Alright, ladies, it's time to get a head start on 2014 and get our book club selection picked out. Last year was the first year of Bon's Book Club and I really loved discussing books with all of you. I like reading best when it is a social activity. Read AND discuss. It's how I get the most out of books. I also loved how the book club last year pushed me to read books I normally wouldn't have read. Lastly, I feel like as adults who are busy with college, careers, and families it can be really hard to have time to read for pleasure and certainly can be tough to find other adults to talk about our favorite books with. Book club is the perfect way to get us reading and talking about books.
There are two purposes to this post. The first purpose is to see how much interest there is in a 2014 book club. 2013's book club started off strong and then dwindled off toward the end of the year. I know November and December are crazy, so I understand not being able to do the book club but before we for sure decide to do another go of book club, I want to make sure there is an interest So, if you think you would be interested in reading a book every month and discussing it online let me know. This certainly doesn't mean that you are locked in for the entire year, it just means that you would possibly have interest in participating for some of the months.
Purpose #2 for this post is to get some ideas out there for books to read during the 2014 book club. Assuming there is enough interest to do this book thing for another year, there are a couple of changes I will be making to the book club to hopefully make it more successful:
1. I'll have a link at the top of the blog that link that has all the information about book club. It will have the dates and book titles for the coming months as well as the reviews for the books we have already read.
2. At the beginning of the month I will give four or five questions to help gear discussion and that you can be thinking about as you read. The night before the discussion I'll post the questions again so that if you don't know what to say about the book the questions can give you a few ideas. Of course you are not limited to writing on these questions, they're just to help if you need them.
3. Every book club will be a link up. Ideally you will be able to find and visit the blogs of other book lovers and get some traffic to your own blog.
Your job now is to leave a comment and tell me if you'd be interested in book club and to leave suggestions for books you would want to read in 2014. If someone has already mentioned a book you want to read, mention it again! I will take the top 25 books or so that are mentioned most often and created a survey for them. You will then vote on the 12 books you want to read for 2014.
Just a couple of guidelines: Suggestions should be PG-13- nothing that is going to make anyone too squirmy or uncomfortable. It's also probably good if suggestions are kept to about 300 pages. These books will be read in a month so shouldn't be anything that is impossible to read in that amount of time. I'd love to get a good variety of fiction and nonfiction, classics and contemporary, etc. Any suggestion is a good suggestion!
Here are a couple of suggestions to get the party started...
1. Happiness at Home. Nonfiction. Written by the same lady who wrote The Happiness Project. All about being purposeful in finding happiness in every day tasks. I'd definitely read The Happiness Project again, too, as that was one of my favorites this year.
2. I am Malala. Memoir and autobiography. The story of a girl who speaks out against the Taliban in defense of education and women's rights.
3. My Story. Memoir and autobiography. This is the story of Elizabeth Smart and her kidnapping. I have heard it's an interesting story, but not terribly well written.
4. The Light Between Oceans. Fiction. I have wanted to read this forever after Elizabeth said it is one of her favorites.
5. The Book Thief. Fiction. Narrated by death. The movie is coming out this year so it makes sense to read it this year. I didn't LOVE this book, but most people do so it's likely it'd be a good choice for book club. It's a holocaust book and very heavy.
6. Z- Fiction. The story of Zelda Fitzgerald the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald who wrote The Great Gatsby. I'm a Gatsby freak so this is one of those books I've been really wanting to read.
7. I'd love to read a class Roald Dahl book like Matilda or James and the Giant Peach or one of my childhood favorites- The BFG.
8. Lolita- Fiction. The only thing I know about the book is it's about a romance between a much older man and a young girl. I feel like it's one I should read just because it's so often talked about and referenced.
9. Any young adult selection I always like to read a few young adults books, just don't know any good ones that are out right now. Tell me your favorites (The Fault in our Stars was a total hit in March.)
Alright, your turn! Give me your suggestions! I can't wait to see what book ideas you've got floating around in your head. And if you want to read any of the above books make sure you say so otherwise I doubt we'll be reading them.
Read on!
(P.S. This month's book club selection is We Need to Talk about Kevin. It's about the parents of a boy who has shot and killed many of his classmates. It's fascinating. We'll be discussing it December 30 so it's not too late to get reading.)
