber balls and mothers in retro outfits recreating that scene at San Diego Comic-Con. Check out the article to see photos from the event.

By the end of this section, the children are tasked with defeating the evil Black Thing in order to save their father. It seems like an impossible task, especially since the women warn that the children will have to be strong and will face incredible danger. This section ends with the children approaching CENTRAL Central Intelligence. What do you think they will encounter there? What is the deal with Camazotz, and why is everyone so creepy there? What do you think this all has to do with Mr. Murry?

Has reading this book made you want to learn more about Madeleine L’Engle? She would have turned 100 years old this year, and in honor of that, two of her granddaughters have published a book that tells a lot about L’Engle’s early life. Check out this article from the Chicago Tribune if you want to read about what made her granddaughters want to take on this project, and make sure to check out the book, Becoming Madeleine. Also, this article from Smith College describes how L’Engle’s family is honoring her legacy by donating her papers and manuscripts to the college.

I hope you enjoyed this first section and are able to read the end of the book for the discussion next week. I hope to hear from you in the comments section!

Welcome to a new Online Book Club discussion for November! This month, we’re reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Make sure you check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

A Wrinkle in Time is a science fiction story that follows Meg Murry, her brother, Charles Wallace, and her friend, Calvin O’Keefe, as they look for Meg’s father, who has disappeared while working on a secret government project. To find him, Meg and her friends must travel through space and time and work with supernatural beings. The book is incredibly popular and has been a best-seller since it was first published in 1962. It even won the Newbery Medal as the year’s most distinguished contribution to American children’s literature.

https://youtu.be/UhZ56rcWwRQ

If you’re interested in following along but don’t want to read the book, feel free to watch A Wrinkle in Time, the movie, instead. Check out the trailer above if you’re on the fence about watching the movie this month. Feel free to leave comments about the movie on the blog posts, even if you aren’t reading the book with us this month.

If you want to follow along with our pace, read the first six chapters—we’ll be discussing those next week. I hope to hear from you in the comments section!

Welcome to the last discussion of Victoria & Abdul!

In the beginning of chapter 11, Queen Victoria is about to celebrate her diamond jubilee. Her diamond jubilee marked the ten-year anniversary of her friendship with Karim. Isn’t it interesting that he was able to stay with her for over 10 years, especially since he faced so much opposition?

Did you know that you can actually see video footage of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee procession? Watch the video below. It is understandably very choppy and uneven, but it’s still interesting. And, just for fun, check out this article, which gives a picture of Queen Victoria’s Diamond jubilee brooch. It’s gorgeous!

Wasn’t the section about Karim and the interview he gave to The Graphic really interesting? Because he was photographed looking at the camera, people assumed that he was asserting control over the Queen. This section was unsettling because it described so much drama and turmoil. The letters that everyone was writing to everyone else were just incredible. Queen Victoria seems like such a lonely person. She has so many people around her, but still, it seems like she didn’t really know who to trust. It was frustrating that Karim would put her in that kind of position, just to get a little publicity. 

What did you think of the chapter about Queen Victoria’s death? Did you catch the diagnosis that Dr. Reid gave her before her death? He said she had “periods of insomnia and mental confusion, brought on by damaged cerebral circulation after years of constant brain work through a long life of Royal responsibilities and Imperial events, domestic sorrows and anxieties specially in her later years.” I’ve never heard of damaged cerebral circulation, have you? That was a very interesting diagnosis. I’m not quite sure if that would be a diagnosis that doctors would still make today.

King Edward VII, Queen Victoria’s son, allowed Karim to walk in Victoria’s funeral procession, but he ordered Karim to leave England almost immediately after her death. I was glad to read that he was able to live comfortably in India after he left England, but it was hard to read about the hardships and loneliness he experienced after his service to Queen Victoria. I thought the fact that Karim graciously welcomed Queen Victoria’s grandson into his home, even though he had been incredibly mistreated by the royal family, really spoke to his character. I would have a hard time being kind to people who had been so prejudiced against me. I was really upset to read that people raided Karim’s house after his death, looking for letters from Queen Victoria. It was incredibly disrespectful for them to intrude on the Karim’s family’s private grieving time. 

What did you think of the epilogue? Did it finish the story in a satisfactory way to you? Are you incredibly sad about how Karim’s life ended and how his legacy has been remembered? 

What are your thoughts about the book? Did you enjoy learning more about Queen Victoria and Karim? Does it make you want to read more about the time period? 

I hope you’ll leave your thoughts about this section and the entire book in the comments section. 

Queen Victoria was a major figure in British history, so there’s plenty more to read or watch if you want to spend some more time with her. One recent series you may have enjoyed on PBS is the BBC’s Victoria, which takes place during the first few years of her reign. Check it out if you’re interested!

Make sure to join us again next month as we read A Wrinkle in Time. I hope to hear from you in the comments!

Welcome to Week 3 of our Online Book Club discussion of Victoria & Abdul. 

Did you enjoy the section this week? Are you enjoying the story? Do you feel like it’s an engaging narrative, or do you wish there was more action? I have to admit that I am finding the reading a little slow. I wish there was a little more action and far fewer names. It’s hard to keep everyone straight, especially since they are all so unfamiliar to me. 

This section mentions two of the Queen’s homes, Balmoral Castle and Osborne House, repeatedly. If you want to see some pictures of Balmoral now or want to plan a visit there, make sure to check out its website. The Balmoral squirrel cam is a special treat—the Eurasian red squirrels that live on the grounds are were once common, but their populations have decreased significantly in the U.K. in recent years. Make sure to check out Osborne House’s website, too, because there are so many great pictures and resources there. 

Early in this section, Basu mentions that Queen Victoria wanted a portrait of Karim painted. Check out this collection from the Royal Collection Trust if you’re interested in seeing some portraits and photographs of Karim.

In the beginning of chapter 6, we learn that Queen Victoria worked hard to ensure that Karim received a piece of land. Were you surprised that she was so dogged in getting the land for Karim? I was surprised that she was willing to keep writing letters to so many people. She definitely didn’t let a matter drop when she decided that it was something she wanted to do!

Another really surprising section was the part in chapter 7 where we find out that when Karim and his wife were struggling to have a baby, Queen Victoria wrote letters of advice to them. Could you imagine? I thought that this fact showed that Karim and Queen Victoria were incredibly close if they were able to talk about such personal topics. Her advice was pretty hilarious, though. I liked how she told Karim that his wife should not go on “rough roads.” 

The last chapter in this section was so intense. The amount of hatred that Queen Victoria’s staff and family had towards Karim was pretty incredible. The letter that Sir Reid wrote to Karim was so angry. Reid believed that Karim was two-faced and was a cheat. Were you surprised that they followed Karim and did investigations into his family? Are you surprised that Queen Victoria stayed loyal to Karim, even though so many people spoke out about him? What did you think of this whole last chapter? Were you glad that the chapter ended with Karim being cleared of wrong doing? 

There was so much from these chapters that I didn’t mention. What were some parts that stood out to you the most? What did you most enjoy reading about? What was most interesting to you? Do you feel like this book makes Queen Victoria seem more like a real person? 

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section. I want to know if you are enjoying the book. 

I hope you’re able to finish the book for next week’s discussion.