Help me pick my book club book!
It’s my turn to pick for my book club and I need help!! We are a group of 24-25 year old ladies (5 of my friends plus me) and most of us are big readers. We try to mix up the genres between fiction, romance, historical fiction, thriller.
We loved lessons in chemistry, demon copperhead, happy place, the women. I wanted to pick 11/22/63 but it’s definitely too long for the group. We haven’t done sci fi which I love (people have already read project Hail Mary so not an option, we loved it though) and we don’t do many thrillers because they don’t always allow us to have long in depth conversations, not sure why that happens with us.
We probably can’t go too far over 500 pages but here are some of my ideas:
Billy summers //
Station eleven //
Six of crows (is it too YA? We don’t want it to be too YA and I’m seeing mixed reviews on here) //
Red rising //
The secret life of bees //
Slaughterhouse Five //
Any other suggestions or would you recommend any on my list?? I want people to love the book and have a great conversation, sometimes when we meet we don’t discuss the book much.
by Catchat00000
15 Comments
Billy Summers is awesome! Pick that.
Six of Crows! I definitely don’t think it’s too YA. I read it with a few of my friends (all in our 20s) and it became one of our favorite book series ever.
Song of Achilles, Tom Lake, The Poison Wood Bible..
I did not like secret house of bees. What about something by Jennifer Egan? Maybe the candy house?
*Station Eleven*
Circe by Madeline Miller! Great book with tons of interesting parts.
*The Librarianist* by Patrick deWitt. Bob Comet, a retired librarian, becomes involved in the lives of people in a seniors’ home by a chance encounter with an escapee. In flashbacks, we learn how Bob has become the hermit-like person he is now. Very quirky, made me think of a Wes Anderson film.
*The Dutch House* by Ann Patchett. A family saga about what happens when a mother abandons her young son and daughter, leaving them with their distant father. The father remarries and the stepmother does not like the son and daughter at all. Throughout everything, the Dutch House remains the constant.
*Americanah* by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie (just under 500 pages). About a young Nigerian woman who moves to the US as an adult and then is faced with the shock of living in a country that regards her first and foremost as being a Black person instead of just being a person. Years later, she has the opportunity to reunite back in her homeland with a young man she knew in Nigeria who took a different path and emigrated to London.
*A Gentleman in Moscow* by Amor Towles (just under 500 pages). About a Russian count sentenced to house arrest in a gorgeous hotel after the revolution. So warm and cozy, with tons of lovely, interesting characters.
*Eleanor Oliphant* by Gail Honeyman. An awkward loner of a woman has a chance encounter with a young man when they both come across an elderly man who needs help; they all become friends. We find out what happened in her past to make her the way she is. It does have its funny moments, but also ventures into dark territory.
Red Rising, I’m on the second book now. Legends and Lattes (and prequel) are fun cozy reads. Where the crawdad sings. Young adult book I recently adored, The Secret Garden.
I feel like “The Dud Avocado” would be such a fun read for a girls’ book club. Not really a sci-fi gal, but I did enjoy “The Eyre Affair!”
Nothing to See Here
Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
I LOVE Vonnegut, but I actually think Slaughterhouse Five is way overrated and not even close to his best. I would go Cat’s Cradle or Galapagos.
Red rising is an absolutely amazing book, but it is a fairly long series. I highly recommend reading it, but if you guys want a (relatively) shorter story, Red rising isn’t the greatest option. It’s really great in my opinion, though.
Station Eleven or The Secret Life of Bees from your list seem like solid choices, but The Kite Runner, or Where the Crawdads Sing could also be great options!
The Power, by Naomi Alderman
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
The Power is a terrific talking piece for a book group, with some extra resonance for an all-female group. A mind bender of a thought experiment on what if women became the stronger sex.
I discovered Homegoing through a book club and am so grateful. Easily one of the top 5 books I’ve read in the last decade. Masterfully crafted with every other chapter bringing us into a new generation to track an African family’s history and future.