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Original poster

Book club choice please help

32 replies

Chocolatefrenzy · 30/09/2021 22:19

My turn to choose a book for book group HELP!,
Any suggestions for something amazing and bloody brilliant glady recieved,

OP posts:
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rosegoldwatcher · 04/11/2021 18:39

Ferney by James Long, Not recent, not well known. Sublime.

"When Mike and Gally Martin move to a cottage in Somerset, it's to make a new start. But the relationship comes under strain when Gally forms an increasingly close attachment to an old countryman, Ferney, who seems to know everything about her.

What is it that draws them together? Reluctantly at first, then with more urgency as he feels time slipping away, Ferney compels Gally to understand their connection - and to face an inexplicable truth about their shared past."

elkiedee · 04/11/2021 10:03

The books I listed above are all African-American classics but they've been kept in print or recently brought back in to print.

Nella Larsen's Passing (1920s) has been adapted for screen - maybe Netflix. Or Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half (2020) is much longer, similar themes, set in, I think, the 1960s and 1970s.

For a black British write, another Bernardine Evaristo novel Mr Loverman. The author has a Nigerian father (whose father went to Nigeria from Brazil) and a white English mother but her characters in this novel are mostly Afro-Caribbean.

Does your bookgroup have particular preferences? For example, mine does read crime etc occasionally but I'd say quite literary books are often preferred.

elkiedee · 04/11/2021 09:55

James Baldwin, Another Country (1960)
Octavia Butler, Kindred or Parable of the Sower*

PermanentTemporary · 01/11/2021 23:09

Everything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Educated by Tara Westover
Milkman by Anna Burns

craftymadam · 01/11/2021 23:05

Or 'The Guernsey literary and potato peel society'?

craftymadam · 01/11/2021 23:02

The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman?

BeBraveAndBeKind · 01/11/2021 22:50

Another vote for Station Eleven.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson went down well at our bookclub.

Windows01 · 20/10/2021 07:41

@Chocolatefrenzy

Have a sample of my sister the serial killer on my kindle so will have a look at that. I'm halfway through American Dirt as that has amazing reviews but not enjoying it as much as I thought

I'm also struggling to get through American Dirt but persevering given the excellent reviews.

MrsWhites · 04/10/2021 17:54

I was going to suggest The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult but someone has already suggested it so I will second that one.

Would also recommend Small Great Things and a newer one The Book of Two Ways again, both by Jodi Picoult.

Hazelnut5 · 04/10/2021 17:41

Just finished Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. Great book and there are loads of good themes in it for discussion.

Standrewsschool · 01/10/2021 18:14

Books that provoked good discussion in my bookclub included

Three Hours - Rosemary Lipton
Girl with louding voice
Conclave - Robert Harris

witheringrowan · 01/10/2021 10:16

We had a great discussion around After the Party by Cressida Connolly

AdaColeman · 01/10/2021 09:14

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, beautifully written, and several themes to discuss.

AgentProvocateur · 01/10/2021 09:04

@TimeforaGandT we’ve done all those in our book group too 😂

Monolithique · 01/10/2021 09:03

Run by Ann Patchett, v good and a lot to discuss .

squashyhat · 01/10/2021 08:44

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger was my last book club one. Long but well worth it with loads of topics/themes for discussion.

Blackcountryexile · 01/10/2021 08:36

I would suggest
This Lovely City Louise Hare
Florence Adler Swims Forever Rachel Beanland
The Sealwoman's Gift Sally Magnusson
Daisy Jones and the Six Taylor Taylor Jenkins Reid.

SailYourShips · 30/09/2021 23:05

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James or The Woman in Black by Susan Hill would be good choices for October.

They're bothe short, so maybe both of them to see how they compare.

Susan Hill's book is so, so much better than the awful film with the Harry Potter actor.

toots111 · 30/09/2021 22:46

Definitely Station 11. I love it.

Stopsnowing · 30/09/2021 22:45

Station Eleven
The Immortal Life of Henrietta lacks

gingercatsparky · 30/09/2021 22:45

Just read shuggie Bain for our book group, absolutely amazing. Other great book is educated.

Original poster
Chocolatefrenzy · 30/09/2021 22:44

I'm writing down all your suggestions so thank you, weve read Hamnet and the book thief (we've been going strong for 10 Years.)

OP posts:
TimeforaGandT · 30/09/2021 22:44

I enjoyed American Dirt. I thought The Girl with the Louding Voice was excellent and also really enjoyed Small Pleasures.

Other good books I have read recently which would be good as a book club read are:

The Offing by Benjamin Myers
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

waltzingparrot · 30/09/2021 22:43

'Where the crawdads sing' was a good book for our club. Loved by all and good discussion.

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