Book Group Book List
I put this into an e-mail to three friends with book groups, two of whom had asked me for my group's list of books read to date, so here they are.
1.) The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
2.) The Virgin Suicides by Stephen Eugenides (We also watched the movie together)
3.) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4.) Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (We pretty much hated this one, but she has some wonderful other books I'd recommend: He, She and It; Gone to Soldiers and City of Darkness, City of Light.)
5.) A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel (A favorite of ours and we're planning to read the update: She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana.)
6.) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (I loved this book, other people hated it, good discussion all around. I thought it was wildly romantic. A good choice if people like Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende.)
7.) Little Children by Tony Perrotta (Awesome book, scary, funny, and a good discussion all around. If you like this, I'd also recommend: Present Value by Sabin Willett, The Hazards of Good Breeding by Jessica Shattuck, and Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner.)
8.) A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines (We liked it, had a good discussion, and it was good for us.)
9.) The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (I really loved this book and we had a great discussion about it. Superbly written.)
10.) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (Another divided opinion. I enjoyed it very much, found it very touching and enlightening, while others found it slow and boring. A short book, so a good choice at a busy time of year.)
11.) Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult (We liked it overall, and then during our discussion poked holes in the plot almost endlessly, but Picoult's like that and she's terrific for setting up those "what if" situations. She has a pretty lengthy back list, so pull from that rather than her recent best sellers.)
12.) My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki (We had a good discussion, but decided it was a little too preachy in the end.)
13.) Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (A very worthwhile non-fiction book. It was very interesting to see the class and privilege responses emerge from my book group friends, probably one of the most telling books we've read.)
14.) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (We had an excellent discussion around this book. Lots came out in our discussion about abuse, codependency, fate, etc. My friend E, who is mildly disabled, brought this perspective, "Well, he's handicapped, and when you love someone who's handicapped you have to accept the things that go along with that. And me, before our discussion, I just saw it as another wildly romantic book, because I'm like that.)
15.) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Not a great discussion, but good that we read it.)
16.) Life of Pi by Yann Martel (A truly good book, which I'd read before, but harder for some people to read than others, so our discussion was disappointingly limited.)
17.) The Hunger Moon by Suzanne Matson (A good "women's book" along the lines of Ann Tyler, Elizabeth Berg, etc. A first novel that we all enjoyed, I'd recommend looking into her newest one: The Tree-Sitter about a young woman who ends up involved with environmentalist radicals.)
18.) Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner (A light choice because two of our members had babies that month. I think Goodnight Nobody is a better choice for a discussion and a more fun book to read. Our discussion was good, though, with a lot of laughter.)
19.) The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer (Another "women's book" with room for discussion of a sensational "what if" situation.)
20.) The Mourners Bench by Susan Dodd (I really did not like this one and it was very, very literary and boring and all our discussion sounded like freshman English essays...and not even like a good college discussion)
21.) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Though we thought it dragged at first, we all felt we got a lot out of this beautifully written novel. Certainly one of the most topical novels we've read. We followed this one up with a visit to an Afghan restaurant, which was a lot of fun and very delicious!) I reviewed it here.
22.) I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson (Our discussion went nowhere, because we all liked the book and couldn't focus on any one topic but the book was a great read. It'd be a good one to read or listen to on vacation, as it is a collection of columns, and thus very easy to pick up and put down.)
23.) A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews This is our current title. It's about a Mennonite girl and her father whose mother/wife and sister/daughter have been shunned by their community. I haven't started it yet, but people keep talking about how funny it is.)
1.) The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
2.) The Virgin Suicides by Stephen Eugenides (We also watched the movie together)
3.) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4.) Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (We pretty much hated this one, but she has some wonderful other books I'd recommend: He, She and It; Gone to Soldiers and City of Darkness, City of Light.)
5.) A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel (A favorite of ours and we're planning to read the update: She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana.)
6.) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (I loved this book, other people hated it, good discussion all around. I thought it was wildly romantic. A good choice if people like Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende.)
7.) Little Children by Tony Perrotta (Awesome book, scary, funny, and a good discussion all around. If you like this, I'd also recommend: Present Value by Sabin Willett, The Hazards of Good Breeding by Jessica Shattuck, and Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner.)
8.) A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines (We liked it, had a good discussion, and it was good for us.)
9.) The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (I really loved this book and we had a great discussion about it. Superbly written.)
10.) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (Another divided opinion. I enjoyed it very much, found it very touching and enlightening, while others found it slow and boring. A short book, so a good choice at a busy time of year.)
11.) Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult (We liked it overall, and then during our discussion poked holes in the plot almost endlessly, but Picoult's like that and she's terrific for setting up those "what if" situations. She has a pretty lengthy back list, so pull from that rather than her recent best sellers.)
12.) My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki (We had a good discussion, but decided it was a little too preachy in the end.)
13.) Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (A very worthwhile non-fiction book. It was very interesting to see the class and privilege responses emerge from my book group friends, probably one of the most telling books we've read.)
14.) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (We had an excellent discussion around this book. Lots came out in our discussion about abuse, codependency, fate, etc. My friend E, who is mildly disabled, brought this perspective, "Well, he's handicapped, and when you love someone who's handicapped you have to accept the things that go along with that. And me, before our discussion, I just saw it as another wildly romantic book, because I'm like that.)
15.) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Not a great discussion, but good that we read it.)
16.) Life of Pi by Yann Martel (A truly good book, which I'd read before, but harder for some people to read than others, so our discussion was disappointingly limited.)
17.) The Hunger Moon by Suzanne Matson (A good "women's book" along the lines of Ann Tyler, Elizabeth Berg, etc. A first novel that we all enjoyed, I'd recommend looking into her newest one: The Tree-Sitter about a young woman who ends up involved with environmentalist radicals.)
18.) Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner (A light choice because two of our members had babies that month. I think Goodnight Nobody is a better choice for a discussion and a more fun book to read. Our discussion was good, though, with a lot of laughter.)
19.) The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer (Another "women's book" with room for discussion of a sensational "what if" situation.)
20.) The Mourners Bench by Susan Dodd (I really did not like this one and it was very, very literary and boring and all our discussion sounded like freshman English essays...and not even like a good college discussion)
21.) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Though we thought it dragged at first, we all felt we got a lot out of this beautifully written novel. Certainly one of the most topical novels we've read. We followed this one up with a visit to an Afghan restaurant, which was a lot of fun and very delicious!) I reviewed it here.
22.) I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson (Our discussion went nowhere, because we all liked the book and couldn't focus on any one topic but the book was a great read. It'd be a good one to read or listen to on vacation, as it is a collection of columns, and thus very easy to pick up and put down.)
23.) A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews This is our current title. It's about a Mennonite girl and her father whose mother/wife and sister/daughter have been shunned by their community. I haven't started it yet, but people keep talking about how funny it is.)