I’m interested in The Custom of the Country. I would love to have a book that just sucks me in without too much work, like Seveneves and Lonesome Dove did.
^ sorry I don’t have any books to suggest. Interesting comment @NJTheatreMOM about " a suitable boy" have to find out about that one, right now
Lol ^:)^
NJTM, A Suitable Boy is compared in some Amazon reviews to the works of Tolstoy and Trollope. What do you think? Maybe we could spread it out over three or four months instead of two?
Just read some goodreads best of reviews, so suggesting these books in no order based on random reviews
M train- Patti Smith
13 ways of. looking - Colum McCann
Several friends have recommended
Boys in the Boat - Daniel Brown
Plantmom, I’ve read one Trollope and (blush) no Tolstoy. I liked A Suitable Boy better than the Trollope, though the Trollope was good.
Is it more Tolstoy or more Trollope? A 1488-page Trollope is a lot shorter than a 1488-page Tolstoy! 
(I adore both, but in terms of commitment required, there’s no comparison between the two.)
I’d definitely be willing to give it a shot (but with no promises, sadly).
If it were spread out over four months, would it make sense to still have a short book in August – maybe a novella – so that the continuity is not lost and so that those who cannot commit to such a huge project are not left behind for two cycles?
As the newbie in the bunch, I don’t have much standing, so take my comments with a grain of salt!
ETA: cross posted with NJTM
M Train wasn’t all that good, in my opinion. I had high hopes for it after liking Just Kids, and I was disappointed.
This group already read a Colum McCann book, and I think we try to avoid repeating authors?
A Suitable Boy is accessible in the way Trollope is accessible, except for some shortish sections about politics that are not quite as easy to get through as the rest of the book. The characters are so, so great. My favorite quote from a review is “I’ve never met so many dear friends in any other novel.” I couldn’t agree more.
I, also, liked Just Kids- sorry to read about M train 
Okay … I’m jumping the gun a bit but here are my top choices:
- *The Fireman*
Published May 2016 768 pages From Amazon.com "I admit, when I hit a saggy part in a story, I do skip ahead to see if the plot will pick up again. **At no point in Joe Hill’s doorstop-weight novel did I have that urge, for each and every page had me entranced."**
2. *Barkskins*
Published June 2016
736 pages
- *The Fireman* and *Barkskins* are an Amazon Best Book of May and June, respectively.
3. *The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu/i with *The Invisible Library/i - a duet. (I like the idea of supporting a debut author also).
4. *Cloudstreet*
Sounds good though I really do think it’s past time to pick something newly published.
A Suitable Boy is too long and I think we’ll lose something if we extend over four months. I’m interested in A Passage to India and East of Eden - just not for now.
Anyway, thought I’d jump in because I’m starting to get confused with all our choices. I know I’ll have to redo later but for now - see above.
Well, I think that’s a record number of suggestions – I lost count after about 22 titles. Well done!
Weeding:
I’m eliminating non-fiction (recently done), books that exceed 1,000 pages (not enough beach time), books that have been vetoed by others (see by-laws), books that sound depressing (I’m afraid of Virginia Woolf [sorry, I couldn’t resist]), repeat authors (see by-laws again) and any author whose last name begins with “T” (new rule I just made up).
That leaves us with:
The Fireman by Joe Hill
Barkskins by Annie Proulx
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
Seven is an acceptable number for voting, so go ahead and rank your top three if you feel satisfied and/or inspired. However, I agree with ignatius that our rotation is overdue for a new release, so if anyone has additional ideas in that regard, they can either be added to the list or used to replace one of the above titles.
@ignatius, I had Old Filth in hand to read when a friend told me that the protagonist reminded her of Major Pettigrew. I wasn’t in the mood for another version of the Major (as much as I liked him), so I put it down and never worked my way back to it again.
@PlantMom and @nottelling, I like the idea of having a multi-month read, but I’d prefer to open the topic up for discussion after summer is over. Such a plan has crossed my mind a few times when someone has suggested a book that we couldn’t possibly read in the usual time frame. It would be an experiment for us, but this group is always open to trying new things.
@NJTheatreMOM, your comment about your other book group not having much to say about Cloudstreet really made me laugh after I read this from the Library Journal review: “Winton’s fifth novel is chock-full, depicting birth, death, resurrection, marriage, miscarriage, gambling, drunkenness, adultery, anorexia, depression, love, and joy.”
Yeah, not much to talk about there.
- *The Fireman*
- *Barkskins*
3.Cloudstreet
You’re a great weeder, Mary!
It’s really hard to choose a top three because these all seem like good choices. I would sort of prefer to read something I haven’t read before, so:
- *Barkskins* by Annie Proulx.
- *The Custom of the Country* by Edith Wharton OR *The Good Soldier* by Ford Madox Ford OR *Old Filth* by Jane Gardam.
- *The Fireman* by Joe Hill.
My list, at least right now!
- The Fireman by Joe Hill
- The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
- Barkskins by Annie Proulx
I’ve already read The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford and would prefer something new. But it’s very good.
My choices are:
- Cloudstreet, or Barkskins, or Custom of the Country, or Old Filth, all tied for first.
- My Name is Lucy Barton, or The Good Soldier.
(Again, I feel presumptuous voting since I’m so new, so vote-weighting based on years of membership is highly encouraged).
Don’t feel presumptuous, nottelling! We are so glad to have an active new member with interesting opinions.
Good job Mary13- interesting books suggested -
- The Fireman by Joe Hill
- The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
- Barkskins by Annie Proulx
1.The Fireman by Joe Hill
2.Old Filth by Jane Gardam
3.Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (I’d like to read this eventually, but agree something newer, even if it’s not brand, brand new would be more fun.)
^ Thanks. That’s very helpful. Looking for a common denominator among the lists, and considering the benefits of a newer book, I would say that our two finalists are The Fireman and Barkskins. Both are of equal length. Before a final decision is made, I want to ask a few questions:
-
Do you think that The Fireman might return us to territory we’ve already covered? We’ve read about catastrophic pandemics and post-apocalyptic worlds in both Station Eleven and Seveneves. Granted, those were two very different books, but should there be a self-imposed limit to how many times the CC book club is permitted to encounter the end of the world as we know it?
-
Would you say The Fireman satisfies the fantasy genre, which @ignatius reminds us that we have yet to explore?
-
@nottelling, would you read the The Fireman if it were chosen? @mathmom, would you read Barkskins if it were chosen?
I would be delighted with either choice. Whenever I read the description of The Fireman, I want to read that…and whenever I read the description of Barkskins, I want to read that. Which is a pretty good position to be in, as far as fun summer reading goes.
I certainly would give it a try, and would do my best to stick with it! I see that it is described as horror, which I have to admit is not my favorite genre – one that I actively avoid, to be honest. But I enjoyed our discussion of The Dig so much that I’m highly motivated to participate. If the point of a book club is to go outside one’s comfort zone, that book would do it for me! That’s a long way of saying that I’m game for whatever the group chooses. Maybe I’ll be converted.