Initially, it began in conjunction with the Gordon Lane Ward as part of the mini groups the General Relief Society for the LDS Church wanted to see implemented. After several years we converted it into just a regular old book club. Really, the only difference was it was no longer announced in Relief Society and we didn't have to get the bishop's approval on our book list.
Several of us have moved and keep coming back and one member is now part of a different ward due to a ward split, so it really does feel like an actual book group. There are around 12 regulars and a few of us that are on and off.
We take turns hosting at each others homes. The hostess gets to pick the book to read for the next month and the previous hostess brings treats (rarely do you ever host and provide the treat too). One month, usually January, we discuss our book and then watch a movie. In November we do a book exchange and then don't host in July or December since those are some crazy months.
It has really stretched me in some of my reading and given me a reason to read things I would never have picked up otherwise. I think my most surprising read has been Dreams from My Father by President Obama. I don't like him as a president, but I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed his memoir and found that he is a good writer. To date we've read 84 books as a book club (my record keeping isn't 100% accurate; I'm sure I've missed recording a couple). Of those 84 I have read 71. That's a pretty good track record.
It would have been so easy to skip out when we moved, but I'm glad I keep going. It keeps me involved with old friends and keeps me reading. If I'm not reading the current month's book, I'm reading to hopefully come across one of those gems I can pick for my month. Although I will admit that I have picked a couple of duds that I didn't even like.
Anyway, here's our book club list since February 2006, in alphabetical order. I've put a star by the ones I really enjoyed. The italicized ones I have not read. The bold ones I really disliked.
A Room with a View . . . E.M. Forster
A Train to Potevka . . . Mike Ramsdell
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn . . . Betty Smith*Alas, Babylon . . . Pat Frank
All the Pretty Horses . . . Cormac McCarthy
At Home in Mitford . . . Jan Karon
Band of Brothers . . . Stephen E. Ambrose
*Black Like Me . . . John Howard Griffin
Christmas Jars . . . Jason Wright
Cold Sassy Tree . . . Olive Ann Burns
*Cutting for Stone . . . Abraham Verghes
Dandelion Wine . . . Ray Bradbury
*Dreams from My Father . . . Barack Obama
*East of Eden . . . John Steinbeck
*Ella Minnow Pea . . . Mark Dunn
Emma . . . Jane Austin
Falling Leaves . . . Adeline Yen Mah
Flowers for Algernon . . . Daniel Keyes
*Follow the River . . . James Alexander Thom
For One More Day . . . Mitch Albom
Gods and Kings . . . Lynn Austin
Half Broke Horses . . . Jeanette Walls
Heaven Is for Real . . .Todd Burpo
*Jane Eyre . . . Charlotte Bronte
Juliet . . . Anne Fortier
*Life of Pi . . . Yann Martel
Little Women . . . Louisa May Alcott
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand . . . Helen Simonson
Molokai . . . Alan Brennert
*Mrs. Mike . . . Benedict Freedman
My Antonia . . . Willa Cather
*Nothing to Envy . . . Barbara Demick
Of Mice and Men . . . John Steinbeck
*Peace Like a River . . . Leif Enger
Persepolis . . . Marjane Satrapi
*Phantom . . . Susan Kay
Plain and Simple: A Woman’s Journey to the Amish . . . Sue Bender
Pride and Prejudice . . . Jane Austin
Seeking Persephone . . . Sarah Eden
Shattered Silence . . . Melissa Moore
The Anatomy of Peace . . . Arbinger Institute
The Bean Trees . . . Barbara Kingsolver
The Blue Castle . . L. M. Montgomery
The Bluest Eye . . . Toni Morrison
*The Book Thief . . . Markus Zusak
The Burning Within . . . Ranelle Wallace
The Chosen . . . Chaim Potok
*The Color of Water . . . James McBride
*The Count of Monte Cristo . . . Alexandre Dumas
The Devil’s Arithmetic . . . Jane Yolen
*The Dovekeepers . . . Alice Hoffman
The Five Love Languages . . . Gary Chapman
The Five People You Meet in Heaven . . . Mitch Albom
The Giver . . .Lois Lowry
*The Glass Castle . . . Jeanette Walls
The Good Earth . . . Pearl S. Buck
The Great Gatsby . . Scott F. Fitzgerald
*The Guernsy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society . . . Annie Barrows
The Help . . . Kathryn Stockett
The Host . . . Stephanie Meyer
The House of the Scorpion . . . Nancy Farmer
*The Hunger Games . . . Suzanne Collins
*The Kitchen House . . . Kathleen Grissom
*The Kite Runner . . . Khaled Hosseini
The Last Lecture . . . Randy Pausch
The Lost Wife . . . Alyson Richman
The Memory Keepers Daughter . . . Kim Edwards
The Peacegiver . . . James Ferrell
*The Poisonwood Bible . . . Barbara Kingsolver
The Rent Collector . . . Cameron Wright
*The Scarlet Pimpernel . . . Emmuska Orczy
The Secret Life of Bees . . . Sue Monk Kidd
The Sunflower . . Richard Paul Evans
The Winter Sea . . . Susanna Kearsley
The Woman in White . . . Wilkie Collins
*These Is My Words . . . Nancy Turner
Three from Galilee . . . Marjorie HolmesTo Kill a Mockingbird . . . Harper Lee
Tuesdays with Morrie . . . Mitch Albom
Twilight . . . Stephanie Meyer
Two from Galilee . . . Marjorie Holmes
When the Emperor Was Divine . . . Julie Otsuka
Wish You Well . . . David Baldacci
Zen the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance . . . Robert Pirsig
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