Friday, October 2, 2009

List: Book Club



I love my book club. After refusing to join one for most of my life, Book Club is now the highlight of my social life. All the ladies are fun, interesting, and make a point of reading the books. We get into some great discussions -- as well as eat wonderful meals and laugh a lot. We even have a name for the club now, but it is top secret.

Unlike many book clubs, we do not have a theme and we do not create a list of books for the year. We meet every other month and rotate hosting duties. Sometimes the hostess cooks (or at least serves) a dinner that is related to the book somehow, so we have eaten Afghan food (A Thousand Splendid Suns), African food (Infidel), and had a picnic (I Capture the Castle), among other themed dinners. The hostess picks the book for the next gathering.

This is the list of books I've read since I joined in 2008, starting with the most recent and moving backwards:

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (reviewed here)

Tinkers by Paul Harding (Pulitzer winner; reviewed here)

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (reviewed here) 

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

Honolulu by Alan Brennert

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (reviewed here)

Small Island by Andrea Levy (reviewed here)

The Red Tent  by Anita Diamant

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosna

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Davita's Harp by Chiam Potok

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Keysey

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

The Bone People by Keri Hulme (reviewed here)

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter

Leap of Faith by Queen Noor

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky


NOTES

Updated on December 28, 2012. I do not usually review the books we read for book club. Apparently talking about them satisfies my analytic urge.
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