Suggestions for August book club selection
Hello, everyone. We have a 3 suggestions for books to read for August. July is WILD by Cheryl Strayed, already mentioned here on the site.
For anyone wanting to suggest books, I refer you to the guidelines for suggestions HERE.
Annette has suggested three books from German authors. The first was Swarm by Frank Schätzing; however, it has over 1,000 pages and since we've had trouble getting readers to complete 350 page books in time for the meetings, I asked her to find others that were shorter. Here are the 2 she suggested (in her words):
"The first one, WHY WE TOOK THE CAR, is one of the great bestsellers for many month. I've read it and love it but I'm afraid there is no kindle version in English." [it actually is available in English and Kindle!]
DESCRIPTION:
Mike doesn't get why people think he's boring. Sure, he doesn't have many friends. (OK, zero friends.) And everyone laughs at him when he reads his essays out loud in class. And he's never invited to parties.
But one day Tschick, the odd new boy at school, shows up at Mike's house out of the blue. He dares him to go on a road trip with him. No parents, no map, no destination. Will they get hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere? Probably. Will they meet crazy people and get into serious trouble? Definitely. But will they ever be called boring again?
Not a chance.
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"The second one, THE READER is a great book too but already a couple of years old. Maybe most of you know it or have seen the film. If not, it would be a good book to read."
DESCRIPTION:
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.
When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.
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The third suggestion is mine. It's I CAN'T COMPLAIN by Elinor Lipman, an American writer I met in Paris a couple weeks ago. This is a personal memoir of short essays. She said she'd love to drop by our book club meeting via Skype if we do read her book. I've read one of the essays in the book and I can say that she have a lovely way of making you feel as though you're talking to a friend when she speaks about her life in these short stories.
DESCRIPTION:
From the beloved and acclaimed novelist, a collection of witty, moving essays.In her two decades of writing, Elinor Lipman has populated her fictional universe with characters so utterly real that we feel like they’re old friends. Now she shares an even more intimate world with us—her own—in essays that offer a candid, charming take on modern life. Looking back and forging ahead, she considers the subjects that matter most: childhood and condiments, long marriage and solo living, career and politics.
Here you’ll find the lighthearted: a celebration of four decades of All My Children, a reflection on being Jewish in heavily Irish-Catholic Lowell on St. Patrick’s Day, a hilariously unflinching account of her tiptoe into online dating. But she also tackles the serious and profound in eloquent stories of unexpected widowhood and caring for elderly parents that use her struggles to illuminate ours. Whether for Lipman’s longtime readers or those who love the essays of Nora Ephron or Anna Quindlen, I Can't Complain is a diverting delight
For anyone wanting to suggest books, I refer you to the guidelines for suggestions HERE.
Annette has suggested three books from German authors. The first was Swarm by Frank Schätzing; however, it has over 1,000 pages and since we've had trouble getting readers to complete 350 page books in time for the meetings, I asked her to find others that were shorter. Here are the 2 she suggested (in her words):
"The first one, WHY WE TOOK THE CAR, is one of the great bestsellers for many month. I've read it and love it but I'm afraid there is no kindle version in English." [it actually is available in English and Kindle!]
DESCRIPTION:
Mike doesn't get why people think he's boring. Sure, he doesn't have many friends. (OK, zero friends.) And everyone laughs at him when he reads his essays out loud in class. And he's never invited to parties.
But one day Tschick, the odd new boy at school, shows up at Mike's house out of the blue. He dares him to go on a road trip with him. No parents, no map, no destination. Will they get hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere? Probably. Will they meet crazy people and get into serious trouble? Definitely. But will they ever be called boring again?
Not a chance.
--------------------------------
"The second one, THE READER is a great book too but already a couple of years old. Maybe most of you know it or have seen the film. If not, it would be a good book to read."
DESCRIPTION:
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.
When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.
---------------------------------
The third suggestion is mine. It's I CAN'T COMPLAIN by Elinor Lipman, an American writer I met in Paris a couple weeks ago. This is a personal memoir of short essays. She said she'd love to drop by our book club meeting via Skype if we do read her book. I've read one of the essays in the book and I can say that she have a lovely way of making you feel as though you're talking to a friend when she speaks about her life in these short stories.
DESCRIPTION:
From the beloved and acclaimed novelist, a collection of witty, moving essays.In her two decades of writing, Elinor Lipman has populated her fictional universe with characters so utterly real that we feel like they’re old friends. Now she shares an even more intimate world with us—her own—in essays that offer a candid, charming take on modern life. Looking back and forging ahead, she considers the subjects that matter most: childhood and condiments, long marriage and solo living, career and politics.
Here you’ll find the lighthearted: a celebration of four decades of All My Children, a reflection on being Jewish in heavily Irish-Catholic Lowell on St. Patrick’s Day, a hilariously unflinching account of her tiptoe into online dating. But she also tackles the serious and profound in eloquent stories of unexpected widowhood and caring for elderly parents that use her struggles to illuminate ours. Whether for Lipman’s longtime readers or those who love the essays of Nora Ephron or Anna Quindlen, I Can't Complain is a diverting delight
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