I am currently reading A Man Called Ove, on your recommendation. Need I say more?
Ignatius, I’d forgotten how much you liked The Luminaries. I liked it too. War of the Worlds and Seveneves are a couple of other books on your list that I found very appealing, though they didn’t quite make my top tier.
And of course Persepolis is wonderful.
I’ve never read The Moonstone, or any Wilkie Collins. Will have to remedy that.
My five favorite books from this group are probably:
Seveneves
Lonesome Dove
The Round House
Possession
West with the Night or Far From the Madding Crowd or The Storied Life of A.J. Firky
It’s always a joy to share reading experiences, even when they’re not all that positive. Many thanks to all who participate!
NJTM: I’m incapable of top tiers … I tend to like or meh or dislike.
Jane Eyre ! Of course !
I didn’t actually join the discussions until 2013 when* Possession * got chosen. It’s one of my absolute favorite books and I loved the idea of being able to discuss it. I got so much more out of it thanks to all the research everyone did. And I remember really enjoying what people who didn’t like it had to say as well.
After that I went back and enjoyed:
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society* - fun read, not too serious
- The Secret Garden * - really loved rereading this, which as the parent of two boys was not one I’d revisited when they were young
- The Forgotten Garden* - also enjoyed, but don’t remember well
- Dear Life* - I dislike short stories generally, but thought it would be good for me to read something of Munro’s after she got the Nobel Prize. Every story had me scratching my head - but the discussion here made me appreciated stuff I’d missed or coaxed me into realizing stuff about the story I hadn’t seen as I was reading it.
- The Luminaires * - I wasn’t as much a fan as some, but it was a fascinating book. And another discussion that to me at least made the book more interesting than that first read.
- The Storied Life of AJ Fricky* - Loved the book and loved that I got sucked into reading every single short story mentioned.
- West with the Night* - I liked it, but not as much as I had the first time I’d read it. But it inspired me to read Out of Africa at last and to rewatch the gorgeous movie.
- Persepolis* - glad we finally tackled a graphic novel, and loved the contrasting views of life in Tehran, we had that month. It also inspired me to finally get around to reading * Maus*
- Lonesome Dove* - Loved it, it had been sitting on my bookshelves for years unread
- Station Eleven * - This book grew on me. I think I like it more now than when we read it. There was something about the world that she created and the characters, that has stayed with me more than most books
As for * The Fireman* I enjoyed it and was able to ignore most of the flaws. Didn’t expect great literature, but thought it was fun. But it is too bad that he wasn’t better edited.
@Mary13 save a seat at the movie for me too. 
Oh and back to that Easter Egg discussion. I was trying to think of other books that do this and soon came up with Madeline L’Engle. I divide her books into three main clumps - in children’s books there is Meet the Austins realistic fiction with its sequels, then there is A Wrinkle in Time science fiction, and there are a series of adult books with locations mostly on the Upper East Side. In all of them Canon Tallis appears as an important minor character at one time or other. There’s some overlap with other characters too. The name Canon Tallis is also a bit of a joke - as the Tallis Canon is also a very pretty piece of religious music. I always really liked it when characters from other novels show up. I guess because I like the idea of world-building even in our world, not just the sci-fi world.
Study indicates that people who read books live longer.
I’d say female characters and it looks as though I’m not the only one who’s noticed:
https://themainemag.com/people/q-a-a/2357-joe-hill.html
*We’ve mentioned (repeatedly) Stephen King but have neglected his mother. To his credit Joe Hill never does. He dedicates NOS4A2
And from the Acknowledgements:
And then continues by acknowledging his dad - nicely also.
And if you do end up reading NOS4A2 note that Hill adds a little something at the end of his Acknowledgements and more than a little something under “A Note about Type” which actually has little to do with the type. It reminds of sitting through to the end of a Disney/Pixar movie to catch the final frame.
Along those lines, here’s a Stephen King superfan–who perhaps has just a little too much time on her hands: https://laughingsquid.com/the-stephen-king-universe-a-very-detailed-flowchart-linking-his-books-characters/
It wasn’t until I heard Joe Hill say the title of his book on the YouTube video that I realized it was “Nosferatu.” Duh!!
Comments on the interview in Maine Magazine (link in Post #149 above):
Joe Hill says that as a kid he laughed at horror movies when everyone else was covering their eyes!
I love what he says about his mom’s relatives, the Spruce family.
Aw, come on, ignatius. I’m curious, but I’m sure as heck not going to read NOS4A2. Do I need to go to the library and turn to the back of the book and peek, or could you tell us what Hill says? 
Oh it’s nothing that you need to search out - call it a Coda of sorts. It won’t make a lick of sense if you haven’t read the book.
Other authors who are masters of the “Easter Egg” are Paul Auster and Siri Hustvedt, who are married to each other. Characters from one of their books will make a fleeting appearance in the books of the other. Little biographical details will reoccur. There will be little in-jokes from their own lives – like the character named Iris in one of Auster’s books who shared characteristics with both his wife Siri and the character Iris from one of her books.
I adore, adore, adore both of them, so for me this is a very charming thing in their books. When I don’t like an author, however, I find stuff like that to be an annoying affectation. There’s no consistency in my views, I freely admit!
I was thinking that I might have once read something by Paul Auster, but maybe not. Nottelling, which of his books (and/or Siri Hustvedt’s) would you recommend starting with?
Boy, I almost hate to recommend any because Auster is (1) such an acquired taste whom many people hate, and (2) someone whose work I’ve loved for 30 years (since college) so I no longer have any sense of whether it is actually good or if it is just a very sentimental favorite for me. There’s a lot of postmodern-trickster stuff in his books, as well as a somewhat overly sentimental streak, that would (and does) annoy a great many people (chief among them James Wood of the New Yorker). But he makes me melt. (Probably not totally unrelated to the fact that he looked like this in the 1980s when I first started reading him:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Notebook-Paul-Auster/dp/0571226418#immersive-view_1470700931734 )
Anyway, with all those disclaimers, my favorites of his are:
Leviathan – the main character is based on one of my favorite contemporary artists, Sophie Calle.
Book of Illusions
The Brooklyn Follies
Oracle Nights
If you are ever looking for a sentimental fable that is a very quick read (and if you like dogs), I’d recommend Timbuktu.
For Siri Hustvedt, I’d recommend either What I Loved or Sorrows of an American. Or her non-fiction book The Shaking Woman, or a History of My Nerves.
@nottelling LOL - I think those are the very definition of bedroom eyes!
I’ve got a lot more patience for postmodern tricksterism in movies than in books. I just about threw The French Lieutenant’s Woman across the room when I got to the end. I loved the way they dealt with that in the movie though.
Me too, I’m one of four sisters and have four daughters and six nieces. I can totally relate to spending evenings with strong-willed women who engage in lively discussions about politics, literature and education.
Maybe I’m overtired, but It struck me as funny that the family grew up in Maine and their last name is Spruce.
Re Jakob, I’ve decided that I haven’t given Joe Hill enough credit. Whereas my first thought was that Hill was simply making use of a tired old horror routine, I am now convinced he was making fun of it—especially after hearing him specifically reference Jason from “Friday the 13th” in his library Q&A. Jakob’s plow as Hill’s version of “The Gag,” as he called it. I see satire in the Marlboro Man, too—a commentary on “shock jocks” and the extreme views spewed on certain types of talk radio. He was, we’re told, “a former morning-show joker. Or had he been a right-wing radio host?”
Did you notice any other satirical digs?
For the record, I re-read the section of The Fireman that I had skimmed. I think I turned it into an 830-page novel. 
I’m sad that I’ll never be a “lifer.” I have read a couple of your past selections, though. I loved Cutting for Stone!
I’m quite enjoying a book discussion that doesn’t get derailed by rants about teachers, principals, spouses, or kids. My book club in the (very small) town where I previously lived had two teachers, a doctor, a school secretary, a librarian, and a SAHM and school volunteer who was a UChicago grad many, many years ago and never let anyone forget it. We never did have a discussion that didn’t include gripes about our local education system! (To be fair, though, there was quite a bit to gripe about.)
The group bestows an honorary title in special circumstances, and you qualify! It’s in the by-laws. 