My book club met last night to select books for our 2009 reading list. We pick books for the entire year so it’s an event that we always look forward to. It does provide a bit of stress though when you can’t come up with THE perfect book or you decide on a great book only to find out that most of the group has read it.
After pitching our selections, we ended up with twenty-four books so we had to narrow it down a bit and we did that by taking a vote. Here are the final thirteen (thirteen because we figured that was close enough). They haven’t been assigned to a month yet but when they are, I will list them here, which you will be able to access by clicking on the button in my sidebar. That was my first attempt at a button too. Needs some work but not too bad!
Okay… enough yammering, here’s the list:
1. The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
2. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3. Prayers for Bobby by Leroy Aarons
4. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
5. Finn by John Clinch (my pick)
6. The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff (also my pick…I was lucky!)
7. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
8. Netherland by Joseph O’neill
9. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
10. A Mercy by Toni Morrison
11. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
12. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
13. In The Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
It’s an interesting mix isn’t it? I am REALLY excited about this list. I’ll be posting all the reviews as we read and discuss them. Out of this list, what stands out? Anything that piques your interest?
Book Chatter 
Great list Ti. I really enjoyed Half of a Yellow Sun and Nineteen Minutes. There’s a few on your list I’ll have to check out and see what they’re about. Cool button. I’d love to learn how to make them. Did you make it in a certain program? It looks great.
Our group read Nineteen Minutes in September and we loved it! Finn has caught my eye so I will be looking forward to your review on that one.
I recently read The Turn of the Screw – it is REALLY short, so you could do that along with another book if you want to fit that list in one year. Although, you COULD have a long discussion about it … it IS quite odd.
I can’t wait to see what you think of The Danish Girl.
Ti, what a great list! I’ve read <>Nineteen Minutes<> and <>In the Time of Butterflies<> and I’m reading <>Half of a Yellow Sun<> right now. All three are excellent and will make for great discussion.We pick ours three months at a time. I always love making up that list too!
Hope you enjoy Half of a Yellow Sun! Can’t wait to read what you think.– Lu
Dar – I used Photoshop Elements to create the button. Obviously, I need to practice some more. Heather – We chose Turn of the Screw for it’s length. We plan to read that during the busy holiday season. Kathy – The Danish Girl is being made into a movie with Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron. It should be interesting. Shana – We used to pick three months ahead but it took away from our discussion time. Regular – Everyone wants to read Half of a Yellow Sun in my group so we are all looking forward to it.
Oooh, there are some good titles on this list! Both <>The Danish Girl<> and <>Case Histories<> are on my TBR pile.
That’s quite a varied list!
The only one I have read is “Nineteen Minutes” I have read ALL of Jodi Picoult’s! Love her books.
Super list of books! I still can’t believe I haven’t read “Nineteen Minutes” yet.
What a diverse list! I wish that I was in your book club! I haven’t read any of the books on your list. Many of them interest me, I want to read Barack Obama’s book and The Danish Girl caught my eye. I like your button. I have no idea how to make them either but thanks for sharing with us how you did it!
Looks like a great list, although I haven’t read any of them. I have 1/2 of a Yellow Sun, and I’m hoping to get to it soon.
Super list! You must have been a great advocate for your picks, for two of them to make the cut.I really wish my book group planned our books in advance like this. We often end up choosing only a month ahead of time … maybe I’ll suggest an improvement for the new year …