I get so excited at the book club meeting during which we choose books for the next few months! Y'all know how much I like lists, and book lists are the best sort. I appreciate having new material that I might not have chosen or picked up on my own. I love having a specific time frame in which to read each book.
Here is our new list:
(January: Biography~reader's choice~Me: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn~finished!)
(February: From Jest to Earnest by E. P. Roe~finished!)
(March: Watership Down by Richard Adams~started!)
(April: Murder Mystery~reader's choice~The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie)
Mimosa by Amy Carmichael
Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody
The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter
Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Giver by Lois Lowry
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey
As you can see, our reading is somewhat diverse, if conservative. A few members are still mulling over the possibilites for their recommendations, so we'll have about four more books to add to the list.
Are you a member of a book club? What sort of books do you read? How do you choose your books? How far ahead? How many a year?
If you don't currently belong to a book club, I highly recommend it. I posted ideas on forming a book club last year. Consider starting your own!
11 comments:
How fun! That is certainly a diverse list. We have a Book Club here that always starts out with a bang and fizzles. We are supposed to sign up for months and pick the book and restaurant, but if we miss one month, we get all off track. I like the way you do it with the whole year planned out. Perhaps we'll start doing that...when we start again! (Our next book was supposed to be The Kite Runner and then we'd go see the movie together. We've all read the book by now but haven't managed to plan a date to discuss....)
SmallWorld
Great choices--we love P.G. Wodehouse. He's one of our faves.
I joined a book club for the first time last month. We started the collection of books in the club by bringing a book each to lend. Then each person simply borrows someone else's favourite book. Each month we contribute $10 and the person who is hosting gets to spend the pooled money on books for herself. Those books then go into the book club collection for borrowing, but they belong to the person who bought them. We aren't required to give reviews, but that happens anyway as people talk about their books. It's such fun! I'm also doing the 888 Reading challenge... it's 8 books in 8 categories in 2008. (You can find the link on my blog if you're interested. )
I have read Mimosa by Amy Carmichael. Hope you enjoy it!
And finally....sorry for the long comment!
I formed a book club 9 years ago, when we lived in Denver. It's no longer meeting but it was the highlight of my month. We read such diverse books - Austen, lewis, Kingsolver - and we always had dinner, pot luck, trying to structure the meal around the book. I desperately miss my book club. You will absolutely LOVE what's so amazing about grace...it changed my life!
Most of the books I read I chose from recommendations - like from your blog! and semi colon or WTM forum.
Right now I'm on a british historical fiction kick - bernard cornwell.
Heidi,
Guess what? I took your advice and joined a book club this year. It has completely rekindled my lost love! I am not sure how the ladies have chosen the books for the year (they were chosen in December before I joined), but I am just glad for the accountability and kindred spirits! We read Captivating (Eldridge) in January and Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God (Piper) in February. For March the choice was Searching for Eternity (Musser). I loved the author so much, that I finished it quickly and am almost finished with another book of hers, The Swan House. In addition, I fit in an extra book in January. Five books by mid-March (not including research books and poetry that I always dabble with). This is the most I have read since my last pregnancy (a year and a half ago!). I knew there was something missing in my life! What fun!
I love Watership Down! It's been one of my favorites since I was a teenager.
I've been in a book club for about five years now. I was invited to join by some former co-workers of mine. We're a group of about a dozen women, ranging in age from about 25 up into the 70s. Each year we all nominate a few titles, then the group votes for their favorites. We try to fill different categories: one biography, one book of short stories or poetry, one non-fiction, one current best-seller, one classic, etc.
What I like most about it is that we are such a diverse group and we all read such different things. It ends up exposing me to a lot of books I would never have picked on my own.
Not in one because we live overseas at the moment, and there aren't enough English speakers near me! But I love reading, and would love to be in one someday. I want to be in yours! Love the name.
embejo~ What a creative way to organize a book club! I love it! I'm working on my 888 list now. :) And I love long comments!
The Good~ I'm so proud of you! Belonging to a book club is a great way to jump-start a return to reading. I am so glad that you are enjoying yours.
Thanks for chiming in, ladies!
Yes. I belong to a book club, but we choose our books from month to month. Some of my favourites we have read so far have been:
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
March, by Geraldine Brooks
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
The Tenderness of Wolves, by Stef Penney
Oh...too many are my favourites. I can't list them all.
And I love your pedestal bowl idea. Love the pumpkins and the eggs.
I hope this doesn't post twice as I'm having trouble.
I noticed you use The Well Trained Mind as a homeschooling resource. My friend and I took The Well Educated Mind and started a book club. The books aren't necessarily what I would choose for pleasure reading but we are trying to expose ourselves to the books we didn't read in school that are classics. And, of course, there is food involved!
Barbara in AR
Thanks, Jenny!
Barbara~ I would love to go through The Well Educated Mind with a book club! In fact, I wish I could belong to about 3 different book clubs. I love, love, love my current one and would never give that up. I would love an even more diverse, possibly less conservative group and a 3rd for TWEM books. I'd have problems reading that many books, though. :)
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