I love my book club. After refusing to join one for most of my life, Book Club is now the highlight of my social life. All the ladies are fun, interesting, and make a point of reading the books. We get into some great discussions -- as well as eat wonderful meals and laugh a lot. We even have a name for the club now, but it is top secret.
Unlike many book clubs, we do not have a theme and we do not create a list of books for the year. We meet every other month and rotate hosting duties. Sometimes the hostess cooks (or at least serves) a dinner that is related to the book somehow, so we have eaten Afghan food (A Thousand Splendid Suns), African food (Infidel), and had a picnic (I Capture the Castle), among other themed dinners. The hostess picks the book for the next gathering.
This is the list of books I've read since I joined in 2008, starting with the most recent and moving backwards:
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (reviewed here)
Tinkers by Paul Harding (Pulitzer winner; reviewed here)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (reviewed here)
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
Honolulu by Alan Brennert
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (reviewed here)
Small Island by Andrea Levy (reviewed here)
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosna
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Davita's Harp by Chiam Potok
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Keysey
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Bone People by Keri Hulme (reviewed here)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
Leap of Faith by Queen Noor
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
NOTES
Updated on December 28, 2012. I do not usually review the books we read for book club. Apparently talking about them satisfies my analytic urge.
.