The Readers' Choice: 200 Book Club Favorites

by Victoria Golden McMains

Here are two hundred reader-tested answers to the question "What have you read that's good?"  The Readers' Choice is the first book to feature titles based on the recommendations of numerous book clubs.  Victoria McMains has collected two hundred favorites of more than seventy reading groups nationwide, ideal for book group members looking for a "good read," busy people seeking enjoyable books outside the bestseller lists, or anyone who wants to read more but isn't sure where to start.





Combining her skills as a book reveiwer and a veteran book group member, McMains provides brief, captivating profiles of a diverse mix of fiction and nonfiction.  There are love stories and war stories, fantasy and political intrigue, biography and nature-and much more.  Each profile highlights the unique traits of the book and ends with a few questions for group favorites as well as little-known gems that have been discovered and treasured.  Indexes organize the entries by title and subject matter, helping readers find books that appeal to their interest. For anyone wanting to learn the easy essentials of starting a book club, check out McMains's introduction.





Let The Readers Guide help you make the most of the precious time you spend reading?



 

Genres: Books About Books, Nonfiction

270 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victoria Golden McMains is a book reviewer and a book group member who wrote about the top 200 books recommended for book clubs. She was in contact with seventy book groups in four states when she chose the books. She wrote that most of the books were "midlist books", rather than best-sellers, the type of books that "tell the stories of people facing some kind of personal challenge or conflict and growing in the process." She gives a profile of each book, and often mentions other books by the same author that she enjoyed. There are a couple of questions for thought or book discussions at the end of each profile.

I read the book with a notebook, listing 42 books that I might want to read and jotting down a few notes. Since the book was written in 2000, most of the books were published in the 1990s. I'll check my local libraries for the availability of these books. The 1990s decade was very busy for me between working and raising a family so I had read very few of the books listed, although I had heard of many of them. So this is a good time for me to mix in some excellent books I missed during that decade.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another "book of books," this one contains 200 book club favorites. I had only read, or had on my to-read list, about 25 of these titles, so there were quite a few new ones to peruse. The anthology begins with a preface containing information about starting and maintaining a book club, and is followed by the booklist. Each novel has its own page with a short description, author information, and discussion group questions. The majority of the books are obscure gems, not bestsellers, and while most are contempary fiction, there are a few non-fiction and biographical works thrown in. My only minor criticism is that the presentation doesn't really grab you, but the content is still good. This is a great investment and resource for a book club or for any lover of literature.

[Nancy Rossman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most fabulous resource tool ever. Ok, was I over the superlative limit? probably but I digress. Only recently my new book friend, Georgia, gave me this as she knows that I belong to a semi-serious book club (we meet twice a month, no food, no drink...one hour...you should have read the book--you get the picture) and many have dropped out because their picks went less-than-rave reviews. So she wanted to give me ideas, suggestions, that kind of thing. But here's the thing, I have devoured DEVOURED it because of all the asides and other tidbits. This book is old therefore I bet you can buy it cheap in places. But I have loved it. And I can't believe that out of this top 200 picks all across the USA, I have read only 25 of them. Wow. More homework. Good luck, bookies!

[Marsha R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Reader's Choice by Victoria Golden McMains didn't meet my expectations. While it offers numerous book recommendations, only a very small fraction of them caught my interest. I normally love these type books this one wasn't for me.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this title on our library's book club webpage. I'm really enjoying reading a one page blurb on each of 200 different books that were voted as favorites by many different book clubs. The author writes a book club selection column for her local paper.

I finished it and now I have a new list of books I want to read.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't say that I can give this a fair rating because I haven't read any of the books it recommends. I did, however, come up with a significant list of "to reads" so I'm hoping they prove to be good choices and it was worth my time to read this book.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gives some good ideas of books to read, but nothing terribly exciting. I just love books about books which is why I picked it up! Like most books of this type, I added a few suggestions to my "to-read" list.

[Laurel Deloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Readers' Choice is the first book to feature titles based on the recommendations of numerous book clubs. Victoria McMains has collected two hundred favorites of more than seventy reading groups..soet of boring. Our book club has read better books

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a good book to skim through looking for new books to add to my list. Not outstanding, but good. I was surprised to find that I have never heard of most of the 200 books described.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was able to increase my TBR list by using this helpful, informative book. I don't think I put all of them on the list, but most.

[Jackie Gamber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific list of books chosen by book clubs, and why they have become favorites. I'm working my way through titles!

[Frederick Bingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compendium of reviews of recommended books. Many books in this database are take from this book.

[Wes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reviews and recommended reads.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got a lot of good suggestions on books I want to read from this book.

[Susan Liston · Rating 3 out of 5]

This consists of one page synopsis of books recommended for book clubs. It is 17 years old, so there might have been a lot of already-reads for me, but oops, no. I made a quick count, I have read and liked only three of the 200. I read and thought okay-to-meh about four others, tried to read and hated three others. I have investigated and rejected another four. I suppose the good news is that I own eleven more that I haven't read yet. Some of these I had forgotten about, so they must be at the bottom of the giant pile under the kitchen table. Time to dig some out before I go in search of the books listed that I wasn't familiar with but sounded interesting....