Starting a new book group and what book should I suggest we all read

[nocluemum]

I've never been in a book group before and I am more of a chick lit sort of reader these days although used to read all sorts of stuff. What would be a good book to start with......

Alias Grace by Margaret Attwood - long though.

Great plot with an element of ambiguity that would suit discussion and lovely character development too. I would say it's a literary novel, but easy enough to read.

The Help
Great Gatsby (and go and see the film?!)
Brixton Beach
The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and...

Scenes From Behind The Museum by Kate Atkinson
It's a great book, not too long, mixes present day family drama with the past and a tantalising mystery!

Oh, I second The Help too, that's a brilliant book, lots of book club discussion points!

I think there was a (fantastic) film called 'The Help'. Is the main character a black domestic servant in the deep south of America?

simon lelic has a few which are easy to get into, gripping and thought provoking - am not on comission - they've stayed with me and would love to have someone to discuss them with instead of boring non reading family to tears think rupture was my favourite.

Yes there was a film of The Help. Amazing! Read the book first but still found the film truly moving. (Trying so hard to avoid spoilers!)
Or Rebecca?

Spies by Michael Frayn perhaps.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Loads of discussion points and grippingly easy to read.

Yes, The Help is definitely a goodie. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon was the first one my reading group read, and seven years later we still refer back to it!

Curious Incident also great.

I would suggest you think about who is coming.
our inaugural book was the woman who went to bed for a year.
it was a very easy read, and we are all knackered mothers who have had the desire in the last 12 months to fuck it all and stay in bed.

From there, we each wrote down our favorite books of all time and picked one out of a hat.

then they have come up naturally depending on what peple have seen and fancy reading

I've just read The Road Home, Rose Tremain. A good story, took a few days to get through, raises a few topical issues so lots to talk about. I lovced it.

How about The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern? It's very good.

Thanks all. Went for the help in the end.

Are you asking people to buy the books? If so, can I make a suggestion that might help?

We don't buy ours. Instead, our local library has access to collections of books for book groups. So we get a list (which is several pages long!) and order the ones we want. They then supply us with a dozen copies of the book, one set per month. If anyone has their own copy then they can read that which helps as our book group has about 14 members, so we usually end up having to play a bit of a 'pass the book' game! It has made it affordable for everyone though. It does mean you don't always get the latest releases but there's a huge variety on the list.

Have fun - our group loved The Help.

noclue let us know how you get on.

baby that is a great tip

noclue when I started a book group last year I thought it would be fun and a nice introduction for each member to choose their favourite book of all time. Whoever hosts chooses the book so I went first and chose Flowers for Algernon.