The most recommended book club books

I loved this book because it swept me into the world of one family with four sisters. Each sister has a distinct personality reminiscent of Little Women. Napolitano’s insightful writing brings each sister’s inner life to light.

I had trouble putting the book down as the complicated plot unfolded over their lifetimes. I was inspired by their strong pull toward each other, which endured even through separation and tragedy.

I love the way this book looks.

I love holding it in my hand.

I love how the words fall perfectly on the pages.

When my good friend raved about a book by a new-to-me Irish writer, I hurried to buy it. And now I’m Keegan’s biggest fan. She writes short books that say so much. There’s history, complicated families, and unexpected turns. She has a talent for putting sentences together that make me want to read them over and over.

Another of her books, Foster, was made into a perfect movie, The Quiet Girl. Rarely do I think a movie measures up to a book, but this was an exception. Just writing about Keegan’s books makes me want to hit pause and curl up with Small Things Like These again.

I was blown away by this book when I first read it, and it may be one of the best books I’ve ever read.

I laughed out loud at the wisecracking wit while tears actually dropped into my lap at the aching sadness as I read of the struggles of Yolande to stop her famous pianist sister Elfride from committing suicide and as she mines their strict Memonite past (including their father’s own suicide) for reasons for Elfride’s depression.

I kept gulping out hilarious bits to my partner while wiping my eyes and blowing my nose. I found it hard to put down to go and eat. When I finished it, I didn’t feel I’d read it; I felt I’d had a whole experience, and I set about recommending it to my reading group and all my friends.

I loved this book because we all want to achieve greatness, and it clearly identifies practices, strategies, and habits that can take a good team and make them great. It’s a reminder for me to be disciplined as a person, control myself with disciplined thoughts, and exhibit disciplined actions.

I like how Jim Collins emphasizes strategic focus, disciplined decision-making, and the importance of sustained excellence for long-term success. His "Hedgehog Concept" is a great reminder for me to reflect on what I’m deeply passionate about, what I can be the best at, and what drives my economic engine.

It’s hard not to love an Ann Patchett book. The idea of a middle-aged protagonist recounting a moment from their past isn’t new, but putting that long-ago life into the context of family life and motherhood gives Tom Lake its power. Do our children really get to know who we were before they were born? What if we don’t tell them everything?

I read criticism about it that said there wasn’t enough conflict in this family, and everyone got along too well.

If that’s the worst you’ve got…

The really unusual setting for this book is a Ukrainian village that has been decimated by war and is inhabited by only two people.

It illustrates the absurdity of war, and it made me think hard about how I would survive in similar circumstances—living without heat or electricity or contact with the outside world. It gave me a window into the terrifying circumstances under which many people are living today.

I found it impossible not to care about the main character, a simple man who wants to do nothing more than raise his bees in peace, but is surrounded by conflict and unimaginable loss. 

Trying to write from a non-human perspective is a tricky decision for a writer as I think we find it easier to read and write about our own species.

So I really admire Laline Paull’s non-human stories (like Bees and Pod) and the way she writes from the most difficult first-person point of view. While it is impossible to truly understand what goes on in an animal’s head, Paull does an incredible job of pulling us away from our own narrow window on the world and making us to look at ourselves from the diverse perspectives of the marine animals and the dramatically changing world we’ve forced them to live in.

Be warned though, this book may appeal to younger readers, but it also has some quite confronting scenes.

I think every woman should read this book. In a time when we need a “movement” to be seen or heard, Dragons reminded me of our strength, of how often the world has its boot on the back of our necks.

I loved the story of 2 sisters-one who desperately wants to be a dragon and the other, who does not. It was my first audiobook and I finished it in 2 days.

The actor John Cusack brought me to this movie, and I read the book after the movie and loved it. One of the key differences between the movie and the book is that the movie is set in Chicago, and the book in North London. As someone who grew up in the ’80s, I started with Cusack as the nerdy sidekick in Sixteen Candles and became obsessed with his Lloyd Dobler character in Say Anything; you know, the guy who dressed in a trench coat and held a boom box over his head outside a girl’s window.

The narrator of this novel is a record shop owner in London named Rob, and he starts off with his desert island, all-time, top five most memorable breakups, in chronological order. When we’re in the record shop that Rob owns, the guys are always making lists: top 5 guitar solos, top 5… show more.

This heartwarming, multigenerational drama about the Korean community in Japan swept me into another time and place. Born and raised in a poor fishing village in Japanese-occupied Korea, Sunja makes an impulsive decision in the pursuit of love that transforms the trajectory of her life.

Thoughtful, resilient, and fiercely independent, Sunja was a relatable character whom I desperately wanted to see thrive. I felt her heartache when she left her beloved Korea and shared her indignation at the discrimination she and her family experienced in Japan. Expertly crafted and keenly observed, Pachinko shows us how history and politics shape the lives of ordinary people, often for generations to come.