Hi! Welcome to the Wednesday Book Club!
Here's the idea: we will pick beloved books that we want to share. They should be fiction, good for discussions, and available in paperback so that they are easy for readers to obtain.
So -- please suggest a book you love!
We will work out some kind of schedule.
This will be fun!
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ETA: Hopefully, suggestions will also be available at the library; I expect they should also be available in Kindle for those so inclined. As we think about scheduling, it would be best to give a few weeks lead time for a discussion, no?
Many thanks to Liz for setting up this shiny new website!
ReplyDeleteVenetia by Georgette Heyer. Nice cozy story based during the Regency era, and written in the style of Jane Austen. So delicious!
ReplyDeleteGeorgette Heyer was a contemporary of Agatha Christie. She wrote mysteries, too!
DeleteFolly, by Laurie R. King. A fascinating story of a middle-aged woman more or less rebuilding herself. (It is described as "chilling," and parts are; but I think of this book as affirming.)
ReplyDeleteOr, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, by the same author; this is part of her Mary Russell series, in which Ms. Russell collaborates with Sherlock Holmes (while studying theology on the side).
This author is a wonderful writer, and all her work has layers. Page-turners, to me! Apologies for suggesting two -- maybe we should go with Monstrous Regiment, since it is available in a smaller paperback, and if you like it, there are more in the series.
I just went to see the movie, and was thinking I should re-read Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. It's available free online.
ReplyDeleteGreat suggestions so far!
ReplyDeleteI did a review of (most of) the books I read in 2012 and I came up with two that I think would make for good WBC material.
[Lol! In my first career in the lab, WBC meant white blood cell. Here - Wednesday Book Club]
The first book is What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. The book is set in Australia and begins with Alice waking up on the gym floor having lost a decade of her life. It's a great look at the possibilities of a "do-over" in life.
My second suggestion is Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray. This one was fascinating. It features a women in her 50s who begins to feel invisible in a figurative sense, but discovers she is literally invisible as well.
How will we ever decide??
I'm chiming in with Sandcastle Girls, by Chris Bohjalian. It's about the Armenian genocide, among other issues. Happier than I just made it sound.
ReplyDeleteMy feeling is we shouldn't decide, let's read them all. One per month until we've gone through everyone's suggestions nd then we ask for more.
ReplyDeleteSo please, everyone, limit yourself to one choice, and save your next one for the second time through.
ReplyDeleteI like that idea Liz. If you would like to remove one of mine - I suggest we save Calling Invisible Women for next time around.
ReplyDeleteWhat Alice Forgot is my choice for this round.
Yay!!!!
I'd like to propose an alternative -- that we toss out lots of suggestions, take some votes about what goes first, and perhaps schedule 2 Wednesdays monthly for particular books that caught votes?
ReplyDeleteWith the idea that we will not all end up reading everything, but I think it is hard to get a dedicated group going if people feel stuck with books that don't strike a chord. And once the discussion gets going, maybe new readers will be attracted to an offering. Just my 2 cents.
I like the idea of lots of suggestions but I don't want to have to manage voting, or any of the other overhead that comes with more than just reading each person's best-beloved, and then going on to the next...and the next....and the next...and then asking for more when we're done.
ReplyDeleteBecause, quite frankly, I'm too stressed to manage anything more than that.
Soooo happy to be able to join you all here!
ReplyDeleteI'll read almost anything--except not into horror (but do love cozy mysteries).
Laurie R. King is one of my absolute favorite authors!
So, Monstrous Regiment of Women is one I love--but it is part of a series, and we might want to consider starting instead with the first in the series, which I believe is Beekeeper's Apprentice.
(just a thought).
Can't wait to get started!
:) Neighbor Lady
Glad to have you here!
DeleteAlso, I haven't read Water for Elephants, and have been wanting to.
ReplyDelete--Neighbor lady
I'm wondering if we can share the workload a bit.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we can do a bit of emailing/fb messaging between the volunteers who have committed to help with posting etc. We'll decide on a list of books and then let the person who suggested the book step in for that month to be the facilitator/leader.
I don't think we need a structured line of commenting or questioning, but I'm open to that if it's preferred by others. Some books have excellent book club questions included. These could be good discussion-starters (though I don't think we will lack for interesting discussion!)
Thoughts?
Another book came to mind-- Wild by Cheryl Strayed, about her hiking of a pacific coast trail, and its impact on her life. Haven't read it yet, but am planning to.
ReplyDeleteAs to Sue's suggestions, I am open to anything, but won't be able to do email/fb. But, as to whether a specific line of questions is needed here, I am generally in the "loose discussion" school of thought, because one of my favorite things about these kinds of discussions is when they go in unexpected directions....
Just my two cents....
:)Neighbor Lady
Sorry NL - we could just ad easily put the list together here!
ReplyDeleteHow about the order they're in already? That keeps it simple....
As long as it is posted here in the end, it's all good!!! :)
ReplyDelete--NL
Just finished reading Native Tongue. Oh. My. God. I haven't stayed up til 3 in the morning reading for at least 6 months. That was AWESOME.
ReplyDelete