I am a librarian. Do I read 24 hours/7 days a week? No. Do I read during my spare time? Sometimes a lot, usually not too much. Four years ago, a friend invited me to join a ladies’ book group in Lake Forest Park. Some of these ladies read tons more than me! This past year, the group read two of my suggestions – The House by the Sea by May Sarton and A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel.
At this month’s gathering, we had invited a staff member from Third Place Books to join us and share some book club suggestions for next year. I shared ahead of time that I was interested in biography type books of impressive women, not necessarily famous ones. This informative, witty bookseller shared about 30 titles and authors with us. We polled ourselves afterwards on which books we wanted to read in the next year. Here’s a sampling of what had the highest votes for next year’s calendar.
Picture Seattle during World War II. Two fifth graders – Henry who is Chinese and Keiko who is Japanese – are best friends and love eventually grows. Henry vows to wait for her when she and her family are sent to a Japanese American internment camp in Idaho. Forty years later, events happen that reignite that love. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is Jamie Ford’s first novel.
A ranch in Montana, a one-room school, and farm life. Judy Blunt moves on, after marriage and children, to write great poetry. How does a woman survive in a man’s world? This narrative biography by Blunt is called Breaking Clean.
A couple visits a Nigerian beach resort in an effort to help save their marriage. Soldiers come out of the jungle with machetes and Andrew and Sarah are forced to determine the fate of two African girls. Two years later in London, one of the girls, now a refugee, reconnects with Sarah. What kind of friendship was there, is there still? Little Bee by Chris Cleave is being called the next Kite Runner for book clubs.
The Seattle Public Library’s web site has several resources for anyone trying to help their book club, like finding author bios and book discussion guides. On the Reader’s Corner, there are links to Book Group How-To’s and Recommended Books for Discussion. There are some great resources on the Web as well, such as Reading Group Guides, Reading Group Choices, and the Book Group Buzz blog.
What’s your book club planning to read next year? How does the club select its titles? Please share!
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