Top Book Club Picks

Hello Book Folk,

Today I am going to be talking about my top suggestions for good book club books. By that I mean books that are good to discuss in part or in full with multiple people. Specifically people with differing reading tastes.

Firstly, I think any murder mystery is a great book club pick, and therefore by default literally any Agatha Christie book. Some of my favourites so far are “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, “Murder on the Orient Express” and “The ABC Murders” – but i’m sure they are all equally fabulous and perfect talking books. Firstly you have the varied settings, rich characters and the classic “who dunnit?”.

Secondly, A little life by Hanya Yanagihara. This VERY LONG book is split into 4 parts which are perfect pauses for discussing the material. It is however, a particularly heavy book with some dark themes. I think this lends itself well to a book for discussion so that nobody has to deal with the themes on their own, but I understand not everyone likes to talk about certain topics.

Thirdly, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo. Now, I didn’t enjoy this as much as everyone else seemed to, albeit did recognise and appreciate the important themes and messages. I think this book would make an excellent talking point for a close knit reading group.

Fourthly (is that a word?), Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. This is an endearing read prefect for readers of all ages.

Fifthly (again, not sure that is a word?), A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawkins. A surprisingly easy to read and follow non-fiction book with perfect discussion pause points. The content to spark intelligent and interesting conversations with friends about the history of our planet and our future.

Sixthly (now i’m sure that one isn’t a word), The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The biggest problem you might have with this as your pick is that people might have already read it. Although most people I know that have read it and loved it, have no problems re-reading. It’s a superb book which will require tissues to hand. A heartbreaking story in a beautiful setting.