A year of book club
All the reads from our first year
When my friend announced she was starting a book club, my first thought was, ‘brilliant, count me in’. My second thought: ‘I hope I don’t have to host’.
While books are my thing, cooking and hosting are most definitely not. I’m happy for anyone to drop in anytime and I’ll make them a cup of tea and give them a hobnob, but formal gatherings—where I’d be required to switch on the oven to cook—well, I avoid them at all costs. Being a hostess with the mostest is just not in my repertoire.
So, when the book club invitation arrived, I was torn—excited for the chance to get together to talk about books, but worried I’d have to rustle up a vol-au-vent or a Victoria sponge.
Such is my love of books that I was prepared to step out of my comfort zone and take my turn. ‘I don’t mind hosting,’ I said at the first meet up, keeping my fingers crossed I wouldn’t have to put myself or the group through that particular ordeal.
Thankfully, we were all spared. My friend (thank you, Verity), took the lead, preparing no end of nibbles, scones, biscuits, drinks, and treats for us. And then, after the first six months, we decamped to the pub, which is where we now meet every month (ish).
No one has to worry about hosting, and we can get on with the reading. It’s been wonderful.
To celebrate our first year, I’m sharing all the books we’ve read. I’ve included the blurbs and some thoughts.
The first book was The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page.
She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard as she cleaned a sink? Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories. Perhaps they always had done, but now it is different, now the stories are reaching out to her and she gathers them to her…
When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs B – a shrewd and tricksy woman in her nineties – she meets someone who wants to hear her story. But Janice is clear: she is the keeper of stories, she doesn’t have a story to tell. At least, not one she can share.
Mrs B is no fool and knows there is more to Janice than meets the eye. What is she hiding? After all, doesn’t everyone have a story to tell?
Thoughts
Lots of lovely characters and moments in this book. Enjoyed it.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss, and by fate. As they endure the ever-escalating dangers around them, in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul, they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.
A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.
Thoughts
This was a re-read for me, having first read it when it came out in 2007. I loved it then and loved it a second time. A beautiful story. One I’d recommend reading.
Magpie by Elizabeth Day
Sometimes Marisa gets the fanciful notion that Kate has visited the house before. She makes herself at home without any self-consciousness. She puts her toothbrush right there in the master bathroom, on the shelf next to theirs.
In Jake, Marisa has found everything she’s ever wanted. Then their new lodger Kate arrives.
Something about Kate isn’t right. Is it the way she looks at Marisa’s boyfriend? Sits too close on the sofa? Constantly asks about the baby they are trying for? Or is it all just in Marisa’s head?
After all, that’s what her Jake keeps telling her. And she trusts him – doesn’t she?
But Marisa knows something is wrong. That the woman sleeping in their house will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
Marisa just doesn’t know why.
How far will she go to find the answer – and how much is she willing to lose?
Thoughts
Mixed reviews for this one and I’m really sorry to say this, but it wasn’t for me. Others in the group really enjoyed it, though.
You are Here by David Nicholls
Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way
Marnie is stuck.
Stuck working alone in her London flat, stuck battling the long afternoons and a life that often feels like it's passing her by.
Michael is coming undone.
Reeling from his wife's departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells.
When a persistent mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together, Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship.
But can they survive the journey?
A new love story by beloved bestseller David Nicholls, You Are Here is a novel of first encounters, second chances and finding the way home.
Thoughts
A lovely read: thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Your ability to change everything - including yourself - starts here
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, she would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.
But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality.
Forced to leave her job at the institute, she soon finds herself the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six.
But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook.
She's daring them to change the status quo. One molecule at a time.
Thoughts
I adored this book. It was a massive best-seller, and I loved that the author wrote it at 5am before her day job. It gives me hope I can do the same. If you haven’t read it, please do. It’s great.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
In the midst of war, he found love
In the midst of darkness, he found courage
In the midst of tragedy, he found hope
What will you find from his story?
Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape.
As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all - and perhaps this is the hardest thing they face - they must journey to find each other again.
Moving, powerful, compassionate and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit. Told with deceptive simplicity, it is the kind of book that reminds us of the power of storytelling.
Thoughts
Beautiful, emotional, powerful, and it really made me think.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a mesmerizing journey through the splendour of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means and what it costs to face the truth.
Thoughts
I’d seen this in bookshops for ages, but never picked it up, thinking it wasn’t for me. That’s the great thing about book club though—reading things you wouldn’t usually read. I whizzed through it and thought it was a joy.
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
Yorkshire, 1979
Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South.
Because of the murders.
Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn't an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv's mum stopped talking.
Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?
So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don't.
But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families - and between each other - than they ever thought possible.
What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?
Thoughts
This book was everywhere when it was launched. I’d see it on the front tables of Waterstones and even advertised on the side of buses, so I was intrigued to read it. The hardback and paperback have made the Sunday Times bestseller lists. The group enjoyed it.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Number One bestselling novel which has captured the hearts of readers across the world. The Women is a novel of epic love and devastating loss. And it is a story of a memorable heroine, and her deep friendships, whose idealism and courage under fire will define an era.
Their friendship changed lives. Their bravery changed history.
'Women can be heroes, too'. When twenty-year-old nursing student, Frances "Frankie" McGrath, hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on California's idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different path for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the young men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed America. Frankie will also discover the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause.
'Thank God for girlfriends. In this crazy, chaotic, divided world that was run by men, you could count on the women'
Thoughts
Just wonderful. I thought it was superb, beautifully written and incredibly well researched, as did the group. It’s definitely one I’ll buy as gifts and recommend. It was one of the favourite reads of our book club year.
Have you read any of these titles? Do you have any book club recommendations? I’d love to hear. Let me know in the comments.
I’ve read most of these, except You Are Here, which is coming up at Bookclub (I saw David Nicholls recently at The Winchester Book Festival, he really is lovely☺️ ) and The Beekeeper of Aleppo, which I will definitely add to my list 🙏. I’d 100% agree with your thoughts. I mean, The Women - Wow! What an incredible book. All were Bookclub reads for me too except The Keeper of Stories, which was my own choice. I love that being part of a Bookclub stretches my reading and introduces me to books and authors I may not have found on my own, although some it’s been hard to miss 😉.