Last year some girlfriends and I began a book club. I am very proud it has held together and as of this weekend’s upcoming meeting, we will be going into year two. We try to read the book in approximately a month and then meet together for faire matching the book (although a few times we have done take out). For example, our most recent book is Dave Eggers’ What is the What, the story of one of the Sudanese Lost Boys, and as there is not really Sudanese food per se in the greater Los Angeles area, we will have Ethiopian food as a bit of a comprise as part of the book takes place in Ethiopia.
Here is a list of books we have covered with my ranking in parenthesis:
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (7)
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (5)
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (2)
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (9)
I Know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (3)
Middlesex, by Jeffery Eugenides (9.5)
The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai (7)
What is the What, by Dave Eggers (8)
For the most part, we have favored books with an international/multi-cultural theme. As well, the favorites have been fiction. We also have the unofficial agreement to choose a book none of us have previously read. That being said, I wonder if anyone has recommendations for us to read for February? We have read three Indian books (The Inheritance of Loss & The Unaccustomed Earth and kind of Eat, Pray, Love) so I think we can safely rule out another Indian book (even though there are many good choices out there). I have suggested, in honor of Barack Obama’s presidency and African-American history month, to read another story dealing with African-American narratives. Or as we really haven’t covered Asia save for the Indian subcontinent, it might be good to read an Asian story (many of us have read Memoirs of a Geisha and The Good Earth). Any ideas?
7 comments:
An Asian book would be a good idea especially here in the SGV.
Fiction or Non?
Great to meet you today Jennifer. I knew I recognized you!
Reading Lolita in Tehran.
Nonfiction. It's been out for a few years. It's imperfectly written, but the fact that it's true makes it fascinating. And the author's coming out with a new memoir soon.
Nice to see you today... I've been catching up on your blog since I discovered it yesterday from Cafe Obs.
In my book club we are to read Owen Meany - I'm so glad you liked it - I'm more enthusiastic about reading in now. (I read almost all of older John Irving in my last 20's and I'll see what I think about his work now that I'm 50).
Did you already read The God of Small Things? Many have liked it. The Bookseller of Kabul is a must read - also a non-fiction and really well written by a Swedish(?) journalist. For Feb theme, I really enjoyed, The color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His white Mother by James McBride. For a good and somewhat tragic novels, I really liked Tawni O'Dell's Coal Run and Back Roads - don't know if they are good for book club discussion.
good tips and great to meet you guys, too.
i think we are going with a chinese theme and i am hoping for balzac and the little seamstress.
but tash, owen meany is wonderful i need to catch up on some of john irving's other books.
we have similiar taste in books, i enjoyed the god of the small things and the color of water, also. i'm going to keep your other tips in mind. : )
That's a great list!! I'd suggest adding The Power of One, Kindred, The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio, The Red Tent, The Other Boleyn Girl, True Notebooks, Ambulance Girl: How I Saved Myself By Becoming an EMT, Persepolis, The Glass Castle, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and Standing Tall by Vivian Stringer.
Hi there- I stumbled on your blog when looking for a book club in Pasadena. Is that still going? I'd be interested in joining. My email is alana.saltz@gmail.com
Thanks!
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