Why do book groups all read the same books?

[BoccaDellaVerita]

This was inspired by the current thread about The Book Thief.

I've noticed that some books - The Book Thief, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Time Traveller's Wife, We Need To Talk About Kevin, to pick just four - are on so many book groups' lists they seem to all intents and purposes to be compulsory. Yet they often turn out to be disappointing or even mediocre. So how do these books attain the status of book group mainstays? And can anyone suggest something better?

Under the Skin - Michel Faber
Any of the Just William books

I think a lot of book groups just follow the Richard and Judy crowds tbh.

Richard and Judy
And libraries buy multiple copies of them, so easy to borrow

our book group has read Kevin and Half of a Yellow Sun LOL. But we do usually steer clear of the R & J crowds. This month's choice is The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, and past choices that went down very well with all of us were Fingersmith, Small Island, The Secret River amongst others.

It's a slight element of the lowest common denominator tbh.

for some reason groups are often reluctant to put people off by proposing classics or tough contemporary reads, whereas they are often OK about losing people who want to read more challenging stuff.

We're about to do A Town Like Alice. I'm delighted as I love it, and prob lots to talk about. But my favourite group reads have been War and Peace (would NEVER have read this without group), A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, Blindness by Jose Saramago and of course The Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

I also loved Portnoy's Complaint but thought it very dated and everybody else hated it - very interesting IMO to read 'hot' books of the past, they often seem pretty cold in retrospect.

We had lots of crap books including The Other Boleyn Girl which sticks in my mind as being truly dreadful, and also the Bookseller of Kabul which was worthy but oh so depressing. Also lots of Jodie Picoult and some pointless crime fiction.

oh yes, we did end up doing My Sister's Keeper, for our sins.

Mmmm, I think R&J probably have a lot to answer for.

Totalchaos - How have you found the Joan Didion book?

God, Jodie Picoult. I enjoy them for a good page-turner but don't want to discuss them! Particularly hate the 'questions for your book group' bits at the back; 'The character X is particularly well written. Why do you think Jodie Picoult is able to write so incredibly well and still blog regularly at her website www.jodiepicoult.topauthors.com?'

our book group is currently reading little women

Am really enjoying it from an adult point of view having not read it since I was 10

Gah to Jodie Picoult. Although I managed to upset my sister over Christmas by voicing my opinions about JP - must learn to keep my mouth shut sometimes.

Not read it properly, have only flicked through it up till now (have put off reading it tbh, will end up doing it at the last minute) It's interesting but rather depressing (brings back some real life memories of my gran's death).

Okay, crap name and terrible beginning but stick with 'The Magician's Assistant' by Ann Patchett.

A quiet book about the strength of women. Most (if not all) of the dialogue is between women.

I read it a few years ago so it's a bit hazy but I have since searched for all of Ann Patchett's other books.

oh there's also "Woman on the Edge of Time" by Marge Piercy - a bit of a curate's egg - some fine and convincing writing about abuse of women by the US mental health system in the 60s, but then there's a slightly irritating subplot about a utopian futuristic world.

We all have choices and vote for the final selection. We have also had some mentioned here:
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Suite Francaise
Crow Lake
Small Island
Fingersmith
We have read all the ones mentioned in OP, we are looking mainly for ones that you can have a good discussion about.

We have also had
Wind in the Willows
Three Men in a Boat
Tale of Two Cities
Lovely Bones
Cloud Atlas
Life of Pi
Poisonwood Bible
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Secret Life of Bees
Atonement
The Tenderness of Wolves
The Star of the Sea
English Passengers
The Handmaid's Tale
The Story of Lucy Gault
Miss Garnet's Angel
They are just ones that stick in the mind.

We do try and go for ones on special offer or sets from the library-I suppose those 2 facts mean that we tend to cover the same ground as other groups.

We've done, among others:
The Great Gatsby
The Warden
The Lovely Bones (stereotypical book group choice)
The Story of Lucy Gault
The House of Sleep
The Book Thief (most of us didn't like much)
East of Eden
Atonement
Star of the Sea
(Piscesmoon, you are not in our book group are you?)
We are about to do
The House in the Strand
Middlemarch

I am no longer member of my bookgroup due to other commitments but we used to (and probably still do) comprise a fairly mixed bunch, so although we read some of those more typical books, we also got through some less typical reads amongst which were: Philip Roth, Dostoyevski, Khauo Ishiguro, Guenter Grass and Paul Auster.

I love the futuristic utopia in woman on the edge of time. I waded through the rest of the stuff to my beloved sub-plot. Surely I am not alone in this? Am I a philistine?

No nancy! I adored Woman on the Edge of Time. As a bloke it was my first and loved intro. into 'feminist' fiction - it was eye-opening on one level, a "ripping yarn" on another, very sensual on another and made me stop and question my reading of science-fiction as well.

I ALWAYS know where my copy of this is, though other books get lost.

My book group is reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, I'm really enjoying it.
Last one they did was called The Welsh girl, I didn't enjoy that one it was awful.

My book group gets boxes of books from the library and we're given a list of what it available and choose which ones we'd like over the next x amount of months. I often wonder why there are never any lighter reads on the list like Sophie Kinsella and the like.

Glad I am not alone!

Pisces what did you think of tenderness of wolves?

Haven't read any of books in OP, we have also decided that we are going to change from a book club to a book swap club.

We have several Americans in our group so sometimes read some great books that are big in the States but not really known over here! Currently reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan which is a really good read - I've learnt a lot whilst enjoying the emotional side of it!

Nancysgarden I also like WotEoT a lot (in fact I need a new copy as mine has fallen apart. Do you also like the Dispossessed which is my other favourite utopia novel for depressed moments?
Re book groups, I know my Mum struggles endlessly with trying to get together enough copies via the library of almost anything. Leicestershire do have a central point to collect multiple copies, apparantly they have a list of books where there are more than 12 in the county, it is pretty short, and there are long waiting lists for most of them.