Rosefolly I have never belonged to a book club but read your list and am pleased to see one I am familiar with. Ladder to the Sky is being read over a couple of weeks on the BBC radio 'Book at Bedtime' slot. The Beeb choices might not always be 'suitable' (IMO) for sweet dreams, but they should generate an interesting discussion.

Thanks, Rosefolly. That looks like a great list. I'll study it for ideas. If the predicted snow does not interfere, later this week my book club will be selecting our next batch of books (six months worth, more or less). I'll report back after that happens. Meanwhile, here is the list we are just finishing:

Sep - Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Oct - Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Nov - Saints at the River by Ron Rash

Jan - Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan

Feb - The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti

Yoyobon, I actually joined a book club in part to force myself to read outside my comfort zone. I only knew one of the members ahead of joining. I don't always read every book. For example, my book club read two from Kathy's list of recent books, Beneath a Scarlet Sky and Little Fires Everywhere. For some reason I could not engage with either one. But I do usually read most of them. I'm looking forward to seeing your list when it is ready, Kathy.

Vee, I always think the the US and the UK have the same books available to readers, and perhaps in part we do, but there are many differences also.

My book group meets every two to three months. The person hosting chooses the book, and we usually don't plan too far ahead. As Rosefolly said, the book group forces me to read outside my comfort zone. As much as I don't like to feel I have to read something, it has almost always been a good experience even if I didn't love the book.

June - Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

Sept - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Nov - The Overstory by Richard Powers

Feb - My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

April - Warlight by Michael Ondaatje

June - The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah

Aug/Sept - Lincoln at the Bardo by George Saunders

Rosefolly and Kathy, thank you for your lists! I am always looking for book group suggestions for when it's my turn.

Feb - My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

( I'd call in sick that meeting ! )

Yoyo, that was my feeling exactly! But I did finish it. Only one member loved it while the rest of us though it was just meh. We looked on Wikipedia for a synopsis of the next three books and went home happy we didn't read them all. Just not our cup of tea :)

Just an update on my book club's list. We are right in the middle of the next winter storm's path (the one that is swinging through the Midwest this evening on its way to the East Coast tomorrow). Our revised plan is to compile our next reading list next week.

Keep warm and safe, Kathy! This does seem to be a particularly stormy winter for the middle part of the country.

Kathy....oh, yaaay. I'll put a candle in the window for it .

Here is the 2019 list for the Library Book Club. I'm not a member (yet).

Jan. The Heart of a Woman - Maya Angelou

Feb. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruis Zafon

March Peace Like a River - Leif Enger

April The History of Love - Nicole Krauss

May Wonder - RJ Palacio

June The Endurance: Shakelton's Legendary Antarctic Exploration - Caroline Alexander

July Maisie Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear

August The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegar

September Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier

October Sweet Days and Beyond - Burr Morse

November The Jump Off Creek - Molly Gloss

December Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie

Of these, I've only read Peace Like a River (which I enjoyed very much). The Burr Morse book is about maple sugaring. He's a local um, character. If any of you have visited the Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks in Montpelier, Vermont you likely have met hm. It's a very popular attraction to tourists and natives alike. And yes, the accent is real.

The book that caught my interest is The Endurance. Not my usual genre but this sounds just fascinating. The background reading I did mentions that one of the crew (a photographer) took some of the shots that are featured in the book using glass negatives he was able to save. DH has a number of glass negatives he collects and works with but this is the first time I've come across mention of them elsewhere. Our Library has a copy and I'm going to swoop in and get it on my next visit.

The book club that I do belong to doesn't provide a list. The librarian/facilitator chooses the books and we find out and receive copies of the next one at the meetings. I like it that way. I don't have to anticipate something that may not appeal and while sometimes I don't love the choices, I read them and try to get something out of them. That's why I joined, after all. I may find something that I just love that otherwise I might have turned my nose up at. Our next read is Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. I have no idea what to expect. I love reading everyone else's lists.

Skibby, FWIW I really enjoyed The Shadow of the Wind and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. That's an interesting list, I'm taking notes.

We had the inaugural meeting of our new neighborhood book club last Saturday, and the choice fell on Genise Bullock-Prado's Confections of a Closet Master Baker, about a lawyer turned Hollywood executive turned Vermont country baker, over The Fly Girls and Einstein's Wife. This group seems to be into biography, doesn't it? We decided we would choose the next book at the next meeting, rather then selecting a list ahead, since this is just the first meeting, and we don't know each other's tastes yet.

After a winter-weather delay, my book club was finally able to meet and decide on our reading list for the next 6 months. They are:

Mar – The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede

Apr – The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

May – The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Jun – Educated by Tara Westover

Jul – 33 Men by Jonathan Franklin

Aug – our community One Read book (TBA)

Kathy.....you've got some daunting stories there.

Yeah ...

Educated is the only one I've read. I look forward to hearing what you think of them.

I read Maisie Dobbs and it got me interested in reading the entire series.

The Shadow Of The Wind was one I couldn't get into because I'm not fond of vampire stories.