Revisiting Book Club book lists

11 years ago

From time to time some of us post lists of books that our real world book clubs are reading. My book club has just chosen its next list, so I thought I'd post it here. I invite anyone else who is interested to follow suit.

In our club each of the twelve members makes a selection, and our tastes vary widely. I don't like all the books we read. In fact I loathe some of them. But in line with a recent post about pushing our personal reading boundaries, I think this book club has kept my reading range more open and adventurous.

Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little
Johnny Carson by Henry Bushkin
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Liberty's Torch by Elizabeth Mitchell
Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain
The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
California Edan Lepucki
Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession by Charlie Lovett

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Comments (4)

kathy_t
11 years ago
Thanks for posting this, Rosefolly. I like sharing and browsing book club reading lists. Here's the next batch my group will be reading.

Biography/memoir of choice
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh

In lieu of a September meeting, our group will be attending an author talk by Daniel James Brown who will be in town to speak about The Boys in the Boat. This will be the culmination of our community One Read program which offers numerous discussions and activities related to the book.
vickitg
11 years ago
I love seeing the choices of other book clubs. I now belong to two offline clubs. Many times we read the same books, which is often okay with me because that leaves me time to read other books. Here are this year's titles from both clubs:
#1
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Calling Invisible Women - Jeanne Ray
Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
Me Before You - Jojo Moyes
War Brides - Helen Bryan
Beautiful Ruins - Jess Walter
Lots of Candles Plenty of Cake - Anna Quindlen
The Circle - Dave Eggers
Unwind - Neal Shusterman
The Orphan Train - Christina Baker Kline

#2
The AviatorÃ¢ÂÂs Wife - Melanie Benjamin
Two Sloughs - Sally Small
I Thought You Were Dead - Pete Nelson
Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford
The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The CuckooÃ¢ÂÂs Calling - Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarity
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I just posted our selections on the 2011 Book Club choices thread. (I tried to post the list earlier, but my Firefox browser crashed just as I was finishing, so I turned off my computer in frustration.) Since you've asked in this thread, I'll repeat the list: Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah Biography Night (individual choice) Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor Our community One Read book (title as yet unknown) Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick Shanghai Girls by Lisa See My group has already read several of the the suggestions that were offered in this thread, and generally we liked all of them, so I think we'd like the others as well. I will keep this list handy for future selections. Thanks again! -- Kathy
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Thank you all for sharing! So many of you have mentioned excellent books that I had not mentioned. The Historian, for example. Others, like Kristin Lavransdatter, I still want to read, have gone through the trouble to buy, and look at them every now and again as they wait patiently on my shelf. Frieda, I have read Collapse and found it hard to put down. That book formed the basis for many side books into the societies mentioned therein. I have Guns, Germs, and Steel; see note in above paragraph re: books waiting patiently. As for 1491, I KNOW I read it. I remember bits of it, but cannot find it listed in my book journal. I have searched back to 2001 and found nothing. This is odd as I find a perverse sort of satisfaction logging a book into my journal. I also read Tony Horwitz's A Voyage Long and Strange (only 445 pages)which covers a bit of the same ground, but I do not believe I am confusing the two books. annpan, your post made my laugh. You've been robbed! Love it! I recently read the new Elizabeth George book. Most of her Lynley titles are doorstops. But I cannot truly put any of them on a "fan club" list. They were okay, some better than others, but nothing I truly remember, nothing that was thought-provoking. And this last one felt choppy, disconnected, and just plain "off". PAM
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carolyn_ky
11 years ago
Sarah Canary, where have you been? Good to see your post.
vickitg
11 years ago
Hi Carolyn -- It's good to be remembered. I guess I just got busy. We moved (downsized) in 2011 and yet we still have two storage areas of "stuff" to go through, and, I hope, get rid of. And I waste too much time on Facebook. I still check in here on occasion, though, to see how you all are doing and what you are reading. I'll try to check in more often. Reading books for two book clubs and reading my own choices in between keeps me busy reading. But like all of you, I love it.

Sorry to hijack you thread, Paula. Just to bring us back to the topic I will post some of last year's book club reads. :-)

2013 List - It was a pretty good year.
CalebÃ¢ÂÂs Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
Heft by Liz Moore
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen
Gone Girl and/or Psychopath Test
The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar
Blame by Michelle Huneven
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Revisiting Book Club book lists

Comments (4)

kathy_t

vickitg

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