Hot Topics--Controversial Book Group Ideas (Fiction) Help?

Hi, I'm a new librarian tasked with starting a "Hot Topics" bookgroup at my library and I need some ideas for good controversial books. Nothing too outre--but juicy enough to prompt discussion. I have plenty of non-fiction titles, but my fiction selections could use some work--the group will vote on the books next meeting. I could use all the help you guys are willing to provide.

Thanks,
L.

What kind of controversies are you looking for? You could always follow the ALA's list of most challenged/banned books. There are also some great ones dealing with different topics. What are some of the NF title's you're looking at? What level of controversy are you aiming for? My reader advisory senses are tingling. :)

The God Delusion!

The Dive From Clausen's Pier might be good because people may have very different opinions regarding the main character's decision(s).

What Was She Thinking? deals with a teacher who sleeps with one of her students.

Lolita because of the subject matter and how easy it is to feel almost sorry for Humbert!

It can't be anything too outrageous because I don't think the members of my group will go for it. Here is my list thus far:

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens (I'm not sure how many votes this one will get...)

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
by Barbara Ehrenreich

Self-Made Man: One Woman's Year Disguised as a Man by Norah Vincent

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays by David Foster Wallace

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

My Sister's Keeper: A Novel
by Jodi Picoult

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

^ I second the above suggestion of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. It's very timely in that it is about parents having children deliberately to provide donor material to their older siblings. What I loved about this book is that it really tries to present EVERY side of the story (the father, the mother, the very ill sibling, the donor sibling, the "uninvolved" sibling), in a fiction format.

If this is a new group, your 1st topic shouldn'tlead to half the group walking out. I would eliminate
God is Not Great
Lolita
Self made man
Reluctant foundamentalist.
Will there be a variety of people, men, women seniors in the group? My sister's keeper would interest a mixed group, so would Field Notes from a Catastrophe, Omnivore's dilemma & nickel & dimed.
Good luck.

This isn't a new group--they have been meeting for about a year. I'm the new one. They did say they wanted to do "Hot Topics." And I am letting everyone vote on the books. So hopefully there won't be too many ruffled feathers.

Nickel and Dimed would probably be a good choice. It's something that the anti-welfare/government assistance types would never pick up on their own, and it could definitely lead to some heated discussion. But it's also not something that people might come to blows about, like religion.

Given the number of emails I've been getting about it, I'd suggest The Golden Compass -plus, it's about to be released as a movie.
Jennifer Government is a good one to examine the effects of a free market-it's a good dystopia tale. And I haven't read it yet, but everything I've read about The Abstinence Teacher makes it sound like a good candidate for your class.

Our book discussion group did Middlesex - which provoked a lot of discussion on gender identity and sexual orientation.

How about Behold The Man by Michael Moorcock. Probably counts as it may be an uncomfortable read for someone who is very devout.

What about Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life? I've heard good things about it though I haven't read it myself yet.

I just finished reading Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis, it may have potential with the right group.

I would recommend either Oryx and Crake or The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. If many in your group have read A Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake would be an ideal choice.

Forgive the plug, but my novel The Contractor might fit your description. It's about an American "black site" secret prison and interrogation tactics. Early reviews have been good and it's slated as a book club choice in a number of places.

I'd recommend the book of short fiction, The Ways of White Folks, by Langston Hughes, published in the 1930s but never out of print since then (from Knopf); Barrabas (the English translation) by Par Lagerkvist, about the criminal not crucified when Jesus was; and the final novel by Octavia Butler, Fledgling (2007), which puts a very fresh spin on the vampire motif.

If you want something provocative:
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk or anything by Chuck Palahniuk.
The average american male by Chad Kultgen.
Vox or The fermata, both by Nicholson Baker

There's a quite interesting book called Last Chance in Texas about violent teenage offenders in a "facility" (read: prison) who are being successfully rehabilitated, apparently, by ... getting in touch with their feelings. Really. On the surface it sounds like a crock (even to this liberal-type person), especially considering the crimes of which many of the kids profiled in the book have been convicted. It's very difficult at first to feel sympathetic to them. For me, though, as I read on, I began to sympathize with these kids and to see how someone whose caregiver literally threw her out a window during a thunderstorm might grow up to be the kind of person who could batter an old woman half to death. Is that controversial enough for you? ;-)

Haunted is by far Palahniuk's weakest book. I'd recommend Fight Club instead, even if it is a bit obvious.

Northern Lights (aka. the Golden Compass) is the first part of a trilogy, so may not work as a choice.

Average American Male is certainly provocative. You might want to give it a few months to see what the group are like before you throw that in.

American Psycho might be an idea. Didn't like it personally, but should provoke discussion.

Judy Blume's Forever might be worth chucking in there if the group members are amenable to trying something aimed at younger readers.

The End of Alice deals with paedophilia.

Death of a Murderer is set around the death of Myra Hindley (though she's not named in the text).

J. G. Ballard's Crash could be another option if your readers are strong of stomach.

With American Psycho-know your book group really well before reading this one. I am not easily squeemish (I was a forensic biologist before getting into librarianship) and there is one chapter that I can't even read-I read the book 8 years ago and it still creeps me out.

Haunted may be considered Palahniuk's weakest book (I don't think so), but it's near the top of the list for provoking conversation. Maybe you could do Choke, since the movie will be coming out soon.

How about Vernon God Little, which deals with school shootings?

What are the demographics of your bookgroup?

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, 2007. It is classified as young adult historical fiction, but is so good that I recommend it to adults. It is about a girl living at Los Alamos during The Manhattan Project, and includes the names of real-life scientists. I had no idea that after the test blast in the desert, the sand turned to green glass due to the heat. The last chapters include the change of heart some Los Alamos scientists had about inventing "the gadget," and the debate that started then and ensues about the use of nuclear weapons. A good follow-up read is another young adult book (non-fiction) titled The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb by Edward T. Sullivan, 2006. On the same theme, there also is Hiroshima by Laurence Yep. Reading The Green Glass Sea so peaked my curiosity about the historical facts of the atomic bomb, that I subsequently read the next two listed books. The controversy of "should we or should we not have" invented and then dropped the bomb always prompts discussion.

LitLinx

I've started a group here in my library called the Anti-reading book group. The idea is that everyone brings a book they hated (and finished) and tries to convince everyone else not to pick it up. Some of them are easy and predictable--I took Flowers in the Attic last time--and some are surprising. One of my good friends said Gulliver's Travels is the worst book he'd ever read and talked about it forever. The controversy has never been the content of the book's, but the reaction of the other librarians. It's like saying telling someone their baby is ugly. Lots of fun, though!

LOL-I can see how that'd be an interesting conversation. I can only imagine how I'd feel if someone vented their spleen about Handmaid's Tale (Actually, I don't have to imagine that, I just have to hop over to the Awful Lit board LOL).

I'd suggest The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta. Lots of debatable topics in that one.

It depends on your community. Some topics may be more controversial than others.

Where I live, the atheism books, especially the Dawkins might not go over so well with the general public. I'm sure the local fundamentalist church would not be thrilled with the choice. It would make a good choice just to provoke some discussion.

Nickel and Dimed is a very polarizing book. I've heard very different things about it from brave expose to upper middle class woman role playing for a good story.

Any of Tom Perotta's books would be good choices. Election is still very relevant and would be a good choice for a YA/Teen book club because that audience can relate directly to it.

Jane Gallop's book Feminist Accused of Sexual Harassment is utterly ridiculous and moderately delusional, but will almost certainly provoke discussion (as I'm sure my strong choice of adjectives suggests ;) ). Ostensibly it's an argument for the legitimacy of sexual/romantic professor-student relationships in the face of prevalent attitudes against such relationships. Really it's about Ms. Gallop's sex life and bizarre personal idiosyncracies. Definitely a fun book to psychoanalyze.

Don't know if you're still interested in this subject, but I very much recommend a new book by Jayce Grayson entitled XIANNE: A COMEDY OF CULTURES: VOLUME ONE. I think his satire of our times fits your criteria perfectly. You can google it to get an idea of what I mean.

A few suggestions:

Distant Star by Roberto Bolaño (amazing novel about "pure evil" in South America)
After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton (about the Sunni/Shia split in Islam)
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

If you want to read Hitchens, his Letters to a Young Contrarian is his best book, much better than God is Not Great.

I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive by Steve Earle - set in 1963, it's a compassionate work about an unlicensed doctor who works illegally to make money for heroin. Beautifully written and completely engrossing, but a difficult read.