Earlier this month my book club read Jayne Anne Phillips’ Lark and Termite, which drew quite a range of reactions. Though everyone in the group agreed that Phillips is a terrific writer, some felt 
that this critically acclaimed novel (a finalist for the National Book Award) was a difficult reading experience. Readers questioned the supernatural elements, the use of symbolism (yes, Lola IS the cat) and a few plot points that strained belief. Despite all this, I can tell you that we had a wonderful discussion of Lark and Termite and that I came away from the meeting with a clearer understanding of this remarkable novel and a stronger appreciation for Phillips’ talents.
All of which serves as proof of The First Law of Book Clubs: It isn’t necessarily the books that everyone loves that spark the best discussions. In fact, my reading group has had some of its very best talks about books that most of us hated (I won’t mention any titles but a certain talking gorilla comes painfully to mind). Don’t get me wrong — we’ve also had wonderful conversations about books that each and every book club member thoroughly enjoyed. But in the end, it’s not only the quality of a book, but the experience of reading and sharing your reaction to it, that makes or breaks a book club.
What about it, book club members? What book has sparked the best discussion in your reading group? Tell us in the comments by March 14 and you’ll be entered to win copies of a recent reading group title for everyone in your club (up to 10 copies). The prize is being provided by the fine folks at Vintage/Anchor Books, and the winner can choose one of these recent Vintage/Anchor paperback releases:
Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
The Private Patient by P.D. James
A Partisan’s Daughter by Louis de Bernieres
The winner and five runners-up will also receive a copy of The Maeve Binchy Writers’ Club, in which the beloved Irish author offers advice and encouragement for aspiring writers.
For more ideas and resources for your book club, check out the Vintage & Anchor Reading Group Center. And if you haven’t already, be sure to register your book club at BookPage.com.
Pingback: Win Free Books for Your Reading Group’s Next Discussion « Knopf Doubleday - Reading Group Center
By far the book that has seemed to spark the most profound discussion lately has been Still Alice by Lisa Genova. The book brought up feelings about Alzheimer’s (of course) but even more so, just a general discussion about aging parents. Great, great book.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell is the book that caused the most controversy, which sparked some pretty good discussion. Many people are uncomfortable with science fiction, especially that with religious overtones and also have fun picking apart first novels. It’s been awhile since that discussion but I still remember it well.
When I first read The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, I wasn’t sure I really liked it. But after discussing it with my book club, which includes several native Spanish speakers, I liked it a lot more, and found a lot of complexity in it.
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin lead to a great discussion about when is cheating acceptable and should you really be rooting for the cheaters…
We had two books that prompted quite a bit of discussion. Finn by Jon Clinch and The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff. Both books dealt with very sensitive topics and the group was split with each one but the conversation was flowing.
90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper was the most heated discussion my group has had. None of us liked it and we had a lot to say about our dislike! A lot!! – Another book that made for great discussion was, The Little Book by Seldon Edwards. The group was divided on this one, with some of us really liking it and others hating it. It was great to hear different points of view, including the author’s which we were able to have at our meeting through Skype. It was a great experience.
Without a doubt — Life of Pi by Yann Martel. In fact, 5 yrs after reading it, we still mention how that was the most lively discussion we’ve had.
Same for my book club. As you’ve probably heard, Martel’s next novel, Beatrice and Virgil, will be published next month. The BookPage staffer who just finished reading an advance copy describes it as a strange but powerful book, which reminds me of Life of Pi. More great book club material, perhaps?
Same here. Life of Pi was the first book to launch our book club, and seven years later, we have yet to read a book that has sparked as lively a discussion as that one.
My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. We discussed art, parental expectations, and the moral implications of using your loved ones as fodder for art.
A book that was unforgettable and made the evening interesting and fun was Vigil by Cecilia Samartin. Many aspects of this story was explored.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett was a great book in itself but we found a podcast of the author speaking about how she got the idea for the book & then listened to a audio excerpt of it. It was really interesting to hear the different dialects of the characters.
Our group also loved The Help. Because we live in the South, it sparked great discussion about what life was like decades ago in our area, and what has or hasn’t changed.
Pingback: uberVU - social comments
“Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Hoo boy. I was blown away by the strong feelings this book elicited from my fellow book clubbers. I loved everything about this memoir–and for some reason I never anticipated that anyone would feel differently. But some women were FURIOUS at Gilbert for leaving her life and husband behind. Others hated her for “whining in the ashram”. One woman didn’t think the book sent the right message to women, because Gilbert “needed a man in the end after all.”
HELLO. IT’S A MEMOIR. (GAH!)
This book just opens that closet at the top of the stairs where everyone’s baggage is stored. It’s pretty fascinating.
Anyway.
Good, lively, discussion.
Our Book Club reads a variety of subject matter and popular book club books but the one latest book that had us talking was Cleopatria’s Daughter. We had not read a historical novel for a long time and this one with ancient history was wonderful. Michelle Moran’s end notes even had us talking. Did you know a lot of problems facing Ancient Rome are the same problems facing us today! Noone has solved the age old abortion and poor problems! A visit to her web page has pictures of the sncient faces so you can even see what they looked like and why everyone was in love with Anthony even though this is not a romance novel.
Most of us really enjoyed The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Some admitted to crying at the ending. All agreed that the characters were well composed and engaging and the book opens you up to the reminder to look behind each person’s veneer.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy led to a great discussion, and we decided to all go see the film together also!
My book group just finished reading The Heights by Peter Hedges. We thought that it was a perfect book for a discussion group because it is a thought provoking novel about the dynamics in a modern marriage – especially how a young couple with children handle a reversal in who works and who takes care of the children.
Our most revealing discussion was “House of sand and fog” by Andre Dubus III. As a group we decided all the main characters were mentally ill. That led to an intimate discussion of mental illnuess we had observed in our families. All felt so much closer to each other for sharing such hard memories. We never would have had this discussion without the book to center our emotions. Also interesting was a poll we took. Before the book discussion we asked how many had enjoyed versus not enjoyed the book. After our discussion, the poll numbers changed!
The most memorable discussion my book club had was about “In the Lake of the Woods” by Tim O’Brien. Our discussion took place way back in 1995 and we STILL bring it up once in a while… The book asks all kinds of questions about the past lives of the characters (a vietnam vet and his wife) and ends without offering any answers so it lends itself to all kinds of interpetations.
Our book club also had two this year: The Book Thief which everyone loved and said that it may have been the best book we ever read and The Shack. The Shack discussion was quite interesting with so many diverse views on religion.
Trying to narrow down our best discussible selection from the past ten years is difficult. While we all loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, our best discussion was probably The Devil in the White City or Loving Frank. For both books, members had done additional “research” which really added to the discussion and brought the books to life. Often our best discussions have been for books which we don’t all agree on . . . Not surprising, I guess!
Our Book Club “Great Expectations” has been in existence since 1985 so there have been several books that elicited strong emotional dicussions. Recently we had a spirited conversation and dicussion about Wally Lamb’s “The Hour I first Believed” and also “Three Day Road” brought back some memories of war expereinces of some parents of some of our members – truly emotional. We actually cancelled & subsitituted another book for “The Shack’ as we decided it was too personal to argue/discuss!
Last month our book group discussed Luncheon of the Boating Party. I loved the book and, while I wasn’t surprised at the ones who loved it along with me, I was surprised that there was an equal number of people who REALLY disliked it. The discussion was good, but those passionately liking the book were more vocal. In this kind of a discussion, it is always interesting to me to learn the reasons people disliked a book. In our group is is often because people don’t care about the main character or characters.
Last year our reading group read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Not only did we all LOVE the book, we talked for 2 solid hours about it! We’re located deep in the heart of the South (Nashville, TN), so we could all relate to many of the ‘Southern’ themes of the book – some of them good, some of them we’d prefer to just downright forget. Our group is made up of a wide variety of ages, so it was fantastic to get varying aspects of the ‘old South’ (read: racism) from our readers. If your reading group hasn’t yet read The Help, I highly recommend it!
Another book that sparked an intense discussion was The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. This book was outside of the comfort zone of most of our club members and was an emotional read – and discussion – for all of us. Again, the varying ages of our club members played a pivotal role in our discussion – some of our members lived through the Vietnam era as adults while others of us provided a different perspective as children growing up on the tail end of Vietnam. Taking the firsthand experiences of our club members and applying them to the experiences of the characters in the book gave us all a better understanding of why things happened – and why characters made the choices that they did – in the book itself. Again, it’s a very intense book that our group didn’t necessarily enjoy, but it’s a good pick if you want a book that provides many avenues of discussion for your own group.
Our book club has been reading a lot of fiction lately. The most recent discussion we had was about Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. We have quite a few southern ladies in our group and they shared similarities of their experiences as young southerners before integration.
We are planning to read The Help next.
A few years ago my book club read “The Life of Pi” by Yan Martel. We actually had to hold an extra meeting for folks who are not regular attendees (& couldn’t make our scheduled meeting) but were so intrigued/passionate about the book that they asked for a special discussion session! Interestingly, the discussion was vastly different in each session, but equally interesting.
The book that sparked the most discussion in our new book club so far has been Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.” Some people hated it, some thought it was difficult to follow, some wondered why it was structured as it was . .. there was a lot to discuss!
In looking over my book group’s reading lists, I’ve been reminded of just how many interesting discussions we’ve had over the years. However, two books led to particularly lively exchanges – “Trans-Sister Radio” by Chris Bohjalian and “The Glass Castle: A Memoir” by Jeannette Walls.
“Trans-Sister Radio” tackles the thorny issues of gender identity, self-image, and transsexuality. Where does gender identity come from – your body, your mind, or a combination of the two?
Jeannette Walls’ memoir was a tale set close to home for this West Virginia book group so it naturally had us all talking at once. It was a bonus that all of us were familiar with Welch, WV and we all agreed that while the book was a sad read at times, the author impressed us with her willingness to share her life story with the world and her ability to never wallow in self-pity.
Our group was also fortunate to hear Ms. Walls speak at a Charleston, WV book event shortly after her memoir was published.
One of our recurring themes of discussion– in a book group comprised primarily of librarians– is how accurate are the historical details. Two books sparked discussion about this topic, ’1001 White women’ and ‘Loving Frank’. Nancy Horan did an excellent job making you feel that details of Frank Lloyd Wright’s life and love were extremely accurate– based on little more than good solid research (yes!) and excellent writing. ’1001 White women’ had the opposite effect for many of our members– some couldn’t buy the premise or the story and others did. We still tease each other about this book today…
Our book club has been together since 1994 so there are a lot of books that have generated great discussions. We read one classic a year and in that category, Tess of D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy or The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing would win the honors. As for modern fiction,recently The White Tiger and The Elegance of the Hedgehog provoked great discussions.
Our book club’s best discussion recently was also The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. None of us are Southerners, but we were young in that time period and remember the historical events. One member actually remembers having a “person of color” who was not a maid, but came to do laundry and ironing.
Another good discussion came from In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson. One of our members has been to Australia, so she had some personal tidbits to add.
One of our favorite books to discuss was The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. Some of us didn’t know it was based on the author’s life. It made a lot of sense in some areas. We found it amazing that a boy could have gone through so much all along looking for the power of one. Did he find it? Please read the book.
Anything by Jodi Picoult sparks great discussion in our group—we’ve read My Sister’s Keeper and 19 Minutes. Her books do such a great job in presenting each side of a story so well that the reader can feel lightheaded from all of the jumping sides. (I think this, no this, on third thought…..) But we are a gabby group, so we can create controversy in a book even if it isn’t there.
Our club had more discussions on the Jodi Picoult book My Sister’s Keeper than any other book we have read. We all have been touched by one form of cancer or another. We could relate to both sisters. How tragic. Runner up would have to be Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones.
The book that caused the most discussion in our book club was “Left to tell: discoverying God amidst the Rwandan holocaust” by Immaculee Ilibagiza.
It is a very compelling story and well written. The fact that this event took place recently shocked us.
A close second is “Have a Little Faith” by Mitch Albom. A few negative comments in each discussion helped to make the discussions more interesting and got people thinking.