Discussible Choices: What Are You Reading?
September 2008

Congratulations to Jana and the The Melons Sisters for winning the random drawings for this month’s Discussible Book Choice! 

We enjoy hearing from book club members who share with everyone the book choices that made for lively discussions.. Please let us know what about the book contributed to your great discussion – you may win a book-related prize for every member of your reading group!

“Our group just finished reading Away by Amy Bloom.  It was interesting reading - many of our members felt it was one of our top books.  Others weren't as sold until our discussion.  One member brought a very different side to the story. After sharing her thoughts the book changed in many of our minds.  She felt the ending was written from the point of view as a dream as the main character Lillian lay dying.  No one else picked up on this twist to the story. It helped us all see it from a very different perspective.  We had a very lively discussion and all agree Amy Bloom’s writing was an outstandingly beautiful voice in the reading.”

Jana, The Melons Sisters, Mesa, AZ

More Discussible Book Choices

“Our group of 7 readers recently read and discussed City of Thieves by David Benioff. It is a fantastic book set in Russia during the siege of Leningrad. It is an intense story which may be too graphic for some people but it leads to so many discussions on different topics we are still talking about it!”

Susan, The Warner Girls, Fairfield, CT

“Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones was done by our group.  Using Great Expectations to relate to modern wars was exceptional.  Book Quote: ‘Stories have a job to...They have to teach you something.’"

Lois, Tuesday Book Club that Sometimes Meets on Monday, Santa Barbara, CA

“Every month we read a book from a different genre and that means not everyone enjoys the same type of book.  This month we read Slaughterhouse Five and while only four out of the ten people enjoyed it, it was one of the best discussions we have had.  The opinions were so varied about the characters and events that some very lively debates were generated.  We all felt that it was worthwhile trying to read something out of our usual preference since it provoked so many diverse comments.”

Lorraine, A Different Book Group, Townsend, GA

“This past Friday our group discussed The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Tobin.  Of the ten of us present nine gave it a nine or a ten.  One gave it a three.  Last month when we met a couple of the women who had begun the book found that reading a couple of chapters at a sitting helped make it more readable (though Toobin does an excellent job at making its subject matter interesting and understandable.)  The biggest compliment came in an e-mail from one of the members who couldn't be with us that day, ‘I wish we could record the discussion so that those of us who miss a gathering could still 'get in on' what people thought.’”

Carole, Heritage Book Group, Wake Forest, NC

“We recently read Emma by Jane Austin.  This book generated great discussion about womens' roles over the past centuries and how progressive this author was for the time when she lived.”

Beth, Reading Between the Whines, Blair, NE

“This month we read Whistling in the Dark by Leslie Kagan. I absolutely loved this book and our book club totally agreed. I highly recommend this book for your next book club meeting. This book has many levels and lots to discuss.”

Julie, Preschool Moms Book Club, Mechanicsburg, PA

“I belong to two book clubs and both have read The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand and with a couple of exceptions all of us has loved it. Now I'm looking for more of her books.”

Melanie, The Book Bags, Mesa, AZ