Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Club Picks

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this week's topic: Top Ten Books That Would Make Great Book Club Picks.

1.  We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver - my book club is reading this now and I can't wait for our discussion this weekend (nature vs. nurture debate will definitely occur)!

2.  The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman - great discussion possibilities: Western medicine vs. holistic, culture clashes, importance of traditions, etc.

3.  Zeitoun by Dave Eggers - another Btown Booksters pick...we had a really great discussion about Katrina, racism, profiling, Islam, and more!

4.  When She Woke by Hillary Jordan - a dystopian retelling of The Scarlet Letter (also one of my fave books of 2011).  There are great debate possibilities such as: gender roles, religion, government, sexual mores, etc.

5.  The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - wonderful writing with all sorts of little tidbits people can mull over together!

6.  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - another Btown Booksters pick, our club had such a fun and bookish time at this meeting.

7.  Room by Emma Donoghue - engrossing, thought-provoking, and disturbing...a recipe for a great book club pick!

8.  Still Alice by Lisa Genova - plenty of emotional scenes and themes that warrant discussion.

9.  Peace Like a River by Leif Enger - Oh!  The writing in this book!  The big questions in life will be up for debate: life, love, family, and faith.

10.  The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - a really unique novel with extremely realistic characters.  I can already picture a fantastic discussion of people's true selves and the part of themselves they hide from the world.

8 comments:

  1. I noticed that all of these have great discussion points. I read Still Alice in a books club, and though I don't like the book it does bring up a lot of nice discussion.

    Beth ^_^
    http://sweetbooksnstuff.blogspot.com/

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  2. It's been WAY too long since I read The Thirteenth Tale. I sometimes forget just how great that book is!

    I really hope to get to The Fault In Our Stars soon!

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  3. When She Woke and The Fault in Our Stars were on a couple of lists that I have seen today. I will have to give them both a try. Thank you for the wonderful group read suggestions.

    -FABR Steph@FiveAlarmBookReviews
    My Top Ten...

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  4. Nice list Kat! :) I haven't read any of these books, but I've heard The fault in our stars is really good! I still need to read it though. After the exam! :D

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  5. I actually just saw We Need to Talk About Kevin as #1 on someone else's list! It must be a great book. AND OH MY IT'S SO WONDERFUL TO MEET SOMEBODY WHO LOVES PEACE LIKE A RIVER AS MUCH AS I DO! You should definitely check out So Brave, Young, and Handsome, Engers's second novel. From the little I read in it, Enger now has two, excellent pieces on his repertoire.

    PS: I hope you can take the time to check out my Totally Top Ten Tuesday Post here. Thanks!

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  6. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down sounds absolutely fascinating. I can see how that one would bring up a lot of conversation!

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  7. Loved The Thirteenth Tale. One of my all time favorites. In fact it was one of the first books I added to my Pinterest keeper shelf board!

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  8. The Elegance of the Hedgehog was terrific, but it may not fit everyone in a book club, there may be too long "philosophical" reflections. I enjoyed it very much, and the movie is so good as well. here is my review: http://wordsandpeace.com/2010/10/19/the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog/

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