book group suggestions

Hi!
I have started my own book group and need suggestions for titles for us to tackle. Most of us are busy mums so we need books that aren't too long or too difficult but still literary! We would like to try maybe some classic books as well as new stuff. Also something unusual as a couple of us are quite widely read and we'd like something fresh! Any ideas?

So when you have kids, you can't be bothered with "difficult" books anymore?

That's so depressing. I don't know if I want kids anyway, and this might just push me completely over into the "never" side!

I am a busy mother of three and work full time. Even when they were smaller I never gave up reading long or "difficult" books. It was my breath of fresh air. So, cafepithecus, do not feel discouraged: where there's a will there's a way.

Joannapple, if you want something entertaining and "light" (and well written too), I suggest you try any of Angela Thirkell's books or The Moosepath League series by Van Reid, or anything by P.G. Wodehouse.
Obviously, there are many many more interesting books and authors, which I am sure other fellow LThingers will suggest. Happy reading!!!

Paola :-))

Two books that are unusual, fresh, and new:

(1) I'd like to suggest The Book Thief by Mark Zusak. Although marketed towards the young adult population in the U.S., it is certainly an interesting book for adults. I read it because of the rave reviews both here and on BookCrossing. It has 500 plus pages, but reads very quickly because of the type in the book.

I'm suggesting it for various reasons: popularity, relative newness, originality, fodder for discussion, Australian fiction (I personally had never read a book by an Australian author before!), nice writing, endearing characters.

(2) How about graphic novels? Try Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Graphic novels are easy to read because they are mostly visual, but do have something to say. For anyone who has read novels or even non-fiction about life in Iran, this will be an interesting read. You can talk about so many things when discussing a culture different than one's own. Do your group members a favor by introducing this genre to them by a woman from Iran who tells it like it is from an insider's perspective.

>So when you have kids, you can't be bothered >with "difficult" books anymore?

I think joannapple is just trying to say that she'd like to encourage as many people to join as possible. If books seem too complicated at first, that might be off-putting. Once the group gets going full-steam, it will surely take on a life of its own through the input of what all of the members truly like to read.

oooh no! a bit hurt by scornful comments in reply to my first ever post! I just meant that as none of us has tons of time to spend reading a really long book and some of the members are unused to very challenging books like 'gravity's rainbow' or 'the brothers karamazov' we needed some suggestions in the line of 'the life of pi', 'the handmaids tale', 'catcher in the rye', 'the inheritance of loss'- all shortish, fairly quick reads but worthy of discussion! We don't want to rely on richard and judy (uk version of the oprah book group) to dictate what we read. Having children makes you read things in a completely different way and I believe that its incredibly important to keep reading and thinking as much as possible. Are all you library thingers as judgemental and snobbish?

yes
(giggle)

Hi joannapple!
I envy you - I'm not in a book group at all, (although some friends and I are thinking of starting one...).

Anyway, an interesting book for a group of busy mums to try could be Astonishing Splashes of Colour, by Clare Morrall. It's not a challenging read, but I found it moving, funny and thought-provoking. It concerns family dysfunction, the choice of whether to have children, traditional family values, etc.

I thought it was very well written. Let us know of anything you recommend as well!

Oh joannapple, I am awfully sorry I came across as "judgemental and snobbish". That was not my intention, I guarantee it, and so I apologize.

:-))

joannapple,

Here are some good ones our book group has read recently:

Snow FLower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Double Bind by Chris Bojhalian (a little on the longer side but excellent book)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Zafron

Best of luck w/ your book group--I am in 2 and so love them both!! Read books I probably wouldn't have on my own.

Book Group readers I am acquainted with recently raved about:

Fiction:

Night Watch by Sarah Waters - short listed for the booker (should of won)
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessi

Non-Fiction:

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Personal History by Katharine Graham

Hope this helps.

You could try The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It is a non-fiction memoir but it was very interesting and read pretty quickly. Frankly I don't usually read non-fiction but read this for a book group. Although I was dreading having to read it, it turned out pretty well. It should also lead to some interesting discussions.

>1 joannapple: it can be really difficult to recommend books to a book club without knowing you a little better. But here are some recommendations off the beaten path, so to speak (the beaten path being the books that EVERY book club seems to have read).

Frangipani by Celestine Vaite. Mother daughter tale set in Tahiti. A delightful and easy read with a main character whose voice is somewhat reminiscent to that of Precious Ramatsowe in the Alexander McCall Smith mysteries. Frangipani was on the Orange Prize longlist last year.

The Position by Meg Wolitzer. A story which follows a family over the years - a family whose parents have written a "Joy of Sex" type book! The opening scene where the four children decide they are going to take the book off the top shelf and finally look at it together is part hilarious and part horrifying (the pictures in the book are graphic artist's renderings of the parents). This was also on the Orange Prize longlist last year.

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. I noticed this is out new here in the states in paperback. While I don't think it packs the punch that The Kite Runner does, it does have a similar master-servant theme, this one from a woman's point of view.

Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill. When a little girl falls down a mine shaft and a rescue is underway, the narrator of the story hears a derogatory and racist comment by someone watching the news which propels him/her into a wondrous story of some of little Ursula Wong's notable and not-so-notable ancestors (interwoven with what's going on at the mine shaft, of course).

For memoirs and biographies: Desert Queen by Janet Wallach is the story of Gertrude Bell "adventurer, adviser to kings, ally of Lawrence of Arabia";
Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long Distance Swimmer by Lynne Cox a interesting memoir of a determined young woman who describes herself a "body by Ben & Jerry's." Snake Hips by Anne Soffee, a memoir of one young woman gets involved with the world of belly-dancing when a love affair goes bad.

Other nonfiction: Cottage For Sale Must be Moved by Kate Whouley; The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin....there are so many, many books!!!!!

For classics I recommend splitting larger books up into more than one month of reading. We did Middlemarch in two months. Some ideas: read a classic and then watch the movie: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte have recent TV adaptations. OR read a classic like Jane Eyre and the next month read either The Wide Sargasso Sea (the story of Mrs. Rochester) by Jean Rhys (a classic now in its own right) or Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier said to be a modern retelling of Jane Eyre.

I haven't checked to see if you are in the States or not, but here is a link to a flyer that the American Booksellers Association puts out each year under "Booksense" You may have to copy and paste this into your browser...
http://news.bookweb.org/booksense/4359.html
All of these books have been read and recommended by independent booksellers from all over the country.

You may also find some good ideas, tips and recommendations on the MyPeopleConnection Book Clubs group here on LT. They do have a fair amount of interesting discussion threads about reading groups.

Note: all of the books mentioned I would consider mid-weight reads, not intellectually strenuous but not fluff either. And the list is shamelessly female-orientated, but it's a place to start.

When I ran a book group that met once a month what we did was to vote on the books from the group members, we did this twice a year so that we had a slate of books for 6 months. I made up bookmarks which gave the list of books and the schedule, I stole the idea from the public librarys book group. The bookmarks were attractive which helped to advertise the group as well.

David Perrings

>2 cafepithecus: It's not that you can't, it's sometimes just easier to read something less intellectually strenuous (which is probably different for everyone). Adaptation can be the key:-) Besides one has to persevere because it is especially important that one's children see them reading!

Must adapt to:
1. frequent interruptions
2. often too tired to read in bed at night.
3. you're reading to the kids (that's a lot of reading right there).

On the plus side one gets to introduce books to a new human being and watch their enthralled little faces! One gets to watch their child learn to read! One gets to introduce them to libraries and bookstores and so on. And...one gets to buy them books for birthdays and other holidays!

My children are now nearly 28, 25 and 23. While they all read fluently before they reached school age, not one, NOT ONE has a degree in literature. Where did I go wrong? At least they will be able to buy books with the salaries from their science and engineering degrees (just kiddin', of course, I love the little poopers just the way they are).

Count your blessings, avaland. One of my lads is working on his degree in English lit and he is stealing my books hand over fist!

Joannapple, don't discount poetry as well. E.g., T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets is not fluff but it reads relatively quickly. I know that uninterrupted reading time is at a premium when you are a young parent, as is sleep. I used to read bent over the washing machine.

Joannapple,

how big is your group ?

and when and how often to you meet ?

The book group i was in was mostly women who were past little children at home and we meet in a church building so it was quite. But the members always had good suggestions. Also it is a good way for people to buy into what they are reading. It is important that the person who suggested the book is at the meeting when the book is discussed.

David Perrings

I quite loved Eat, Pray, Love which is a non-fiction book (sort of a memoir?) that would lead to great discussions. Highly recommend it to anyone!

popular books with the book group where

Bel Canto, the life of pi and the kite runner.

David Perrings

The two books I would like to recommend are probably not typical books for a book group (based on what's on the "book group" shelf at my library anyway).

1. Happiness by Will Ferguson - this book is also published under the name Generica. I enjoyed it immensely and noted in my book journal that this might be a good book for a group to read. I think it has some interesting ideas about the pursuit of happiness and whether it is beneficial to society or not. Also, it's hilarious and easy to read!

2. Lapham Rising by Roger Rosenblatt. My opinion of this book is much the same as stated above, as far as funny and easy to read. It is a wonderful, satirical novel.

>Are all you library thingers as judgemental and snobbish?

Actually I wasn't being "judgmental and snobbish" at all. That's the thing about the Internet -- it's hard to detect tone. So, I'm sorry if you took it that way.

I just always hear women talking about how their lives change after having kids and they never have time for ANYTHING. I'm not entirely sure I want kids (I go back and forth on the issue, but I'm only in my mid-twenties) and the way I read your initial post just made me think of soccer moms popping out babies and only reading what Oprah tells them to read. If it's between having a kid and being able to read difficult books and challenge my brain -- well, I guess my point is that it shouldn't be either/or.

Cafepithecus,

ahhhhh to be twentysomething again. kids are the death of twentysomething but then one gets older has kids and you could not imagine life without them even when they are driving you crazy.

Joseph Campbell has said that the problem is that the brain thinks its the primary organ, and it is not.

David Perrings

dperrings,

The Joseph Campbell quote sounds a lot like what I've picked up from reading books about evolutionary psychology. :)

Cafepithecus,

What books on evolutionary psycology have you been reading ?

David Perrings

A ton in the past two years or so. They're in my library if you want to check it out. I don't have all my tags straight yet so some are under "evolutionary psychology" and others are under "evolutionary biology" or "anthropology".

joanapple,

I've recommended The Realms of Gold by Margaret Drabble to my mother's book group and they loved it.

I want to second cafepithecus' comment that tone is often lost or distorted in emails and internet postings. We all have to get back to the fine art of letter writing in our electronic communications. The LT community is really very welcoming, as I hope you've seen from this thread.

Let all the members put a choice or two into a dish, and then pick one randomly.

I had four children in 9 years, worked a professional job, went to school 4 nights a week and had a part time job free lancing for the newspaper as a music critic. It did decrease the amount of time I spent on leisure reading and needlework, so when I was reading for leisure I certainly didn't want to attack something like Ulysses.
I can understand the need to choose something pleasurable but still mentally nourishing. Life is full of things we have to slog through like dishes and laundry. Wouldn't want to put my reading into the chore category.