Book Club history.
One of the gals in my book club has kept the list of all the books we've read over the last 4.5 years. I can hardly believe it's been that long!! It's been quite a ride. I've gone through my frustrations with what we've been reading, but we're finally on the right path and reading some GREAT stuff. We began back in November of 2004. I love my book girls and we have the greatest time together. We're down two members from our original nine. We've added one back to make us 8 and we've decided to keep it that way. Just us. Here's a list of what we've read and my thumbs up/thumbs down.
1. Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons by Lorna Landvik - predictable, mediocre beach read.
2. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith - LOVED the whole series.
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossein - great writing but didn't like the end.
4. A Widow for One Year by John Irving - LOVED this, but I'm an Irving addict.
5. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - Kill me now. I couldn't read it, it was so depressing.
6. One for the Money/ Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich - what a load of crap.
7. Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen - more crap, just easier to read.
8. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - Like this very much.
9. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult - Total disappointment for me. Fabulous writing, but I felt she just quit at the end and took the easiest way out to end the story.
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - Couldn't get through this, I may give it another try.
11. Endurance – Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing - Amazing true story.
12. Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks and Micah Sparks - Hated this.
13. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - One of the best books I've ever read.
14. One Thousand White Women: The Journal of May Dodd by Jim Fergus - Interesting premise and story.
15. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris - Laugh out loud funny.
16. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom - Didn't even try to read this.
17. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin - Schlock.
18. Dark Noon by Tom Clavin - Boring and very poorly written.
19. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards - I had all kinds of problems with this story. Didn't like it.
20. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls - An amazing, incredible story of a disaster family.
21. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross - Great book. I couldn't put it down. A few expected subplots, but still a good read.
22. Back When We Were Grown Ups by Anne Tyler - The only Anne Tyler book I didn't love.
23. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert - I LOATHED this book.
24. Dumping Billy by Olivia Goldsmith - Complete and total crap. Couldn't finish it.
25. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - Great book. Deeply beautiful story and characters. A great insight into life in the middle east.
26. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - Beautifully written story. Great characters.
27. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig - A wonderful story. I liked this very, very much.
28. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger - Loved the movie, didn't bother with the book.
29. The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood - Ummm, couldn't bring myself to even check this out of the library. The title alone was a complete turn off....anybody read this?
30. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough - An old favorite.
31. The Kept Woman by Susan Donovan - Complete and total fantasy crap.
32. The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian - I don't like any stories about rape.
33. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - Probably the best book I've read in 10 years. I didn't want it to end. So beautiful.
34. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson - No thanks.
35. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - Love it - still reading it!!!!
Shackelton personified the English "Stiff Upper Lip" mentality, didn't he?
He was quite the hero even if he lost the race to the pole.
Being boaters, both Husband and I are fascinated with Shackleton. We
actually saw an exhibit on the expedition at the AMNH back in 1998. It was
truly amazing. We saw the boat they crossed in, the James Caird. Just
incredible. It is SO small and I can't imagine crossing the Bay in that,
let alone the Southern Ocean. Funny, I remember that whole night as if it
was yesterday. I was preggers with Daughter and we went out to dinner
after the exhibit and sat right behind Edward Burns and Heather Graham (who
were dating at that time). The whole evening was quite exciting!! I have
always LOVED a good star sighting. Years spent in Manhattan have provided
me with many. That might make a good post.
thank you for hating eat, pray, love. I stood alone in my book club of 14
women on that one. Oy. I should do the same--ew've had some good ones and
some drivel. This year, each of us picked a banned book, which has made me
wonder if some books are banned for good reason (could I have some more
dystopia, please?)
The BBC has just started a series based on The
#1 Ladies' Detection Agency, starring Jill Scott. I was out yesterday
evening, so I missed the first 'proper' episode, but they reshowed the
pilot episode on Saturday (based on the first book), which was great fun.
Both book and pilot have such an African feel, yet without any of the usual
stereotypes.
I began the Portuguese Irregular Verbs and just laughed out loud at these
"over educated" buffoons. Life happened and I never finished the book.
Although I thought it was quite funny, it didn't have quite the same
pleasant flavor that the Detective Agency series did. I would like to meet
Mr. McCall Smith.
It's funny, the Precious Ramotswe books actually leave me thinking how I'd
like to visit Botswana, rather than wanting to meet the author. On the
other hand, the Brother Cadfael books make we wish I could have met Ellis
Peters (Edith Pargheter, really), rather than wanting to go to a monastery.
I'm not sure what makes the difference.
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