THS Book Club: Ongoing discussion for future books

The Love of Pets & Other Fun Stuff
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Sounds good to me too!

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It’s a good choice for me but I would like to point out that there is a high level of detail on IRA development and the troubles in Northern Ireland that may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I am enjoying it but it is not a page turner.

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Our meeting to discuss Tell Me Everything is coming up on Tuesday the 7th of October.

We’ll also have to select our next book, so please be on the lookout for a good title.

We might consider one of these shortlisted for the Booker Prize:

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I am reading A spool of blue thread by Anne Tyler and it’s really interesting. There’s a sample from the beginning of the novel if you want to have a taste of it.

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Here are a few titles to consider for our next one. I’ve also included @Newpetlover ‘s suggestion. Please add any others you might like and post your feedback here. Do any of these look like something you’d like to read?

Flashlight: A Novel, by Susan Choi

A young girl walks on the beach with her father at night and he mysteriously disappears. This is a story of family secrets, memory and loss. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The author has won numerous other prizes, including the National Book Award. [The customer reviews contain a spoiler, so beware.] 464 pages

The Rest of Our Lives, by Ben Markovits

A man whose wife had been unfaithful 12 years prior vowed to leave when his daughter went to college. Dealing with his own health issues, he remembers this as he drives her to school in Pittsburgh, then continues on a cross-country journey to California. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize. 240 pages

The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore

A crime novel about missing persons in the woods. It’s long but is supposed to be un-put-downable. 490 pages

Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout

Pulitzer Prize winner about a fascinating and complex curmudgeon and the people in her life. 280 pages

A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler

A multi-generational family saga of relationships, secrets and memories from the 1920s to the present day in Baltimore. Booker Prize nominee, New York Times bestseller. 369 pages

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THS Book Club: Tell Me Everything
THS Book Club: Tell Me Everything
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Apart from Olive Kitteridge, I find all the other options appealing.

Right now I’m not ready for another book by Elizabeth Strout. Like @Debbie , I did not enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed the others.

I am finishing a Spool of Blue Thread and I got hooked since minute one. Here’s a sample from the first page:

Late one July evening in 1994, Red and Abby Whitshank had a phone call from their son Denny. ate one July evening in 1994, Red and Abby They were getting ready for bed at the time. Abby was standing at the bureau in her slip, drawing hairpins one by one from her scattery sand-colored topknot. Red, a dark, gaunt man in striped pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt, had just sat down on the edge of the bed to take his socks off; so when the phone rang on the nightstand beside him, he was the one who answered. “Whitshank residence,” he said.

And then, “Well, hey there.”

Abby turned from the mirror, both arms still raised to her head.

“What’s that,” he said, without a question mark.

“Huh?” he said. “Oh, what the h.ll, Denny!”

Abby dropped her arms. “Hello?” he said. “Wait. Hello? Hello?”

He was silent for a moment, and then he replaced the receiver.

“What?” Abby asked him.

“Says he’s gay.”

“What?”

“Said he needed to tell me something: he’s gay.”

”And you hung up on him!”

“No, Abby. He hung up on me. All I said was ‘What the h.ll,’ and he hung up on me. Click! Just like that.”

“Oh, Red, how could you?” Abby wailed. She spun away to reach for her bathrobe-a no-color chenille that had once been pink. She wrapped it around her and tied the sash tightly. “What possessed you to say that?” she asked him.

“I didn’t mean anything by it! Somebody springs something on you, you’re going to say ‘What the h.ll,’ right?”

Abby grabbed a handful of the hair that pouffed over her forehead.

”All I meant was,” Red said, “ ‘What the h.ll next, Denny? What are you going to think up next to worry us with?’ And he knew I meant that. Believe me, he knew. But now he can make this all my fault, my narrow-mindedness or fuddy-duddiness or whatever he wants to call it. He was glad I said that to him. You could tell by how fast he hung up on me; he’d been just hoping all along that I would say the wrong thing.”

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Is there a list of all the books that have already been discussed by the book club ?

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I don’t think so. I can list the ones discussed since I joined, in reverse order:

  • Tell me everything, by Elizabet Strout.

  • Say nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe

  • The lost apothecary, by Sarah Penner

  • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt

  • Plunge: one woman’s pursuit of a life less ordinary, by Liesbet Collaert

  • Free: a child and a country at the end of history, by Lea Ypi

  • The housesitter’s guide to the galaxy, by Jessica Holmes.

I hope it helps.

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I like the sounds of Flashlight, The God of the Woods, and The Rest of our Lives.

Thanks,
Jess

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@Silversitters , I’m glad you asked, and thank you @Newpetlover for jumping in. This, I believe, is the full list. They should all come up with a search on “THS Book Club”. I’ll also start a topic to keep track of these and future books we read. We were fortunate to have had several of these authors attend our discussions.

  • Dirty Wars and Polished Silver, by Lynda Schuster - June 2023
  • Wilderness, by Beverly Jones. - July 2023
  • West with Giraffes, by Lynda Rutledge. - August 2023
  • Retirement Rebel, by Siobhan Daniels. - October 2023
  • Let Nature Be Your Compass, by Rosie Tomkins. - December 2023
  • The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride - April 2024
  • The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray - June 2024
  • The Housesitter’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Jessica Holmes - August 2024
  • Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History, by Lea Ypi - October 2024
  • Plunge: One Woman’s Pursuit of a Life Less Ordinary, by Liesbet Collaert - Dec 2024
  • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt - February 2025
  • The Lost Apothecary, by Sarah Penner - April 2025
  • Married to Bhutan, by Linda Leaming - June 2025
  • Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Raddon Keefe - Sept 2025
  • Tell Me Everything, by Elizabeth Strout - October 2025
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Hi,

Just popping in again to ask you to take a look at the titles up for consideration for our next Book Club discussion. Thanks @Newpetlover and @hitchedandhiking for posting your choices. Would everyone post three choices that appeal to you here (or suggest others)?

I’d go for any of them.

Here they are again. Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout are both Pulitzer Prize winners. The novels by Ben Markovits and Susan Choi are both shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, and the novel by Liz Moore was selected by The New York Times as Best Thriller and Best Crime Novel of 2024.

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When I was looking into the books, The Rest of our Lives shows as not being released until December 30, 2025.
Of the others, The God of the Woods was the most interesting to me.

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You’re right @MaggieUU ! I guess we can’t read that one this time. Thanks for your feedback.

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I am a big fan of Anne Tyler @Newpetlover and think I have read just about everything she has written. My favourites of hers are Saint Maybe and Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant. Pace yourself though as her stories tend to have similar themes. Virtually always set in Baltimore and a socially-awkward middle-aged male loner is usually the main or a very prominent character.

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I would like to suggest this one for future consideration. A gripping debut novel.

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It seems like The God of the Woods by Liz Moore has garnered the most interest.

Shall we read that one? Give me an aye or nay on it.

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Sure, sounds good

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I like the sound of The God of the Woods, so would be happy to read it next

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Sounds fab. When is the book club?

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Hi @susiesav,

Head over to this topic, take a look at the proposed meeting dates and post your preference. :books: :slightly_smiling_face:

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