The Thursday Murder Club

Richard Osman
Penguin Books (2021)

02/13/24

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Virtual

Gabrielle: Old people meddling. Cute but overly done.

Kitty: Too British, too many characters, too many perspectives.

Lesley: I can’t wait for this mini-series to come out. The cast is fire.

Toland: Liked but didn’t love.

The Vaster Wilds

Lauren Groff
Riverhead Books (2024)

01/09/24

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Flowery language versus uncomfortable survival descriptions. Things happen, vaguely described.

Gabrielle: LAUREN GROFF, SHAME ON YOU

Kitty: All she does is shit in the woods and talk about a mentally absent girl. 

Toland: I weirdly dug it. I don’t know why.

Iron Flame

Rebecca Yarros
Entangled: Red Tower Books (2024)

12/12/23

Member Pick: Group | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Not quite the original, but I am still looking forward to the rest of the series.

Gabrielle:  LETS GOOOOOO but also needs more sex

Kitty: Sophomore slump. It took Violet too long to get over her angst, comparative to HP5.

Lesley:  The Fourth Wing series can do no wrong. I loved it, inhaled it. Yes, it got a big repetitive but I don’t care.

Toland: I didn’t finish it.

Yellowface

R.F. Kuang
William Morrow & Co (2023)

11/15/23

Member Pick: Toland | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Still wondering how it’s possible to like a book so much despite hating everyone in it.

Gabrielle: hat a clever book! Thrilled to read other books by RF Kuang.

Kitty: I was hoping I wouldn’t see the twist coming.

Lesley: The main character was so dislikable (and meant to be so) that I couldn’t really get into this one. I kept wanting to like it / find my way into it, but ultimately it was a miss for me. Reading it was like pulling teeth. 

Toland: It was incisive and I think the first person perspective worked well.

Memphis

Tara M. Stringfellow
Dial Press (2023)

10/17/23

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: A tough one to reflect on - I enjoyed the read/listen, but the abrupt narrator changes + IMO slow progression was a drag.

Gabrielle: Mistake - I listened to the audiobook. 

Kitty: I kept putting it down and then was immediately confused upon picking it back up where I was in the timeline.

Lesley: Meh. I get it, but I wasn’t “I can’t put this book down” over it.

Toland: It didn’t quite work with all the time changes and changes in POV. But there were moments that were beautifully done.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press (2023)

08/01/23

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Shockingly not good.

Gabrielle:  Movie is better, and even then, the plot is contrived. Not a compelling villain origin story. Obvious cash grab.

Kitty: I wish it was better.

Lesley:  I refuse to watch this movie. I begrudgingly read this book (even though it was my pick).

Fourth Wing

Rebecca Yarros
Random House (2023)

08/01/23

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Obsessed is an understatement. “Sexy adult Harry Potter” indeed.

Gabrielle: This is culture.

Kitty: Harry Potter with a female protagonist, sex, and dragons.

Lesley: Obsessed. Done. Have already re-read.

Toland: Fun read! Couldn’t put it down once I got into it.

Foxfire

Joyce Carol Oates
Penguin (1994)

08/01/23

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: NO.

Gabrielle: I’m sorry.

Kitty: Meh.

Lesley: Somehow reminded me of Animals, but in a more literary way. 

Toland: Uncomfortable.

Second Person Singular

Sayed Kashua
Grove Press (2013)

06/06/23

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: It was a little tough to live inside the head of a man who sees everything in his life through a comparative lens, though.

Kitty: I can’t imagine having his thoughts. That’s exhausting.

Lesley: I really liked this.

Romantic Comedy

Curtis Sittenfeld
Random House (2023)

05/03/2023

Member Pick: Toland | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Our own fault. We should have known better.

Gabrielle: Neither romantic nor comedic.

Kitty: Why did I think that there was going to be a twist? It was bad and predictably so.

Lesley: Idk, it was exactly what I expected it to be, and therefore I can’t be mad at it.

Toland: So bad it was bad (and yet I read it in like a day).

The Dead Romantics

Ashley Poston
Berkley Books (2022)

04/04/23

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: And I quote myself upon book selection, “I will read Dead Romantics under protest” - and that is exactly what I did.

Gabrielle: If you want sexy ghosts, there is literally a Hallmark movie that already exists. 

Kitty: All the build up for a fade-to-black ghost sex scene ruined this book for me. 

Lesley: Everyone pipe down. This book was fun, even it if was bad.

Toland: So bad it was good (needed more ghost sex).

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Shelby Van Pelt
Ecco Press (2022)

03/08/23

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Nice, but it’s a whole book about an octopus. A whole book. A WHOLE BOOK.

Gabrielle: This book played a minor role in my decision to no longer consume octopus.

Kitty: I wish I had an octopus friend even if he thinks I’m dumb.

Lesley: I keep thinking about this book. It quietly held up as one of my favorite books of the year.

Toland: I loved the Octopus POV.

Great Circle

Maggie Shipstead
Vintage (2022)

02/07/2023

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Love a badass heroine. I would have preferred a more ambiguous ending thought - I’m not here for tying up loose ends.

Gabrielle: Stunning! What a heroine. A story about searching and pushing boundaries. Incredibly well researched. The history felt sweeping and relevant. Did I cry? I probably cried.

Kitty: I don’t remember reading this.

Lesley: There were some ups and downs in this book, but I liked reading it. Have recommended. 

Toland: I thought this was extremely compelling and well done. The author clearly did a ton of research into the history.

Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage

Rachel E. Gross
W.W. Norton & Co. (2023)

01/10/23

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: I recommend this book to everyone, obviously.

Gabrielle: The year is 2023. Humanity still knows little about the main sex organ of 50% of its population. Cool.

Lesley:  Didn’t read. Long live our non-fiction ban. 

Kitty: Much vagina. So little research. Occasionally traumatizing.

Toland: I have to be honest. I didn’t read this. 

The Seed Keeper

Diane Wilson
Milkweed Editions (2021)

12/04/22

Member Pick: Toland | Meeting Location: Baltimore WAP Mansion

Anna: Absolutely one of the better books we’ve read in awhile.

Kitty: Moving and definitely not in our normal wheel house. Wanted more details on a lot of things.

Lesley: This book really struck a chord with me. Perhaps it’s in my rural / farming childhood.

Toland: I enjoyed it.

Trust

Hernan Diaz
Riverhead (2022)

11/8/2022

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Great book, but I must admit that I had a hard time getting through it.

Kitty: Thumbs up. Book within a book within a book. I liked some stories more than others. Book-ception.

Lesley: All in all I really enjoyed this book. It is a very cliche’ Lesley read. Thumbs up.

Toland: I liked the different layers of stories.

The Westing Game

Ellen Raskin
Puffin Books (2004)

10/12/2022

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Not for me.

Gabrielle: I remember loving this story (and accompanying low-budget movie, “Get a Clue”) as a kid. As an adult, it was less enjoyable and the main heroine was cloying.

Lesley: I really struggled to get into this book. I was trying to read it quickly - which maybe was a disservice to the book because I didn’t spend any time trying to figure out who the killer was. It was a “meh” for me. 

Kitty: Like Lesley, I also struggled with this book as I couldn’t keep the characters, their living quarters, and relationships straight. I contemplated writing it all down, but then I forgot it. Some of it was easy to see coming and some I clearly missed despite multiple signs. 3/5.

Toland: It was okay. Didn’t love, but enjoyed enough.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Gabrielle Zevin
Knopf (2022)

9/13/2022

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Great book, but I wasn’t as blown away as everyone else. The relationship dynamic was triggering.

Gabrielle: Gabrielles are capable only of greatness. 

Kitty: I really enjoyed this book, but had issues picturing the characters. Would recommend, 4.5/5.

Lesley: Thumbs up - I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone. 

Toland: Loved this book!! I was very moved by it. Such a fascinating examination of friendship.

Oksana, Behave!

Maria Kuznetsova
Random House Trade (2020)

8/2/2022

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: I just needed a Ukraine fix, and this did the trick.

Gabrielle: This book was a quick, sweet read. 

Kitty: I really liked this book and wanted more in certain ages and felt jarred by the jumping around.

Toland: I liked but didn’t love.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

Akwaeke Emezi
Atria Press (2022)

7/12/2022

Member Pick: Toland | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: I liked the writing quite a bit, but I was expecting some more dramatic happenings… and was sorely disappointed.

Gabrielle: Tough characters but some great writing.

Lesley: Meh… The characters annoyed me and it felt a little fantastic. Parts of the book were beautifully written, but overall it wasn’t my favorite.

A Hundred Sweet Promises

Sepehr Hadded
Appleyard & Sons (2021)

7/5/2022

Member Pick: I mean, really? | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: 🤙 I liked the writing but it didn’t keep me engaged through the end.

Gabrielle: How does Lesley even find these books?

Lesley: I liked this book. It was short and sweet and I thought the (based on true events) story was compelling. It wasn’t the most exciting or compelling book I’ve ever read. But it was nice. 

Toland: It could have been much more compelling.

The Candy House

Jennifer Egan
Scribner (2022)

5/4/2022

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: As I write this, I am asking Gabrielle what this book was about because I have totally forgotten it. Let that be a reflection of its quality.

Gabrielle: “A Visit From the Goon Squad” was better.

Lesley: I really loved 90 percent of this book. It more than made up for the bits that bothered me. Definitely worth reading. 

Toland: I thought it was genius - and said something about how consciousness works in the digital age.

Milk Fed

Melissa Broder
Scribner (2021)

2/27/2022

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: I would like to be excluded from this narrative.

Gabrielle: I would also very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of.

Toland: Unsettling, but I can respect what the author was trying to do.

The Gown

Jennifer Robson
William Morrow & Co. (2018)

2/1/2022

Member Pick: Toland | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Not for me, but it was quick enough.

Lesley: Nice, easy read.

Gabrielle: I cried.

Toland: Solid book.

Never Saw Me Coming

Vera Kurian
Park Row (2021)

1/11/2022

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Psychopaths in Georgetown? Checks out. Hoya Saxa.

Gabrielle: My dissertation committee chair was the inspiration for this novel, which is about psychopathy research at Georgetown. This book gave me PTSD.

Northern Spy

Flynn Berry
Viking (2021)

12/13/2021

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: I appreciated reading some fiction about Ireland.

Gabrielle: This book put me on a weird potato famine kick. To be clear, I did not experience a potato famine. I read about Ireland and obsessively watched potato famine content.

Lesley: Thumbs up. Another simple read, but about a complex piece of world history.

One of Us is Lying

Karen McManus
Delacorte Press (2017)

11/8/2021

Member Pick: Toland | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: It started well, and it was a compelling read, but I figured it out too fast.

Lesley: Was physically unable to put this book down. Countless hours of sleep were lost, feeling compelled to finish this story that rips off every great plot point in the “four kids from different backgrounds confront life in 300 pages and/or 90 minutes in a movie” genre.

Gabrielle: “The Breakfast Club” meets “Gossip Girl” meets “Pretty Little Liars.”

Toland: Very engrossing.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Michael Chabon
Random House Trade (2012)

10/7/2021

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Virtual

Kitty: The book was way too long and I honestly can’t remember if I finished it. Thumbs down.

Lesley: Thumbs down. Despite containing all the features I generally love in a book… This was my personal Bosnian Chronicle. Thumbs down.

Toland: The plot was solid, but the book was too long.

Malibu Rising

Taylor Jenkins Reid
Ballantine Books (2021)

3/16/2021

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Gabrielle: It’s hard to top her other books. But, Taylor Jenkins Reid strikes again, because I’ll read anything she writes.

Kitty: Really well written and I like that the author’s books all exist in the same world.

Lesley: Not as good as Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo… but I really liked it. Taylor Jenkins Reid threads a compelling line between beach read and literature and I’m here for it

The Hunting Wives

May Cobb
Berkley Books (2021)

7/20/2021

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Gabrielle: Felt like I needed a morality check after devouring every word of this.

Kitty: Ugh, creeping on someone’s teenage son is all kinds of wrong. This lady should have gone to jail.

Lesley: Delightful trash. Thumbs up.

The Midnight Library

Matt Haig
Viking (2020)

6/1/2021

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Gabrielle: I adored this book. Bittersweet in all the right ways. The kind of book you want to snuggle up with on the couch.

Kitty: I really wanted this book to have a less predictable ending, but I also couldn’t put it down.

Lesley: I really loved this book. It had me laying awake at night what I would have been in a different life.

My Year Abroad

Chang-rae Lee
Riverhead Books (2021)

3/16/2021

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Thank u, next.

Gabrielle: A year abroad that read like multiple years. This book was the definition of mediocrity. For goodness’ sake, the main character is from New Jersey.

Lesley: Not at all what I was expecting. It was a rollercoaster that had me thrilled, disgusted, bored, and confused all at the same time. Meh.

Ninth House

Leigh Bardugo
Flatiron Books (2020)

2/5/21

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Virtual

Gabrielle: Caveat: I read this book via Kindle almost a year ago and found it mediocre. Re-read for book club in actual book form and found it fantastic. Maybe it’s because I’m in academia, but the hyperbolic imagining of secret societies as gateways to conversing with the dead sounds… fun? 

Kitty: I wanted more of the unknown world and less of the academia. It couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. 3/5.

My Brilliant Friend

Elena Ferrante
Europa Editions (2012)

1/10/2021

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: I have no idea how I feel about this book. The more I think about it, the less eloquent this thought becomes.

Gabrielle: Overrated. I’m trying to understand the hype around Ferrante’s series, and I find the hype around her mysterious identity way more interesting.

Kitty: This is the epitome of teenage pettiness and lack of empathy. How someone can be so smart and so stupid?

Lesley: I was REALLY looking forward to reading this, and was REALLY disappointed. I can’t help but feel the essence of the character relationships in this book are completely unoriginal and overdone, although beautifully written.

The English Patient

Michael Ondaatje
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Book (2011)

12/4/2020

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Overall, not the most exciting book. BUT some passages were so beautifully written. Very much worth a read.

Gabrielle: This book is one of the best-written things I’ve read in awhile. There’s an obvious strong point (the pilot’s recollections of his desert-era love story), but the other narrators are less whimsical and less fleshed-out. Parts of the book felt onerous; would recommend reading best passages and… possibly Googling the ending.

Kitty: Tried my patience. Took too long to figure out who the main character was. Constant narration changing without chapter demarcation does not make for an enjoyable read.

Lesley: There is no doubt this book is beautifully written literature, but I had a really hard time getting into it.

Deadwood

Pete Dexter
Penguin Books (1987)

10/26/2020

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Wow, this book got right into some stuff.

Gabrielle: There were whores. There were Indians. There were words on pages and I enjoyed and understood very few of them. Would give ⅕, but I can admit that perhaps I just don’t know how Westerns are supposed to work.

Kitty: The horse’s death was the saddest. I totally missed the gruesome rape which means it’s either poorly written or too well written.

Lesley: I really liked this book. Definitely not very “woke,” and not my usual style, but I’m glad to have read it.

The Guest List

Lucy Foley
William Morrow & Company (2020)

9/9/2020

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Virtual

Gabrielle: Did anyone in this book have an IQ above 70? Books like this (e.g., prime picks for Reese’s sunshine club or whatever it’s called) have taught me that there is little I hate more than self-loathing characters who impose their misery upon others. Especially at a wedding. That said, I enjoyed hate-reading this during a pandemic.

Kitty: I love a good red herring as much as I love wedding cake as a plot point.

Lesley: Enjoyable.

Anna: Murder mystery on a dark stormy night on a secluded Irish island? Sign me up. Also, LOL at Gabrielle’s dissenting opinion.

Sex and Vanity

Kevin Kwan
Doubleday Canada (2020)

8/19/2020

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: I accidentally read E.M. Forrester’s A Room With a View a couple of weeks before this book and was getting major confusing deja vu until I realized this book is a “modern day interpretation” [read: basically word-for-word the same book, sigh]. Light read, though, I’m not mad about it.

Gabrielle: This book reads like a ploy for Kevin Kwan to publish something, literally anything, to follow the success of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. While CRA came with characters for us to learn from and find endearing, all nuances of race and class in Asian culture are lost in overwhelmingly boring descriptions of… Italy? Shoes? I don’t remember. I hated this book and everyone in it. 

Kitty: You can see the whole plot coming from a mile away, what little plot there was. The only thing that would have made it more cliche is if her finance ended up being gay after all. All of the interesting characters had bit parts and the main characters lacked any depth or growth. Give me more uptight Grandma and weird yogi!

Lesley: Certainly it was a disappointment after the CRA series. BUT it did leave me daydreaming of drinking Haut Brion (and TWO Lafites!) by the beach. So I’m not overly mad about it.

Mexican Gothic

Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Quercus Publishing (2020)

7/19/2020

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: The amount of stress I felt while reading this book is insane. It was disturbing yet satisfying? I might need help.

Gabrielle: Did I redeem myself with this book? As the resident Horror Loving Member with a high threshold for being uncomfortable, Mexican Gothic made me squirmy, scared, and deeply grossed out. I’ll be awaiting the NC-17 HBO limited series.

Kitty: I had nightmares about fungi. Beautifully written fungi. 

Lesley: I have a complicated relationship with thrillers… but I couldn’t put this one down.

The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club #1)

Lyssa Kay Adams
Berkeley Books (2019)

6/23/2020

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Shoot me now.

Gabrielle: Here I am, a grown-ass woman, a proclaimed literature-lover publicly stating that I… enjoyed this book? Would read the sequel? Laughed out loud while reading? My guard is down completely. This book is a hoot, and I’d recommend it to any woman post-breakup looking for an easy laugh. In an ideal world, men would have their own book clubs and actually talk about, you know, feelings; this book lets that dream read as truth for a brief number of pages. 

Kitty: I recommended this book to actual men in hopes that some men out there would make this book club real. The first one was much better than the sequel, but that won’t stop me from reading the 3rd. 

Lesley: Okay this was dumb and fun. Read the sequel. Will read the final book in the trilogy when it comes out.

Rodham

Curtis Sittenfield
Random House (2020)

6/12/2020

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: The feeling of invasiveness you feel when reading fan-fic of real-life people’s “fictional” sex scenes is a whole other level and it will never leave you. Also, what the fuck? Can’t Hillary just catch a break?

Gabrielle: If you like Bill Clinton sex scenes, this book is for you. And you should probably see a psychotherapist. 

Kitty: As the first member to start and finish this book, I was the most traumatized. 

Lesley: I learned something about myself while reading this book. I learned there was no need in my life for Billary sex scenes.

Apartment

Teddy Wayne
Bloomsbury Publishing (2020)

4/28/2020

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Douchey people living douchey lives.

Gabrielle: Am I the only one here who likes good writing? Apartment reminds me of John Williams’ novels: little to the plot, sure, but the story is in the writing, which conveys the anxiety and awkwardness of class clashes in friendships. My only reservation about Apartment is that it’s a very white-male novel for very not-white-male times. That said, I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a quick burn and self-loathing narrators.  

Lesley: Looking back- this was a nice piece of actual literature amongst the (mostly) trash we have been reading during quarantine.

The Boy from the Woods

Harlan Coban
Grand Central Publishing (2020)

4/28/2020

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: What is there to say? The title says it all.

Gabrielle: There is a boy. He is from the woods. There is a subplot about politics and also some lame romance. That’s it. That’s the review.

Lesley: One of the things I liked about this book was that I didn’t ever entirely figure it out. It left me wanting more insight into some of the characters.

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote
Random House Publishing (1965)

3/24/2020

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: It’s nonfiction… except that it’s not.

Gabrielle: There were moments of this book that read like genius, and there were moments that dragged on with far more detail than necessary. However, Capote is a master of this genre and it is arguable that modern non-fiction wouldn’t exist without this book. I’m glad to have read it, but sorely needed a break from non-fiction after this one.

Lesley: This book got super slow at times.

The Dead Girls Club

Damien Angelica Walters
Penguin Random House (2019)

1/29/2020

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Our first pick for 2020…. fitting.

Gabrielle: What the FUCK did I just read?...and why did I enjoy it so much?

Lesley: Trash. Utter trash. The main character is a nightmare. The marriage story is weak at best. I was angry most of the time while reading this book.

Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love

Jonathan Van Ness
Harper Collins Publishers (2019)

12/3/2019

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: JVN is strong, he is a Kelly Clarkson song, he’s got this. But legit, his life is crazy. Also, everyone go binge watch Queer Eye.

Gabrielle: I’ve seen JVN live and, boy, he is funny. So is this book. While largely sappy and cloying, JVN’s story is truly inspiring and I felt like I learned from his perspectives. Particularly moving and informative is his chapter on being HIV-positive. 

Lesley: I neither watch the show nor had any interest in the book. Good thing I got married and had an excuse to sit it out.

Bosnian Chronicle (Bosnian Trilogy #2)

Ivo Andrić
Skyhorse Publishing (1945)

9/11/2019

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Virtual

Anna: Taylor Swift put it best in Folklore: “Hell was the journey, but it brought me heaven.” Hell being reading this book. Heaven being not reading this book anymore.

Gabrielle: Taylor Swift put it best in Lover: “I ask the traffic lights if it’ll be alright. They say, ‘I don’t know.’” While reading Bosnian Chronicle, I didn’t know if I would ever be alright again. I didn’t know if I’d stay literate. Hell, I didn’t even know if my eyes would work. But hey-- I survived. I lived to forgive Lesley for making me read this.

Lesley: My reintroduction to Book Club. Don’t listen to the others. This book was great. BUT if you’re only going to take one fictional dive into Bosnia I’d recommend The Bridge on the Drina.

Anna: Honestly, I got such a kick out of telling people about the saga of reading this book, that I also forgive Lesley.

Normal People

Sally Rooney
Penguin Random House (2018)

5/25/2019

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: No Meeting

Gabrielle: I want to like Sally Rooney (and this book) more than I did. My opinion is that Normal People--and likely Conversations With Friends--reads like so many other modern fiction normcore novels out there right now. Average people in average scenarios and some slightly-above-average writing to tell the tale.

The Master and Margarita

Mikhail Bulgakov
Penguin Random House (1966)

4/30/2019

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Le Chat Noir

Anna: Not to be confused with Mikhail and Margarita (I see Kitty is giving this a so-so, lol). I’ve read this in Russian before, so that was a blast. I also apologize (again) for being MIA. Lesson learned: don’t go missing on Kitty’s watch.

Gabrielle: A classic. I read the opening chapters of this in a Russian class in college and was happy to revisit the satire in full.

Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff

Chip Gaines
Thomas Nelson Publishing (2017)

4/3/2019

Member Pick: Andy (Kitty’s Husband) | Meeting Location: No Meeting

Gabrielle: We get it, Chip Gaines. You’re a Republican. You worked hard and pulled yourself up by the bootstraps. 

Lesley: Didn’t read… and thrilled about it.

The Orphan Master’s Son

Adam Johnson
Penguin Random House (2012)

3/30/2019

Member Pick: Cathy | Meeting Location: Unconventional Diner | Guest Member: Cathy

Anna: A very interesting read, though I am a bit skeptical of the author’s knowledge of NK.

Gabrielle: This book is GORGEOUS. In addition to putting me on a real NK kick (yes, Anna, Johnson’s knowledge of NK is, like most other humans on this planet, questionable), the latter half of the novel is truly moving and puts into question: What makes a life? What is an identity? I loved thinking about this book and its characters. Would happily re-read.

Lesley: WOW, they were really on an Asia kick.

Goodbye, Vitamin

Rachel Khong
Henry Holt & Company (2017)

2/12/2019

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Mission

Gabrielle: Goodbye, mediocre book. I was thrilled when this book ended. The writing is good enough, but thinking about this book in hindsight, I find myself struggling to detail the plot.

Luckiest Girl Alive

Jessica Knoll
Simon & Schuster (2015)

1/18/2019

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Tortino

Gabrielle: The woman who wrote this book should be ashamed. Yeah, I said it.

Rules of Civility

Amor Towles
Penguin Random House (2011)

11/29/2018

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Commissary

Anna: The experience of reading this book solidified my belief that a bestseller does not necessarily mean an outstanding book.

Gabrielle: The Great Gatsby-lite.

The Great Believers

Rebecca Makkai
Penguin Random House (2018)

11/29/2018

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Commissary

Anna: I remember loving the start of this book, but I was a bit disappointed. I had read Makkai’s The Hundred-Year House and absolutely LOVED it. Go read that one instead.

Gabrielle: The whole is bigger than its parts with this one. Didn’t care much for some of the individual characters and their subplots, but the overwhelming effect holds: It’s a moving story about friendship and loss in the AIDS epidemic, though (per usual) I just really don’t care for stories that involve people tracking down personal memorabilia.

Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery (Obama Biden Mysteries #1)

Andrew Shaffer
Penguin Random House (2018)

9/22/2018

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Pizzeria Paradiso

Anna: Go vote 2020.

Gabrielle: Biden-Harris 2020.

Lesley: Didn’t read. Will vote for Biden.

The Perfect Letter

Chris Harrison
Harper Collins (2015)

8/21/2018

Member Pick: Bonus Book | Meeting Location: Il Canale | Guest Member: Kate

Anna: If you are going to go in for something like Bachelor Nation, don’t half-ass it — go hard and read Chris Harrison’s romance novel.

Gabrielle: Would bet $100 that Harrison used a ghost writer. Said ghost writer is also not a good writer.

The Immortalists

Chloe Benjamin
Penguin Random House (2018)

7/22/2018

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Urban Row Flats

Anna: I can see this being a great dark children’s movie. But, perhaps it’s a little too dark since it’s about siblings navigating their life after an encounter with a fortune teller. It’s the tried and true discussion about whether there is such a thing as fate, and whether knowing your fate ultimately causes you to take actions that then lead to that very result.

My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel

Kitty Curran
Penguin Random House (2018)

6/26/2018

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Unconventional Diner

Anna: Don’t read this on your e-reader. It ruins the magic.

Lincoln in the Bardo

George Saunders
Penguin Random House (2017)

5/31/2018

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Lincoln Restaurant

Anna: George Saunders is OVERRATED.

Gabrielle: George Saunders is NOT OVERRATED. IGNORE ANNA. This book is beautiful. It’s such a great narrative of loss, how loss shapes us, how Lincoln used grief to shape a nation… UGH. Anna, I hate you. 

Anna: I am willing to die on this hill.

Lesley: It's almost rude how many books they read without me before virtual book club became a thing.

Dark Matter

Blake Crouch
Penguin Random House (2016)

5/8/2018

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Flavio

This merit might be fluke…

Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure

Amy Kaufman
Penguin Random House (2018)

4/24/2018

Member Pick: Bonus Book | Meeting Location: Church Hall | Guest Member: Kate

Anna: 3 years ago I started watching The Bachelor with my friends. This is what life has come to. 

Gabrielle: Kaufman claims she did research to write this book, but the lack of actual intel gives the impression that “research” equated to Reddit, podcasts, and a few scrolls through Reality Steve. 

Lesley: Didn’t read. Wouldn’t read. Love The Bachelor. Watching Andi Dorfman’s season on Hulu as I type this. 

Little Fires Everywhere

Celeste Ng
Penguin Press (2017)

3/29/2018

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Jack Rose Dining Saloon | Guest Member: Laura

It is becoming evident that we really only have snarky comments and a unanimous wordlessness is our highest form of praise.

Beartown

Fredrik Backman
Simon & Schuster (2016)

2/15/2018

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Big Bear Cafe

Anna: Whoever is doing Fredrik Backman’s translations, I am in love with how you put words together.

Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie
Collins Crime Club (1934)

1/9/2018

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: The Sovereign

Gabrielle: Christie is a great writer, and this book is a classic, but despite these elements, it wasn’t my ideal read. The movie (Brannagh version) didn’t help that. Maybe I’m just more of a Clue gal.

Lesley: I didn’t read this with them - but had read it previously. Maybe my relationship with thrillers / mysteries isn’t as complicated as I think.

A Visit from the Goon Squad

Jennifer Egan
Knopf (2011)

12/2/2017

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Songbyrd

Anna: Not sure it’s worth an award, but compared to other books with alternating narrators, it was well done.

Gabrielle: The Pulitzer is a huge jump for Egan and this book, but it is a good one. Some memorable characters and stories, as well as some inventive use of narrative. Happy to have read it, but like many other Pulitzers, perhaps not worth all the praise.

Lesley: I think I read this? But I can’t remember? Probably that says something about the book.

What Happened

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Simon & Schuster (2017)

11/6/2017

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Off the Record

Anna: What. Happened. I think this book gave me some sense of closure to the 2016 election.

Lesley: Here begins my long absence. 

The Shining

Stephen King
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (1977)

10/24/2017

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: The Riggsby

Anna: I. Love. Horror. More please.

Lesley: Again with my weird relationship with thrillers. This book is amazing. It is beautiful.

Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy

John le Carré
Hodder & Stoughton (1974)

9/21/2017

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: The Kew

Gabrielle: I just want to say it in writing: I DID NOT KNOW I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO THE DISHES. Also I hated this book, and I don’t think spy novels are my genre. I’m sure Le Carré is a great writer, but lord help me, what even happened in this book?

Lesley: Love me a spy novel. From the fact no one else liked it you can tell it was my pick!

Anna: We should probably come clean that instead of having a book club discussion after reading we just watched/slept-through the movie.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Marjane Satrapi
Knopf Doubleday Publishing (2004)

8/16/2017

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Kramerbooks & Afterwards Cafe

Apparently, we have no words.

Rich People Problems (Crazy Rich Asians #3)

Kevin Kwan
Penguin Random House (2017)

7/10/2017

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Union Row Flats

Anna: Truly enjoyable reading experience (for the whole trilogy, really).

Lesley: It's almost pathetic how much I love this series. I’ve gone back and listened to the audiobooks SEVERAL times since this wonderful work came into my life. These audiobooks, a glass of wine, and a long Saturday night in is guaranteed to have me cleaning out my closet and enjoying life.

The Plot Against America

Philip Roth
Houghton Mifflin Company (2004)

6/21/2017

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Lucky Bar | Guest Member: Maggie

Anna: Had to save my first Philip Roth for Members Only. We should have read Portnoy’s Complaint instead - live and learn.

Lesley: Is it possible to “guest” your own book club? Anyway, I read this book with them and really enjoyed it. Evil Charles Lindberg for life!

Measuring the World

Daniel Kehlmann
Penguin Random House (2006)

5/23/2017

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Sette Osteria

Anna: This was written in 2006?????

Lesley: I thought it was interesting. This was the last time we will take book recommendations from my boyfriend (now husband). And to the other Members… at least this one was under the page limit?

The Heart Goes Last

Margaret Atwood
Penguin Random House (2015)

5/23/2017

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Sette Osteria

Anna: Despite this book, I still love Margaret Atwood. I will also never look at blue teddy bears the same way again.

Lesley: Dystopia is not my thing. Bad dystopia is REALLY not my thing. 

Norse Mythology

Neil Gaiman
W. W. Norton & Company (2017)

4/7/2017

Member Pick: Kitty | Meeting Location: Boundary Stone

Lesley: THE MYTHS!!!

Anna: Thor came off very hot-but-stupid… is it bad that I identified with Loki the most?

The Elementary Particles

Michel Houellebecq
Penguin Random House (1998)

3/7/2017

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Red White And Basil

Anna: I love a good novel about fucked-up people. Instant favorite.

Lesley: This book is one part boring (Michel Houellebecq has a very minimal stance on character development). One part fascinating. And ten parts fucked up.

The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between

Hisham Matar
Penguin Random House (2016)

2/1/2017

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Boqueria

Lesley: Definitely wasn’t the best book club book I’ve picked, but I liked it.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Neil Gaiman
William Morrow & Company (2013)

12/18/2016

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Maxime (#RIP)

Anna: I got major Tuck Everlasting vibes that took me back to the experience of reading fantasy books when I was growing up. Loved it.

Gabrielle: I should have known my ex-boyfriend and I would break up when he told me he liked this book. Probably Gaiman’s most middling work. Read Neverwhere instead.

Lesley: OMG this book needs to get over itself. It was stupid.

Super Sad True Love Story

Gary Shteyngart
Random House (2010)

12/3/2016

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Hank's Oyster Bar

Anna: The narrative in this book was the literary equivalent of a Woody Allen film. Cringe.

Gabrielle: Men suck. Is that the point of this book? To create an ode to grown-up men who still think a bar of soap is an appropriate way to clean your face? There were some really creative elements to this book (Onion skin pants! Dystopia!), but that’s not enough to redeem one of the absolute most icky protagonists ever.

Lesley: Whiny and pathetic people whine through dystopia for 400 pages. My nightmare.

All the Light We Cannot See

Anthony Doerr
Scribner Book Company (2014)

10/28/2016

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Bistrot du Coin

Lesley: Ah back in the days when we read literature and not trash. The story flows beautifully through this book.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two

J. K. Rowling
Scholastic, Inc. (2016)

9/14/2016

Member Pick: Bonus Book | Meeting Location: The Kew

Anna: Why would you mess with perfection?

Gabrielle: Trolley witch. That’s it.

The Girls

Emma Cline
Random House (2016)

8/12/2016

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Bar Pilar

Anna: What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck is wrong with this book??

Gabrielle: I don’t even want to discuss this book. 

Lesley: Trash. Utter trash. But I was entertained.

The Tsar of Love and Techno

Anthony Marra
Penguin Random House (2015)

7/1/2016

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Mari Vanna

Gabrielle: Incredible work. A feat. Makes me excited to read more by Marra. The last chapter (good god) is actually one of the most powerful endings to a book I’d read in years.

Lesley: Beautiful. Absolutely a beautiful book. Literature for sure. I beg Anthony Marra to write another book.

Anna: Definitely patting myself on the back for this pick, but I will admit, I originally picked it for the cover art.

Animals

Emma Jane Unsworth
Harper Collins (2014)

5/21/2016

Member Pick: Tori | Meeting Location: Libertine (#RIP) | Guest Member: Tori

Lesley: Another book we hated at the time. Surprised about the others’ thumbs up. Personally, I will never stan a book that made me feel this uncomfortable about drinking.

The Forty Rules of Love

Elif Shafak
Penguin Random House (2009)

4/9/2016

Member Pick: Lesley | Meeting Location: Rosemary's Thyme Bistro | Guest Member: Tori

Lesley: I’m obviously here for all things “Turkey.”

Cloud Atlas

David Mitchell
Penguin Random House (2004)

3/19/2016

Member Pick: Gabrielle | Meeting Location: Kramerbooks & Afterwards Cafe | Guest Member: Tori

Anna: I have still not forgiven Gabrielle.

Lesley: I will never forgive Gabrielle. I will never get the time spent frantically reading this during my lunch breaks back. I will never understand what happened in Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin’ After. However, I did enjoy Letters from Zedelghem and The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish… “we, the horizontal people.”

Gabrielle: I don’t care what the other Members say. This book is beautiful. Mitchell is a great writer. It’s definitely a challenge and requires intentional reading- perhaps even some sleuthing- and it’s likely that some nuances are lost on me. (That said, the Wachowskis’ 2012 movie makes a good companion if the language, especially “Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Everythin’ After” is too much to trudge through.) I find myself revisiting this book often, especially the chapters on Frobisher, a bisexual composer in Zedelghem, and Somni~45, an activist in a dystopian Korean future. I don’t know. I just loved this book, found it moving, and I stand by this choice. 

Fates and Furies

Lauren Goff
Penguin Publishing Group (2015)

1/21/2016

Member Pick: Anna | Meeting Location: Russia House

Anna: Distance makes the heart grow fonder. We weren’t fans when we first finished it, but I think we all now agree it was one of our top books. I also happen to like dysfunction in books - and this book had A LOT of dysfunction. But, what can I say? Obama made us do it.

Lesley: We HATED this book when we read it. But it is without a doubt actually a great piece of literature. I wish they’d make a movie… starring Lucy Boynton and Jamie Dornan. I wish more of the books we read were this good.