We did it! The votes are in & the SOC Sistas have selected the books we’ll be reading this year. I’m excited about what I think is a pretty good mix of old & new.
Take a look for yourself, and feel free to read along with us.
May 2018: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
June 2018: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
July 2018: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
August 2018: Stoner by John Williams
September 2018: Cane River by Lolita Lademer
October 2018: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
November 2018: Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance
December 2018: Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
January 2019: The Book Thief by Markus Zysak
February 2019: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
March 2019: Sing …
There is a rash of World War II literature. In our last book club annual selection long list, there were enough books that had we wanted to dedicate a whole year to WWII, we could have. Also, occasionally, I’m asked to recommend a good WWII book, so I thought it might be a fun list to compile – all the WWII books I’ve read (or at least that I can remember!) These are in somewhat backwards order beginning with most recent. And just because I’m that kind of person, you’re …
Amor Towles wrote Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow – two of my favorite books from last year. When I learned that he was speaking in my state, I was thrilled. I was even more excited when I figured out that while it was on the other side of the state in Newnan, Georgia, it did happen to coincide with when I would be traveling back home from being in Columbus, Georgia for work.
It is obvious the fates were conspiring on my behalf.
He was a delight. And …
For the last several years, my book club has followed the same procedure for selecting its books for a whole year. Last year, when our picks were made, we realized we were missing out on discussing some really good books by leaving behind the books that were not selected. (That’s what happens when you take a month to research books you plan to pitch!)
So this year we’re doing something different. Instead of making new book pitches, we took the the books from our 2017 and 2018 Long Lists that weren’t …
A few years back, my book club put together its collective Top 100. I remember in that exercise, that I had a hard time selecting just a top 10. Since then, I’ve wondered what my top 100 would be. I recently sat down to figure it out, and it was much harder than I thought. I ended up removing all non-fiction, and perhaps one day I’ll put out a top non-fiction reads. I left a few in that are technically non-fiction, but they read enough like a novel that I …
