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Original poster

Help with my snobby bookclub

255 replies

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 05/02/2015 12:16

It is my turn to pick our next book for our book club and I am stumped. And a bit scared TBH.

It needs to be fairly highbrow and literary I'm afraid. I don't know the other women all that well (apart from the friend who introduced me to the group) and they have all been picking books that are either literary classics or modern winners of Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. So no chick lit - I think I would be kicked out of the group Grin

I'd like to do something English or British because our current book is Runaway (Alice Munro) set in Canada.

I've already read lots of classics myself but don't really mind a repeat. I just want a book that won't make me look stupid.

So wise MNers - any recommendations?

OP posts:
LurkingHusband · 05/02/2015 13:28

All Quiet On The Western Front

The Labyrinth and Other Short Stories - Jorge Luis Borges (delicously sublime Smile)

RumbelowSale · 05/02/2015 13:27

You will come back and tell us what you've chosen, and then the snobby women's take on it, won't you? Tho I suspect they'll be more critical of your choice of wine and nibbles than the book, so....subsection...best snobby nibbles, anyone? What's on-trend amongst the book club literati? Anyone know?

kelda · 05/02/2015 13:26

I see someone has already suggested Terry Pratchett. I would go for his book Dodger, set in Victorian London, featuring many well known characters of the time Charles Dickens is the most obvious one.

Purpleflamingos · 05/02/2015 13:24

Fitzgerald? Hardy? Austen? Spenser's Faerie Queen is wonderful. Chaucer?

There's an incredibly boring book called Oscar and Lucinda that I didn't get to finish because it was so....boringly boreish...but it did win an award in the 90's.

I haven't read much except mn since having children. I really should pick it up over the summer when my exams are over.

magimedi · 05/02/2015 13:23

H is for Hawk is amazing - totally different & will be a real classic.

And, Hearts when this thread has run for a while, could you ask MNHQ to move it to the adult fiction topic? It would be such a shame to lose all these recommendations after 90 days.

Takver · 05/02/2015 13:21

Peach's suggestion just reminded me of 'Longbourne' - P&P from a servant's viewpoint, well worth a read esp as you can assume they'll all know P&P.

Girlwhowearsglasses · 05/02/2015 13:21

As a PP said The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton.

PeachandBlack · 05/02/2015 13:18

How about one of the Austen rewrites? I've only read Northanger Abbey by Val Mcdermid and I didn't rate it much but they should be fairly straightforward reads and you could discuss how successfully (or not) Austen's themes translate into modern life.

HarlotOTara · 05/02/2015 13:17

Parades End by Ford Maddox Ford, I grew to love it but it was a different read and should shut up any book snobs

ClaudetteWyms · 05/02/2015 13:17

You should definitely go with Margaret Atwood.

Cat's Eye should get a good discussion going among the group, is literary enough but very easy to read. Suitably devastating too.

The Edible Woman is also fantastic. In fact these are my two favourite books.

FoolishFay · 05/02/2015 13:15

Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones - hit me like a steam train, never forgotten it.

littlesupersparks · 05/02/2015 13:15

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

Cloud Atlas

Look at things like Guardian Award or things like that?

SunnyBaudelaire · 05/02/2015 13:15

yes try "What's Bred in the Bone" I thought it was marvellous

HumphreyCobbler · 05/02/2015 13:13

Hurrah for all the Robertson Davies love on this thread. My favourite author. Do choose a Robertson Davies, not enough people read him at the moment.

QuestionsaboutDS · 05/02/2015 13:12

Calvino, Borges or Stanislaw Lem are good picks for this situation. Most of your group probably won't have read them, they're quick enjoyable reads but they're undeniably posh lit.

SunnyBaudelaire · 05/02/2015 13:12

oh God not Rebecca if OP wants to maintain her place in the bookclub!

rumbelina · 05/02/2015 13:12

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.

DrElizabethPlimpton · 05/02/2015 13:11

A Commonplace Killing by Sian Busby.

MrsCakesPrecognition · 05/02/2015 13:08

Try something by Sara Maitland - I think she writes modern classics.

RumbelowSale · 05/02/2015 13:06

Someone mentioned Saki? We called a cat of ours Tobermory.....ok, we abbreviated it to Toby but we just knew he was not amused...

Boleh · 05/02/2015 13:03

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood - I think someone mentioned she was Canadian when I suggested it as an option at our book club.
I've gone for Brave New World in the end, since I think they need an intro to SciFi and its a bit more 'literary' than starting with Isaac Asimov. That said we spend more time drinking, eating and chatting than discussing the book - highbrow we are not! (It's the only time I ever go into work with a hangover Blush )

goshhhhhh · 05/02/2015 13:03

The Reader - sorry can't name the author. V v good book. Although translated from the German. Advantage of also being relatively short - which I think might be good for a book club.

Original poster
HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 05/02/2015 13:02

I was totally going to pick a Canadian author but then the woman before me picked Alice Munro so kind of took the wind out of my sails! Total bummer because there are so many great Canadian authors... Margaret Atwood, Margaret Laurence, Robertson Davies, Alice Munro, Mordecai Richler, Yann Martel....

OP posts:
Onceuponatimetherewas · 05/02/2015 13:00

The Road to Wigan Peer - Orwell - on the basis that the Tories are taking us there again.

BrendaBlackhead · 05/02/2015 13:00

May I suggest Stoner by John Williams.

www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/13/stoner-john-williams-julian-barnes

There's a lot to discuss in it, is quite literary and is from across the pond.