# Book Club



## danole (24 Jan 2008)

HELP!! I've got to pick a book for our next book club & can't seem to get a good 'un........can anyone suggest anything?Thanks!


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## ClubMan (24 Jan 2008)

_War and Peace_?


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## Simeon (24 Jan 2008)

Crime and Punishment?


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## ClubMan (24 Jan 2008)

_Peter and Jane_?


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## casiopea (24 Jan 2008)

I have just finished "A thousand splendid suns" by Khaled Hossini (the guy who wrote kite runner). It was so good and the type of book that leaves you thinking (and a bit uncomfortable) after.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/khaled-hosseini/thousand-splendid-suns.htm


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## indebtedgal (24 Jan 2008)

def a thouand splendid suns or the kite runner..i'm now reading the bookseller of kabul. also v good. let us know what you decide.


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## ci1 (24 Jan 2008)

The Partner by John Grisham.

One of my fav books, very clever!


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## Seagull (24 Jan 2008)

Get started on the Discworld series


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## efm (24 Jan 2008)

Rubicon or Persian Fire by Tom Holland - non fiction but very approachable entry to ancient history

Also in a similar ancient history vein, but are historical fiction, are Pompeii and Imperium by Robert Harris


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## MissRibena (24 Jan 2008)

I don't know what your usual choices are like but I read 'Half of a Yellow Sun' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie recently and thought it was very good. It's a very well-written novel following the lives of a couple of sisters around the time of the Biafran conflict. It really brought home the horror of that time without being overly worthy. And it dealt really well with love/fidelity, post-colonialism and race/tribal issues without forcing it down your neck so I'd imagine there'd be oodles of themes for discussion in a book club. I saw it in Tesco for 5.95 - a complete steal IMHO.


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## BillK (24 Jan 2008)

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet. Very short but good fun and well written.

A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry. Beautifully written account (fictional) of the Dubs in Flanders during WWI and also the experiences of some of the regiment who were home on leave during Easter 1916.


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## cole (24 Jan 2008)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Fantastic book.


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## Caveat (24 Jan 2008)

Does it have to be recent or just any texts? 

Probably preferable that something is unusual and not too long. In general I think crime thrillers, despite their popularity are a bad idea as they leave little to discuss really except the plot.

For book clubs, it was my understanding that discussion/debate revolves more around writing style, character development, literary devices etc?

_The Outsider_ (Albert camus) is short, and on the surface uncomplicated, but has emotional and philisophical depths and features an unusual, direct writing style.

_1984_ (George Orwell) is relatively short too and comparison with the imagined and actual future should provide endless discussion.

Longer, but crammed with unusual characters and events, and a real emotional rollercoaster is John Irving's _The World According to Garp._

Kazuo Ishiguru's _The Remains of the Day_ is a beautifully written, well observed poignant novel.

Some ideas anyway...


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## PM1234 (24 Jan 2008)

We need to talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver. A book about nature v nuture. A provoking, angry, sad and compelling read that will stay in your thoughts long after you have put the book down.


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## ninsaga (24 Jan 2008)

The Bible


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## efm (25 Jan 2008)

ninsaga said:


> The Bible


 
Is that fiction or non-fiction?


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## Simeon (25 Jan 2008)

Well, ........ yes and no. It's more a state of mind.


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## Pique318 (25 Jan 2008)

so is psychosis


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## Simeon (25 Jan 2008)

Cheeky!


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## redstar (25 Jan 2008)

Try *"The God Delusion"* - guaranteed to cause an evening of rows and never-ending heated arguments !!!


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## Remix (25 Jan 2008)

redstar said:


> Try *"The God Delusion"* - guaranteed to cause an evening of rows and never-ending heated arguments !!!


 
Very true. Even the atheists are arguing amongst themselves over this.



> "Richard Dawkins and I share much in common. We are both biologists by training who have written widely about evolutionary theory." Moreover, "We are both atheists in our personal convictions." Then Wilson gets to his point. "When Dawkins' The God Delusion was published, I naturally assumed he was basing his critique of religion on the scientific study of religion from an evolutionary perspective. I regret to report otherwise.
> 
> He has not done any original work on the subject and he has not fairly represented the work of his colleagues." Rather, Dawkins has subjected his atheist readers to "sleights of hand." He has produced a "diatribe against religion" that is "deeply misinformed." Indeed he is "just another angry atheist trading on his reputation as an evolutionst and spokesperson for science to vent his personal opinions about religion."


 
-David Sloan Wilson quoted in Skeptic Magazine


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## PMU (25 Jan 2008)

How about “The Water Babies” by Charles Kingsley: (a) everybody has heard of it; (b) nobody has read it; and (c) the bit on St. Brendan’s mission to Kerry is bound to give rise to a lot of discussion.


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## RMCF (27 Jan 2008)

Other half just read 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' (can't remember the author off the top of my head but also wrote 'The Kite Runner') and she said it was one of the best books she has ever read.

Looking forward to reading it myself now.


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## Simeon (5 Mar 2008)

Probably late for this month's book, but 'The Fire In The Equations' by Kitty Ferguson is brilliant. In it she encapsulates science, religion and the  search for god. Better than Dawkins'  I thought. It may have been that in my earlier days I was more pliable. The book was written about fifteen years ago and did not get the same amount of publicity.


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## truthseeker (5 Mar 2008)

The Great Ape Project - its about a movement to accord certain civil liberties to great apes on the basis that they are so humanlike. Fantastically interesting reading.


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## Remix (6 Mar 2008)

Might be a tough read but

_Notes Towards the Complete Works of Shakespeare_ 

Might be the first published work by monkeys ?



> _Notes Towards the Complete Works of Shakespeare_ is a small, hardbound volume that presents and documents a five-page set of notes typed on a computer, written and published in 2002. Its six authors are known only by their first names--Elmo, Gum, Heather, Holly, Mistletoe and Rowan. They are Sulawesi crested macaaques.
> 
> The notes' ostensible purpose is to prepare for a rewrite of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
> 
> ...


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## stir crazy (6 Mar 2008)

PMU said:


> How about “The Water Babies” by Charles Kingsley: (a) everybody has heard of it; (b) nobody has read it



I read 'The Water Babies' when I was 9 years old and didnt' like it much at the time.


Heres a book I like

And another link to it here

Its' called 'Genius : Richard Feynman and Modern Physics.' 
Richard Feynman won the Nobel prize for Physics but he lived anything but the life of a typical retiring nerd. He was an interesting character who helped build the atom bomb and led the investigation into the space shuttle Challenger disaster.
I find biographys of  certain famous/quirky and or successful people to be quite interesting.


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## Caveat (6 Mar 2008)

Are people here less interested in the novel generally? 

Not a criticism, but there seem to be quite a few factual recommendations - my understanding of a book club was that it tended to be a novels based concept?


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## Gordanus (8 Mar 2008)

Kim Whitfield - Bareback
Jonathon Raban - Surveillance
Tobias Wolff - Old School


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## messyleo (8 Mar 2008)

Maybe something by Richard Ford (The Sportswriter?). Can't go wrong with a great American novel


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## cjh (8 Mar 2008)

In The Heart Of The Sea - Nathaniel Philbrick. The true story that inspired Moby Dick.

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts.


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