lou's library

I used to be in a book club, and I loved everything about it. We’d usually meet up somewhere in a cafe or at someone’s home and drink warm beverages while discussing our book clup pick of the month. I find this such a fun way of engaging with literature and it can make reading more educative and insightful as well. So, if you too are part of a book club (or planning to start one!), here are some books I think are fun to discuss in a group!

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

This was actually the first book I ever read with my book club and boy oh boy, were we off to a controversial start! I’ve seen this book described as a modern-day Lolita and I can’t say how accurate that is, as I haven’t read Lolita yet. But I guess it gives you an idea as to the contents of the book. It’s about a young student who falls in love with her older teacher and the consequences of that. Yes, the book is as heavy as it sounds. I found it hard to read at times, to be honest. However, the subject matter also means there’s lots to discuss. We talked about the ethics of writing about such a topic, the portrayal of the power dynamic between the protagonists, the way language was used. There’s a lot to uncover here, so if you’re willing to dive into a more complex and challenging read (in an emotional sense), then My Dark Vanessacould be a great choice for your book club!

The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian could not be more different from My Dark Vanessa, but I think it makes for an equally as interesting book club pick. It’s about an astronaut who gets stranded on Mars and desperately tries to make it back home to earth. I’m not usually one for science fiction, but this book is fun and the science part is mind-boggling, but not annoying. The protagonist’s attempts to survive are so crazy and seemingly far-flung (while also insanely clever and well thought-through) that I can imagine talking about it for hours. The writing style is so engaging and compelling, I really think a lot of the book’s appeal stems from it, so analysing that more closely could be fun, as well as discussing how you would have reacted in his situation and if you would have done things differently (if you were a NASA astronaut who knows advanced science, unlike me who struggles with basic science).

Kala by Colin Walsh

I spotted Kala in a book shop in Prague and was immediately drawn to it because of its cover. Now I’ve read the book, I like it even more because it somehow encapsulates the feeling of the book perfectly. It takes place years after a murder mystery in a small Irish town. The group of friends who got torn apart by the death of their friend get thrown back together as new evidence of the case emerges. It all spirals from there, and becomes both a murder to be solves as well as a study in character dynamics. I really enjoyed the writing style and the different character perspectives. It’s a great book to discuss with others, because it’s always fun to share who you suspected and whether or not you were close to predicting how it was going to end. But Kala is also a great choice because you can talk about its portrayal of Irishness and small town life, of the stereotypes it does or doesn’t reproduce, and how its language shapes the narrative.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

For those of you wanting to tackle a classic as part of your book club, look no further than Orlando by Virginia Woolf. This novel is difficult to summarise, let me tell you. Basically, it follows the (turbulent and entertaining) life story of its protagonist. It’s inspired by Vita Sackville-West’s family history, who was Woolf’s lover. So if you feel like it, you can dive into the historically accurate aspects of the book and how the author played with them. It’s considered a feminist classic and deals with topics such as transgender identity. That’s quite unusual for a classic, to say the least, so Orlando is a great choice if you want to diversify your reading and broaden your understanding of what constitutes a classic.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

This book is unlike any other I’ve read. It follows a boy and a girl, who meet as children in a hospital. They bond over video games, become friends and later in life develop a video game together. These are the basics of the story, but really, there’s so much more going on. For example, one chapter is written as though you as the reader are in the middle of a video game. It’s as crazy as it sounds and yet totally works! The fact that it is such an unusual read makes it a great choice for a book club, because it will be a nice change and will likely appeal to some readers more than others. I’ve always found that, even when reading a book I didn’t enjoy for my book club, it was always worth it because of the discussion afterwards. It’s great to read out of your comfort zone every now and then, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrowcan be just that for lots of people!

A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie

Oh, Agatha Christie, I do love you. Queen of the Who-Dunnit, the sort of crime novel where you can try to guess who did it, because there are clues hidden along the reading journey. A Murder Is Announced is my favourite of all of Christie’s books I’ve read so far, but really, you can choose any one of them that appeals to you (and there are many to choose from, believe me). As the title suggests, a murder is announced in a quaint English village and then acutally exeucted. I won’t tell you any more than that, but obviously it’s great fun to discuss about it afterwards. Christie’s characters are always colourful and at the same time sort of stereotypical and I love to guess wildly which one of these small-town people could possibly have shot someone. You can tell the others in your book club at which exact moment you knew who had done it (if you guessed correctly), whether you thought it was written convincingly, if you think someone could actually be murdered like that without the murderer beingn caught immediately, and how you would have behaved if you found yourself in the, ahem, unfortunate position of having to cover up a murder. So much morbid fun to be had!

I hope you’ve found some inspiration for your next book club pick in this list! Let me know which one you went for and what the discussions were like ❤