Revisiting Book Club book lists

9 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
9 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
9 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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You Can Grow Tropical Fruit Trees by Robert Mohlenbrock 1980 Success With Small Food Gardens Using Special Intensive Methods By Louise Ritto (1977) Trees of North America by Brockman Mother Nature's Recipe Book by Derwood McCraken 1975 The Gardener's Book of Berries By Allana Swenson 1994 How to Know Wildflowers Mr. William Starr Dana (a Dover book.)originally 1900! Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada by Charles Francis Saunders (a Dover Book.) Originally 1920! The Suburban Farmer's Handbook Jack Kramer 1977 (an old library book. Usable.) Herbs Techniques, Recipes, and More Kathi Keville 1991 Container Gardening (Burpee Book) Suzanne Frutig Bales 1993 The New Vegetable and Herb Expert Dr. D. G. Hessayon 1997 Down To Earth Gardening Month By Month from The Garden Club of Lookout Mountain 1974 (oddball self published book done with plastic spiral binding. Kinda fun.) Backyard Composting from Harmonius Press 1992 and some Sunset books (you did'nt think you could avoid those?) Low Maintenance Gardening Small Space Gardens Lawns and Ground Covers I also have a couple of Trees of Antiquity catalogs and Forestfarm catalogs, if any would like them. Also a Wayside Gardens catalog from 1981. I have a few others (especially more Sunset books) just ask. I will ship book rate.
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Thank you all for you responses. You've given me some good ideas, and some names of books that just might spark some discussion. I'm always a little leery of books about the Holocaust; I often find them too upsetting to read. But The Sunflower sounds like it goes beyond just relating the horrors to some deeper reflections on human nature. My library doesn't have a copy, nor a copy of A Thread of Grace, but I think I'll look elsewhere for them. I like the idea of the reading kits. I believe our local library has a few of those; I'm not sure how many. I went to one meeting of the library book club. We discussed Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth, a fabulous book, but I was disappointed in the discussion. It was dominated by a woman who wanted to discuss current-day politics, and the leader/librarian, couldn't seem to slow her down. The discussion ended exactly one hour after we started, even though we had lots more to discuss.
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What makes me chuckle when reading this thread is how often book clubs are reading the same books. Fall to Your Knees, The Memory-Keeper's Daughter, Wicked, A Fine Balance (which I loved) Water for Elephants, etc. and I've noticed this in other bookclub-themed threads. My club is 5-6 years old; most of us make a sometimes herculean effort to finish the book out of respect for the person who chose it (though every book we read has been voted on) as well as knowing that the discussion doesn't have a snowball's chance of success if the book hasn't been read. Personally, I could not finish "Seabiscuit" to save my life as I kept falling asleep while reading it. "A Beautiful Mind" was our inaugural book and nearly did our club in as almost noone could finish it. "Wicked" was also an unpopular choice with a number of members not finishing it and so was almost impossible to discuss which I found disapointing. We all read "Crossing to Safety" and enjoyed trashing it, unlike most other clubs who loved it. By and large, our best discussion come when any or all of these factors come into play: most, if not all, members have read the book; the designated discussion leader has come PREPARED with questions, background info, etc.; the book actually has some meat to discuss (please don't ever make me read Sophie Kinsella again); and the book isn't universally liked by the members. My club just had a terrific discussion using "TMKD." Even though I didn't find it well-written, it resonated with our group and had some grist for the mill. So--yes, I usually try to finish up the book, even if it is just a cursory and skimming read. I also thought "The Little Children" was an awful book with flat characters and a nonsense story line and I would have to be "locked in" somewhere to re-read and discuss it. On the other hand, my clubs meets in restaurants for dinner and drinks and I have no doubt that some late nights, the restauranteur would like to lock us out...
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Comments (3)
Hi Lisa - I've been in a book group since 1995, so we have read over a hundred books. I do try to keep some ratings of the books we read, but I'm not always up to date. And not all the books we've read have been rated. But according to my records, here are some of our favorites - based on how much we enjoyed reading them and how discussable they were (not necessarily in any order): A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood A Yellow Raft in Blue Water - Michael Dorris The Girls - Lori Lansens Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks Some that haven't been rated but were group favorites were: Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner Because of Winn Dixie - Kate DiCamillo (a YA book) Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri Peace Like a River - Leif Enger To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee Also, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, received a perfect 5 out of 5 from all of those who read it. Much of this is pretty standard book club fare, which is what my book group seems to prefer. The above books were not necessarily my favorites, although I agreed with many of the ratings. If I were to list my faves, they would be (not in any order): Sarah Canary - Karen Joy Fowler (Surprise!) Cider House Rules - John Irving East of Eden - Steinbeck Smilla's Sense of Snow - Peter Hoeg Motherless Brooklyn - Jonathan Lethem House of Sand and Fog - Andre Dubus Montana 1948 - Larry Watson Life of Pi - Yann Martel (close to the top of my list) Each book group has it's own personality, just as individuals do. Over time, you will discover you group's personality and will learn the types of books that work and the type that don't work. Good luck ... and happy reading and discussing.
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carolyn_ky
9 years ago
Sarah Canary, where have you been? Good to see your post.
vickitg
9 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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carolyn_ky

vickitg

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