Wow this is so much fun! My first thought was that I hope that something by Marjane Satrapi is on your list, so I was relieved to see Persepolis listed. I was so very sad when she died.
At the end of last year I read and enjoyed two books by Alice Wong (Year of the Tiger, and Disability Visibility). But - looking at her books I see there is another one that might be fun for a book club - Disability Intimacy.
I might also suggest adding a "young adult" category. I read and enjoyed We Are Okay by Nina LaCour last year. There are probably so many amazing options for a YA category.
Two other suggestions -
- Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen - I first heard about this book on an episode of the Kitchen Sisters. For me this book has it all - food, cooking, the world of the Soviets, and recipes.
- The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. It's a long long long book but somehow I enjoyed reading every single word. I haven't yet read Cutting for Stone, but this book is also supposed to be amazing.
I'm so excited to see what folks suggest too. I've been reading a book that's mostly mediocre so I'm due for a page turner.
I wish I could be there! love the Book Clubs - love Fahrenheit 451 and some other titles you have listed; at the moment, I am reading VOICES FROM THE KITCHEN, Personal Narratives from New York's Immigrant Restaurant Workers,edited by Marc Mayer; published last year by Beacon Press; I discovered this book shortly after it was published from the Beacon Press Publishing Newsletter and I am very glad I did. This is an oral history by 27 immigrant workers who described the resilience, the intelligence and the determination of NYC restaurant workers - love it; and then, a reread of Kerouac's ON THE ROAD and reread of Bel Kaurfman's UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE! I love words
Amit Majmudar's amazing Three Metamorphoses is my current fave. Three wild poetic variations on stories most of us know, vaguely or well: the Koranic version of God, Adam, Satan, and Eve; a whirling mash-up of the stories of Antigone, Jesus before Pilate, and American persecutions in the name of "security"; and the seduction of Shiva by Parvati with help from Kama (Majmudar is a radiologist and a believing Hindu) May I send a copy to you?
This makes me wish I were local so I could attend your library book club! Two books I just read that I adored are Gertrude Stein: an Afterlife, by Francesca Wade, and Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World, by Daniel Kraus.
I like the rules you proposed for yours... I'm a truant from several book clubs that I'm nominally in but the one I've been most regular about is an anti-AI reading group. We recently finished Disabling Intelligences by Rua Williams and it was pretty powerful.
I just finished Erik Larson: The Demon of Unrest because Benjamin Ruffin figures prominently in the narrative. It was a compelling read, at least for me, and timely. But I was focused primarily on Ruffin and his role as a fire-eater.
Oh, this is new to me; I want to read it too. What a tip, thank you.
Listen, in your librarian days, have you supervised or observed a branch book club? Got any advice for me? One thing the library warned me about is that obviously, there’s not enough copies to share of popular titles— and we can’t act like everyone can buy one, that’s NOT the library spirit. I had some other ideas about things I could share, gratis, by email: excerpts of the book, author interviews, the best reviews and controversies surrounding the title.
What absolute fun! I bet the Strangers discussions will be fascinating.
I have had one book club that ran for maybe a year—I thought that was a success, as it was on zoom; we were all over the country. (One member tuned in from Germany a couple of times!) It was a Cure bookclub, which happened after I noted on fb how many Cure songs were inspired by (or in some cases, lifted from) various novels and poems. We started by reading the novel Charlotte Sometimes, which inspired their song with that title. We read Lol Tolhurst’s book on goth (it was surprisingly good), a couple of books about the history of college radio and alternative music, and Viv Albertine’s memoir. Eventually, I got tired of trying to make people’s schedules work and facilitating. However, it was really fun while it lasted.
I love that a band was your inspiration to pick the titles. Yeah, scheduling is a BITCH. Thank god it’s a set library time, and it’s either be there or be square.
Wow this is so much fun! My first thought was that I hope that something by Marjane Satrapi is on your list, so I was relieved to see Persepolis listed. I was so very sad when she died.
At the end of last year I read and enjoyed two books by Alice Wong (Year of the Tiger, and Disability Visibility). But - looking at her books I see there is another one that might be fun for a book club - Disability Intimacy.
I might also suggest adding a "young adult" category. I read and enjoyed We Are Okay by Nina LaCour last year. There are probably so many amazing options for a YA category.
Two other suggestions -
- Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen - I first heard about this book on an episode of the Kitchen Sisters. For me this book has it all - food, cooking, the world of the Soviets, and recipes.
- The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. It's a long long long book but somehow I enjoyed reading every single word. I haven't yet read Cutting for Stone, but this book is also supposed to be amazing.
I'm so excited to see what folks suggest too. I've been reading a book that's mostly mediocre so I'm due for a page turner.
The ART of Soviet COoking? I’m dying laughing. Of course I just checked it out, it was on Hoopla (the library ebook site). Such a great cover, too.
Yes, I hope some people come to the marjane session who know her whole career, I’d like to learn more.
I will pass on your Y/A suggestions to the colleague who does that group! And yeah, the Alice Wong, checking that out, too.
I wish I could be there! love the Book Clubs - love Fahrenheit 451 and some other titles you have listed; at the moment, I am reading VOICES FROM THE KITCHEN, Personal Narratives from New York's Immigrant Restaurant Workers,edited by Marc Mayer; published last year by Beacon Press; I discovered this book shortly after it was published from the Beacon Press Publishing Newsletter and I am very glad I did. This is an oral history by 27 immigrant workers who described the resilience, the intelligence and the determination of NYC restaurant workers - love it; and then, a reread of Kerouac's ON THE ROAD and reread of Bel Kaurfman's UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE! I love words
Oh wow, “Up the Down Staircase” I remember that in the sixties, I kinda snuck reading it because it was known to be RACY
Amit Majmudar's amazing Three Metamorphoses is my current fave. Three wild poetic variations on stories most of us know, vaguely or well: the Koranic version of God, Adam, Satan, and Eve; a whirling mash-up of the stories of Antigone, Jesus before Pilate, and American persecutions in the name of "security"; and the seduction of Shiva by Parvati with help from Kama (Majmudar is a radiologist and a believing Hindu) May I send a copy to you?
I would love that!
This makes me wish I were local so I could attend your library book club! Two books I just read that I adored are Gertrude Stein: an Afterlife, by Francesca Wade, and Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World, by Daniel Kraus.
I wish you could! You could always crash it . . . I’ll post the times here when I find out what’s up.
Both your recent reads sound fascinating, I’m going to look them up.
I like the rules you proposed for yours... I'm a truant from several book clubs that I'm nominally in but the one I've been most regular about is an anti-AI reading group. We recently finished Disabling Intelligences by Rua Williams and it was pretty powerful.
Interesting! I”d like to check out your whole reading list
Very cool project. I just finished The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz, a very on the nose treatment of Sherlock Holmes and Watson.
Oh that sounds like a great project, yum. Adding it to my “pull list”
I just finished Erik Larson: The Demon of Unrest because Benjamin Ruffin figures prominently in the narrative. It was a compelling read, at least for me, and timely. But I was focused primarily on Ruffin and his role as a fire-eater.
Oh, this is new to me; I want to read it too. What a tip, thank you.
Listen, in your librarian days, have you supervised or observed a branch book club? Got any advice for me? One thing the library warned me about is that obviously, there’s not enough copies to share of popular titles— and we can’t act like everyone can buy one, that’s NOT the library spirit. I had some other ideas about things I could share, gratis, by email: excerpts of the book, author interviews, the best reviews and controversies surrounding the title.
What absolute fun! I bet the Strangers discussions will be fascinating.
I have had one book club that ran for maybe a year—I thought that was a success, as it was on zoom; we were all over the country. (One member tuned in from Germany a couple of times!) It was a Cure bookclub, which happened after I noted on fb how many Cure songs were inspired by (or in some cases, lifted from) various novels and poems. We started by reading the novel Charlotte Sometimes, which inspired their song with that title. We read Lol Tolhurst’s book on goth (it was surprisingly good), a couple of books about the history of college radio and alternative music, and Viv Albertine’s memoir. Eventually, I got tired of trying to make people’s schedules work and facilitating. However, it was really fun while it lasted.
I love that a band was your inspiration to pick the titles. Yeah, scheduling is a BITCH. Thank god it’s a set library time, and it’s either be there or be square.