I go to bookclub once a month. We're an eclectic bunch of women, a motley crue; an ex nun, a dentist, moi, a psychologist, an architecht, a retired internatinal studies lecturer and a stay home mum; we're aussies, were kiwis, were spanish. 'We' used to be mainly americans. That was interesting. Membership is by word of mouth and then consensus when an old member moves on. We have been meeting for four years. We're not a traditional bookclub; we have no set books to read. We're more like a mobile library... with recommendations. Each month we all bring along a book or two (and food) and we take turns to introduce our new books by review and we review books borrowed from last month. All get entered into the 'stash'. Whoever hosts the next month takes the stash (quite a few big bags)and provides the wine. Its a great, informal stress free bookclub. We have even invited some authors to attend and review their book - the last one was Knitting author Anne Bartlett, who lives locally. So for those who are interested, here's my bookclub Top Ten.
*Four Fires - Bryce Courtney ( dont like any of his others but this is brilliant)
*Cathedral of the Sea - Ildefonso Falcone
*The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillipa Gregory
*Q&A - Vikas Swarup ( the movie slumdog millionaire based on this book)
*A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ( possibly my no.1)
*A spy in the house of love - Anais Nin
*Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett ( unlike any other Ken follett book - not a mystery but historical fiction)
* Middlesex - Jeffery Eugenides (possibly my No.2)
*Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult
* The Pursuit of Happiness - Douglas Kennedy (no.3)
*eat pray love is a stand by top ten!
Is one of your top ten in my list?
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9 comments:
WEIRD! I just posted about your number 10 standby...eat pray love.
Hmmm, I haven't read any of these books, although I have read other books by some of the authors you mention. I will have to do a search on the library catalogue and see what is available for me to reserve. I have read eat pray love, but perhaps didn't read it as slowly as I should have.
take care
Pip
Pillars of the Earth is one of my all time favorite books and I read it more years ago then I can remember. I've not read anything else by him but that particular story made a big impression about how I view time. I resisted eat pray love because it's been too darn popular but I loved it. I ate it whole and swallowed all the seeds and I'd read it again. In fact, maybe I will. Thanks for the list.
Your book club sounds great. I like the concept. What kind of books do you have in your big book bags? All the books that you have reviewed/read?
I have only read Pillars of the Earth on your list.
One of the books that would be in my top 10 would be One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marques. I've read it three times and my wish is to one day read it in Spanish.
Any book by Robertson Davies is part of the top 10. Possession by A.S. Byatt is another book way up there. Hmm...far too many to list... :)
I miss my Victorian book group so much, I have tried a few here in Brisbane but they just aren't the right fit for me. I live in hope though.
Funny that you posted this today, I was putting my "Book Shelf" together on the Shelfari site and was going to post it. Eat, Pray, Love is next on my list after what I am currently reading.
jen- snap! i loved this book sooo much, probably because all her emotions were grounded in leaving a long term relationship...
and she was to my mind, kick ass hilarious.
RINI- hope you find something there you like and see above comment... like minds prolly helped!
i raced through it coz i couldnt get enough.
kale- this book is totally awesome and actually began my love of historical fiction and the multigenerational epic. ditto on the resistance to eat pray love i held out until it was soo no longer cool to read...if you loved POTE you will totally love Cathedral of the Sea.
veggie- its a great one! keep you posted on vacancies if youre interested!and yup, the bag carries about the last 6 months of books brought along. its a drag! Funny, 100 years i have on my shlef, about 20 years now and i STILL cant get into it, i try every few years!
Kerrie - feeling for you! and i have a sneaky suspicion that youre gonna love eat pray love. it only just didnt make my top 10. maybe the whole oscar thing...not dark enough!
I am slowly reading through your list as I usually love your recommendations. One not there (for obvious reasons I guess) is Rayuela by Julio Cortazar. I love that book, I think it is called Hopscotch in english but cannot imagine how would they manage to make the translation work. Then again, they did a good job with Cathedral by the Sea, so I might give it a go for next bookclub! It is one of the most beautiful books ever.
Kel, yes, I'd be interested if ever a vacancy does come up.
I picked up "A Fine Balance" today - what a find! - and shall read it soon.
Annuska, I will keep a lookout for Hopscotch, as it sounds interesting.
Kel, this is a great list of books, definitely more I have to add to my list. You can post this to my site http://www.toptentopten.com/ and then link back to your site. We are looking for top ten lists and our users can track back to your site. The coolest feature is you can let other people vote on the rankings of your list.
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