Top Ten Books That Would Make a Great Book Club Pick

This is my first 2015 top ten Tuesday post. I don’t know why, but I have been a but unmotivated to do tag/meme posts, but this one was so much fun, I saw this prompt and immediately had half a dozen book choices that I just had to share with you all.

I really like books that are very ambiguous and/or divisive in nature as book club choices. It’s no fun when everyone like or hates a particular book. A little heated (but respectful, of course 😉 ) argument about a book is always such fun.

Keeping that in mind, here are some books that I think would make some great book club choices.

1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood would make a great choice I think. I love the story, and its great feminist slant, and the dystopian world. The book is full of quotable quotes, and I can just imagine a book club scene bunch of women with maybe a glass of wine with their books open and reading out sentences that really called out to them. It’s a great book, and a book about women’s rights always brings out some interesting discussions.
2. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is another book club choice. It’s not universally beloved, I don’t think. And I think people would have different opinions based on their own moral values, so I think there could be some good discussion with this. The only drawback as a book club pick is its length.
3. Another long book that I would pick up for a book club is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. It’s a great book, and I loved it, however I am not sure that I understood all the nitty-gritty details and people’s motivations. It would be great to read this with friends and see what they think about it.
4. Another book that would benefit from some group reading is The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. It’s not one of my favorite books. It was long and dragged interminably in certain sections. I nominate this for a book club because I need someone to explain to me what the deal is with this book. I mean some people have said they cried with emotion reading this book. Really? When? Where? Someone please point out these moving sections to me. I think I must be very hard-hearted as this book just left me cold.
5. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes was one of those books that made me scratch my head a bit at the ending. I eventually reached my own conclusion, then went on goodreads and saw that everyone else had also reached their own vastly different conclusions. Definitely, a good book club pick.
6. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is a powerful read. At the time it released it was also a little controversial because it threw an unflattering light on India. Great book still in my opinion, and would provoke a lot of discussion.
7. If a book club is interested in reading classics, Middlemarch by George Eliot would be a fantastic choice with hours of discussion on the role of women in society then and now.
8. If your book club is into supernatural the next two books would be great. Night Film by Marisha Pessl is super-spooky and atmospheric. It also has an ending that people loved and hated in equal parts.
9. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger is spooky, and because I found myself disliking the characters as the book progressed, and isn’t it fun to just sit around slamming fictional characters and their stupid life choices? Makes me feel so much better about my life choices 🙂
10. And my last but not least book club choice would be Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. I read it a couple of years ago, and when I think bizarre, this is the book that comes to my mind. It’s also a fun read, and you can take it as a light read, or analyze it to bits. Either way, it’s a fun addition to the list.

So that was my top ten book club list, people. Some books I loved, some I was super-meh about, but I thought they were all thought-provoking books that inspire a lot of exciting discussions.

Agree? Disagree? Which books would you pick for your book club?