Books! Help!

JOEBunny

So I ask this the other day, but I still need more suggestions.  I am trying to compile the list for my book club for next year and need suggestions of a variety of great books. 

Suggestions, they don't have to be current.  We have been doing this for 9 years, so we have read a lot of the popular books, but all suggestions are welcome!

DevonPow

- any of Wally Lamb's 3 books

- Any of Barbara Kingsolver's Books (I love Poisonwood Bible, but all are great)

- The Road - Cormac McCarthy

- What Was Lost - Catherine O'Flynn

- Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

- Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (he also wrote The Virgin Suicides which is fantastic, as well)

- Life of Pi - Yann Martel

 - Never Let me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski

- East of Eden - John Steinbeck

Those are some of my favorites that also tend to lead to good discussions

RCH151

The Birth of Venus

Pope Joan

 1,000 White Women, the Journals of May Dodd

Moloka' i

The Time Traveler's Wife

The Namesake

Summer Sisters

The Mermaid Chair

femmegem

OMG, The Poisonwood Bible was fantastic. I forgot about that. I wonder what I did with my copy? I'd love to reread it.

I also enjoyed reading Louis de Bernieres. He wrote Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and he also wrote a trilogy of books that take place in Latin America. The first, The War of Don Emanuel's Nether Parts, is pretty hilarious. Parts of those books can be pretty gruesome as well, though, since they partially tell about a war.

100 Years of Solitude. I love a good ending, and the end of that book left me amazed.

I'm sure I can come up with more for you if I think about it long enough. 

femmegem

The Siege of Krishnapur

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Suskind- Very original 

femmegem

Anna Karenina

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov

Crime and Punishment

I'm still thinking! 

JOEBunny

Thank you ladies!  Excellent suggestions, I think I have enough now that we have not read previously to be able to sell my list to the rest of the group!   I really appreciate the variety that you guys provide, otherwise, I just get what Barnes and nobles is pushing at the moment, this is a much better way!

femmegem

Okay, here's one that you can look up and decide about for yourself. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. I read this a long time ago when I was dating a guy who was into really obscure books and it's really stuck out in my mind all these years. I could never remember what it was called, but I've always remembered reading it and being really impressed by it. I was totally baffled through about half the book, not knowing when or where it was taking place, plus the language was all a really bizarre kind of pigeon English. So it's a strange book, but I thought it was really interesting.

Here's the wikipedia entry on it in case you're interested:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddley_Walker 

femmegem

Oops, I just saw your follow up. Riddley Walker might be a bit too strange for a book club anyway.

I'm kind of glad I was motivated enough to find out the name of it, though, because it's been bugging me for years. 

JOEBunny

thanks again!  It might be too weird for me to sell, but your ideas were very helpful!