Book Club Selections, 2013 Edition

We selected our book options for 2013! Here they are, in month/category order:

 

January | Memoirs

 

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

 

 

Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson

 

 

Louise: Amended by Louise Krug

 

 

 

February | Romance

 

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

 

 

The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham

 

 

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

 

 

 

March | Animals

 

Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant that Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer

 

 

The Horse God Built by Lawrence Scanlon

 

 

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

 

 

 

April | Comedy

 

Seriously, I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

 

 

Stiff by Mary Roach

 

 

Death by Chocolate by Sally Berneathy

 

 

May | Family

 

The Paternity Test by Michael Lowenthal

 

 

The Round House by Louise Erdich

 

 

The Year that Everything Changed by Georgia Bockoven

 

 

 

June | Sports

 

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

 

 

Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig

 

 

Calico Joe by John Grisham

 

 

 

July | Patriotic

 

The Presidents' Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs & Michael Duffy

 

 

Gabby by Gabrielle Giffords

 

 

The Great Santini by Pat Conroy

 

 

 

August | Beach Reads

 

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

 

 

The Sisters by Nancy Jensen

 

 

Memoir of the Sunday Brunch by Julia Pandl

 

 

 

September | US History/Historical Fiction

 

Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly

 

 

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

 

 

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

 

 

 

October | Horror/Mystery/True Crime

 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

 

 

People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry

 

 

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

 

 

 

November | Classics/Poetry

 

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

 

 

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

 

 

I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Maciuliano

 

 

 

December | Religious/Christmas

 

Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler

 

 

Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb

 

 

Unstoppable by Nick Vujicic

 

 

Tons of great-sounding books to choose from in 2013!

 

Group Pictures-The Handmaid's Tale

We met last week on November 18th to discuss The Handmaid's Tale. November 18th just happened to be Margaret Atwood's 73rd birthday! And we didn't even plan ahead for that one! The Handmaid's Tale was loved by some and not others, but it did prompt some great discussion...and that's why we love book club! We definitely recommend this one for other groups.

Take 1

Take 2

 

 

 

 

December Book Choices!

It's time to vote for the final book of 2012!

The Call by Yannick Murphy | Paperback, 223 pages

The daily rhythm of a veterinarian's family in rural New England is shaken when a hunting accident leaves their eldest son in a coma. With the lives of his loved ones unhinged, the veterinarian struggles to maintain stability while searching for the man responsible. But in the midst of their great trial an unexpected visitor arrives, requesting a favor that will have profound consequences--testing a loving father's patience, humor, and resolve and forcing husband and wife to come to terms with what "family" truly means.

The Call is a gift from one of the most talented and extraordinary voices in contemporary fiction--a unique and heartfelt portrait of a family, poignant and rich in humor and imagination.

Yannick Murphy is the author of various novels, short story collections, and children's books. Her novel The Call has a 3.68 rating on Goodreads.

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin | Paperback, 272 pages

When sixty-nine-year-old So-nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, her family begins a desperate search to find her. Yet as long-held secrets and private sorrows begin to reveal themselves, they are forced to wonder: how well did they actually know the woman they called Mom?

Told through the piercing voices and urgent perspectives of a daughter, son, husband, and mother, Please Look After Mom is at once an authentic picture of contemporary life in Korea and a universal story of family love.

Kyung-Sook Shin is the first Korean and first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize. She has written various novels and stories in Korean. Please Look After Mom is one of three works she has written in English. It has a 3.67 rating on Goodreads.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier | Paperback, 380 pages

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

Working as a lady's companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Life begins to look very bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs. de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding Mrs Danvers.

Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the Other Woman.

A true classic of suspense.

Daphne du Maurier was a British author. She died at the age of 81 in 1989. She wrote various novels, short stories and plays. Her novel Rebecca was adapted for film in 1941 by Alfred Hitchcock (it won the Oscar for Best Picture). Hitchcock also adapted her short story The Birds for film. I know everyone has seen that movie! Rebecca has a 4.15 rating on Goodreads.

I will be hosting the December meeting. Vote now!