Books and friends – perfect together

~ Book Club Mom
Image: Pinterest
Image: Pinterest

Some book clubs come and go, but mine has been around for sixteen years.  We started out as young mothers and have watched our babies grow and head off to college.  We used to meet late, after the babies went to bed.  Now we meet early so we can get to bed!

We’ve read a lot of books over the years.  Some of them were great and some were clunkers.  Sometimes we go off topic, and sometimes we go way off topic, but we always have fun.  We are a perfect combination of great friendship, laughter, support and a little bit of gossip and spice!

We started in 2001 with The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan and are still going strong.   Here’s a list of what we’ve read.  I think our selections follow a typical reading trend.  What have you read in your book club?

2001

The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
Girl with a Pearl Earring  by Tracy Chevalier – 5 star read
Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
Fortune’s Daughter by Alice Hoffman

Girl with a Pearl Earring

2002

Sula by Toni Morrison
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro
The Bee Season by Myra Goldberg
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Dive from Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

2003

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant – 5 star read
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
The Family Orchard by Nomi Eve
Five Finger Discount – A Crooked Family History by Helene Stapinski
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Gift from the Sea by Ann Morrow Lindbergh
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis – 5 star read

the-red-tent    the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe

2004

All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown – 5 star read
Atonement by Ian McEwan – 5 star read
Princess:  A True Story of Life behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean P. Sasson
Back Roads by Tawni O’Dell
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty
Youngblood Hawke by Herman Wouk – 5 star read
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

the-da-vinci-code     Youngblood Hawke pic

2005

Nickel and Dimed:  On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landuik
How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett – 5 star read
Remember Me by Trezza Azzopardi
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell

bel-canto

2006

White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Under the Banner of Heaven – A Story of Violent Faith by John Krakauer
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
Little Children by Tom Perotta
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – 5 star read
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
The World to Come by Dara Horn
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

the-kite-runner

2007

An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
The Ha Ha by Dave King
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
The Keep by Jennifer Egan
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls – 5 star read
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Black and White by Dani Shapiro

the-glass-castle

2008

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz
Good Faith by Jane Smiley
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Double Bind by Chris Bahjalian
The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer – 5 star read
First Mothers by Bonnie Angelo
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen – 5 star read
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Giver by Lois Lowrey – 5 star read

from Goodreads     sense-and-sensibility     the giver pic

2009

The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
Peony in Love by Lisa See
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood – 5 star read
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
The Shack by William P. Young
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – 5 star read
A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
The Twist in the Road by Rob Hanlon

the-blind-assassin     a-tree-grows-in-brooklyn

2010

The Soloist by Steve Lopez
The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walters
Straight Man by Richard Russo
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – 5 star read
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress – Rhoda Janzen
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann – 5 star read
Game Change by John Heliemann/Mark Halperin
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

To Kill a Mockingbird pic     let-the-great-world-spin

2011

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – 5 star read
The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins
The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Room by Emma Donoghue
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey – 5 star read

rebecca     one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest

2012

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Little Bee by Chris Cleve
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Loving Frank:  A Novel by Nancy Horan
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – 5 star read
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
We Hear the Dead by Diane Salerni
Defending Jacob by William Landay
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

Gone with the Wind book cover

2013

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Mayflower – A Story of Courage, Community and War by Nathanial Philbrick

2014

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – 5 star read
Me Before You by JoJo Mayes
The Pieces We Keep by Kristina McMorris
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
The Caged Graves by Dianne Salerni – 5 star read
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer – 5 star read
The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin
Mary Coin by Marisa Silver
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs
All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner

the book thief pic     the caged graves pic     the interestings pic

2015

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
A Sudden Light by Garth Stein
The Dinner by Herman Koch
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

2016

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
After You by Jojo Moyes
The Hours Count by Jillian Cantor
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – 5 star read
Traveling Mercies – Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott

all the light we cannot see

2017

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

 

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21 thoughts on “Books and friends – perfect together”

  2. I loved reading the list of all the books you’ve read. And glad I’ve read so many of them as well. I agree with all of your 5 star reads except for The Interestings. Ironically, I found that book boring, and didn’t care very much about any of the characters, as intrigued as I was by the concept.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Charlene – thanks for stopping by. I think The Interestings is one of those books you love or don’t like at all. I’m not sure why I liked it so much because I am not (and was never) like any of the characters and never went to camp! It just appealed to me for some unknown reason. Happy reading!

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  3. Congratulations on 16years!! I love lists and lists of books must be the best – some wonderful ones I’ve read and also a lot I meant to but then forgot. Here’s to the next 16 years of Happy Reading! 🎉😀

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Such a terrific list of books, of which I’ve read quite a few, in book club and outside of it. We’ve only had ours since January 2012, and we often go way off topic too, especially if we combine a meeting with food. I’m bookmarking for future book ideas. Great post!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I envy you a long life with the same book club…mine has been short journeys with various people over the years.

    On your list, I am familiar with a few of those books, and loved them, like…While I Was Gone, The Secret Life of Bees, The Corrections, The Hours, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Lovely Bones, Atonement, Where the Heart Is, White Oleander, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, The Keep, The Glass Castle, Black and White, The Blind Assassin, Revolutionary Road, The Handmaid’s Tale, A Map of the World, The Happiness Project, The Weird Sisters, Half Broke Horses, Gone Girl, The Leftovers, The Orphan Train, Me Before You, What Alice Forgot, The Interestings, All Fall Down, The Dinner, and The Girl on the Train.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I belong to a book club too, although we don’t read nearly the variety of books that yours does. I wish we did, but we seem to be in a little bit it a rut. Still, I have read many books because of it that I’ve enjoyed! And I’ve read many books on your list as well!

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  7. That is so cool that you’ve had a book club for so long! I’ve been trying to find one in my area, but haven’t had much luck. The ones at the library always seem to be during the day when I’m working – like only the retired or stay-at-home parents like to read??

    Liked by 1 person

    1. What a great question, Kim. No, we didn’t have themes but I always laugh when I see that we read The Secret Lives of Bees and Bee Season back to back! Thanks for reading and commenting. Have a great week!

      Liked by 1 person

  9. I love this! How sweet. You’ve “grown up” together while watching your children grow. That is so special. ❤ (And you know I love this: "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis – 5 star read") What an amazing selection of books.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Wow, you guys have covered a lot of ground! Those are some impressive lists–and it’s interesting to see what you rated 5 stars. I’ve added a few more books to my to-read list now. Maybe I’ll try All the Light We Cannot See again. I’ve picked it up a couple times but can never seem to get into it! Maybe third time’s a charm…

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