What my book club is reading now…
- Reading for September: Table for Two, by Amor Towles
What my book club has read…
Books were rated on a scale of 1-5 stars, with 5 being the highest score (note: scores were averaged over those who rated the book).
2024
James, by Percival Everett – 4.8
The Women, by Kristin Hannah – 4.4
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, by Lisa See – 5.0
The Whispers, by Ashley Audrain – 3.8
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride – 4.0
2023
The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese – 4.4
Pineapple Street, by Jenny Jackson – 3.9
Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett – 4.9
Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann – 4.5
Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano – 4.1
Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver – 4.7
The Marriage Portrait, by Maggie O’Farrell – 4.0
Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby VanPelt – 4.3
Horse, by Geraldine Brooks – 4.5
Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan – 4.0
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, by Tom Hanks – 4.0
2022
Carrie Soto is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 3.9
Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus – 4.6
Great Circle, by Maggie Shipstead – 4.7
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 4.3
Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr – 4.6
The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray – 4.5
The Heart’s Invisible Furies, by John Boyne – 4.3
Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid – 3.9
The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles – 4.8
Bewilderment, by Richard Powers – 4.7
2021
Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernadine Evaristo – 4.5
The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman – 4.0
The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig – 3.7
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson – 4.2
FACE: One Square Foot of Skin, by Justine Bateman – 4.0
Red at the Bone, by Jacqueline Woodson – 4.3
The Last Flight, by Julie Clark – 4.5
When the Stars Go Dark, by Paula McLain – 4.1
The Exiles, by Christina Baker Kline – 4.9
The Book of Lost Friends, by Lisa Wingate – 4.5
Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead – 4.0
Apples Never Fall, by Liane Moriarty – 4.1
2020
Have You Seen Luis Velez?, by Catherine Ryan Hyde – 4.4
Talking to Strangers, by Malcolm Gladwell – 3.9
News of the World, by Paulette Jiles – 4.5
American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummins – 4.7
The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett – 4.6
Sourdough, by Robin Sloan – 4.2
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson – 4.8
How Long ‘Til Black Future Month, by N.K. Jemisin – 4.2
The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See – 4.7
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, by Deborah Feldman – 3.9
The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett – 4.6
Anxious People, by Fredrick Backman – 4.2
2019
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, by John Carreyrou – 4.9
Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens – 4.5
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, by Kathleen Rooney – 4.3
Maud’s Line, by Margaret Verble – 3.9
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love, by Dani Shapiro – 4.4
The Overstory, by Richard Powers – 4.6
I Will Always Write Back, by Caitlin Alifireika and Martin Ganda – 4.0
The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding, by Jennifer Robson – 4.0
The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides – 4.3
Red Notice, by Bill Browder – 4.5
City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert – 4.0
Ask Again, Yes, by Mary Beth Keane – 3.8
2018
America’s First Daughter, by Stephanie Dray and Lauyra Kamoie – 4.9
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman – 4.4
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles – 4.9
Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah – 4.5
Love and Other Consolation Prizes, by Jamie Ford – 3.9
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, by Jim DeFede – 4.2
The Last Days of Night, by Graham Moore – 4.6
Less, by Andrew Shawn Greer – 3.9
America for Beginners, by Leah Franqui – 4.3
Our House, by Louise Candlish – 3.7
In the Midst of Winter, by Isabelle Allende – 3.9
Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover – 4.5
2017
The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead – 3.9
The Gilded Years, by Karin Tanabe – 4.4
The Elephant Whisperer, by Lawrence Anthony – 4.5
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly – 4.6
The Circle, by Dave Eggers – 4.3
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood – 4.3
Saving Jake, by D’Anne Burwell – 4.3
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance – 4.0
The Rent Collector, by Camron Wright – 4.6
Truly Madly Guilty, by Liane Moriarty – 3.6
Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate – 4.0
Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng – 4.6
2016
The Martian, by Andy Weir – 4.0
The Japanese Lover, by Isabelle Allende – 4.0
An Invisible Thread, by Laura Schroff – 3.9
Circling the Sun, by Paula McLain – 4.1
When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi – 3.1
The Nightingale, by Kristin Hanna – 4.7
The Year of Yes, by Shonda Rhimes – 3.7
The Nest, by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney – 3.4
I Let You Go, by Clare Mackintosh – 4.3
The Last Letter from Your Lover, by Jojo Moyes – 3.6
Eligible, by Curtis Sittenfeld – 3.4
A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman – 4.2
2015
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr – 4.6
Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty – 4.2
Tell the Wolves I’m Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt – 4.4
Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – 4.1
I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend, by Martin Short – 4.0
The Precious One, by Marisa de los Santos – 3.4
The Housmaid’s Daughter, by Barbara Mutch – 4.9
Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande – 4.5
Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn – 3.6
The Marriage of Opposites, by Alice Hoffman – 4.9
We Never Asked for Wings, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh – 3.6
After You, by JoJo Moyes- 3.7
2014
The Lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri – 4.5
Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline – 4.5
The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt – 4.6
What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty – 3.8
The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd – 4.9
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloane – 3.8
The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion – 4.5
Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes – 4.2
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, by Karen Joy Fowler – 3.9
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry, by Gabrielle Zavin – 3.7
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown – 4.5
Leaving Time, by Jodi Picoult – 4.0
2013
Bastard out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison – 4.3
The Secret Keeper, by Kate Morgan – 3.8
Where’d You Go Bernadette, by Maria Semple – 3.7
Expecting Adam, by Martha Beck – 3.6
The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green – 4.8
Lean In, by Sheryl Sandberg – 4.3
The Orphan Master’s Son, by Adam Johnson – 3.7
The Garden of Evening 4s, by Tan Twan Eng – 3.8
And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini – 4.6
Secret Daughter, by Shilpi Somaya Gowda – 4.4
Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann – 4.3
Who Asked You?, by Terry McMillan – 4.0
2012
Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles – 3.7
The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin – 3.0
Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan – 4.3
11/22/63, by Stephen King – 4.8
Defending Jacob, by William Landay – 4.2
Sister, by Rosamund Lupton – 3.7
The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright – 4.2
Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn – 4.0
The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern – 4.2
Wild, by Cheryl Strayed – 4.4
The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh – 4.4
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain – 3.6
2011
Half the Sky, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn – 4.4
Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen – 3.4
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot – 3.6
Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger – 3.9
Room, by Emma Donaghue – 4.2
Someone Knows My Name, by Lawrence Hill – 4.8
My Own Country, by Abraham Verghese – 4.6
The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain – 3.7
The Kitchen House, by Kathleen Grissom – 4.1
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, by Helen Simonson – 3.9
This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper – 3.9
State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett – 3.8
2010
The Help, Kathryn Stockett – 4.9
Half Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls – 4.1
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi – 4.1
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery – 3.3
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson – 3.9
House Rules, by Jodi Picoult – 4.0
Little Bee, by Chris Cleave – 4.1
South of Broad, by Pat Conroy – 3.8
The Lost Continent, by Bill Bryson – 3.3
Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese – 4.3
The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton – 3.9
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford – 4.4
2009
The Soloist, Steve Lopez – 3.6
Shelter Me, Juliette Fay – 4.8
Born on a Blue Day, Daniel Tammet – 3.2
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Ayelet Waldman – 2.9
The Piano Teacher, Janice Y.K Lee – 2.8
Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali – 4.4
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, Gail Tsukiyama – 4.1
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman – 4.0
Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout – 3.1
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak – 4.1
The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein – 4.5
Moloka’i, Alan Brennert – 4.6
2008
The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield – 3.3
Digging to America, Anne Tyler – 3.4
Friday Night Knitters’ Club, Kate Jacobs – 3.3
Beautiful Boy, David Sheff – 5.0
Tweak, Nic Sheff – 5.0
People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks – 3.7
Love Walked In, Marisa de los Santos – 4.1
Free Food for Millionaires, Min Jin Lee – 3.1
Bright Shiny Morning, James Frey – 3.0
Loving Frank, Nancy Horan – 3.8
The Girls, Lori Lansens – 3.5
American Wife, Curtis Sittenfeld – 3.8
Run, Ann Patchett – 3.3
2007
Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan – 2.6
The Wild Girl, Jim Fergus – 3.0
The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri – 4.6
Broken for You, Stephanie Kallos – 3.8
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See – 4.8
The Tortilla Curtain, T. C. Boyle – 3.8
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen – 4.8
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin – 2.3
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini – 4.7
The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls – 4.4
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky – 2.3
Mao’s Last Dancer, Li Cunxin – 5.0
2006
The Distant Land of My Father, Bo Caldwell – 5.0
Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld – 3.8
A Million Little Pieces, James Frey – 4.4
The Emancipator’s Wife, Barbara Hambly – 1.0
Mrs. Kimble, Jennifer Haigh – 3.0
Seven Degrees of Ambiguity, Elliot Perlman – 3.7
Paradise Park, Allegra Goodman – 2.3
In the Company of the Courtesan, Sarah Dunant – 4.0
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, Kim Edwards – 4.8
Last Days of Dogtown, Anita Diamant – 1.8
The Mermaid Chair, Sue Monk Kidd – 2.7
Mr. Darcy’s Daughters, Elizabeth Aston – 2.3
The Bright Forever, Lee Martin (not rated)
I Feel Bad About My Neck, Nora Ephron – 2.3
2005
Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant – 4.0
Jane Austen in Boca, Paula Marantz Cohen – 3.0
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini – 5.0
The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger – 4.0
Bringing Down the House, Ben Mezrich – 4.0
Good Grief, Lolly Winston – 3.0
Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy – 4.5
Truth & Beauty, Ann Patchett – 4.0
The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason – 3.0
The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club, Christy Yorke – 2.0
Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks – 4.0
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, Julia Alvarez – 3.0
The Ghost of Hannah Mendes, Naomi Ragen – 3.3
2004
Cork Boat, John Pollack – 5.0
Catching Heaven, Sands Hall (not rated)
The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson – 4.5
Virgin Blue, Tracy Chevalier – 2.5
My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult – 5.0
The Pact, Jodi Picoult – 4.8
Saving Graces, Patricia Gaffney – 3.5
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon – 3.7
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters, Elizabeth Robinson – 4.0
Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi – 3.5
The Eight, Katherine Neville – 5.0
Life of Pi, Yann Martel – 3.8
The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck – 4.0
2003
The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd – 3.7
How to Make an American Quilt, Whitney Otto – 3.0
City of Dreams, Beverly Swerling – 5.0
The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith – 2.3
Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons, Lorna Landvik – 3.7
True to Form, Elizabeth Berg – 3.0
Dreaming Water, Gail Tsukiyama – 4.3
Kate Remembered, A. Scott. Berg – 1.0
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown – 4.5
The Red Hat Club, Haywood Smith – 2.7
La Cucina: A Novel of Rapture, Lily Prior – 4.0
Eat Cake, Jeanne Ray – 4.0
2002
The Dive From Clausen’s Pier, Ann Packer – 4.3
Good in Bed, Jennifer Weiner – 4.2
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett – 4.4
An Italian Affair, Laura Fraser (not rated)
Thousand Pieces of Gold, Ruthanne Lum McCunn (not rated)
Falling Angels, Tracy Chevalier – 3.0
Good Harbor, Anita Diamant – 2.5
Portrait in Sepia, Isabel Allende – 3.1
Savage Beauty, Nancy Milford (not rated)
In Her Shoes, Jennifer Weiner – 4.2
Stolen Lives, Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi – 5.0
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd, Jim Fergus – 3.0
2001
The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve – 4.0
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, Ann Ross – 2.0
Sister of My Heart, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni – 5.0
Goodbye Without Leaving, Laurie Colwin (not rated)
Girl With a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier – 3.6
It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, Lance Armstrong – 4.7
The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Amy Tan – 3.3
Cane River, Lalita Tademy – 4.8
Big Cherry Holler, Adriana Trigiani – 3.0
Seabiscuit – An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand – 4.5
The Nanny Diaries, Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus – 3.2
Empire Falls, Richard Russo – 3.5
2000
Daughter of Fortune, Isabel Allende – 3.7
Samurai’s Garden, Gail Tsukiyama – 4.7
Snow Falling On Cedars, David Guterson – 3.5
Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood, Rebecca Wells – 4.0
Georgianna, Fay Logan – 2.5
Tara Road, Maeve Binchy – 4.0
Resistance, Anita Shreve – 4.0
House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III – 4.0
Tender at the Bone, Ruth Reichl 3.0
These Is My Words, Nancy E. Turner (not rated)
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant – 4.2
Big Stone Gap, Adriana Trigiani – 3.3
1999
The Pilot’s Wife, Anita Shreve – 3.8
The Language of Threads, Gail Tsukiyama – 4.5
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson – 3.5
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier – 4.0
The Road From Coorain, Jill Ker Conway – 3.5
Plainsong, Kent Haruf (not rated)
Chocolat, Joanne Harris – 3.7
The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean – 2.5
Where the Heart Is, Billie Letts – 3.5
Diary of Mattie Spenser, Sandra Dallas – 4.0
Ahab’s Wife, Sena Jeter Nasland – 3.5
Gap Creek, Robert Morgan – 3.0
1998
Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley – 3.0
Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx – 2.0
Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama – 4.3
The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks – 3.3
Message in a Bottle. Nicholas Sparks – 2.5
Deep End of the Ocean, Jacquelyn Mitchard – 4.0
Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver – 4.5
Joy School, Elizabeth Berg – 4.0
Durable Goods, Elizabeth Berg – 3.5
The Color of Water, James McBride – 4.0
She’s Come Undone, Wally Lamb – 3.5
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt – 3.5
1997
Midwives, Chris Bohjalian – 4.0
Tender Is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald – 2.5
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden – 4.4