What She Left Behind: Ellen Marie Weissman

Hausfrau: Jill Essbaum

The Boys in the Boat: Daniel James Brown

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania: Erik Larsson

Vanessa and her Sister: Priya Parmar

Alias Grace: Margaret Atwood

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir: Neil White

Thank you, Bookmom. My group previously read The Boys in the Boat and we all really liked it - a surprisingly fascinating topic.

Kathy, I don't belong to a book/reading group but recently read in a publication for 'Family Carers' in our UK county of a slightly unusual 'take' on the idea.

It is called a Walking Book Group and is set up so that once a month people, In this case folk who 'care for' a family member, meet in a too-far-away-from-us park to walk and talk . . . presumably about the chosen book. This is followed by a sit-down in the park coffee shop for refreshment and more discussion.

I thought the book choice was interesting and unusual.

After the First Death - Robert Cormier

The Double - Dostoevsky

The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnham

Old Filth - Jane Gardam

A Family and a Fortune Ivy Compton-Burnett

Marcovaldo - Italo Calvino

Vee, what a good idea to get carers together like that.

I found that I received an enormous amount of help when I was a carer to my husband for a couple of months. No book club but outings , relief time and even massages and other comforts arranged. Having some me-time is greatly appreciated in whatever form.

Vee - Thank you very much for posting Walking Book Group's reading list. What an interesting idea (the walk-and-talk part). I certainly agree that their reading selections are most interesting and unusual.

The last six books my book group read were:

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

The Goldfinch -- Donna Tartt

How to Be Both -- Ali Smith

The Boys in the Boat -- Daniel J. Brown

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin

Life After Life - Kate Atkinson

Everyone loved All the Light and The Boys in the Boat.

Vee, I like that idea for a 'walk and talk' and the book list is interesting. The Enchanted April is an old favorite of mine.

Sheri - Thank you for your list. I have never read The Enchanted April, but I've just added it to my TBR list.

Here are my book club's next six selections, which will take us through October:

Everything I Never Told You -- Celeste
Ng

The House Girl -- Tara
Conklin

A Man Called Ove -- Fredrik
Backman

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania -- Erik
Larson

The Life We Bury -- Allen
Eskins

The Bartender’s Tale -- Ivan
Doig

Interesting listing. My previous book club read The Life We Bury - which I thought was really good. I haven't really seen it mentioned much elsewhere.

I did read a Man Called Ove and liked it, but didn't love it. I read the House Girl a while ago and enjoyed it.

My current book club is way more varied of an assortment. The recent ones read and to be read are:

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (definitely a worthwhile read)

Confederacy of Dunces (which I had not read before and was really glad to read)

Breakfast of Champions (meh)

Americanah

Flight Behavior ( I didn't read that and need to- everyone loved it)

Modern Romance

Invention of Wings

All The Light We Cannot See

It is fun and oh so interesting to see other book clubs' reading lists. Thanks to all who have responded so far. I look forward to seeing more if you have a list to offer.

So far this year, my book club has read:

The Golem and the Jinni; Helene Wecker
Orange is the New Black; Piper Kerman
The Light Between the Oceans; M. L. Stedman
Deja Dead; Kathy Reichs
Me Before You; JoJo Moyes
And two inter-related titles for this month:

1. Gangster Warlords Iaon Grillo
2. The Beast Oscar Martinez

PAM

I replied a few months ago, and am glad to see some more activity.

After the books I listed, the group read or will read:

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan Philipp Sendker (VERY GOOD)

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder ( I did not read this one)

The World To Come by Dara Horn

Here's my input......

I just finished The Storied Life of A.J.Fikrey and really didn't love it.

It has interesting literary references throughout, but I felt the story was thin and a bit boring.

Not a book that I can imagine getting into for a rousing book club discussion.

I felt exactly the same when I read The Storied Life of A.J.Fikrey.

Well, I really loved The Storied Life of A.J. Fikrey, but I know it was largely because it made me think of my mother, who is no longer with us. I just thought it was really sweet, something I don't encounter much in my reading, and it touched me.

But you are absolutely correct, Yvonne, that it did not make for a rousing book club discussion. We mostly just pointed out our favorite passages to one another. I truly did not mean to impose the book on my book group, knowing there would not be much to discuss, but hardly anyone was prepared to suggest new titles the week we were scheduled to choose our next batch, so someone said, "Why don't we just read that book Kathy likes for the next meeting, and select the remaining books at that time?" And thus it came to be.

Kathy- I just got The Storied Life of A.J. Fikrey and so far, I love it! Thanks for the recommendation : )

I finished the book....and I really enjoyed the first half. I think if it had ended there, I would have recommended it to many of my friends. The second half seemed like too many gaps in time and not enough detail. Almost like a different book. Maybe that was intentional or just to keep it short, but I didn't care for it.

The ending was not my favorite (don't really like that type) but before any of that was even suspected, it started feeling a bit different around the topiary park. That was when it seemed unrealistic to me. I mean, do people all really act like that? One and done...then long term relationships? And Maya was so cute as a little girl. I felt like I missed a lot of her growing up. Also, I really liked the chief, but thought the closet find (and his reaction) was too contrived. Maybe someone else, but not him.

This really helped though, so thank you for the recommendation! It made me realize what I like and didn't like about the pacing and this will help me layout my own story.

Oh, and it was funny that I signed up for a free month of Unlimited Kindle to read the book, after starting the free peek on Amazon. Then, I got to his rant about e-readers! LOL

Back to the book club list. I found myself unable to even read The Storyteller. I guessed the entire plot after reading the first couple of chapters, and peeking ahead to the end, found I was right. I hate it when that happens. On the other hand I found The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty to be fascinating and complex, a very satisfying book to read. I'm sorry to say I don't know what the rest of my book club thought of it. I was away when they met, and sent my review in by email.

We just finished discussing Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Definitely lots to discuss! It was also interesting that some of our group focused completely on its theme of race in America while others focused more on the structure of the story and character development. It certainly made for a wide-ranging discussion.

Our next book is going to be Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld. As we are all Austen fans, this should be interesting.