Book Club: Star Sand

16 June 201616 August 2023

Roger Pulvers "Star Sand" — Roger Pulvers “Star Sand”

Sorry for the delay on posting this up. I literally forgot until this morning and had to smack my head for forgetting to check my calendar (and I’d written this down at least 5 times).

Feel free to respond in the comments below or later on this evening on the Facebook page. I’ve also created a space on Goodreads for all discussion on books at PW. It will also allow for a chance for everyone to get to know each other, to discover, talk and recommend more books.

Here are some questions for “Star Sand”:

Did you like the book?
Who was your favorite character?
What did you think of the book split up into three parts?
In this day and age, do you think if we were caught up in a war that we could take in and care for an enemy deserter?
Do you think if we were at war, do you think you would be able to live like the people of Hatoma Isle? Not only did they seem resourceful, but they looked out for each other. Do you think you could do the same?
Star Sand is named after the type of sand that is found at Hatoma Isle. Did reading about this little island encourage you to want to visit and gather your own bottles of star sand?
The brother echoed a lot of the war’s propaganda. This is something you see a lot of in most countries. What were you thoughts on the brother? Do you think he was right, keeping strong to what the government said was the right thing to do? Or do you think holding true to the human side was the right thing to do?
Do you think the sisters knew about the cave and what was going on in there?
What did you think of the ending?

I’ve posted my answers to the above questions at the Goodreads discussion board. You can find the Star Sand discussion here.

PW’s May Kindle First Book Club Selection

1 May 201616 August 2023

The May Amazon Kindle First selection is Anat Talshir’s “About the Night.” Here is a description of the book.

On a hot summer day in 1947, on a grandstand overlooking Jerusalem, Elias and Lila fall deeply, irrevocably in love.

Tragically, they come from two different worlds. Elias is a Christian Arab living on the eastern side of the newly divided city, and Lila is a Jew living on the western side. A growing conflict between their cultures casts a heavy shadow over the region and their burgeoning relationship. Between them lie not only a wall of stone and barbed wire but also the bitter enmity of two nations at war.

Told in the voice of Elias as he looks back upon the long years of his life, About the Night is a timely story of how hope can nourish us, loss can devastate us, and love can carry us beyond the boundaries that hold human beings apart.

For Amazon Prime members, you can get the book now for FREE a month before it is released to the general public. For those not Amazon Prime members, you can pick up a copy of the book on June 1, 2016. We’ll be discussing the book on July 15, 2016.

For those who would like to join the discussion, sign up in the PW Book Club email box to the right. Details will be sent to you as the date draws nearer.

For those who would like to join our next book club discussion, Roger Pulvers’ “Star Sand” will be discussed on June 15, 2016 to give people, that weren’t able to get an early release copy through Amazon’s Kindle First, time to read the book. Also, if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, the book is a free Kindle Unlimited book. The Kindle price is $5.99, paperback is $9.91.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them either in the comment section below or on the Facebook page. Looking forward to hearing from you!

PW’s April Kindle First Book Club Selection

1 April 201616 August 2023

This month’s Amazon Prime Kindle First selection for the PW Book Club is Roger Pulvers, “Star Sand.”

This book is a war fiction novel that takes place during World War II. Here’s the Amazon blurb:

In 1958, a diary is found in a cave on the small Japanese island of Hatoma. Alongside it are the remains of three people.

The journal reveals the story of Hiromi, a sixteen-year-old girl who’d grown up in the United States before living in Japan in the midst of World War II. One day, while collecting star sand—tiny star-shaped fossils—Hiromi finds two army deserters hiding in the seaside cavern—one American, one Japanese. The soldiers don’t speak the same language, but they’ve reached an agreement based on a shared hope: to cause no more harm and survive. Hiromi resolves to care for the men—feeding them and nursing their ailments—despite the risk that, if caught, she’ll die alongside them as a traitor. But when a fourth person joins in on their secret, they must face a threat from within. The diary abruptly ends, leaving everyone’s fate a mystery.

Decades later, in 2011, a young female university student decides to finally determine who died in that cave and who lived. Her search will lead her to the lone survivor—and bring closure to a gripping tale of heroism at a time when committing to peace was the most dangerous act of all.

For those that are Amazon Prime subscribers, the Kindle First book is FREE. For those that are not Prime members, you’ll have to wait until May 1, 2016 to get your copy. Kindle First is offered exclusively to Amazon Prime members. Kindle First contains a selection of books picked by Amazon editors and made available one month prior to its release for free to Prime members.

Not an Amazon Prime member? You can join by clicking on the ad below.

If you’d like to join the Book Club discussion, you can join by entering your email in the box on the right. Details on the Book Club discussion will be emailed to you later in the month.

For those who are not Amazon Prime members, but would like to join the Book Club, the Book Club will discuss the book on June 15, 2016. This gives Prime members two and a half months to read the book, and non-Prime members a month and a half to read the book.

If you have any thoughts or questions you’d like to post for the discussion, feel free to leave the question/comment below or on the Facebook page.

Happy reading!