Chicks On Lit discussion

I'm faced with a huge challenge of finding my book club's next read! I've been looking through GR and Amazon, but without much luck. I need to find a book that:

- is humorous (or at least not overly depressing- we've had too many of those recently)
- is *non* genre (i.e. not fantasy, chick lit, etc.)
- is fictional
- is something none of us has read (Which, obviously, I don't expect any of you to know ;) This only means that I need a lot of recommendations.)

Books that we've all read and enjoyed in the past are The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, The Book Thief, The Art of Racing in the Rain.

Thank you all so much!

Michelle, since you mention both Edgar Sawtelle and Racing in the Rain, your group might enjoy A Dog's Purpose. It is an all time favorite for me, but I won't recommend it to people unless I know they enjoy "dog" stories.

How about The Forgotten Garden (mysterious, well-written)Prodigal Summer (gorgeous writing with three different storylines that intertwine, one of them is pretty funny), or The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (a bit depressing in that it's WWII, but an overall feel good read I think) and another great one by Zusak is I am the Messenger. Completely different from Book Thief, and very funny.

I'd be curious what you end up deciding too, because if it's not one of those, I may want to add it.

Thanks! Yes, we all love dog stories, lol. A few of our members have read Guernsey Literary (not me, though - its on my to read list). Thanks so much for the suggestions! I'll let everyone know what we end up picking!

You're welcome, and good luck. I'm sure you'll find something good. Many of those in my list also happen to be personal favorites. I guess the toughest part is finding something no one has read.

I enjoy the Flavia deLuce novels, the first being The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

The Reincarnationist series is also good, starting with The Reincarnationist.

Carol Goodman's books are go-to for me when I need something enjoyable (though her writing gets a little formulaic). I'd suggest The Night Villa or The Ghost Orchid.

Some other good books that are good for conversations:
Life of Pi
Everything is Illuminated
People of the Book
The Twentieth Wife
Snow Falling on Cedars

Hope this helps!

I googled book club reads when i was looking for smething for ours and they had some good ideas. My bookclub first read was 50 shades, not a good book per se but made for some fun conversations and laughter

Christine wrote: "I googled book club reads when i was looking for smething for ours and they had some good ideas. My bookclub first read was 50 shades, not a good book per se but made for some fun conversations an..."

Lol. We joked about reading that one, but I think it would be kind of intense for some of our members. Googling book club books is a good idea, though.

I finished a really good book that might appeal. Beautiful Ruins. There is 1 downside in that it is brand new and is an expensive read. I remember by in person book group as always wanting a book that is easy to get hold of either the library or 2nd hand bookstores. Either way, it's a good one for the future. I found it by the advertisement on Goodreads.

I see a couple suggestions that I disliked, i.e., THE SWEETNES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. But I can't imagine what book would meet ALL your criteria. The problem with animal books is that they often come across as juvenile. Let us know what you decide.

I recommend Roam: A Novel with Music

The Sparrow : this one is a "genre" read and does have interplanetary travel but its really a story about faith and friendship and is, at essence, a very human, non-genre story with lots of topics for discussion. I put it out here for your consideration because it's such a wonderful story and, in its reading, it doesn't feel like a genre sci-fi read at all. ETA: except that some of the characters are non-human. They are, though, intelligent beings; not robots or monster creatures or anything like that.

Also, these may lead to good discussions:

Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls - don't let the "romance" fool you. This is not a romance. It's the story of living with multiple personalities.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - a story about family, remarriage, past history, untold secrets. It does seem to be a polarizing book; one either loves it or hates it.

The Girls - a story of co-joined twins

The Children's Book - family, society in turn-of-the-century England

2666 - yeah, it's long; maybe too long for a bookclub read. Very well written and lots to discuss along the way.

Petra wrote: "The Sparrow : this one is a "genre" read and does have interplanetary travel but its really a story about faith and friendship and is, at essence, a very human, non-genre story with lots of topics ..."


Yikes!! The Sparrow is an excellent book, but it is a real downer, and I need something upbeat, lol. The others, though, sound like great ideas. Thanks :)

Have you looked at Zusak's I Am the Messenger, Michelle? It's not all a barrel of laughs, but there's lots to laugh at in there, and of course MZ is the greatest :D.

I'll be really curious what you wind up choosing.

IMO, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese is an excellent discussion book.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (It's sci-fi,though)
Three Men in a Boat (It's a laughter riot. Not much to discuss)
Anne of Green Gables
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
The Help

Freakonomics was so good!!! I guess it's on the light side for non-fic. I found it fascinating and eye-opening.

Laura wrote: "Freakonomics was so good!!! I guess it's on the light side for non-fic. I found it fascinating and eye-opening."

My kids keep telling me to read that book, lol. They read it for their hs economics class and keep talking about it.

Okay...I gave my club three choices and the winner is...





Thanks, Sheila!!

I hope they enjoy it. If they liked The Art of Racing in the Rain then they should love this one too. :o)

Good! We are all animal lovers, so this should be right up our alleys!

Ones we have enjoyed:

The Secret History
Mudbound
Blindness
Little Bee

I have a copy of Blindness, but I haven't read it yet. I've also wanted to see that movie.

I've never seen the movie, but loved the book. It gave us a lot to talk about.

I was going to recommend Mudbound also but it's not really a "light" read. Gone Girl might be an interesting one because it's "twisty" although there were a few things I didn't love about it. But it might make for some interesting discussions. If you want something multicultural, a friend of mine just put up a list of her favorite summer reads here: Jennifer Zobair's multicultural summer reading list

(I have only read one book on that list, so I can't recommend any of those but she does kind of a brief explanation of each.)

We are reading The Pull Of The Moon by Elizabeth Berg as our July read. Haven't had a chance to begin yet, will let you know how it is. We have about 15 ladies, ages from mid 20's to mid 50's ish.

I'm not sure how many people haven't read The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo series yet but that was a good choice for our book club. Lots of discussion around it.

I also concur with Cutting for Stone & The Forgotten Garden.

We also had great discussion around Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden and The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt although it's a genre book (Western), we never read those so we were up for it.

whoops! just noticed the date of this thread. lol.