Off the Books discussion

This thread is where people recommend books for this club to read next month! I want everyone to get the chance to share a book they love!!

It's preferred that you have already read this book, as we like to have warnings so that readers/members don't get blindsided by content that they find upsetting/triggering. However, if you have a fairly solid understanding of the plot and content and can accurately warn others ahead of time of anything that might need a trigger or content warning, we welcome your recommendation!! As long as you think it will be good, we want to know about it!!

Please share with us a book that you want us all to read, and we can pick next month's book now so that people who have to order online etc can have it arrive in time :)

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is one of my favourites! The main triggers would be discussions of grief and speculations of suicide. Huge nsfw warning for a couple of pages if you read on the train.

I'd also like to put forward Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg, which i've been on the hunt for forever and have yet to read. This one is a little harder to come by, but i've heard it's great.

I'm thinking about picking up More Than This by Patrick Ness soon, I think only Betty has read it so far? You gave it a good rating, and since I liked A Monster Calls so much I'm ready to give his other bestseller a go!

I haven't got a clue about possible trigger warnings though, since I haven't read it yet myself. Sorry!

A book I read last year that I thought was really good was Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim. It comes with very big trigger warnings for paedophilia, rape and drugs though. Maybe you guys have seen the movie by the same name with Joseph Gordon-Levitt?

More Than This was our book a couple of months back I'm so sorry!!

Betty wrote: "More Than This was our book a couple of months back I'm so sorry!!"

That's okay, I was going to read it either way :)

So I've been meaning to read We Need to Talk About Kevin for a looooooong time. I have only read the first few pages but I'm blown away so far just by the writing style, and it has been recommended to me many times. Though I haven't read it, my friend who is a huge fan of it has kindly provided me with a general list of triggers, which are as follows:

- maternal bonding issues, general role of motherhood stuff that might be upsetting for some ppl
- implied death/murder of animal
- it's about the events surrounding a school shooting but the scene itself is pretty short and in no way prolonged, but obv that might be distressing
- falsified molestation allegations (no actual scene depicting molestation)
- brief scene involving sexual harassment
- general psychologically distressing material, just due to the subject matter it's not a Pleasant read, but it's "not Wasp Factory levels of disturbing"
- and then there is apparently something that might be triggering but it will spoil the entire book, so I thought I'd err on the side of caution for now. I can tell you it is not self harm or suicide or rape. If you have specific triggers I will consult my WNTTAK Expert and they will let us know if that's the trigger - or I can just ask what it is outright if you guys prefer that!

Also don't hesitate to ask for more info on what I have listed.

So yea. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.

I'd love to read We Need to Talk About Kevin!! I've also been meaning to read that for the longest time.

I picked up The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern today and i've heard nothing but good things! I'm not too familiar with the plot but could go looking for some trigger info if need be!

I've read it Cayce!! It's amazing, you'll love it - no trigger warnings either :):)

I've read it Cayce!! It's amazing, you'll love it - no trigger warnings either :):)

I've had We Need To Talk About Kevin on my shelf for a couple of years, so I'd also like to put my vote of sorts towards it!

Looks like next month's book is We Need to Talk About Kevin!! I'm letting you all know now so you have plenty of time for it to arrive if you need to order it online :) we'll start it at the beginning of February, so get keen!!!!

PS: if you aren't already, I'd love to have you all as a friend on my goodreads account!! I love seeing what other people are reading and where they're up to; what they're enjoying etc! so if you'd like that please feel free to add me as a friend!!

Hi everyone! There haven't been any recs yet for March, so get reccing!!

I personally am recommending The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen. It's been in my TBR pile for a while, so I can't give any warnings for it as yet, but I have heard so many good things about it!

It is the first book in a series though, so if people aren't keen for that sort of thing, or only want to read stand-alone books, rec us something else!! :)

I've been really interested in TQotT, I'd love to read it! I also have a recommendation of a book that I've been dyyying to reread, Vicious by V.E. Schwab. It's incredibly entertaining and interesting, I think this group would really enjoy it, and I'd have an excuse to finally reread it!

Those are both great choices! My recommendation would be for Soulless by Gail Carriger (a book with a rather unique synopsis that drew me in), or The Magicians by Lev Grossman (I've been watching the Syfy adaptation and I am in l o v e)!

Ah, I'm excited to read any of these, but I'd like to add a vote for Soulless purely because I currently own it.

Betty, perhaps we should make a poll? Either on this group or the Facebook group (or both)?

That's the plan!! I'll do it when I'm on a computer :)

The poll is up everyone!! It should be on our group's homepage :)

Alright everyone!! The votes are in - try and get your hands on a copy of The Magicians ASAP !!

i ended up not reading the dec/jan OR the feb book and i was concerned i wouldn't get back on track for march but i actually just bought that book a few weeks ago so i'll be reading along!

It might be a little preemptive but have we started discussing the April choice yet? I was thinking of picking up Me Before You, before the movie comes out, but I think I'd enjoy it more if I buddy read and then discussed it. I hear it can be kind of a heavy book, and from what I understand it contains a disabled and suicidal character. Thoughts?

Jenna wrote: "It might be a little preemptive but have we started discussing the April choice yet? I was thinking of picking up Me Before You, before the movie comes out, but I think I'd enjoy it..."

I'm all for it, since I own it but haven't read it yet! I think it'd make a great book club book

No, absolutely!! Please feel free to add your recs :)

'Me Before You' sounds like a great choice, even though one of my friends just read it and gave me a play-by-play of what happens! :) Just to have some options (maybe for another poll? I quite liked how that worked last time!) I would like to suggest 'Outlander' by Diana Gabaldon. I actually haven't watched the tv series so everything would be quite new to me. But anything works for me!

OMG I looooove Outlander!!!

Betty wrote: "OMG I looooove Outlander!!!"

I've somehow managed to stay away from it, which is literally a miracle considering how obsessed people are about it! All I know is it's about a woman who travels back in time and bones a hot Scottish dude? And she's a nurse? I think? But yeah, literally all I know about it. :) But it's also the only book recommended so far that I actually already *own*. I live out in the boonies and have to order everything online and then wait a week or more to get it...

Hi all, I will have to bow out for this month - if you guys still want to read something for this month you're more than welcome to do so, but if you wanted to leave it for this month and we can start again next month, we can do that too :) it's up to you guys, let me know!!

i've read outlander--it's very good, but very long. betty i'm kind of feeling your idea. we got a late start this month so maybe we should take a break and play catch up.

I've heard great things about Outlander which is why I recommended it but I didn't realize it was approximately 1000 pages long??? lol So yeah, I think that - like Jenna said - it's a late start and we can use this month as a "free for all" month? I'm actually interested in finishing out The Magicians trilogy, so I'll be reading "The Magician King" this month! :)

Woohoo!

Hi everyone!! Long time no see!

According to our group poll, the majority of voters want to read Uprooted! So please try and get your hands on a copy to start reading in May :)

Ahhhh so I know I'm new here and I know we have our book picked for May, but I just wanted to throw one of my favorite books in the pot for recs! Home by Marilynne Robinson is the sequel to her novel Gilead, but you don't have to read the first one to understand or appreciate Home. It's a prodigal son type of story, told through the eyes of his sister Glory as she sees Jack's return to their home in Gilead. It's a book with heavy religious themes, but it examines the question of redemption within the family in such a wonderful and emotionally compelling way. Trigger warnings for alcoholism and a suicide attempt, but that scene is not described in any sort of graphic detail. Anyway this book is wonderful and Jack makes me cry.

It's that time again! What's a book you'd like for us all to read? We'll be voting soon!

I just picked up We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson which is supposed to be really great! Also maybe Vicious by V.E. Schwab? I love her Darker Shade of Magic series and this is another sci-fi/fantasy one from her. and tbh i've already read it but if ppl haven't read Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo that needs to be an option, it's SO GOOD!! and the second/final book comes out in Sept.

I think Cayce gave some great recs (esp. Six of Crows, which I've heard amazing things about) but just for the sake of options I would like to suggest Shadow and Bone or The Crown's Game! It seems that Uprooted has really reawakened my love for fantasy/sci-fi!

Hi guys!

Six of Crows is our book for June! So, if you're joining us, please get your hands on a copy and start a-readin'!

We've also had a request which I think is a great idea - to do our recs and polls a month in advance, so that people who live in places where it's harder to find the books/takes longer for the books to arrive aren't at a disadvantage, and can still join us for reading.

So, that said, please come at me with some recommendations for our July book!

My rec for July is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas! It's the first in a trilogy (the second book was just released in May) and I've heard wonderful things about it from friends!

I see Vicious received some votes as well, so if it's allowed, I'll rec that one again for July, since I just received it for my birthday :D

My other rec would be The Thing About Jellyfish by Benjamin Ali. I read it last month and gave it 5 stars for a very solid cry all the way through. It is a middle school/YA book about a girl whose best friend drowns while on holiday. She refuses to believe her friend simply drowned, because her friend is a very good swimmer, so when she hears about a deadly type of jellyfish she is convinced her friend got stung. In her grief, she becomes mute, and throughout the book we learn more about their friendship.

Hi all!

Vicious is our book for July! If you want to get organised now, feel free to order it so that it's here and ready for you to start reading once July rolls around!

Hi everyone!
If we're ready to start talking about next month's book I'd love to give We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson a try like Cayce mentioned a few months ago.
I haven't read it but I've heard great things.

As for books I HAVE read and would recommend: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness is my all-time-takes-the-cake favorite, but that's a trilogy and IMO a very hard one to put down.
Triggers are... murder/death and loss, religious abuse and torture.
It's still a YA book though.

Anna wrote: "Hi everyone!
If we're ready to start talking about next month's book I'd love to give We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson a try like Cayce mentioned a few months ago.
I haven't read it but I'..."

Hi beautiful Anna!

Thank you so much for your recommendation!! We actually already have a poll for August's book, which you can find in our poll section! So please feel free to vote :)

We Are the Ants seems to be a little difficult to get our hands on - the only one available on bookdepository is a hardback version, but I'll definitely keep a peep out and make sure to rec it again when the September rec comes around!!

My bad!
Better world books seems to have one or two, but that's hardback as well.

Hi all!!

Please get a hold of a copy of The Rest of Us Just Live Here to read for August!! :)

Hey! I'd like to rec a book for one of the coming months! Technically it's not a rec, since I haven't read it yet myself, but it sounds super interesting and I think you guys might like it as well. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

WellDoneBooks over on YouTube made a review and well, he really sells it :D

Hi!!

Please send in your recs for our September book so we can get the poll a-rollin!!!

Theirdarkness wrote: "Hey! I'd like to rec a book for one of the coming months! Technically it's not a rec, since I haven't read it yet myself, but it sounds super interesting and I think you guys might like it as well...."

Homegoing sounds very interesting!

I'd recommend You by Caroline Kepnes, but that has all sorts of graphic things in it, so if you don't like Thrillers or books about super Charismatic stalkers, then I guess not that haha.

My rec for September is White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi! (I apologize for the lack of a link, I'm using the mobile app at the moment) FIXED! I put the link in!

I CHANGED MY MIND!

Dark Matter looks really cool, and we've got a few Sci-fi fans here!
I haven't read it, but like 81% of the reviews are 4 stars or higher?

Anna wrote: "I CHANGED MY MIND!

Dark Matter looks really cool, and we've got a few Sci-fi fans here!
I haven't read it, but like 81% of the reviews are 4 stars or higher?"

I am...going to put this on my to-read list regardless... :)

Or maybe we could put forth Beastkeeper as a rec again because you just KNOW I'm not going to stop recommending it, Betty! lol Pretty please, I need an excuse to run it to the top of my to-read list!