My Book Club’s Five Most Memorable Reads
In the summer of 2014, while a couple of drinks deep during a cottage getaway, a group of us decided to form a book club. It’s something we had been talking about doing for a while so we finally bit the bullet and started meeting once every six weeks or so, food and wine in tow. We started out with choosing books by having everyone come up with ideas for our next read that we would all vote on, but later on we switched to a rotation schedule which has been my favourite. Once per year, each member chooses a book to read as a group and it’s been such a fun way to try out different genres and honour everyone’s different reading personalities. Since book club began, we have read over 50 books together- what a massive accomplishment! At times it feels like we’ve read more flops than good finds, but there are several standout books that stayed with me long after we read them.
Whenever someone asks what the best books we’ve read are, these are the five that immediately come to my mind.
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. The way the author describes the scenery makes you feel like you can smell the swampy air and hear the birds singing from where you’re sitting. It’s a story about a girl surviving life alone in a marsh on the outskirts of town. Nature is the only constant in her life, having been abandoned by her family as a child and being shunned by the townspeople. It touches on the stigmas and unique challenges that come with being left to fend for herself, her relationship with the marsh, and her complicated struggle between both needing and fearing connection with the few who acknowledge her existence (perhaps a bit of a metaphor for post-Covid life? ha). The themes, the characters, the writing…just perfect. And the most inspiring part- this was the debut novel for Owens at 69 years of age.
a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini
I still get chills thinking about this book. This was the first book I read that was set in Afghanistan and it opened my eyes to an entirely different way of life. It follows the life trajectories of two women from very different upbringings who end up in the same horrifically abusive marriage as a result of the political circumstances playing out in the background of their lives. The characters and plot line are so well-written and believable that you could swear this was a biography as opposed to a work of fiction. Despite the stark differences between Western culture and that of Afghanistan, this story makes it clear that when it comes down to it, humans from all walks of life yearn for the same securities: a safe place to land, belonging, and finding happiness. This book is very hard to put down once you pick it up.
The nightingale by kristin hannah
I am not much of a crier when it comes to books (except for the scene in Harry Potter where he takes out the stone so he doesn’t walk alone…instant waterworks). And yet, this book had me crying at several points throughout, which says A LOT about the way it sucks you in and makes you care tremendously about what happens to the characters. I sent this over to my grandmother during the lockdowns and she told me that she had to stop reading it because it reminded her too much of the tragic stories that my grandfather had told her about his life during the war. So, fair warning - this is a heavy, very true-to-reality book set in France during the Nazi occupation of World War II. And, it’s well worth it. I loved the juxtaposition between the two sisters in the novel and their very different ideas of what it means to survive a war when not only your country, but your home is occupied by the enemy. It provides a front row seat to life on the home front for those who stayed behind and what it took to make it out alive.
the hate u give by angie thomas
If you find yourself shaking your head at protests about police brutality toward the Black community and the sometimes destructive nature of them, you need to read this book. This is essential reading for understanding race relations in the USA and why there remains such a significant division between the treatment of Blacks and Whites to this day. When the George Floyd protests began and the BLM movement gained widespread recognition last year, I realized then how profoundly this book had altered my perception about why things were going down the way they were and why it was both necessary and warranted. People are so, so tired of their basic human rights being ignored and having their lives destroyed on a daily basis by the systemic racism that’s been designed to keep them from living a safe, comfortable life. This book will open your eyes and will absolutely aid you in becoming a more compassionate and supportive person when it comes to the plights of the Black community across the globe.
the library at mount char by scott hawkins
The first few reviews of this book on Goodreads will either leave you feeling intrigued or wondering why the hell this book is on this list. This book is SO BIZARRE. There are so many forks in the plot that leave you thinking, “What the f*%@ did I just read?!”. I can guarantee you that you’ve never read a book like this one and you never will again. It’s extremely polarizing and people who you think will love it hate it, and people who you think will run for the hills from it end up recommending it to other people to read. I am not even really sure how to describe this book but I’ll try…a bunch of misfit children are adopted by a god who teaches them god-like power but only in one aspect of life each. He is extremely strict and unforgiving and there is zero tolerance for trying to learn more than what he’s allowed. One day he goes missing. The book proceeds to follow Carolyn, one of the previously-human-but-is-now-a-minor-god adoptees, as she tries to navigate life without the iron rule of her adoptive god-father and figure out how to survive the war to become the next Father. That’s all I got. If you read this, please tell me how you feel about it because hearing people’s opinions about it is SO good for a laugh. This author has the most insane imagination I’ve ever encountered on paper- I’ll give him that!
I’d love to hear about books you’ve read and haven’t been able to shake since. I’m always looking for great recommendations, so if you have any, please leave them in the comments below!