I've been asked to chose the first book for a new book club eek!

[Pelvicflooragogo]

It's with like minded mums I met at the school in their last year but now I'm feeling the pressure to pick well! I read fairly widely and enjoy period classics, historical fiction and a touch of wizardy stuff (nothing too woo) as well as the usual water cooler fodder.

Do I pick something I've read before and then read it again or pick one I've heard is good and we all read it for the first time for the club? Don't want to sound overly wanky so want to make sure it's accessible for everyone as well as being a good read.

Was thinking about
The Power of One - not read but had great reviews
I Capture the Castle- read it years ago and loved it
Whatever the first Rebus novel by Ian Rankin was- read later ones so curious about earlier
Gone Girl- it's on my shelf and most people seem to have heard of it this year or already read it

Any suggestions gratefully received!

By the way this club will involve both and

[DuchessofMalfi]

You could try The Night Circus by Erin Morgestern?

[Pelvicflooragogo]

Yes I just ahead that in the summer and really enjoyed bits of it but not the ending but was very gripped and loved the new world it took me to- good idea.

[ModeratelyObvious]

People of the Book by Geraldine James
The Girls by Lori Lansen

were two my book group did and everyone liked and had things to say about.

[highlandcoo]

The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman is a great read. Beautiful prose and there's a moral dilemma at the heart of the plot which would make for an interesting discussion.

I also love The Observations by Jane Harris. Very original novel, told in the voice of a young servant girl. An intriguing mystery but also very funny in parts.

[Spoo]

Loved the light between oceans, plenty to talk about too.

[Spoo]

Spooky!!!

[scarfaceace]

I'm pretty sure that your local library website will have a list of suggestions for reading groups. Also, some publishers do too, with a list of points to discuss for each book. One if the bookshop chains (waterstones possibly) used to have lists as well.

[CheeryCherry]

The Book Thief. Gave our book club a lot to talk about, fabulous, unusual book.

[maillotjaune]

Don't choose a nook you've read before unless you won't mind having to defend it if other people slag it off!

Stoner by John Williams was a really good one to discuss (and everyone liked it).

[maillotjaune]

Book not nook!

[penguinpaperback]

I Capture the Castle...good choice

[juneau]

Our group really enjoyed Still Alice, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away and The Other Hand.

[valiumredhead]

Oh God not Gone Girl, ANYTHING but that

[valiumredhead]

I agree about not choosing a book you love in case everyone slates it!

[Pelvicflooragogo]

Ooh thanks for all the advice, ok not a book I love. Was considering Let The Right One In. Has anyone read it and think it might be decent for book club?

[MrsAMerrick]

Let the Right one in is a good book but not everyone likes vampire stories. I don't like vampire type stories usually, but did like this one but it's a bit of a gamble.
Personally, I'd stick with I Capture the Castle but another good one would be something like The Secret River which is a relatively easy read, gripping story and lots to talk about. Most people in my book group hated The Other Hand including me, and I'd be really put off a book group if that was the first choice.
Recently my book group has enjoyed A Perfectly Good Man, the Art of Hearing Heartbeats and March (by Geraldine James). Gone Girl had a very mixed reception...

[tripfiction]

Some super choices. I think personally I would avoid Gone Girl because it's been out a while and some people struggle with the theme.

There has been a fair amount on Twitter about The Disappearance of Emily Marr, by Louise Candlish as being a good choice for a book club and there are some thought provoking questions for groups at the back - and it is set in such a beautiful part of the world, Ile de Ré which some of your members might know, and might just add a bit more.

Hope whatever you choose turns out well!

[tumbletumble]

Don't choose a long book - I can guarantee some people won't finish it! Our book club had an interesting discussion about The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne. I'm currently reading The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger and I think that would work well as a book club book. Or The Help by Kathryn Stockett?

IME you need something that is a fairly easy read but quite thought provoking, so you can have a good meaty discussion.

[dalek]

Under the Skin by Michel Faber - not too long and lots to talk about. Recently read Gillespie and I by Jane Harris but that is quite a long book. Good luck with whatever you chose.

[ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts]

The Night Circus is brilliant I recommend that to everyone

[limitedperiodonly]

My all time favourite is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Deeply subversive anti-hero in 1960s New Orleans. Very funny but warped, so maybe not everyone will like it.

John Irving's A Widow For One Year. Makes you feel great for being a sexy woman of 40 and well above. He's not pervy, he's deeply appreciative of the older woman Hilarious in parts with a good thriller plot tacked on.

Beautiful tale of 19th century country romance, betrayal and triumph - Precious Bane, by Mary Webb. Or you could try the jolly send up of the genre, Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons.

The Waiting Game by Bernice Rubens. Deeply, darkly funny murder mystery in an old people's home.

Michael Frayn's Spies, a short Home Front mystery of small boys' tragic misunderstanding. Or his Headlong, which is a slightly longer comic tale of greed and snobbery and inherited art.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. Yes, the Jude Law film. The film's not bad. The book's better. I was desperate to read the end of it at a bus stop as the light was fading and a woman next to me said: 'Tell me what that book is. It's got to be good.' It was. I cried.

Maggie O'Farrell's After You've Gone is moving and layered. Her books don't reveal immediately; her stories are confusing but you have to trust her to explain at the end, which she does, and this works really well. I like other things of hers but that's the first and the best IMO.

[Tinlegs]

Recent good ones include: "The Testament of Alex Woods" and Ben Elton's "Two Brothers", also, "The Song of Achilles" and "After the Fall".

[ScaryFucker]

can't beat (anything by) Margaret Atwood

[Tinlegs]

Also, for something I have just finished with loads to talk about, "The Husband's Secret"