Schlafly Global Book Discussion Group discussion

Hi everyone,

As you may know by now, I'm currently juggling two monthly book clubs in the wake of Travis's recent promotion. I have doubts about my ability to keep both of them going indefinitely, so the plan is to combine this group and the Blender Book Club in 2021. It's also safe to assume we'll be keeping the virtual format for the foreseeable future.

What I would like from you is some input about what you'd like to see from this group in the coming year. Specifically:

1) Is there a date you'd prefer to meet? (Bear in mind we'll only have the one group meeting now.)

2) How do you feel about this club's current "global" theme? Are there any new themes or topics you'd like to explore?

3) Do you have any particular books or authors you think would be a good fit for next year?

Feel free to give whatever other feedback you may have, too. I'll set aside some time to discuss whatever is shared here during our next virtual session.

I'm excited to see where we go next!

1) Is there a date you'd prefer to meet? (Bear in mind we'll only have the one group meeting now.)
The Global dates work well enough for me now.
2) How do you feel about this club's current "global" theme? Are there any new themes or topics you'd like to explore?
I see a complementary blending of both groups’ interests - certainly alternative category-defying efforts are taking place world-wide.
3) Do you have any particular books or authors you think would be a good fit for next year?
Is non-fiction ever considered OR are there other discussion groups that do this?
[See my own The BookClub group list - we’re approaching our 550th discussion this month… https://www.klinedinst.com/bookclub/B... ].

Lloyd wrote: "1) Is there a date you'd prefer to meet? (Bear in mind we'll only have the one group meeting now.)
The Global dates work well enough for me now.
2) How do you feel about this club's current "globa..."

Lloyd - Sorry I didn't note your response sooner, there was a period when Goodreads wasn't sending notifications and I never saw your comment. Your input basically echoes what I've heard from the other members, so I think we're going to keep the theme open-ended and try to incorporate a fair number of both types of books (and maybe some new types too).

Nonfiction is definitely considered (we've done two in the Blender group this year), and I'm hoping to add at least two or three more nonfic titles to the list this year. Just let me know if you've got any particular suggestions and I'll be happy to consider them.

After much deliberation, I've finally worked out a list of titles to consider for the merged book group in the coming year. I've included your recommendations as well as plenty of my own discoveries, and I tried to find as many authors as I could who might fit a "global" theme while still sticking mostly to well-received books published in English (though I'm happy to add some translated fiction if you have any suggestions). I also included each author's national origins to make it easier to consider the diversity of perspectives.

Just tell me what looks interesting (or what doesn't look interesting), and then I'll whittle it down to twelve! And feel free to keep shouting out titles if you have some that aren't included here.


FICTION
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - The Thing Around Your Neck
(short fiction, Nigerian American, 218 pgs., pub. 2008)

Rumaan Alam - Leave the World Behind
(novel, Bangladeshi American, 256 pgs., pub. 2020)

Lesley Nneka Arimah - What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
(short fiction, Nigerian English, 232 pgs., pub. 2015)

Nathan Ballingrud - North American Lake Monsters
(short fiction, white American, 205 pgs., pub. 2013)

Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
(short fiction, white English, 176 pgs., pub. 1979)

Susanna Clarke - Piranesi
(novel, white English, 272 pgs., pub. 2020)

Hernán Diaz - In the Distance
(novel, Argentine/Swedish American, 256 pgs., pub. 2017)

Negar Djavadi - Disoriental
(novel, Iranian French, 290 pgs., pub. 2018)

Sarah Gailey - Upright Women Wanted
(novel, white American, 336 pgs., pub. 2019)

Roxane Gay - Difficult Women
(short fiction, Haitian American, 272 pgs., pub. 2017)

Yaa Gyasi - Transcendent Kingdom
(novel, Ghanaian American, 264 pgs., pub. 2020)

Michael Hughes - Country
(novel, Northern Irish, 320 pgs., pub. 2019)

Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day
(novel, Japanese English, 258 pgs., pub. 1989)

Stephen Graham Jones - The Only Good Indians
(novel, Native American, 310 pgs., pub. 2020)

Hanif Kureishi - The Buddha of Suburbia
(novel, Pakistani English, 288 pgs., pub. 1990)

Emily St. John Mandel - The Glass Hotel
(novel, white Canadian, 302 pgs., pub. 2020)

Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Gods of Jade and Shadow
(novel, Mexican Canadian, 338 pgs., pub. 2019)

Ottessa Moshfegh - Death in Her Hands
(novel, Croatian/Iranian American, 259 pgs., pub. 2020)

Maggie O’Farrell - Hamnet
(novel, Northern Irish, 372 pgs., pub. 2020)

Jenny Offill - Dept. of Speculation
(novel, white American, 179 pgs., pub. 2014)

Kwei Quartey - Wife of the Gods
(novel, Ghanaian American, 317 pgs., pub. 2009)

Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things
(novel, Indian, 340 pgs., pub. 1997)

Elif Shafak - Three Daughters of Eve
(novel, Turkish English, 384 pgs., pub. 2017)

Ocean Vuong - On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
(novel, Vietnamese American, 246 pgs., pub. 2019)

Jesmyn Ward - Sing, Unburied, Sing
(novel, African American, 285 pgs., pub. 2017)

David Heska Wanbli Weiden - Winter Counts
(novel, Native American, 336 pgs., pub. 2020)


NONFICTION
Anne Boyer - The Undying
(essays, white American, 320 pgs., pub. 2019)

Alexander Chee - How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays
(essays, Chinese American, 288 pgs., pub. 2018)

Tressie McMillan Cottom - Thick: And Other Essays
(essays, African American, 235 pgs., pub. 2018)

Edwidge Danticat - Brother, I'm Dying
(memoir, Haitian, 288 pgs., pub. 2007)

Colin Dickey - Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places
(nonfiction, white American, 330 pgs., pub. 2016)

Caitlin Doughty - From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
(nonfiction, white American, 272 pgs., pub. 2017)

Morgan Jerkins - Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots
(memoir, African American, 304 pgs., pub. 2020)

Kiese Laymon - Heavy: An American Memoir
(memoir, African American, 241 pgs., pub. 2018)

Patricia Lockwood - Priestdaddy
(memoir, white American, 336 pgs., pub. 2017)

Carmen Maria Machado - In the Dream House: A Memoir
(memoir, Cuban American, 251 pgs., pub. 2019)

Maggie Nelson - The Argonauts
(memoir, white American, 160 pgs., pub. 2015)

Daniel Ortberg (aka Daniel Lavery) - Something That May Shock and Discredit You
(essays, white American, 256 pgs., pub. 2020)

Sara Seager - The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
(memoir, Jewish Canadian, 308 pgs., pub. 2020)

Zadie Smith - Intimations
(essays, Jamaican English, 97 pgs., pub. 2020)

Jia Tolentino - Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
(essays, Filipino American, 303 pgs., pub. 2019)


GRAPHIC
Eleanor Davis - How To Be Happy
(graphic fiction, white American, 152 pgs., pub. 2014)

Emil Ferris - My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1
(graphic fiction, white American, 417 pgs., pub. 2017)

Mariko Tamaki - This One Summer
(graphic fiction, Japanese Canadian, 320 pgs., pub. 2014)

I'd like to place my book order before the end of the month, so I've put together a tentative list/schedule. It's got what I think is a good blend of novels, short fiction, memoir, essays, and regular nonfiction, as well as a pretty diverse range of authors. The publication dates range from 1979 to this year, though most are from the last five years or so.

Unfortunately all of the graphic novels I considered were too expensive (we have to order 15 copies of each book, at pretty much market value), so I apologize to those who were looking forward to some graphic reads. Maybe in 2022?

----

JANUARY: Intimations by Zadie Smith

[A <100-page essay collection on the COVID pandemic; a short, extremely timely read to send out the old year and welcome the new]

FEBRUARY: Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots by Morgan Jerkins

[For Black History Month, a personal meditation on the Great Migration]

MARCH: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

[For Women's History Month, a classic story collection which puts a dark feminist spin on traditional fairytales and folklore]

APRIL: What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah

[A highly-praised debut story collection by a young Nigerian-British author]

MAY: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

[For Asian-American Heritage Month, a Pulitzer-winning novel of espionage, the Vietnam War, and the Vietnamese immigrant experience]

JUNE: In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado

[For LGBTQ Pride Month, an experimental memoir by a genre-busting queer, feminist author]

JULY: The Buddha of Suburbia - by Hanif Kureishi

[For some light summer fun, a humorous classic of suburban diversity by a Pakistani-British author]

AUGUST: Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

[A highly-praised recent memoir about family, weight issues, addiction, and the Black male experience in America]

SEPTEMBER: Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

[For Hispanic Heritage Month, a fantasy tale set in Jazz Age Mexico]

OCTOBER: From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

[For Halloween, a conversational, globe-trotting exploration of the many ways human beings care for the bodies of the dead]

NOVEMBER: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

[For Native American Heritage Month, a new indigenous horror novel by a Blackfeet author]

DECEMBER: Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

[For the holiday season, a funny, weird, warm-hearted memoir by a poet with a Catholic priest for a dad; also a friend of Anne's!]

----

I originally had Ottessa Mosfegh's Death in Her Hands and Sara Seager's The Smallest Lights in the Universe on the list, but they won't be available in paperback in time to order. :/

Let me know if you have any final suggestions, and if not I'll send it in!

Looks good. The only “issue” is that we read The Sympathizer for...Travis’s book club in 2016? Based on my good reads shelves

These look interesting to me, Zach. Thanks for putting a good list together.

I've decided to trade out The Sympathizer for Nguyen's 2017 story collection The Refugees. I considered choosing that one anyway, so it's not a big deal as far as I'm concerned.

Excellent!

I look forward to the readings and discussions ...

You picked a few I was hoping you would. Can't wait