The Book Club reading challenge

Here’s the plan: We head for the ocean, work our way around the shoreline, set our sights on Europe, then set sail on an unbelievable sea voyage from Pondicherry, India, to Mexico.
Welcome to the Sunday Arts Section (SAS) Book Club, where we explore Caribbean literature, classics, books that are making the news and books that are being turned into movies. This is the place where avid readers—and those who want to dive into the adventure of reading—embark on a reading challenge.
A book club means joining up with other readers, and this book club is no exception. Here, members can meet in a virtual setting. Simply go to the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian Online Sunday Arts Section or the SAS Book Club Facebook page and post your comments or questions about the featured book.  
We’ll chart our course every Sunday with information about the book we’re reading, questions or comments for you to consider while you’re reading and online links to enrich your reading experience. The SAS Book Club gives you the best of both worlds: being part of a virtual discussion and using the SAS book club to create your own book club with friends or colleagues.
We begin our book club with Near Open Water, a collection of short stories by Trinidadian author Keith Jardim. It will take two weeks to complete this leisurely journey through 12 short stories about the Caribbean. Just aim for a story a day.
Of course a successful journey requires foresight, a vision, time for preparation—and a good atlas. You’ll need time to get your books online or from your favourite bookstore so you’ll be ready to set sail on future trips.
After we complete Near Open Water, we’ll breeze through Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. The movie based on this book will be released in October.
Next, we set our sights on one of the greatest classics of all time, Anna Karenina, by Russian author Leo Tolstoy, so that we can complete the novel before the movie version of the classic starring KeiraKnightley is released in November.
We’ll set sail on a wild journey with a boy and a Bengal tiger in the Life of Pi by Yann Martel. You can compare the book to the movie, which will be released in November as well.
By Christmas we’ll be celebrating our reading journey by completing the French classic Les Miserables. In December, the Broadway musical will be released as a movie starring Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried.
Remember, classics are available online or on Kindles for free so the only supplies you need to organise is your first book, Near Open Water, an adult book with adult language, available in local bookstores and online. Ask your favourite bookstore about Life of Pi and Cloud Atlas or order online.
There’s fun and challenging reading in store in the SAS book club so go ahead. Test the waters. Take the plunge.
 
n Next week: More on Near Open Water by Keith Jardim. Post your thoughts in the SAS Book Club section online or the SAS Book Club Facebook page. Do you agree with the author’s vision of Trinidad and Tobago?