It’s time for the book group I attend to choose it’s reading list for 2014. We try to have a mixture of new, old and non-fiction… something for everyone and hopefully not too many stinkers.
Everyone comes up with their suggestions and we have a kind of vote before we get on with the pressing business of eating cake.
In order to earn my slice, I’m looking for suggestions for books we might enjoy and that will give us something to talk about afterwards.
Here’s what we read last year:
- The Falling Man – Don Dellilo (Fractured and evocative)
- A Town Like Alice – Neville Shute (Lush and fabulous. Hardly shows its age at all.)
- Collapse – Jared Diamond. (Thought-provoking)
- The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window and Ran Away – Jonas Jonasson. (Is it me, or are there a lot of books about adventures of the aged around at the mo?)
- The Snow Child – Eowyn Ivey (Glittering and fantastical)
- Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn (Good holiday read)
- Wild – Cheryl Strayed (Now I’m pining for the PCT, only I’d be better prepared than she was)
- The Woman In White – Wilkie Collins (In which we learn that bright spirited women not blessed with pale beauty should not expect to find love)
- The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls – Anton Disclafani (not finished yet)
What do think suggest we should read this year?
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
This is set in Mississippi 1962, “Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver”. A brilliant read, the characters so well described both in looks and personality. It made me laugh out loud and feel very sad too.
Thanks. It's an excellent book. Just thinking of that cake makes me laugh!
Good list! One book I very much enjoyed recently was May We Be Forgiven by AM Homes. Also Just Kids by Patti Smith and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks are both good book group choices. And these are the books I read in the summer, all recommended http://joannemallon.typepad.com/joanne_the_coach/2013/09/10-books-i-read-this-summer.html
I just read May We Be Forgiven and loved it. I'm interested in the Patti Smith book. Thanks.
Definitely going to add some of those to my must-read list!
I've got Neil Gaiman's American Gods open on my kindle at the moment. Fantastic book so far!
The corrections by Jonathon Franzen…definitely a good one for debate whether you find it a good read or not!
I've never read any Neil Gaiman, but I think it's probably time.