Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

what book should I pick for my book group?

56 replies

EmmaGrundyForPM · 12/10/2022 22:57

It's my turn to pick the next book and I'm stuck. We're an all-female book group, most of us in our 50s. Recent books we've enjoyed include Uncommon Ground, Small Pleasures and Still Life. Lessons in Chemistry got a mixed reception. We all hated Crawdads.

We like books that we can analyse and which raise lots of themes/questions.

Any suggestions?

OP posts:
QuestionableMouse · 13/10/2022 18:23

www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Haven-Point-Lisette-Auton/dp/024152203X

It's young adult but don't let that put you off! Deals deftly with disabilities, has some gorgeous themes and is a really good read!

Riverlee · 13/10/2022 18:23

Three Hours by Rosemary Lupton - probably generated one of our best book club discussions. If you look online, there’s questions relating to the book. Good book.

carbuncleonapigsposterior · 13/10/2022 18:22

Sweet Caress - William Boyd
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides
Free Love Tessa Hadley
The Whalebone Theatre Joanna Quinn
The Stopped Heart Julie Myerson
Lie of the Land Amanda Craig
How to Kill your Family Bella Mackie

SirChenjins · 13/10/2022 18:21

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (don’t be put off by the topic, it’s written in a very sensitive, as opposed to gratuitous way)
Currently reading The Lincoln Highway, Towles’ latest, which is brilliant, but appreciate you probably want a different author

3 brilliant books (and yes, Crawdads is utter tripe)

FlowerArranger · 13/10/2022 18:20

Educated by Tara Westover
Moo by Jane Smiley

Very different but both utterly non-put-downable

dalisdrippingclock · 13/10/2022 18:15

My bookclub have recently enjoyed
An Awful Kindness
The Hearts invisible furies
American Dirt
And Anxious People

cloudjumper · 13/10/2022 18:15

Miss Benson's Beetle
Look Who's Back
The Mercies
Away With The Penguins

waltzingparrot · 13/10/2022 18:10

Perfect by Rachel Joyce

MrsJackRackham · 13/10/2022 18:05

The Midwife by Tricia Cresswell, set in mid 19th century. Good discussion points round women's education, or lack of it, poverty, the dangers women faced in childbirth plus there's a lovely twist 🙂

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 13/10/2022 18:04

The Radium Girls

It's factual, but very readable. It's the story of the women who worked with radium in aeroplane factories around a century ago, and how they were treated - and fought back - when they became ill. It raises lots of questions about working conditions, poverty, health care, feminism.

mamaduckbone · 13/10/2022 18:03

Shuggie Bain
Hamnet
A man called Ove
The Beekeeper of Aleppo

sidsgranny · 13/10/2022 18:03

We all loved:

The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
Thousand Splendid Suns - Khalid Hosseini
And the Mountains Echoed - Khalid Hosseini
How to kill your Family - Bella Mackie
7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

These are just a few I remember. We're in our 14th year and are on our 153rd book!

largeprintagathachristie · 13/10/2022 18:00

I second Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel.

Bbq1 · 13/10/2022 17:59

The Muse

Bbq1 · 13/10/2022 17:59

The Lost Letters of Esther Durrant

PrioritiseCalm · 13/10/2022 17:55

Beloved
Half of a Yellow Sun
The Miniaturist
State of wonder

Anything by Isabelle Allende

Original poster
EmmaGrundyForPM · 13/10/2022 17:39

Thanks for the great suggestions. I've picked an Elizabth Strout before, as I love her writing, so will probably steer away from that. We've read a Gentleman in Moscow and most of us really enjoyed it.

Sorrow and Bliss has got really poor reviews. I've just looked up Death and the Penguin and that looks like a good possibility. Two of the group are hosting Ukranian refugees.

OP posts:
junebirthdaygirl · 13/10/2022 13:15

I love all Elizabeth Strout books.
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason is a fabulous read.
Left on Tenth Delia Ephron..autobiography
Herself and her sister Nora wrote When Harry met Sally/ Sleepless in Seattle and more so good story teller. I really liked it.

MissyB1 · 13/10/2022 12:58

“Everyone is still alive”. Cathy Rentzenbrick.

eddiemairswife · 13/10/2022 12:56

Giving up the Ghost, a memoir by Hilary Mantel.

Iheartgeraniums · 13/10/2022 12:53

Sorrow and Bliss?

Hadalifeonce · 13/10/2022 12:48

A Gentleman in Moscow is absolutely brilliant.

purpleme12 · 13/10/2022 12:48

The Storyteller - Jodi Picoult

JaninaDuszejko · 13/10/2022 12:46

Have you read any novels about Ukraine if you want something topical? Death and the Penguin was very popular with the 50 bookers earlier this year, Grey Bees is more about the war. Both by Andrey Kurkov.

TheGirlWhoLived · 12/10/2022 23:08

I read the bees as part of a book group, really interesting!