The Immortalist sounds most intriguing to me. I also think that American War sounds very good.
Per bylaws section 5735, if a suggested book is not included in original list, it may be added if approved by the beloved leader, mary13
Waking Lions
SJChessmom, thx so much for all the summaries.
I’m open to most of the above books. I encourage everyone to read Lil Fires Everywhere for fun. My co-leader of bookclub grew up in Shaker Heights, and showed us pictures of the NICE streets in that area. It’s the kind of book that I can see being made into a movie, starring Reese Witherspoon as the affluent mom.
An abundance of riches -
homegoing
Thanks for all the posts and summaries! Leaving off The Female Persuasion was 100% oversight. It IS on the official list. Apologies to @VeryHappy. I will read through all of the above and post a revised list tonight.
If there are other titles to be vetoed or added, keep mentioning them, since I won’t update for a few hours. (I’m still at work.)
I’m in favor of anything that isn’t Middlemarch. I just don’t think I could wade through that.
@SouthJerseyChessMom has correctly interpreted the by-laws :-B . I’ve added a couple of books and removed those that were either outright vetoes or involved serious reservations. And we still have 9 titles! Too many for voting.
I know there are at least two or three of you out there who are thinking, “Sure, I’ll read anything, but I kinda hope xxxxx does NOT get picked.” So tell me what your 9th choice is on this list and that’ll help pare it down.
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
American War by Omar El Akkad
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
How To Stop Time by Matt Haig
Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
My big input is that I am going to put American War last.
Ditto @psychmom . Not my thing.
Last for me: Homegoing.
Picking a 9th choice is fun @Mary13. Great idea.
Joining others and putting American War last.
I think I would be happy with any of them. Sorry; I know that’s not much help, but looking a the blurbs, they all seem interesting in their own way. Can we narrow it down by considering what else we’ve read recently – eg, historical fiction, time travel, family saga, etc. – and then looking for something completely different?
Thanks for the vetoes and suggestions for trimming!
I think I’ll remove How to Stop Time by Matt Haig. It sounds like fun, but also like it might be too light to sustain (or need) discussion. Also, I’d have to picture Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role and that just wouldn’t work for me. 
At the other end of the spectrum, I’m going to remove Waking Lions. It sounds really intriguing, but perhaps darker than we want to go, as our last three selections have been pretty steeped in death and despair.
In other words, what I’m aiming for is something that falls between a light “love story across the ages” and a dark “morally devastating drama of guilt and survival.”
That leaves five books, which works for voting (at least I hope so…we’ll see what the votes are). Please rank your top three, if possible:
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
All of these sound great to me!
1 - Little Fires Everywhere
2 - The Female Persuasion
3 - The Immortalists
I am fine with any of those, Mary, and since I tend to be inconsistent with my participation here, don’t weigh my choices too heavily. But, it’s fun to have skin in the game, so here’s my list:
1.The Immortalists
2. Little Fires Everywhere
3. The other 3
- Either *The Great Believers* or *The Heart's Invisible Furies/i
- Either *The Female Persuasion* or *The Immortalists* or *Little Fires Everywhere/i
I’m easy. All sound good.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies
Little Fires Everywhere
The Great Believers
The Heart’s Invisible Furies
The Imortalist
The Great Believers
My choices:
The Immortalists
The Female Persuasion
The Great Believers
The Immortalists
the Hearts Invisible Furies
The great Believers
( no strong preferences )