<p>I will be joining one of our public library’s book club. I wanted some ideas on what was catching your attention these days. The group that I am joining does not have a first book assigned as of yet. We’re supposed to be discussing what we have read this summer and then coming up with a list of books to read for the year.</p>
<p>Right now I’m reading Straight Man by Richard Russo, based on recommendations from another CC thread. So far it’s very funny, as promised. My favorite book from the past year is The World to Come by Dara Horn and I also very much enjoyed Family Trust by Ward Just (as well as just about everything else the man has written).</p>
<p>I’m rereading David Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Fascinating writing style that I have no intention of trying to emulate, so I can just enjoy.</p>
<p>I’m reading Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick. I haven’t read that far into it yet but it’s very good so far.</p>
<p>I am an Anne Perry fan. Reading “At some Disputed Barricade” right now. Have the next one lined up, too.</p>
<p>I blush to admit I just finished The Ruins by Scott Smith, who wrote a great book, A Simple Plan, about 10 years ago. I was inveigled by the jacket blurb from salon.com that said, “Do not pick up a copy if you have anything else you need to do in the next eight hours or so.” They weren’t kidding - it was a perfect, if unsettling, Labor Day read. Not something to recommend to a book club, probably, unless everyone is into escapist 
stuff.</p>
<p>When I read the OP, I realized that I haven’t read any book club-worthy offerings for a while. What the heck, it’s been summer! I have enjoyed these recently: Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman, One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson, and Thunderstruck by Eric Larson(non-fiction). I’ve never read Robert Littell before - tonight I’m starting The Amateur.</p>
<p>I’m trying to get into The Interpretation of Murder, but it needs to pick up… quick.</p>
<p>Otherwise, A Thousand Splendid Suns is next up, maybe tonight.</p>
<p>Just started Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy, last in the trilogy. While the last one should be read last, the first two, in my opinion, don’t demand a particular reading order (All the Pretty Horses, and The Crossing).</p>
<p>His writing style is a bit unusual but I’m enjoying the books very much. Very descriptive and I find myself reading a little slower just to enjoy the phrasing (and to make sure I don’t miss anything). I confess to being a sucker for a western, modern or historic.</p>
<p>our book club is reading Water the Elephants by Sara Gruen…a fabulous read. Also recommend Purple Hibiscuc by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie…It was my D’s summer read for Oklahoma CIty and it was great too!</p>
<p>How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale by Jenna Jameson</p>
<p>I just bought Water for Elephants today - it’s our September read for one of my book clubs. My other book club is reading The Jane Austen Book Club, which I haven’t started yet. I’m about halfway through Alice’s Tulips right now, and it’s good so far but not very book club-ish.</p>
<p>Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky…who was a commanding talent, as you will see immediately if you pick it up. been a long time since I have liked a book this much
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/books/review/09gray.html?ex=1302235200&en=efa79839c42f4089&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/books/review/09gray.html?ex=1302235200&en=efa79839c42f4089&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss</a></p>
<p>I just this minute finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and it was one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read. I generally read approximately 50-60 books a year and always have a waiting pile of books I can’t wait to start. I loved this book so much that I am hesitant to begin a new one because I don’t want the pleasure of this one to be washed away! :)</p>
<p>We just finished listening to Carl Hiassen’s Basket Case. It a great book for a long car drive! Slightly raunchy, very funny, a bit of mystery, but that’s hardly the point, just the structure.</p>
<p>I’m about to finish Joan Vinge’s Dreamfall, an old sci-fi about a psion. It’s a bit depressing. As my son said her books aren’t much fun to read because she’s so mean to her characters.</p>
<p>booklady, I also was enthralled with Dara Horn’s The World to Come, along with my book club. As it happens, I’m now reading Dara Horn’s In the Image, to review it for them as we open up the new year.</p>
<p>After that I’ll read Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.</p>
<p>I just finished *Water for Elephants<a href=“it’s%20my%20September%20book%20club%20reading%20as%20well”>/i</a> and was not bowled over. I did like the scenes in the present, in the nursing home, which I thought showed a great sensitivity to and understanding of someone in that position. The circus parts, however, were too much like bad melodrama. On the Amazon scale I’d give it 3 stars (out of 5).</p>
<p>paying3tuitions: I liked In the Image a great deal, although it’s not quite the tour de force that The World to Come is. Kavalier & Clay, while very interesting in stretches, could have used some judicious editing, IMO. I’m looking forward to reading Chabon’s latest, but I’ll wait for the paperback. :)</p>
<p>I really enjoyed Water for Elephants and “The Thirteenth Tale.”</p>
<p>I also enjoyed “The Distant Land of My Father” by Bo Caldwell, which would be a good book club selection. <a href=“http://www.imagejournal.org/aom/caldwell_bo.asp[/url]”>http://www.imagejournal.org/aom/caldwell_bo.asp</a></p>
<p>I’ve just started “The Witch of Portobello” by Paulo Coelho and am enjoying it so far. </p>
<p>Next on my list are “The Lay of the Land” by Richard Ford and “unless” by Carol Shield. Has anyone read these?</p>
<p>Finishing “Mayflower” which is very good…wish I had more time and didn’t have to read it such short little bits though. Just bought “New England White” by Stephen L. Carter, “Killing Pablo” by Mark Bowden, “North River” by Pete Hamill. I’m most intrigued by “New England White”, so that will be the next one.</p>
<p>I’m currently reading “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” by Kim Edwards. I’m about 100 pages along, and I’m enjoying it, so far.</p>
<p>Booklady, normally I stick to softcover books, but I couldn’t wait and splurged on the hardcover edition of "The Yiddish Policmen’s Union. It’s in my “to read” queue(I’ve got a couple of books ahead of it.) I’ve never read anything by Chabon, but I heard an interview with him about it on NPR a couple of months ago, and it sounded like a great read.</p>
<p>I also enjoyed “In the Image” and “The World to Come.”</p>
<p>I just finished “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” by Chabon. Very good, but so densely Yiddish that I found it a slow read. Normally I can read a detective novel quickly–almost like watching a movie–but this took more brain power than usual. Enjoyable, however.</p>