Favorite Book Club Choices
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
, by Annie Fiery Barrows and Mary Ann Fiery Shaffer
In January 1946, letters between writer Juliet Ashton, and her correspondent on the island of Guernsey just after World War II, give her insight into how the island residents coped during the German occupation. Through other members of the GLandPPP Society, Juliet learns about their island and their taste in books as well. - Sarah's Key
, by Tatiana De Rosnay
This popular book club read is told in two sections. One takes place during the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, the most notorious act of French collaboration with the Nazis. The other takes place in contemporary times as a reportor searches for Sarah and her family to tell them they are not forgotten. - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
After Pearl Harbor, a Chinese boy in Seattle meets a Japanese girl at school before her family is interned in a camp. Prejudices between races play a major part in this story. Very popular book for book group discussions.
- Water for Elephants
, by Sara Gruen
Told in flashbacks, nursing home resident, Jacob, remembers times spent living with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth and the people and animals he encountered. One of the most popular books for book groups this year! - Nineteen Minutes
, by Jodi Picoult
Another great read for book groups by the very popular author of My Sister's Keeper: A Noveland The Tenth Circle: A Novel
. A high school shooting takes place in a small town in New Hampshire and the town is stunned by this tragedy.
- Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel
, by Helen Simonson
Sixty-eight year old Major Pettigrew retires in his beloved village of Edgecombe St. Mary England where he enters into a relationship with a Pakistani woman who shares his love of literature. There is lots going on in this story; domestic comedy, late-life romance, culture clash. Another popular read for book clubs. - American Wife: A Novel
, by Curtis Sittenfeld
Sittenfeld traces a former librarians path to the White House from humble beginnings in Texas in this fictional story loosely based on Laura Bush. - The Help
, by Kathryn Stockett
This first novel by Stockett follows the lives of black maids in 60's Jackson, Mississippi and the white women they work for.
- Cutting for Stone
, by Abraham Verghese
This first fiction work by Stone follows the plot as it spans the lifetime of twin boys, of Indian descent, in Ethiopia and America. The boys grow up to become doctors as well and the author weaves the practice of medicine into this story. - The Book Thief
, by Markus Zusak
Set during World War II in Germany, Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich who survives by stealing. She comes upon something she cannot resist: books.
