According to my calendar, my bookclub will be meeting again next Wednesday. According to the location of my bookmark, I’ve only read a couple pages of the book… which does not explain why I’m sitting here blogging instead of curling up on the couch with a good book.
At the end of 2008, I pulled together a few friends who were interested in joining a bookclub, and in January 2009, we met to discuss our first book. The group of a half dozen people we started out with dwindled to four as Bruce and Bess each made life transitions, but rumor has it that a few new people will be joining us next week.
When people find out I’m in a bookclub, they almost always ask what we’ve been reading… and somehow I can never seem to remember the most interesting books we’ve read. So in case you were on the verge of inquiring about our reading list, here’s a list of all of the books we read and discussed during the first year, along with very brief descriptions.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen – a novel about a young man who drops out of a veterinary program at Cornell and inadvertently joins a traveling circus.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin – the story of Greg Mortenson, a mountain-climber turned humanitarian who built schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo – my first official bookclub FAIL. We were scheduled to discuss this during the busiest month of perhaps my entire life and I didn’t even START the book. Oops.
The Known World by Edward P. Jones – a historical novel set in Virginia that explores the lives of black slave-owners. (Most of us would have been content to give up on the book partway through.)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel – a novel – the story of a boy who is shipwrecked and then stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days.
I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson – pretty much what the uber-long title says it is. A very humorous book!
Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose – a fascinating account of the semester that the author spent at Liberty University before returning to Brown University. ** Winner of the Rachel’s Favorite Book of 2009 Award **
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick – the story of an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station in Paris. It’s a 550-page novel, but I read in just one hour. Hint: it has a lot of pictures. Also, even though it’s technically a children’s book, our group loved it!
Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable by Mark Dunn – takes place on the fictional island of Nollop, named after the man who supposedly created the pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Letters are gradually omitted from the story as it progresses.
Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett – a novel about a pregnant, married young woman who decides to go to a home for unwed mothers.
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Which of these did you like? I’ve heard good things about several of them but the only one I’ve read was “Life of Pi.”
Jennifer: As I mentioned in the post, Unlikely Disciple was definitely my favorite. I would highly recommend both Three Cups of Tea and Life of Pi. The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Patron Saint of Liars would also be worthwhile picks.
If there’s a specific one you’re wondering about, I can certainly give you a more complete opinion on it.
I’m reading Three Cups of Tea right now and it’s very good. I’ll have to check out some of the others. My book club read Water For Elephants recently but I was too busy that month too.
Phoebe: Water for Elephants was good, but crude at times. Still, it was a fun, easy read.
If you spend enough time in the car for the Water for Elephants audio book – the reading of it is amazing…stirs up the imagination. It also helped that I worked for years in a nursing home and laughed out loud at some of the happenings captured in the book. I enjoyed the ‘listen’…audio books help pass the hour commute each way. Three cups of tea was a great ‘listen’ also :-).
I read a lot of these in 2009, too…after waiting to hear bess’ assessments. 🙂 but i have to admit that when she asked me to deliver Unlikely Disciple to you, I secretly kept it for myself for a day and read it VERY quickly before passing it along to you. i agree–it was SO interesting!
Joy: Thanks for the suggestion. I’m definitely spending lots of time in the car these days! 🙂
derstk: So I’m guessing you did NOT read the book that Bess threw on the floor after she read it…