I need a book to reignite my book club

[duke]

I need a book to reignite my book club, we've just read The cellist of Srajevo by Steven Galloway, I thought it was ok, couldn't really disscuss it as having a problem with some members NOT READING THE BOOKS, getting a bit miffed, we may aswell have a supper club. Sorry to moan but we read the the suspicions of mr Whicher and some members said oh don't tell me who did it as I haven't finished it yet??????? Can anyone suggest a really good gripping page turner that will get us all going again.

how about a book of short stories? Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber should give everyone plenty to think and talk about

Everyone I know seems to love The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's very popular though, so some of you will no doubt have read it.

Just looked at TGWTDT put it on my list, thanks. I fancy birdsong sebastian faulks but worried it might be too long.

The Bloody Chamber is a fabulous read.

A Brief History of the Dead. Amazing.

I enjoyed Half Of A Yellow Sun v much recently.

If you want a page-turner though, how about that one called something to do with Violent Art or Brutal Art - forget who it's by but it is gripping and pretty well written.

Or The Gargoyle.

Mr Toppit by Charles Elton was an easy read at our book group. Was finished even by the worst culprit of not finishing.

Or how about a graphic novel? Maus by Art Speigelman is a great piece of storytelling. You forget you're not just reading it.

The two favourites of all time though have been The Apprenticship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler and Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

We had similar problems in our book group. The book that brought us back was Under the Skin by Michel Faber - fantastic and not too long.

Mr Toppit is a decent, easy read and has a v cute cover as an added bonus!

I'd second TGWTDT. It has a slow bit near the beginning but once it gets going it's unputdownable.

The Guernsey Literary and potato peel pie society - everyone in our book club loved it!

Under the Skin is fab!

The House of Sand and Fog is a great book club book as there's enough to it to make it worth discussing without being too hard to get through.

I wouldn't describe it as a "page turner" but it certainly makes you want to read on.

or........if you want something a bit more gritty - "Play it as it Lays" by Joan Didion is amazing. Also, it has the advantage of having very short chapters so you can read it easily if you don't get very long to read in one sitting.

However, in no way could it be described as uplifting.

Pinefarm I am thinking of that as my next choice, being in letter form wasn`t off putting then? Is it good for discussion?

I wouldnt stand for that in my book club!

If I turned up all keen to discuss a book and no one else had read it I'd be furious!

Under the Skin is excellent and very disturbing, stays with you for ages.

I've just joined this looking for suggestions for my book club as well! So this thread is interesting. We've read The Girl with Dragon Tatoo and enjoyed that (although a bit long for some )

But one book that got us all really talking was The Mother's Tale. It's short, easy to read and chock full of issues for new (and old mothers). I thought it was brillant, one of the girls really hated it (!) and it shocked most of us which caused lots of lively conversation!!! One of the best books we've discussed this year!!!

We also tried The Road which I really enjoyed as well, but the others found depressing

We all talked a lot about 'Veronica Decides to Die' by Paolo Coehlo

its quite hard to choose something for everyone. my current book group is quite new and set up by me but not going as well, for me, as i'd hoped. we are 11 people which is quite big and everyone is busy and it is extremely rare that everyone reads the book. we meet 6 weekly on a friday (v bad for me!) and the books are on a list at the local library so we get the next one on the day and collect in the previous one and one of us goes to the library. we rarely agree on books but use a points system to score. i think some of the books are really dreadful and its based on quantity available at library.

previous book group (in old town) was fab - we all chose the book for when we hosted it and everyone checked in advance from a shortlist of 3. there were rarely any duds and we had very lively converstaions - brilliant
books:
the road
kite runner
arthur and george
perfume
we are the mulvaneys
a widow for a year
cider with rosie
music and silence

The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney - absolutely wonderful book, so sparse and yet so deep...