TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Books I Think Would Make Great Book Club Picks

This week at The Broke and the Bookish, the Top Ten list is books that would make great book club reads. I've never been in a book club (other than the Ramona book club, and that had different criteria), so I'm not sure what makes good book club books, other than you want to talk about them. So, here is a list of book I've wanted to discuss after reading:

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Nature? Nurture? Was she a terrible mother? Was he a terrible kid? The opinions would be varied, and vocal.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
A haunted house? End of the war, clash of the classes.

The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Were they better together? Were they all awful people?

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Great ending, and the idea of memories and families would keep a group talking.

The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly
Myanmar (Burma) and the essense of evil, and passive resistance.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
What the heck happened there?

Unless by Carol Shields
Can a woman ever write a great novel? Are women diminished in society? What does it mean to be 'good'? What did all those chapter titles mean?

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Will the future be that bad? Envirionmentalism?

The Unnamed  and Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Is this author the next big thing? How can he write two such different and yet amazing books?

What great books has your book club discussed?

BOOK: Dear Mr Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

Dear Mr Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, 136 pages

themed reading challenge; Newbery Winner 1984

A lonely little boy, new at a school after his parent's divorce, begins to write letters to his favorite author. The author writes back and encourages the boy to write, and keep a journal. Through his writing, Leigh works through his problems - the divorce, his anger at his father, making friends, and finding who is stealing from his lunch. It never goes too deep into Leigh's life, but it shows how perspective can change you view, and gives a nice progression of Leigh's development.

My 9 year old daughter read the book after I strategically left it lying around. When she finished, I asked her opinion:

It was, wait, did you read it already? yes. OK, well the ending was sad. why? When his dad came back and then left again and called him Leigh and he didn't tell him to keep his nose clean. Was he still mad at his dad? No, it was happy-sad ending. And they found the dog, but he knew the dog would keep his dad company. It was okay.

now Rachel saw me writing her words out and is about to take over the keyboard:

And Leigh had a diary to pretend he was writing to Mr Henshaw.
I thought the person they were going to have lunch with would be Mr Henshaw and I didn't know that the girl copied the poems out of a different book or Leigh would get to have lunch with Mrs Badger. by Rachel make sure you say that was by Rachel



Beverly Cleary was born April 12, 1916 and the author of the Ramona books and all her friends. Over the years, many Beverly Cleary books have been read by myself and now my children.
Our family book club: RAchel, MOm and NAna have named our book club the Ramona book club.

BLOGGING: It's Tuesday, where are you?

We had another meeting of the Ramona Book Club here last night. That's RAchel, MOm, and NAna. We read Anne of Green Gables, each a different version actually. Rachel read an abridged version, reading level grade 1-2, Nana read the original, and I read Before Green Gables (I've read the original too many times to count). We drank red juice that looked suspiciously like raspberry cordial, and ate some cookies, and listened to our Anne and Gilbert CD and discussed the books, and Anne, and the plays. Rachel saw both plays this summer, so she is really quite the expert.

I get to pick the book next time, and I've chosen Owls in the Family by Farley Mowatt. It's a favorite of Rachel's too. Her next pick is Because of Winn-Dixie, and I suggested we watch the movie for that meeting. That will be our first repeat author, as Kate diCamillo also wrote Tale of Despereaux. Do you participate in real life book clubs too?

I am on the road to Azerbaijan with some Gentlemen of the Road, on a rollicking adventure so far. (Michael Chabon) I'm not far in, but it would make a terrific movie. Where is reading taking you this day?