Top 10 Book Club Selections

What were the top 10 books selected by book clubs this year? Goodreads has an Infographic for this.  I can't believe that our book club has not read even one on the list.  I started reading Wild on my own and never finished. It just never held my interest. There is a mix of books on the list. According to amazon,  Gone Girl is a thriller. J. K. Rowling's book, Casual Vacancy is described by one amazon reviewer as a book you either love or hate; brilliant, disturbing and not for everyone.  Insurgent is for the Young Adult and falls in the category of dystopic fiction. It's the second book of a trilogy in the Divergent series and is set in Chicago.  Quite a mixture!

Take another look at the Okefenokee Book Club selections for 2012.

Three Pines Mystery series

I am hooked on the Three Pines Mystery series by Louise Penny set in the village of Three Pines in French-speaking Canada.  I have read Still Life (book club selection in October) and Fatal Grace and am waiting for the arrival of The Cruelest Month from a library.

In Fatal Grace, the author tells us in the very first sentence who was going to be murdered.  I believe the same thing happened in Still Life, I remember for sure that the reader knew who the victim was from the first page. The characters in the series are all quirky which I love.  Three older women were introduced in this novel; Bea, Em, and Kaye. Grumpy Ruth the poet, Clara and Peter the artists, and Myrna the black retired Psychologist who owns a book store seem to be constant characters.  There is some trouble stirring with Inspector Gamache and there seems to be a traitor in his entourage so I am continuing with the series to find out more.   I am eager to know if someone is going to die in Three Pines.  I don't think this little village can stand another murder in its midst.

On another genre, I just heard about this new Sci-Fi book  on kindle by first time author, Jennifer Fales.  I am not a big Sci-Fi fan but I did enjoy  The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I started Oryx and Crake by the same writer but could not get into it.

Book club Meeting in Waycross

We enjoyed our book club meeting today at a new venue, Matt's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria.  The spinach and mushroom pizza was delicious. Everyone had a lot to say about the book, Snow Falling on Cedars.    Our book next month is Eye of the Crow.


I have just finished reading, with my online book club, the first few pages of  a pre-pub book, The Brink of Fame by Irene Fleming.  So far it appears interesting. I will add this to my list of books to read.

Book Buzz

Interesting books on Dear Reader's website under Author Buzz. What would you do if your husband suddenly wanted to re-write the rules for your relationship? That is the question Sarah Pekkanen asks in her story, Skipping a Beat.

You may remember that Dear Reader is an online book club of which I am a member. I get the first chapters of new books before they are published.

Ayanla Vanzant has a new book out, Peace from Broken Pieces: How to get Through What You're Going Through, that was at #2000 on one of the bestsellers list. After her first interview on the Oprah show after 11 years, the book went to #8. Last night was the second interview. This morning Ayanla said her book is now #1. It's now clear which bestsellers list. I saw it at #2 on amazon's list of biographies today and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand as # 1

What should I read next?

Oh My Gosh! I just looked at Jenners of Find Your Next Book Here, on the blog Lost in Books. This blogger has read some of my all time favorite books: The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

Maybe I should go check out the other two books on this blogger's reading list: The Host by Stephenie Meyer and The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

Next month our book club members will not select and read the same book. We'll read whatever we want and discuss our book choices at the meeting.

Someone in our club wants to read, True Memoirs of Little K. Little K is supposed to be a Russian ballerina and the mistress of the last Tsar. The other members have not yet decided what they want to read.

Children's Authors

I wrote to DearReader.com , an online book club, about my book purchasing dilemma which I addressed yesterday. I got an email response with some links to children's Authors on Kids Buzz. Here are just three of the authors that I discovered on the DearReader book blog:

First, there is the writer with the unusual name, Lit Judge, and her book, Born to be Giants, is for the 5-12 year olds with an interest in dinosaurs.

Lisa Brown has a vampire book for the 3-8 year olds; perfect for those who celebrate a not too scary version of Halloween.

Robert Forbes has a Facebook page promoting his second book of poetry for children, Let's Have a Bite!

Book Club Blog selection

Here is what book lovers over at Book Buddies are reading for October: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1896-1972), a book that was first published over 60 years ago.

Going by amazon.com, this book would fall in the category of Young Adult, for readers 10 years old and older.

By the way, Book Buddies already read and discussed The Help back in July. That is our pick for our meeting in October.

Oprah's Book Club Pick

What? Oprah's book club selection is Freedom by Jonathan Franzen? Isn't this the writer that did not want his book, The Corrections, to be an Oprah Book Club selection? Has something changed? Isn't this the book that President Obama chose to read over the summer? This book purchase or gift caused a minor stir in the media, as so often happens with every breath the President takes.


If you take on the Oprah challenge to read this book, then log in and write in the journal.

I didn't like The Corrections ; it was long and tedious to read so I am not planning to join the rush to read Freedom.

Corrections dealt with dysfunctional family members in the Lambert family. The oldest son Gary was stingy with his money and manipulated by his wife. Chip was the con artist in the family. He was the brilliant and sex obsessed middle son. Denise was the talented and competitive last child; an only daughter who kept falling for older men. The parents Enid and Al were an incompatible and unhappy couple.

Book Suggestions for the Month of June

Summer reading suggestions from Oprah's website.

Book suggestions for the month of May

Here are some really interesting titles, focusing on mothers, to read in May as suggested on oprah.com: Andrea Levy's lastest book, The Long Song, and Amy Tan's, The Bonesetter's Daughter.

Book Bloggers

Check out the blogs of some serious book lovers as they answer 20 book related questions posed by the blogger of Lost in Books.

Let's start with Jenner from Find Your Next Book Here. Read what she has to say about Even The Dogs by Jon McGregor.

Next, see how Carrie answers her 20 questions. Apparently the book she last read was The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. Carrie's blog is actually Carrie of Books and Movies.

Then read how JT of Bibliofreak answers the 20 questions. A book she bought just because of the cover was, The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra.

Jackie of Farm Lane Books indicated that the book she didn't like that everyone else seemed to love was Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson.

Sure are a lot of book bloggers out there.

Books and Foods

I just saw an article in Relish dated March 2009 by Monica Bhide that suggests that we go to the site bookclubcookbook.com. There is a link on that site that pairs books with foods. Take a look and you will see that the book, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, by Janelle Brown, for example is paired up with the recipe for Janice's Chocolate-Lavender Pots de Creme. Janice is the name of the desperate housewife character in the book.

Author Buzz

Valentine's day is approaching so you may want to check out these books on Dear Reader's AuthorBuzz here . Love in 90 Days sounds intriguing. Also, Second Chance Pass in Author Buzz by Rita-Award winning author, Robyn Carr ,was just published.

Read Books By Email

That's the idea behind the DailyLit website. DailyLit sends you books by email or RSS feed according to your pre-agreed schedule. You can have access to over 750 classic and contemporary books. Some are free and some are on a pay-per-read basis.

Author's Blog

Remember Mary Kay Andrews, the writer? We read her humorous book Savannah Blues quite a while ago. Well take a look at her blog The Kudzu Telegraph.

Effective Book Club Discussions

• "The best books for discussion confront themes and conflicts that are more universal and also more challenging". Read MORE

Pirate's Daughter

I have mentioned the online book club that I belong to in previous posts. Well I have been getting from the book club chapter 1 of a book called, The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezaire-Thompson, a writer originally from Jamaica. The book will be available on amazon.com October 2007. The True History of Paradise was Margaret's first book and amazon readers have given it 5 stars.

Book Club Blogs

Found an interesting blog on controversial books by African American writers. Click here.

Also, check out this Paradise Valley Community College book club blog.

This British based book club blog for "connoisseurs of fine literature, books, clubs and blogs" no longer seems to be current. Not enough connoisseurs?