Book Club Book Suggestions

I thought you all might find this interesting - it is a list of 10 somewhat lesser-known books that are suggested for book clubs, along with the reasons for reading them.

Check out the list here.

Meeting Recap: Till We Have Faces

written by Melissa

Our group met at Chevy's for Happy Hour on Sept. 16 to discuss Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis. Those of us who read really enjoyed Part I of the book, particularly the building suspense over Psyche's true mental state. However, we unanimously hated the end of the book that dragged on ad infinitum. Melissa, who recommended this book, had apparently blocked out the ending of the novel because she despised it as well! In all, the slow, heavy-handed writing style of C.S. Lewis made this a dull read for most.

October is National Reading Group Month!

In honor of National Reading Group Month here are some links to check out:

• nine great group reads as chosen by the Women's National Book Association
• videos from the book club panel I moderated at the Baltimore Book Festival called "The Book Club Toolkit"
• Reading Group Guides' list of discussion questions for hundreds of different books
• Reading Group Choices' list of discussable books

This month our club is reading THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE, by Kevin Roose. I'm looking forward to the discussion that will result from this unusual book!

Meeting Recap: That Guernsey Book

Our August pool party book was nominated by Jennifer - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Annette hosted our meeting at her house by the pool.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous! Several members brought friends to this meeting since it seems that everyone and their mother (or mother-in-law) has read this book and wants to talk about it.

All of one of the gals at the meeting enjoyed this book. Most of us REALLY liked it, some thought it was good, and one didn't like it at all.

Topics we discussed included:

• books written in epistolary format - did we like that about this book? Most of us said yes.
• characterization - we disagreed over whether the characters were or were not well developed through the letters they wrote
• individual characters - who we liked, who we didn't
• the history of Guernsey - none of us were familiar with this part of WWII history so there was a lot to learn
• WWII - we talked about concentration camp experiences, food shortage, the evacuation of children, and much more
• the authors - their relationship, who wrote what, etc.
  
• and much, much more
  

Annette took pictures at the meeting but I haven't gotten them from her yet. I'll post them as soon as I do!

This is another of those books with an excellent marketing team behind it. There are TONS of great resources available - I highly suggest checking out the book's website if you haven't already.

Here's a clip of Annie discussing the book.



I had the opportunity to interview her by phone. Check back at my book blog on 8/27/09 to see what we talked about. Or click here to read my review of this book.

~~~~~~~

Our next meeting will be on Sept. 16 when we'll discuss Melissa's nomination, Till We Have Faces, by CS Lewis. We will also choose our next three books and do some additional admin stuff so please try to be there if you can!

Mid-Year Ratings Update

I haven't been posting our group's rating of the books we've read, simply because I've been behind in compiling them. So here is a list of everything we've read so far this year, how many people read it, and our average rating.*

1. Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
   11 readers - ratings = 9.5x1, 9x4, 8x4, 7x2
   average = 8.3
   
   
2. Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult
   12 readers - ratings = 8x1, 7x3, 6.5x1, 6x1, 5.5x1, 4x1, 3x1, 2x2, 0x1
   average = 4.8
   
   
3. The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
   7 readers - ratings = 8x1, 7x1, 6x4, 5x1
   average = 6.3
   
   
4. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz
   7 readers - ratings = 8.5x1, 7x2, 6.5x1, 6x1, 5x2
   average = 6.4
   
   
5. Queen of the Road, by Doreen Orion
   11 readers- ratings = 7x2, 6x2, 5x3, 4x2, 3x1, 2x1
   average = 4.9
   
   
6. Little Bee, by Chris Cleave
   10 readers - ratings = 9x5, 8.5x1, 8x3, 7x1
   average = 8.5
   
   
7. The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein
   10 readers - ratings = 10x2, 9x2, 8x3, 7.5x1, 7x1, 6x1
   average = 8.3

I'm working on a recap of our most recent meeting - hopefully it will be up soon.



* FYI, we rate on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest score possible.

Meeting Recap: The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

Our book for July was THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, by Garth Stein. Stephanie nominated this book several months ago but it didn't make the cut at that time. In our last round of voting Kara nominated it and was successful.

Bev hosted us on her back porch for this meeting. We enjoyed summer foods including corn on the cob, watermelon, salads, and margaritas. The weather was perfect for this outdoor meeting.

The general consensus was that the book was good. No one at the meeting disliked it, but some did like it more than others. Some of the topics we discussed included:

• gaining appreciation for the human/dog bond, especially for those gals who aren't "dog people"
• Enzo's philosophizing - some loved it, some thought it was a bit "wordy" for a dog, some thought it rather simplistic and obvious (rather than profound)
  
• the ending - some loved it, some thought it was cheesy
• the zebra - we differed in our opinions of what it represents
• even though the book dealt with some hard issues, we agreed it wasn't a depressing book
  

I don't think that anyone felt this book was great literature but we did agree that it was a fun read, and different from anything we've read as a club before.

*** After the meeting I came across an interview with the author. In it he answers some of the questions we raised at the meeting (including the zebra issue). You can listen to it at BookClubGirl.com. ***


*** And here's a link to the recap I wrote for ReadgingGroupGuides. ***

An Author's Passing ...

For those who haven't heard ...

From The New York Times:

Frank McCourt, a former New York City schoolteacher who turned his childhood in Limerick, Ireland, into a phenomenally popular, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, “Angela’s Ashes,” died in Manhattan on Sunday. He was 78 and lived in Manhattan and Roxbury, Conn.

Mr. McCourt spent three decades as a teacher of English and creative writing in New York City’s public schools. As Eric Konigsberg writes, Mr. McCourt was the first to say that “those years, while depriving him of the time to actually write, were what made a writer out of him.” And his students learned from him that “literature was nothing more — and nothing less — than the telling of stories.”

Our club hasn't read any of his books together but several members read Angela's Ashes for our book report meetings or on their own. The literary world is much poorer without his humor, that's for certain.