10 Great Book Suggestions for your Book Club

Book clubs are a lot of fun. You get a group of people together who all read the same book and then you discuss it. Usually book clubs meet once a month and they are more often frequented by women. The best book for a book club is one that doesn’t have a single plot or theme, but multiple.

It's important to have a variety of books, if the books are too similar then you will attract similar types of people. You need the books to be different, but not too different. Also, don't have books that are too long otherwise people won't manage to finish them in time for your meeting.

The books need to be readily available either with multiple copies in the local library, or available to buy preferably in paperback.

Here are 10 books I have read in my book club that I really enjoyed, so if you are looking for ideas for your book club, please browse this list.

by Alan Brennert

This is the story of Rachel a young girl who expected to grow up in Honolulu in the late 19th and early 20th century, but instead she contracts leprosy and lives her life in the leper colony of Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka'i. Her leprosy develops very slowly and she lives a long time on Moloka'i.

Through the book we see the island getting electricity, the first airplanes, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and finally a cure for leprosy. All of which we see from the point of view of Rachel, first a child, then a young woman, then an older person, living life in seclusion unable to contact the rest of the world, her family not even knowing if she was dead or alive, but assuming her dead.

She gets married and has a child, but her life is far from usual. Alan Brennert did an amazing job of taking us through the frustrations and joys of living life on Kalaupapa in the leper colony.

by Jodi Picoult

In Change of Heart we see a convicted criminal, Shayne, sentenced to the death penalty, who wants to donate his heart to the sister of the girl he is convicted of murdering. Miraculously the heart is a match, but if he is killed by lethal injection they can't use his heart.

Enter the ACLU rep, Maggie Bloom, to argue for a hanging for Shayne, not on legal grounds, but religious ones. Also in the picture was Father Michael, who decides to become Shayne's spiritual adviser even though Shayne isn't a professing catholic.

This is a really good book for a book club, because one of the questions was "Who is the hero in this story?" It could have been Maggie, or Father Michael, or Shayne, it wasn't obvious.

by Lori Lansens

This is the story of Rose and Ruby Darlen, conjoined twins adopted in Ontario, Canada. The story is fiction, but I found myself browsing the Internet for more information about conjoined, or Siamese twins. The story is told mainly from the point of view of Rose, with a few chapters written by Ruby. It is very believable and I found myself getting engrossed in the difficulties of The Girls, their schooldays and their young adult times and including the search for their real mom.

The book made me wish it was a true story, but still I felt for the girls being born attached at the head and unable to be separated. Mobility was difficult and they had numerous health issues. Finally one of them was diagnosed with a brain tumor and they knew they didn't have long to live.

by Uwem Akpan

This is a book of 5 short stories about children, set in Africa. The theme is one of racial hatred, religious intolerance and murder of the innocent. Don't read this if you are squeamish. One story is about murder and child trafficking. People move or are killed because of their race or religion. Quoted as fiction. While the actual people in the book are fiction, the events are true.

The stories were set in different countries of Africa, and I got a little confused at times as to which country the story took place. As the book was written for an American market, I would have liked a little more explanation about the countries themselves. It was certainly an eye opener into feeling privileged about the country I currently live in.

by Nancy Horan

This is described as a novel, but it is the true story of Frank Lloyd Wright and his mistress Mamah Cheney. They both left their respective spouses to travel in Europe together. Two years later when they returned to the US, they built a house together, which Frank designed, in Wisconsin.

There are not many facts known about their relationship, but Nancy Horan keeps strictly to what is known while telling the story an engaging style.

by Diana Gabaldon

The heroine, Claire, accidentally travels through time to Scotland in the Middle Ages. There she is forced into marriage with a man who is everything she could wish for, except that he is a wanted man and they are on the run.

It's long, but easy to read and very gripping. The characters are memorable. This is the first in a series that you will definitely want to read.

by James Patterson and Hal Friedman

This is a true story about a boy named Cory. At age 5 he was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome. The book is a story of his adolescence with regard to doctors visits and medication he was prescribed. It is written as if Cory is writing the story.

In this age where children are easily medicated, the book raises the question if medicating a child is really the best option. Definitely a good book to provoke discussion.

by Kathleen Flinn

The author, originally from Oregon, but situated in London, was laid off from her job. Realizing that she had enough money to last a while, and had a life long ambition to go to Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, she packs up and applies for a place. In the middle of the haste to get there she persuades boyfriend Mike to join her and he willingly agrees.

The book is lightly written and easy to read. There are many interesting characters in the book including the world's cleverest homeless man who waits outside Le Cordon Bleu to see if any student has food they really don't want to take home. Interspersed in the book are recipes that you just want to try.

by Stella Walthal Patterson

This is the story of Stella, a lady who is 80, who refuses to do what she is expected to do at that age, and goes to live in the gold country of California all by herself for a year. The book is mainly about her life in the mountains and the interesting people she meets.

by Kathryn Stockett

The Help is set in the 1960s in Jackson Mississippi. It is the story of an educated white woman wanting to write the story of black women who raise the white women's children, but aren't trusted with the family silver.The characters are vividly alive and the plot of the different women, both black and white, are wonderfully woven into the book as a whole.

This book was universally loved by all the ladies at my book club and if we gave points would all have given it a 5 out of 5.