What are your Book Clubs Reading??
 

Hello.

I have run a book club for the past 3 1/2 years and I love it. We've read alot of different things, memoirs and novels mostly.
I'm curious to know what book clubs around the world are reading because I think everyone loves a good story wheather it's historical fiction or just a good summer read. I'd love to hear from you! natjgc

Some, but not all, from my book club:

The Feast of Love, Charles Baxter
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
Girl With Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
What to Keep, Rachel Cline
The Hours, Michael Cunningham
The Rent Tent, Anita Diamant
The Game of Kings, Dorothy Dunnet
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
The Quiet American, Graham Greene
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Mark Haddon
Into the Wild, Jon Krauker
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (pre-Oprah)
The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers (pre-Oprah)
Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton (pre-Oprah)
My Sister's Keeper, Jodi
The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
Goodbye Columbus, Phillip Roth
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Empire Falls, Richard Russo
The No. 1 Ladies Dective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
White Teeth, Zadie Smith
Longitude, Dava Sobel A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Big Stone Gap, Adriana Trigiani
Blood Done Sign My Name, Timothy Tyson
The Optismist Daughter, Eudora Welty
The Professor and the Mad Man, Simon Winchester



Looking back through my list of books, I'm amazed it's been six years.

Our book club is just getting started...the first book we are reading is "The Bookseller of Kabul" by Asne Seierstad.

"Bookseller" is excellent; I'll be recommending it to my group year for 2007.

Recently we read "Object of Virture," which was an enjoyable way to learn a great deal about Fabérge and the Russian aristocracy, both in Russia after the revolution and as emigrés in Paris and the U.S.

So far this year we've read "Ella Minnow Pea," "Queen Noor," "Gilead," and "Red Azalea." The last one wasn't very popular. Coming up for July is Isabel Allende's "Zorro," which looks very good.

Next month's book is "Freakonomics;" not sure about it yet.

Underhill, I know you live in the People's Republic as do I. Did the local paper come and interview your book club too?

Our club just finished Any Bitter Thing which was amazing. I had never heard of it. Some other ones have been A Year Of Magical Thinking and The Road from Koorain, both very good. When it's my turn I'm going to choose Never Let Me Go.

Here's our list for 2006:

January - Founding Brothers –Joseph Ellis
February -My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
March - The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
April - Nickle and Dimed – Barbara Ehrenreich,
May - Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
June - Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Hadden
July - The Unwanted – Kien Nguyen
August - I, Claudius – Robert Graves
September - Sins of the Seventh Sister – Huston Curtis
October - A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
November - The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
December - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betsy Smith

Beloved--Toni Morrison
Snow--Orhan Pamuk
Vanity Fair-WM Thackery
Howard's End--EM Forster
Interpreter of Maladies-Jhumpa Lahiri
Hard Times--Charles Dickens
The Autobiography of Lola Falana-Herself
Shepard's Bush Slag--Patsy Stone

Hello book experts,

Could you please recommend some books for ESL (English as a second language) readers? They are at an upper-intermediate + level. I'm looking for interesting books that aren't too difficult to read.

Many of the books mentioned look very interesting. Our book for june is "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". Really very good. " The Glass Castle "
a memoir is also very good.Teacherlady--
What is Any Bitter Thing about?And Never let me go? We just finished Middlesex and most of us loved it! natjgc

I was just going to post Lisa See's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" when the last post went up. That one was really a popular choice at the book clubs here. Also the other two favorites of late were "Kite Runner" and "The Lovely Bones".

I loved Middlesex and the first list here (nc's) is especially terrific. I've read almost all of those. You can't do wrong by any of these lists.

Also "The Corrections" was a really popular read for discussion. But I wouldn't count that one in the easy read- ESL group.

You know, you could use the Snow Flower read or Kite Runner for easy read, I would think.

One more, and it was made into a movie but the book is better. This one is good for discussion.

"An Unfinished Life: A Novel" by Mark Spragg

My goodness, another ---ite! Are you enjoying spring, finally?

Our group read "Koorain" early on and then "Due North;" both were excellent.

No, we weren't picked for an interview, although someone from the local rag called to ask whether we'd be willing. I did read the article, however, and was confirmed in my feeling that each group is very different from the others.

Wymom, can I join your group long distance? I really like the reading list--any group that reads "The Count of Monte Cristo" has got to be terrific! I gave my husband an unabridged edition for his birthday a few years back: 1200+ pages, every one good.

There have only been five books in ten years that were unanimously rated as excellent, of which my favorite was "No Ordinary Time."

satjgc...Any Bitter Thing is about a woman who has had an incredible amount of crummy rotten luck including being left for dead on the road after a hit and run accident. It's about her relationships and how she puts her life back together and how things aren't necessarily what they seem. Never Let Me Go...heck I don't know what it's about but I just know it got rave reviews when it came out in hardback. It's by the same author as The Remains of the Day.

I agree, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is amazing but it didn't make me feel very good about 19th century men in China.

We're reading "Is Paris Burning" right now. It's absolutely riviting.

annieladd

Is there really a book by Patsy Stone? I am amazed, and would love to read it, but I'm afraid you're pulling my leg. Sheperd's Bush Slag! Absolutely hilarious, and I don't know if it is a real book. Do tell, please.

Many of the above plus:
The Memory of Running
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the
Hunt Sisters
The Life of Pi
The Other Boleyn Girl

Celebrating 10 years with my book club...just back from the Oregon Coast for my 10th annual beach retreat. We're reading Wicked (after being pressured by my 14-year-old daughter who is a wannabe book club member). We've read many of those already mentioned, as well as The Angle of Repose, Fall on Your Knees, Crime and Punishment, East of Eden, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Reading Lolita in Tehran and about 100 others.

I don't always have time to read our book selection, but I always enjoy our discussions...even (or especially) when they stray beyond our book. :)

I'm in 2 bookclubs. One has been going on over 5 years and here's our list:

Book Club Booklist

2/01 The Ladies Auxiliary—Tova Marvis (Cindy)

3/01 Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio (Danna)

4/01 The Strangeness of Beauty—Lydia Minatoya (Felicity)

6/01 Bobos in Paradise—David Brooks (Joan)

8/01 Of Love and Shadows—Isabel Allende (Paula)

10/01 The Hours—Michael Cunningham and Mrs. Dalloway—Virginia
Woolf (Jody)

1/02 No Ordinary Time—Doris Kearns Goodwin (Cindy)

2/02 Reservation Blues—Sherman Alexie (Danna)

3/02 Iron & Silk—Mark Salzman (Felicity)

4/02 The Divine Secret of the Ya Ya Sisterhood—Rebecca Wells (Joan)

6/02—The Red Tent—Anita Diamant (Paula?)

8/02 All the Names—Jose Saramago (Jung)

10/02 The Five Languages of Love—Gary Chapman (Jody)

12/02 Empire Falls—Richard Russo (Danna)

2/03 The Secret Life of Bees—Sue Monk Kidd (?)Cindy

2/03—Charming Billy—Alice McDermatt

4/03—Love in the Time of Cholera—Gabriel Garcia Marquez

5/03—Atonement—Ian McEwan

9/03 Bel Canto—Ann Patchart (?)Jung

10/03 The Human Stain—Phillip Roth (Jody)

11/03 Balzack and the Little Chinese Seamstress—Dai Sijie
(?)Felicity

1/04 Don’t Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight—Alexander Fuller and Cry,
the Beloved (Cindy)

2/04 The Davinci Code—Dan Brown (Joan)

3/04 Angry Housewifes Eating Bon Bons—Lorna Landvik (Felicity)

4/04 Reading Lolita in Tehran—Azar Nafisi (Paula)

5/04 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter—Carson McCullers (Jody)

6/04—Drop City—T.C.Boyle (Danna)

7/04—The Patron Saint of Liars—Ann Patchart (Cindy)

9/04—Under the Banner of Heaven—Jon Krakauer (Joan)

11/04—The Sixteen Pleasures—Robert Hellenga (Felicity)

2/05—Welcome to the World, Baby Girl—Fannie Flagg (Paula)

3/05—Tender at the Bone—Ruth Reichl (Jody)

5/05—Saul and Patsy—Charles Baxter (Danna)

6/05—The Kite Runner—Khaled Hosseini (Cindy)

8/05—My Sister’s Keeper—Jodi Picoult (Joan)

10/05—Living History—Hillary Rodham Clinton (Felicity)

12/05—Foreign Affairs—Alison Lurie (Paula)

1/06—The Plot Against America—Phillip Roth (group)

3/06—Heavenly Days—James Wilcox (Danna)

4/06—The Known World—Edward P. Jones (Cindy)

The other just started and so far we've read The Red Tent and Memoirs of a Geisha. We really wanted a list of books so I'm going to print this out for us!

Not on the list, but my favorite book last year was The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon--set in one of my favorite places in the world--Barcelona.

Happy reading all!

I belong to Kathy & Judy's Radio Readers Bookclub (WGN radio Chicago am 720 or www.wgnradio.com).

Here are the books we've read:

Like Normal People by Karen E. Bender (OK)

Wild Nights: Nature Returns to the City by Anne Matthews (did not read)

The Rich Part of Life by Jim Kokoris (OK)

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (OK)

All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg (OK)

The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland (very good)

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - (OK)

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks - (Excellant!)

The Lost Legends of New Jersey by Frederick Reiken (OK)

1984 by George Orwell (OK)

Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain by Michael Paterniti (very interesting)

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (excellant!)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
(OK- but I did not buy the ending)

The Giant's House: A Romance by Elizabeth McCracken (don't bother)

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka (OK)

The Binding Chair: Or, A Visit from the Foot Emancipation Society by Kathryn Harrison (don't bother)

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg (didn't read)

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer (excellant!!!)

Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories by Robert Olen Butler (did not read)

Sight Hound by Pam Houston (did not read but I like Pam Houston)

Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs (did not read)

The year of Wonders was one of my favorites along with My Sister's Keeper,The Girl with the Pearl Earring,
Hunting Midnight,The Red Tent, The Leopard Hat( memoir) and The Ladies Auxilliary just off the top of my head.
natjgc