Discussible Choices: What Are You Reading?
June 2009

Congratulations to Linda and the The Mountain Mamas Book Club 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!

“The Mountain Mamas Book Club in Sheridan, WY, recently discussed Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. It is an exceptional book whose author is born in Somalia and spends her childhood and adolescence in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya with her Muslim family. This is a memoir, and the author is very forthcoming about the lives of children and women in Muslim families. She is a bright youngster and begins to question her faith. How she escapes a harsh life and becomes a member of parliament in Holland makes worthy reading.”
Linda, The Mountain Mamas Book Club, Sheridan, WY

More Discussible Book Choices

“Our book club is all women mostly retired educators. To My Dearest Friends struck such a note with us. It is about a woman about our age who dies and leaves mysterious notes to two of her best and closest friends neither of whom knew anything about the other. It is a great book about women's friendships but also about how all of us men and women of every age are many different people. How well do we really know anyone even our dearest friends? This book was a real surprise and generated one of our best discussions.”
Mary, The Book Buddies, Carmel, IN

“The Book Ends book group just finished The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman. Many of them agreed that the book was too wordy and too detailed about some of the facts presented (such as the beetles).  We all agreed it started off slow and many wanted to quit, but it was "a book club book" so they kept going. A few of us enjoyed the book thoroughly, presenting World War II in Poland as something we knew little about, about the Warsaw ghetto, but most of all about a courageous woman and her existence throughout the war. That is what a book club is, isn't it? Many opinions!”
Mary, The Book Ends, Centerville, SD

“We recently discussed The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong.  Since this book explores the author's search for religious faith, our group spent most of the meeting discussing our own religious backgrounds and how they shaped who we are and what our current beliefs are.  It was a personally meaningful discussion, and we had much sympathy for the author's search for her own truth.”
Kay, The Montana Book Company Book Group, Helena, MT

“Our most recent book was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  It provided a lively discussion of the characters.  For many members of the book club, this was the first time they had read a book composed entirely of letters.  Everyone enjoyed the YouTube author interview and the live webcam at St. Peter Port Harbour.”
Karen, The Peapack-Gladstone Library Book Discussion Group, Peapack, NJ

“Our group just finished reading The Secret Life Of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain. The book was definitely a page-turner as we constantly wondered what CeeCee was going to do next.  In the beginning of the story CeeCee a vulnerable young girl of 16 is wooed by an older man who eventually convinces her to aid him in a kidnapping plot that ultimately leads to the death of the governor's pregnant wife.  As CeeCee evades the law and begins a new normal life complications arise.”
Lynn, The Burnsville Book Club, Burnsville, MN

“Our club recently read and enjoyed Lottery by Patricia Wood. We were able to contact the author over the internet using SKYPE. Being able to discuss the characters and ask the author questions on how the story evolved made for a lively and interesting discussion.”
Claudia, The Belsera Book Club, Oakdale, CA

“Our book club just read and discussed the classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Most of us had read the book many years before and it was great to be able to discuss how much we enjoyed rereading the book so many years later and what we got from the book that maybe we hadn't the first time around.  Everyone loved it of course and still found all of the central characters and themes as relevant now as when the book was written.”
Laura, The Blackey Library Book Club, Jeremiah, KY

“My group just finished The Shack by William P. Young.  Any time anything religious is presented in an open forum, it can be a bit tricky. But we had a serious, yet lively discussion on the book's theme.”
Arlene, Books And More, Dumfries, VA

“Our group just read Lawrence Hill's Any Known Blood.  The enjoyment level was unanimous - we all LOVED it!  Hill's character depiction and writing style entice the reader to devour his stories.  The characters jump off the pages!”
Laurie, The Group of Seven, London, Ontario, Canada

“Our group enjoyed discussing The House at Riverton.  A novel by Kate Morton with a riveting plot a murder aristocratic secrets a 1920's love story with a riveting ending. A great discussion of war time possible motives the life of privilege-servant loyalty, family secrets, envy, and life's young passions.”
Mary, The Katy Lake Book Club, Columbia, MO

“Last month we discussed The Lovely Bones.  This book provided us with endless things to discuss.  I highly recommend this book.”
Judith, The Ladies’ Reading Group, Chapel Hill, NC

“Our group recently read The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle. The book leads to a lively discussion on immigration issues.”
Sherry, The Margarita Readers, Sartell, MN

“We read a lot of memoirs this year and one of the group's favorites was When the Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin.  Much of the discussion focused on how little we know about Zimbabwe and its history and struggles.”
Holly, Max-12, Buena Vista, CO

“Has any group read Blood Done Sign My Name by Tim Tyson? A great gook-a true story and a real page turner. Try it.”
Martha, The Quail Ridge Reading Group, Raleigh, NC

“I have just finished reading a book called Roses by Leila Meacham coming out in January 2010. Leila is a good friend, and gave me a pre-edition copy (misspelled words & all). This is such a saga!!  Wonderful for group discussions. The characters of three generations and the choices they make have you in tears, make you angry, and have you loving them. Keep an eye out for this great read. P.S. I eagerly await all ReadingGroupChoices newsletters!! and forward to my Book Club. We are depending on all the information, ideas, & help you pass on to us. Thank you!!”
Ann, The Read & Dialogue Book Group, San Antonio, TX

“Last month, our book group really enjoyed The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  Everyone found it to be not only an enjoyable read, but a thought-provoking one as well, with a lot of good discussion topics.  And since our group spans a wide variety of ages, it was interesting to hear from those who were the same ages, as the characters during the time period of the book.  I believe everyone in the group had already been recommending The Help to others as a must-read!”
Peggy, The Laurel County Public Library Reading Group, London, KY

“Luncheon of the Boating Party:  When my husband and I were in France this past fall, we took a LONG journey from Giverney to visit the restaurant in the painting. Talk about bringing it to life!  The staff was very nice, and although the restaurant was not open until the evening, they let us out on the deck to take photos.  It was truly wonderful.  Our book club hasn’t read it, but Vreeland is one of my favorites!”
Karen, Our Book Group, Saint Paul, MN