Here is the master list for the twentieth tour of the Barren Bitches Book Brigade. What is the Barren Bitches Book Brigade? It's a book club from the comfort of your own living room. The book club is conducted entirely online and open to anyone (male or female) in the infertility/pregnancy loss/assisted conception/adoption/parenting-after-infertility world (as well as any other related category I inadvertently left off the list). It is called a book tour because everyone reads the same book and then poses a question to the group. Participants choose a few questions to answer and then post their response on their blog. Readers can jump from blog to blog, commenting along the way. We read both fiction and non-fiction.

Anyone can jump aboard--it's a book club where you can drop in and out as you wish and all in the community are welcome.

Book: Moose* (with author participation)
Author: Stephanie Klein
Start Date: June 30
Question Due: August 12
Question List Sent Out: August 14
Post Date: August 17

(need an explanation of how a book tour works? Click here to go to a list of posts on the past book tours as well as information about future tours.)
Something New: the participants on this tour will choose the next book.

About Moose: Described as a "grown up version of Judy Blume's Blubber, Moose is a memoir written by the ever-funny Stephanie Klein (of Greek Tragedy fame). It chronicles her stay at a fat camp, and while this book is not infertility-related, it is body-related and I think it will lend itself to a very interesting discussion on how we find the motivation for the next cycle as well as how we view our bodies. It is literally the perfect book for the beach--funny, sweet, sometimes sad, and very very readable.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. On August 17, you'll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on Moose. I will keep adding to this list until 11 p.m. on August 12th. The list is currently open)

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters
Weebles Wobblog
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
The Road Less Travelled
Hello, My Name is M...and I'm Infertile
The Dragondreamer's Lair
Baby Making Journey
All Things Deb
Trying for a Baby

Not on the list and want to join? Drop me an email at thetowncriers@gmail.com. You can add yourself up until 11 p.m. on August 12th.

How the book tour works:

(1) leave a comment or send me an email (thetowncriers@gmail.com) saying that you're interested in participating. I need your blog name, blog url, and email address.

(2) read Moose by August 12 (or at least enough of it in order to ask a question to the group).

(3) create a single question that would kick off a discussion (in other words, any question that leads to more than a "yes" or "no" answer where someone can express their opinion) and mail it to me on August 12 (or any time beforehand). I will send you a reminder email close to the date. Click here to see sample questions from tour #4. This is also the time to send a question if you have one for Stephanie because she is participating and open to answering our questions. I will compile them and forward them to her on the 14th.

(4) on August 14, I will send you a list of possible questions. Everyone will choose 3 questions off the list and answer them in a blog entry.

(5) on August 17, people will begin to post their entry. I will post a linked list of all the people putting up their entry that day so people can go around and read the entries and comment (start a discussion back and forth in the comments section). Reading the entries and commenting on the posts is the best part of the tour--by the end of the week, you should have a comment from every participant (and maybe even a few new permanent blog readers).