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Book Club Recommendations

OK, I love Jodi Picoult! I''ve read everything she''s ever written, and I can''t wait for her next one to come out! I guess I''m a dork! LOL!
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Sara, I do think your club should read a few of her books. I''d have to say that my favorite one of hers so far is Picture Perfect. Also, most of her books are available in a "book club edition," which includes an interview with Jodi about that book and a list of discussion topics for a book club. The interviews are really interesting and give some insight into what went into the writing of the book, how she got the idea, what kind of research she did, etc. And the book club questions are very thought-provoking. Have fun!
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Okay - here''s our list... how''d we do? We want to add in Life of Pi but we''re not sure if everyone else has read it and we wanted to leave some spots open to choose later. We want to get a good list now as it is hard to get books here in China so we want the opportunity to pick them up in the states over the summer.


AUGUST - The Group by Mary McCarthy
A 1963 novel that is a sharply-pointed satire of upper-class New England society which follows the post-college lives of eight Vassar graduates, class of ''33.

SEPTEMBER - #1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
This humorous first book in a series of 11 takes place in Botswana, Africa with colorful descriptions of African life and eclectic characters solving mysteries.

OCTOBER - The Shanghai Diary by Ursula Bacon
An autobiographical account of 8 years in the life of an 11 year old girl who has moved to the Shanghai ghettos during the Nazi invasion of her homeland during WW2.

NOVEMBER - Unlikely Destinations by Tony and Maureen Wheeler
This is an account of the two people who started Lonely Planet and their corporate, travel, and personal adventures along the way.

DECEMBER - Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
This Newbery Medal winning book is about a little mouse with a big heart. This is an easy book for the holiday season that we can share with the little ones in our lives.

JANUARY - Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
This book is written by a highly functioning autistic savant and colorfully describes living with a different perspective.

FEBRUARY - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
A story of white children being raised by African American maids during the 1960’s told from three unique and interesting perspectives.

MARCH - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The story of a young girl’s life and her love for books during WW2 is told with the voice of a unique narrator.



I totally appreciated your suggestions - there were a few on MY list that didn''t make the cut like poisonwood bible, middlesex, and a few others you guys suggested. You guys rock - really nice choices!
 
I just wanted to add that most of the ones that got the strongest recommendations had already been read
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Of course I''ve read tale of despereaux about 5 times and I still recommended it. I know it isn''t a challenge, but we thought for christmas it would be an easy read and a good excuse to focus more on a holiday party than on a book analysis in december... bonus that we can share it with our kids and maybe do a family thing like watch the movie even though the movie is NOTHING at all like the book. Even less than they usually are :P
 
Thank you for posting your book selections, Cehra! I''m going to check them out to see which ones would be good for my own book club. (Hope you don''t mind!)

I''m impressed that you guys chose so many books ahead of time. The most we''ve ever been able to choose at a time are three months'' worth. We once *thought* we had four months'' worth chosen, but then we changed the third and fourth choices when the time came. There are just so many good books out there!

I just started reading The Book Thief a couple days ago and I''m really enjoying it.

Have fun with your book club! I love being in a book club. (I even try to emulate the fun in my college classes by having my students form little book clubs in class. It''s a ton of fun, and at the end of the semester they ALWAYS say book club was their favorite part of class.)
 
Date: 6/13/2010 9:14:15 AM
Author: KimberlyH
how could i have forgtten olive kittenridge! one of the best books i''ve ever read.
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Oh yes, I agree. It''s probably one of my top five favorite books of all time.
 

I love talking about books the way I love talking about recipes. Someone mentioned Anna Quindlen above and it made me look up the title of a coming of age book of hers that I read years ago (perhaps for a book


club). I also love coming of age books and am recommending two of them: Anna Quindlen''s Object Lessons and Chaim Potok''s The Chosen. I also heartily recommend a memoir called Diary of a Man in Despair (a very


misleading title) by Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen a Prussian aristocrat killed by the Nazis for his steadfast opposition to Hitler. And I love Barbara Kingsolver''s The Bean Trees and think that Pat Conroy''s Prince of Tides is a


good, entertaining read. I loved Jane Austen long before she became so fashionable, and if the members of the book club have not all read all of her work already, any of her novels make an interesting change from


modern fare. Her comedies of manners are in stark contrast to the tales like Prince of Tides or The Bean Trees which, no matter how full of interesting plot, do not spare the reader at least moments of harrowing child


abuse! I have been planning on reading The Help based on the reommendations here. I am just finishing up The Time Traveler''s Wife.



Deb/AGBF
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Well we really needed to choose more than just a couple books because it is difficult or expensive to purchase them here.

I''m afraid that all of us were not interested in anything anxiety provoking - so a lot of things were disregarded on that alone. A lot of topics I was interested in were vetoed by the other women - I think they are religious and topics like in Middlesex were not of interest, though I was really glad I didn''t have to veto beth moore lol The book I was hoping we''d chose is Dracula. I thought it would be fun to explore the roots of the character that spawned the likes of twilight and lestat. But they weren''t interested in any classics - nothing difficult to read and for that in part I was grateful. I''m not sure this group is totally the group for me, but for a first time I''ll go with it.

I have a question. How many people do you think make an ideal club size?
 
Date: 6/13/2010 10:47:44 AM
Author: Cehrabehra
Okay - here''s our list... how''d we do? We want to add in Life of Pi but we''re not sure if everyone else has read it and we wanted to leave some spots open to choose later. We want to get a good list now as it is hard to get books here in China so we want the opportunity to pick them up in the states over the summer.


AUGUST - The Group by Mary McCarthy
A 1963 novel that is a sharply-pointed satire of upper-class New England society which follows the post-college lives of eight Vassar graduates, class of ''33.

SEPTEMBER - #1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
This humorous first book in a series of 11 takes place in Botswana, Africa with colorful descriptions of African life and eclectic characters solving mysteries.

OCTOBER - The Shanghai Diary by Ursula Bacon
An autobiographical account of 8 years in the life of an 11 year old girl who has moved to the Shanghai ghettos during the Nazi invasion of her homeland during WW2.

NOVEMBER - Unlikely Destinations by Tony and Maureen Wheeler
This is an account of the two people who started Lonely Planet and their corporate, travel, and personal adventures along the way.

DECEMBER - Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
This Newbery Medal winning book is about a little mouse with a big heart. This is an easy book for the holiday season that we can share with the little ones in our lives.

JANUARY - Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
This book is written by a highly functioning autistic savant and colorfully describes living with a different perspective.

FEBRUARY - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
A story of white children being raised by African American maids during the 1960’s told from three unique and interesting perspectives.

MARCH - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The story of a young girl’s life and her love for books during WW2 is told with the voice of a unique narrator.



I totally appreciated your suggestions - there were a few on MY list that didn''t make the cut like poisonwood bible, middlesex, and a few others you guys suggested. You guys rock - really nice choices!
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Another Picoult hater here! Cehra, I love Life of Pi. Its one of my five favorite books (Yes, I keep a mental list of my top five. I''m a nerd). It looks like you''ve planned out your books for the year, but in case anyone else is wondering, these are some of my favs: The Unbearable Lightness of Being, East of Eden, The Satanic Verses, and Everything is Illuminated.

Right now I''m the middle of Edgar Sawtelle and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (both are great so far!) and I plan to read Infinite Jest next (any thoughts?).

I plan to return to this thread for book ideas in the future! So many rave reviews, I can''t wait to try them out
 
Date: 6/13/2010 8:02:46 PM
Author: Cehrabehra
Well we really needed to choose more than just a couple books because it is difficult or expensive to purchase them here.

I''m afraid that all of us were not interested in anything anxiety provoking - so a lot of things were disregarded on that alone. A lot of topics I was interested in were vetoed by the other women - I think they are religious and topics like in Middlesex were not of interest, though I was really glad I didn''t have to veto beth moore lol The book I was hoping we''d chose is Dracula. I thought it would be fun to explore the roots of the character that spawned the likes of twilight and lestat. But they weren''t interested in any classics - nothing difficult to read and for that in part I was grateful. I''m not sure this group is totally the group for me, but for a first time I''ll go with it.

I have a question. How many people do you think make an ideal club size?
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I hear ya on having to plan out your books in advance.

It''s tough to say how many people make an ideal book club. I think the ideal number really depends on WHO is in your book club. It also depends on what type of meeting you''d like--do you want to delve deeply into the ideas brought up during the meeting? Then smaller is probably better. Are you looking for lighthearted fun and conversation, or more of a share-your-ideas-and-move-on-the-the-next-person type of thing? Then a large group would be just fine.

My book club has anywhere between five and eight members at any given time. There is a core group of five of us, with three other women who breeze in and out depending on their schedules. We typically have six or seven people at an actual meeting, though everyone usually chimes in on all of the emails we send around between meetings. We always meet at my house because I live in the middle of everyone, so it''s really nice to have a small group because we always end up curled up on the sofas and chairs in my living room, wrapped in throw blankets and hugging mugs of hot tea or cocoa by the end of the night. It''s nice and cozy with a small group, and we really learn a lot about each other.

I prefer a smaller group, because with only five of us it''s easier to have more intimate conversations that dig a bit deeper than the general thoughts that we all wish to share. It''s still possible to do that with eight people, but it''s likely that our meetings are going to last even longer than usual if everyone shows up. (Our meetings usually last about four hours, but we''ve gone as long as six hours. We meet one Friday night a month.)

One lady in my book club is in another book club that has over 20 members. That group runs more like a professional committee--they have written rules, one person is in charge of organizing each meeting and providing the food, you *must* have read the book in order to show up (there''s always someone who runs to the loo during dinner to finish reading her book in my group!), and they have a sort of system for figuring out who gets to talk during the meeting. I think those things must be necessary with that many women in one group. I think I''m just more of a small, intimate, feet on the couch type of book club. I''d be interested in joining a huge club, too, just to see how it runs.

Just remember this: as long as you have good food and drinks, you''ll have a great time.
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Oh, and no boys allowed in my book club.
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Oooh, one more thing: I''m not sure if you''re interested, but there are so many great books *about* book clubs. Next time you''re back in the states spend a couple hours browsing through them in the library. I''ve read a couple that are just compilations of short essays written by people who have been in book clubs for years. They''re always really touching, and they''ll get you really excited about being in a book club yourself.
 
We have 8 people in this group including myself. I am wondering what the balance between serious and playful will be.

I see there are more suggestions and I will put them in my file because we still have a few books to choose later on.

I''m excited! Now I just have to get some books and start reading!
 
I hope you have a fantastic experience in your book club, Cehra! Really, it can be so much fun.

I can''t wait to hear about your first meeting! We''re discussing Like Water for Chocolate this Friday so we are going to have some very yummy desserts at this meeting. My husband, the chocoholic, is very excited even though he''s only allowed to stick around long enough to grab some chocolate.
 

I just bought Sarah''s Key a few weeks ago. I haven''t had a chance to read it yet, but I heard it is supposed to be very good. (I can''t wait for finals to be over so I can start reading it...)


As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg was very good as are The Hope and The Glory by Herman Wouk. I don''t think they are too political or religious but I suppose they could be taken in that direction if the people in your club wanted to. I was more fascinated with the relationships between the characters and the historical aspects of each of them.

Davita''s Harp by Chaim Potok was great. Interesting but not too political/religious/devastating. Davita starts as a young girl and we get to follow her through school as she faces lots of upsets in her life. Very touching.


ETA: The Hope and The Glory are meant to go together but you could easily read The Hope by itself (if you can stand not knowing about what happens later to the characters...)
 
I finished the book and I definitely think that The Time Traveler's Wife would be a good choice for a women's book club. I almost wish I had read it for a book club, in fact, because it has left me a little unsettled. I

wouldn't mind having a discussion about it with some intelligent women :-). I found it enjoyable to read in the beginning and less so as I continued and the male protagonist's mortality became more and more

pronounced. I may just be suffering from dysthymic disorder; on the other hand, there may be something about the book about which my slightly blue mood is giving me hints. Oh, well, unless I write a review of the

book for Amazon.com, I am unlikely to delve the depths of my feelings about it!


Deb/AGBF
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Date: 6/10/2010 11:17:46 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
I just finished the book Sarah''s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and it was fantastic. It''s a fictional story about the persecution of Jews by the French government during 1942. It was poignant, horrifying, and a can''t put down kind of book.
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I want to read Sarah''s Key, and I''m glad you liked it. It''s on my list to get from the library.
 
Date: 6/11/2010 5:57:40 PM
Author: Haven
Date: 6/11/2010 5:44:13 PM

Author: thing2of2

Can I go against the crowd and veto Jodi Picoult? All her books are the same and they all seem to involve molestation or some other tragedy. I read several in a row after my older sister recommended them and I was NOT a fan after the first couple ones. Too similar!
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I agree. I am not a Jodi Picoult fan at all. They''re so formulaic, there''s no joy in reading them for me. HOWEVER, I know many people who love her books, so maybe Thing and I are just the weird ones.
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Yes, you are the weird ones.
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Kidding! I know what you mean -- her books are formulaic, and after a while, you wonder what tragedy will happen next in her latest book. I still love Picoult though and I''ll probably read everything she writes. The only book I hated was The Tenth Circle. I put it down halfway through and haven''t picked it up since.
 
So, Thing and Haven -- what do you think about Elizabeth Berg and Anita Shreve? Just curious because they remind me of Picoult (especially Shreve).

Sara -- I''ve never been in a book club but friends of mine have read a few of Berg''s books in their clubs. They really liked her books.
 
I haven''t read time traveler''s wife but I saw the movie recently... I don''t know how close they are to one another, but I do understand what you said about it. I found the ending of the movie bittersweetly uplifting, but I am not sure what happens in the book.
 
Date: 6/15/2010 8:18:39 PM
Author: Zoe
So, Thing and Haven -- what do you think about Elizabeth Berg and Anita Shreve? Just curious because they remind me of Picoult (especially Shreve).

Sara -- I''ve never been in a book club but friends of mine have read a few of Berg''s books in their clubs. They really liked her books.
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I like Elizabeth Berg, but I''ve only read a couple of her books. I call books like hers my "cup of tea" books--they are like a very light, very satisfying cup of tea on a lovely summer morning. It gives me pleasure while I''m reading it, but I don''t necessarily get anything long-lasting from the experience. For some reason I like her much better than Picoult.

I should give Anita Shreve another try. I tried to read one of her books years ago (I don''t even remember which) and I put it down because it just wasn''t what I was looking for at the time. And, I haven''t tried to read anything of hers since.

We read The Year of Pleasures in my book club book and it was fun. We put it in between two very heavy books (one was an account of WWII from a doctor''s POV) and reading it was like a breath of fresh air.
 
Another great Margaret Atwood book is Oryx and Crake. Her writing is pretty amazing.
 
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