Book Club

[PilatesLover]

Has anyone read the book Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter?  It's my month to pick and I'm debating whether to recommend it.  I read some reviews that it jumps around a lot.

We've been reading a lot of heavy books lately.  Our last pick was The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai and despite good reviews, it was such a difficult and/or lackluster, "I just can't stand to pick it up again" book.

I want something more lighthearted, a page turner. No WWII stories.  No depressing tales.  Just a good novel, not too new because we use the library.

Thanks so much!  I can't wait to read suggestions from this great group of readers.

[cindyNC]

@PilatesLover  I love your description of "I just can't stand to pick it up again" - I use an ereader and i gauge it by how many bookmarks I have in each chapter. 

[freakygirl]

just got done with The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell. it was pretty good and held my interest. about a very disfunctional family and lots of twists that get tied up in the end. 

[smoky22]

@PilatesLover  without knowing what you've already read, it's hard to make a suggestion.  I haven't read Beautiful Ruins.

How about A Man Called Ove.  With the Tom Hanks movie out it might be a good choice if you haven't read it. 

Also, Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

Maybe you could get your hands on Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.  It's on the new side, though. 

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood.

Lottery by Patricia Wood.  This is a really good little known book.

[Isobel Archer]

Anxious People, Fredrik Backman - parts will make you laugh out loud.

The Christie Affair, Nina de Gramont - historical fiction - story of Agatha Christie's disappearance told from the point of view of her husband's mistress 

The Girl with Seven Names, Lee Hyeon-seo - true story of a girl's journey from North to South Korea via China - very interesting

One thing I would definitely suggest is not recommending a book you have not read - no matter how much others like it.

[alliswell]

@PilatesLover   "Thunderstruck," by Erik Larson, is the true story of love, murder, and the end of the world’s “great hush.”

In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication—whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.  It's a page-turner.

                            

[debfau]

Have you already read "The Last Thing He Told Me" by Laura Dave - this was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and she is supposed to be making it into a TV Series.

[icezeus]

Not sure what Genre you are looking for.  Here are a few books that have stood out for me.

The Power of the Dog (Don Winslow) Be careful with one it's a gritty portrayal of the Mexican drug cartel and not for the faint of heart. 

The Grapes of Wrath by (John Steinbeck)

Finding me (Viola Davis)

Mad Honey (Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan) I am currently reading this book.

Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens)

[Enufstuff]

@PilatesLover   I did read "Beautiful Ruins" several years ago.

   I did enjoy the book. The story begins in Italy in the 1960's and follows up with later years in Hollywood.

  I found it enjoyable and not heavy reading.

[PilatesLover]

Thanks so much everyone!