1) Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - I thought this was so well done. Yes, I have some quibbles, but overall the voice was there. Really great book club discussion. 4/5 stars
2) Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk - I will be this character in twenty years. Unfortunately, I missed the discussion about this book because I was out of town, so I can't tell you how the rest of my peeps felt about it. 4/5 stars
3) The One by John Marrs - Interesting concept about whether or not you'd want to know who your true love was. Some of the characters were more interesting than others. Very mixed book club opinions, but interesting discussion. I'll be honest, most of the discussion was the scientists in our group discussing how bad the science was, though, so your group's mileage may vary on that. 4/5 stars
4) Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi - Everyone was pretty meh on this book, but it did lead down some very interesting discussion avenues. We didn't actually discuss the opioid crisis very much, but we had a rousing discussion on the ethical implications of testing pharmaceuticals on animals. I think we read this and Demon Copperhead in subsequent meetings and it was a great pairing for discussion - urban versus rural differences, active user versus family, etc. 3.5/5 stars
5) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt - Light, fluffy read. Perfectly fine. I might recommend you read this on your own, but our discussion about it was very flat, so I don't think it's great book club fodder.
6) Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon - WWII book we all thought was fine. I liked the dog character. Unfortunately, there was little tension in the book because of the structure. It was well-written and well-researched, but I can't really remember too much about it all these months later. We spent a lot of time at our meeting comparing it to other WWII books we'd read, so maybe not the best for sparking discussion? 3.5/5 stars
7) We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin - Mystery/thriller. It read like a quick mystery/thriller and there wasn't much to say about it in book club. 3.5/5 stars
8) Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini - What a snooze. Universally agreed upon as a very boring book. 2/5 stars
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I don't want to let anyone down by forgetting to mention that I also held my first ever Cool Bloggers Book Club this year. We read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and I have so much appreciation for everyone who read along with me. I may have some plans for 2024 to continue the Cool Bloggers Book Club and I hope you'll join along again!
I think Demon Copperhead would be a great bookclub book. However, I actually almost DNFed it! I listened to about a third of it and just was not getting into it, my loan lapsed, and I gave it back to the library. Then, because I like to finish what I start, and I have liked other Kingsolver books, I got it back from the library and finished it. I am glad that I did, as it did get better. I did lower my score due to the struggle at the beginning but I thought the subject was fascinating. I think this would be really fun to discuss with a group of people.
ReplyDeleteAlso I can't wait to see what the CBBC is going to get up to next year! Looking forward to it!
The first 10-15 pages of Demon Copperhead were brutal and hard to get into for sure. I felt like I once I figured out Demon's voice, it was a lot better to get through. It was more and more riveting as the book went on.
DeleteThe only ones on here I've read - other than ATGIB of course! - are Transcendent Kingdom (I thought it was good) and Remarkably Bright Creatures (I thought it was fine, but maybe a bit overrated; like...it was FINE, but I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone, but others just rave about it). It's so interesting how different books strike a different chord with different people!
ReplyDeleteYes! Transcendent Kingdom WAS good and RBC was fine. I agree with you on those books! I love how book club really shows me how broad people are in their understandings and interpretations of books.
DeleteIt's so funny that the one book of those that I have read, I had a completely different take and experience: Transcendent Kingdom. I loved that book and thought it was incredibly written. I'm so surprised that everyone in your book club was meh on it. It was a five star for me, for sure!
ReplyDeleteOh, I mean, it was fine. I just thought Homegoing by the same author was amazing and this one wasn't as strong for me. But it was good! And it was a great choice for book club.
DeleteOh wait, I also read Remarkably Bright Creatures and I didn't enjoy it at all, and I thought I would.
ReplyDeleteYeah. It was fine. I think we were excited about the older character. I was less impressed with the POV of the octopus.
DeleteWhat Nicole said! I remember thinking Transcendent Kingdom was quite amazing. I was going at it from the immigrant experience rather than her opioid behavioral analyses though. It's not as mind-blowing as her earlier book, Homegoing, but it was pretty solid. And I really liked Demon and Bright Creatures too. My January book club is reading Bright Creatures--it's mostly women a couple of decades older than me, so I'm excited for them to read a book with an older protagonist.
ReplyDeleteI thought TK was good, but Homegoing was AMAZING and it just couldn't hold a candle to that. Do warn your book club that there are chapters from the POV of the octopus in RBC!
DeleteRemarkably Bright Creatures is one of the (many) books people rave about but I just don't feel like reading. Glad to hear I'm not missing much!
ReplyDeleteThe only book club I've ever belonged to is the Cool Bloggers one, and I am up for another book at any time!
I have some plans for Cool Bloggers Book Club and I need to actually write them out and fill everybody in on the details. *sigh* So much to do in December!
DeleteOh, I hope I can join the Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) in the new year! I loved reading along with everyone's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn reactions.
ReplyDeleteAll are welcome in the Cool Bloggers Book Club! I love to hear voices from all over.
DeleteCBBC 2024!!!!!!!! You know I'll be there. I also have ambitions to check out my local Silent Bookclub.
ReplyDeleteOooohhhh...Silent Book Club sounds fun. There are chapters in Madison and Milwaukee, so maybe I'll go one of these days!
DeleteI swear, I have googled Silent Book Club Madison so. many. times. and never found a group that is still active! What is this mythical group of which you speak???
DeleteOf these, I've only read Demon Copperhead which I thought was excellent. Probably a standout of my reading this year. I have Drive your plow over the Bones of the Dead on my tbr so I'm glad to hear that it rated highly for you. And count me in for another CBBC.
ReplyDeleteI think Drive Your Plow is very divisive. It has a slowish start, but I really liked being in the character's head because I am her. LOL.
DeleteI have had Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom on my list for about three year, it feels. I need to finally start reading it...
ReplyDeleteHave you read Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi? It's really good. I preferred it to Transcendent Kingdom.
DeleteIt's nice that you had a few you really liked. I'm curious about the Book that will be YOU in 20 years.
ReplyDeleteI loved our book club this past year and would LOVE to join again--I really looked forward to it each week.
Okay, I am planning on more book club for 2024. I can't guarantee as much greatness as ATGIB, though!
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