Every year I write this post. Every year, I will make my decision a day or so before the meeting. What am I going to put up for book group?
Yes, this is my current big dilemma. Everybody else has managed to get their book group books in - and this year's list is fantastic, but this doesn't help me. I have to find my books to champion. Two fiction books which are easy to get a hold of, preferably under 500 pages, of literary or very good popular fiction standard and preferably under 500 pages so people have a chance to read the book in the designated month.
It's harder than you think it's going to be. I take inventory of my to be read pile as well as the books I've read over the last year, pondering what I might want to put up. I also know what the rest of the group are submitting, being the book bitch, or the one who checks to see there's no double ups. This year, we did well. only two people chose the same books.
Anyway, here is my list of books I'm thinking about putting up. I have all of these in my TBR pile. I'll also give the pros and cons of each book. I have two weeks to decide.
Strangely, this is one of the hardest decisions I have to make in any given year.
1) Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran
358 Pages. Family Saga. Sri Lanka. Australian Author. Woman Author. Goodreads Rating: 4.26
Pro: It won the Miles Franklin award this year. We have read the author before. The blurb on the back says that the book is about family and memory.
Con: We read her other book Song of the Sun God this year and it wasn't received that well. Mind you, that one didn't win the Miles Franklin.
2) Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
304 pages. Historican Fiction. Button pushing. Woman Author. Shortlisted for the Booker. Goodreads Rating: 3.53
Pro: It looks like it might be confronting from the reviews. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Con: It looks like it might be confronting from the reviews. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
I'm really curious about this one, but I'm not sure what the group will think.
3) Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
449 pages. Literary Fiction. Feminist. Literary. Booker Prize Winner (with Margaret Atwood's The Testaments) Goodreads Rating: 4.30
Pro: I have read this one - listening to it as an audio book. It is incredible. This book is incredible and I want to share it. It's an ambitious book, but it is SOOOOOO rewarding.
Con: The split focus of the book may not be well received by one or two of our members.
4) Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
305 pages. Literary Fiction. Historical Fiction. American Fiction. Woman Author. Goodreads Rating: 3.87
Pro: This is a book about the slavery and the American South. Dipping into the pages, the language is sumptuous.
Con: We've read a bit about Slavery in the South and it can be a little bit trauma porny.
5) Small Things Like These / Foster by Claire Keegan
118 and 51 pages respectively. Irish Literature. Woman Author. Booker Prize Shortlisted. Goodreads ratings: 4.20 / 4.33
Pro: Claire Keegan is the absolute bomb. Both books are very short but they pack a punch. As both books are so small, I'd put them up together. They look closely at life in Ireland in the 70s and 80s.
Con: The book group might not take too well do doing two books, even though both are very short.
Both of these books are incredible.
6) Hagseed by Margaret Atwood
292 pages. Literary Fiction. Woman Author. Goodreads Rating: 3.81
Pro: It's Margaret Atwood and she is amazing. It's also based around Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Con: After reading Learwife this year, I'm not sure how another retelling of Shakespeare, especially one that is not that well known, will go down.
7) The Yield by Tara June Winch
340 pages. Literary Fiction. Miles Franklin Winner. Woman Author. Indigenous Content. Goodreads Rating: 4.12
Pro: It's topical and very well reviewed.
Con: It will depend on what other indigenous content is on this year's list. As it is now a few years old, some people may have read it already.
8) Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
433 pages. Historical Fiction, Pulitzer Prize winning author. American Fiction. Woman Author. Goodreads Rating: 3.62
Pro: It looks interesting. A different part of America.
Con: It looks a bit big and perceptions are everything.
9) The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
337 pages. Literature. American Author. Woman Author. Dysfunctional Families. Goodreads Rating: 4.10
Pro: Ann Patchett is incredible - and not overly controversial.
Con: She can be a little slow for some. She's a delicate, thoughtful writer, but some see that as lacking punch.
10) Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
281 pages. American Author. Different. Goodreads Rating: 3.88
Pro: This has had next to no press over here. It looks interesting, that's all.
Con: This has had next to no press over here. With an unknown author, it's a gamble.
Can you see how hard this decision can be.
I might choose one or two of these books, I might keep on with my search.
Comments welcome.
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