What a year it has been for our book club! I’ve always counted my book club friends among my closest, but this year we have really survived some things, and I’m so glad to have them and call them best friends. We took a beach trip together, we read a lot of books, and we ate a lot of desserts… a lot. We also had a lot of opinions…
So to wrap up the year, I thought I’d share some notes and comments from me and the rest of the group about the books we loved, the books we hated, and everything in between. Most of the books we chose were loved by some and hated by others, but we appreciate the diversity of opinions in the group!
Total Books Read for the Year: 1090!
Most Favorited Book: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Least Favorited Book: Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
My Rating: 4 Stars
Book Club Rating: 4.00 Stars
This is a surprise book club winner for me. I enjoyed the book when I read it, and I read it in a very short amount of time. I liked it enough, but I didn’t feel connected to it… and then I sat with it. And twelve months later, I’ve got to say that this is the book club pick of the year that I keep coming back to and thinking about. We had a record number of members at this meeting, and it was a bit chaotic, but consensus was that this book was outstanding and worth reading over and over again.
Most of our discussion on this one centered around reality and the meaning of “real”. Was the labyrinth a real place? Or was it living in Piranesi’s head? How do we reconcile the two realities? Also, the symbolism, sheesh. It was a good, hearty discussion that we still pick up and mull over even now.
From Emily F: “Really exceeded my expectations and the world-building was just incredible. I vividly revisit this place every so often…”
From Lauren D: “I would never have picked up this book had it not been for book club, but yet here it is sitting in my top 5 books of the year. I think about this book often.”
From Megan S: “Literary fiction meets science fiction? I knew I’d love this book for that mash up before I even started it, and I was right – I devoured it in one sitting.”
From Abby O: “It made me think about life in a different way and I still think about it even a year after reading it.”
From Kate A: “For a smallish book, it had a lot of impact on me and it’s one I still think about. It actually might be my favorite book club book of the year.”
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
My Rating: 4 Stars
Book Club Rating: 3.55 Stars
This was my pick for the year (well… I put it on a poll, and they chose this one over my other options), and it was a controversial choice. I think it being the beginning of the year and us having so many new members helped, because most of book club at least gave it a shot. Fair warning: There’s like… zero punctuation in this book. Like not even periods. And every chapter is a different character who is mildly connected to the other characters from other chapters.
We made a spreadsheet to track the character relationships, y’all.
But at the end of the day, when it came time to meet and discuss, this book presented a lot of areas to talk about. It also has a lot of trigger warnings? But the way the characters intertwined had us analyzing their relationships and decisions, and the ending of the book was pretty satisfying. I probably enjoyed it more than most of the group, but I think it was an excellent choice for book club, even if it wasn’t a well-loved book.
From Erin L: “Some characters I really loved, others, not so much. No matter how I felt about the characters, I loved seeing the character’s lives intertwine with each other.”
From Lauren D: “Listen on audio and pay attention to the characters. Maybe even make a spreadsheet.”
From Emily F: “Really wish I would have listened to this on audio.”
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
My Rating: 4 Stars
Book Club Rating: 3.50 Stars
Full disclosure: I read this book in 24 hours. I forgot when book club was, I overestimated my reading abilities, I underestimated my work commitments, and I was forced to devour this book. So, that being said, I loved it. I fell completely into the story, and while there were some definitely improvements that could have been made, overall, I really enjoyed the narrative.
Other book club members, however, DID NOT. Geez was there a lot of discussion about the story arc and the plot lines and the characters and the history and… we had a few members who vehemently hated this novel, which then led to most of us bumping our ratings down a star because they did make some excellent points.
From Erin L: “This book inspired super polarizing opinions, and I was SO HERE for those discussions. I loved it when I read it, but looking back, I’d consider it a bit overhyped.”
From Emily F: “Black hair, green eyes, we get it.”
Also from Emily F: “I hated Groundhog Day so I hate that I didn’t know I’d hate this.”
From Kate A: “I really liked it. It was hyped, and for me, it mostly lived up to the hype. It was a little wordy at times but I really enjoyed it.”
From Lauren D: “Give me Addie’s experiences all day, but please leave out the ‘romance’ or whatever the hell that was.”
From Megan S: “I wish I had gotten more on her past lives instead of the brief glimpses we were given.”
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez
My Rating: 3 Stars
Book Club Rating: 2.83 Stars
Eesh this was a rough one. To be fair, book club is not composed of YA readers. I’d say I’m one of the few that read YA regularly, and that could be why our two lowest-rated books are YA books. But, objectively, this was not the great YA I was hoping it would be. The language was stilted and inauthentic, and the protagonist was a bit insufferable for the first half of the book.
Discussion about this book was generally negative, although we all recognized the importance of the story being told. We were here for the story, just not the language and writing style.
Trisha C: “I liked the concept but just wasn’t into the way the story was told.”
From Emily F: “Not your perfect YA story.”
From Lauren D: “Oh Julia. I ached for her. The author wanted to touch on a lot of important topics, but it just felt crowded. Also giving grace since it is YA that this writing style may have been targeted towards a younger audience. (I guess I’m no longer considered a “young adult.”)”
Dear Child by Romy Hausmann
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
Book Club Rating: 4.18 Stars
This was our highest rated book of the year! Admittedly, I liked this one less than the rest of the group, and in sitting with it, I probably would have bumped it down to 4 stars. But this book was a crowd favorite, and it gave us a chance to discuss what types of endings we like in books, and what types we do not like. In general, everyone loved this book and were not huge fans of the ending because it came out of left field.
As far as thrillers go, this one ticked all the boxes, kept us guessing, got our hearts racing just a bit, and was un-put-down-able. I pretty much only read thrillers when book club makes me, and I did not regret reading this one.
From Abby O: “Gone Girl meets Room. LOVED this book. Loved it. I love books that have twists that really surprise me.”
From Erin L: “Whoa. Wow. WTF. I almost want to reread it, knowing what I know now, and make it all make sense.”
From Emily F: “Wanted more psychoanalysis on the child and the big reveal of whodunit was so disappointing. I did love the small little ‘ah-ha’ at the end.”
From Alyssa D: “This book gripped me within no time and I’m not a thriller lover.”
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
My Rating: 3 Stars
Book Club Rating: 3.36 Stars
I was on vacation during this book club meeting, so I wasn’t part of the discussion for the book, but I did have big thoughts about it. When I think back about the book, I just think of a jumble of words… it felt like the story was a knotted ball of yarn and we just kept pulling on different threads until the ending came together. That could be a great thing in a book club pick… or not. A lot of the group was frustrated with the way the story was told and the seemingly random characters and plot lines that were brought in that weren’t needed.
I always love our Pride Month pick, though, if only because it gives us a chance to really discuss books that feature different lifestyles than our own, and this book really pushed us out of our comfort zones.
From Abby O: “Explores so many kinds of grief – including grief over the loss of a loved one, and the grief over the loss of who you thought that loved one was, who they could have been, and who you wanted them to be.”
From Emily F: “Really loved learning about the family dynamics and culture, and Vivek’s story, as well as his cousin’s, was tragic, but I felt like there was more to explore.”
From Erin L: “My heart hurt so much for Vivek, for Kavita, for Osita, for Juju. There were so many times I wanted to reach out and hug them… However, the time line jumps back and forth in a way that left me confused at times.”
From Madeleine R: “Some of the relationships felt out of place and I was confused how they moved the story forward. I wish we’d had more of Vivek’s perspective.”
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
My Rating: 4 Stars
Book Club Rating: 3.30 Stars
Another YA book, though this one was fantasy and felt a bit less YA with all the *sexual assault* that took place. I went on to read the second book in the series and hated it so much that I almost bumped my rating for this book down just because the characters took such a turn. However, for the first novel, I really enjoyed the protagonist’s point of view and the way the action all happened… it was different and refreshing.
This book had a scarcely-attended meeting because we were leaving for beach trip the following day. All in all, the people who attended the meeting enjoyed the novel but it was nothing that they were blown away by. It did give us some good discussion about sexual assault, victimization, and the roles of the women in that society.
From Kate A: “It was really unexpected for me. I thought I would struggle but I didn’t.”
From Madeleine R: “I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The typical ‘girl being taken by a prince/king and falling in love’ trope was turned upside down and I was here for it.”
From Erin L: “I really liked that Lei’s love interest wasn’t made to be a thing, that it wasn’t a coming out story. It just was. The rest of the series fell super flat though, and I will forever call the series ‘Paper Girls 1/2/3’ despite them having real titles.”
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
My Rating: 4 Stars
Book Club Rating: 3.00 Stars
This is another book that I enjoyed more than the majority, probably because it has a very literary feeling and a very open ending, both of which don’t always fly in the group. At its core, this book was a character study of people living in a different culture, and while I hesitate to say that this book represents all Koreans, it did give insight into the family dynamics of the Korean culture, and it explored the struggle between family and personal wants.
My book club really enjoyed the magnifying glass held up to the culture, but the characters were just a bit too vapid and self-centered for their taste, and the ending just… ended. There was no climax and conclusion, nothing to wrap it up with a bow. There was a pretty even split between people who enjoyed this type of ending and people who hated it.
From Abby O: “I really appreciated the peek into a culture that I am not a part of, but someone close to me is. It helped me empathize with my family who is a part of this community and see her perspective in a new light.”
From Emily F: “I often like more character-driven vs. plot-driven books and these vignettes gave me a snapshot into the lives of these women and a part of modern day South Korean society I had no idea existed.”
From Lauren D: “Women live in South Korea, nothing happens, plastic surgery, the end.”
Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
My Rating: 2.5 Stars
Book Club Rating: 3.36 Stars
This was an interesting month because the people who listened to the audio of this memoir hated it, and the people who read the book in print loved it. I listened to the audio and ended up turning it up to 1.5x speed so that I could be through with it, particularly the transcript of the 911 call.
For the people who read it in print, there was less distinction between the poetic language of the author and the harsh transcripts of the 911 calls, but for those on audio, it was a tough balance between the two. We all agreed that the situation was terrible and that the systems of oppression in place in America leads to tragedies like this every day, but we spent more time discussing the writing than we did the content.
From Emily F: “I felt that the way it was structure was effective and mirrors the very title of the book. It felt like we were meandering through Natasha’s thoughts and being taken on a drive with the author…”
From Alyssa D: “This is just straight misery porn. That is all.”
From Lauren D: “3 hours of a 911 transcript. No thanks.”
Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger
My Rating: 4 Stars
Book Club Rating: 3.30 Stars
As someone who doesn’t really enjoy thrillers, I enjoyed this one. It felt like more of a mystery, trying to figure out the connection between characters and who was unreliable in this scenario. Book club struggled a bit with this one, mostly because they were hoping for more intrigue and heart-racing moments, and this was a slower pace.
The discussions we had centered around the roles of the women in this novel, from the kid-turned-con artist to the wife and mother to the nanny. It had a good kick to the balls of the patriarchy, and we were absolutely here for that, if nothing else.
From Kate A: “This one was good, but I felt it lacked depth. I didn’t really connect to anyone and I didn’t really like any character. With that being said, it was still a quick read and I enjoyed it well enough.”
From Lauren D: “Con-artists? Confusion? Crime?”
From Megan S: “Probably one of the least thrilling ‘thrillers’ I’ve ever read.”
Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi
My Rating: 5 Stars
Book Club Rating: 4.09 Stars
This was the second-highest rated book of the year, with four out of eleven people who read it giving it 5 stars. It really hit everything we could want in a book club pick — a time period most of us had never read before, a complex character who does questionable things, a heartbreaking ending, and side characters that add life to the story. It commented on the past and the present, and it was so beautifully written.
It was a small book club meeting this month, and all of us who were there loved the book and thought it was beautiful. Some people commented that it was a bit hard to get into at first, probably because the narrator was only 10 years old and there was a lot of world building to set the scene. There are also some trigger warnings for this book, which some people struggled with.
From Madeleine R: “In my opinion, there are not enough historical fiction books set during this time period. I always learn a lot, while also being completely and utterly heartbroken. A win-win?”
From Erin L: “There were times that this book hurt my chest, and I did a lot of ugly crying.”
From Megan S: “Slow to start but worth it.”
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Book Club Rating: 2.89 Stars
This was my second book club pick of the year and WHAT A FLOP. Again, YA, so I take it with a grain of salt, but even I agree that this novel was not excellent and I’m not sure how it ended up on all the Best Of lists. It was intriguing, for sure, and it had a fast-moving plot, but the character development felt a bit off and it was hard to trust any of the characters after so much was revealed.
This month had the least amount of people read the book (to be fair, it was Christmas), and a few who DNF’d it. Of those of us who finished it, most thought it was okay at best. Not super controversial, but also not a terrible book to read this busy month.
From Madeleine R: “It was a Pretty Little Liars/Gossip Girl/Get Out mash-up, and I was here for it. I couldn’t put it down, especially after realizing what was really going on at this ‘elite’ school.”
From Lauren D: “I DNF’d it.”
Book Club Favorites
Outside of our book club picks for the month, the following books were favorites of the members! Each of the books listed below was named as one of our favorites of the year by two or more book club members.
- The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
- Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- Cultish by Amanda Montell
- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
- The Push by Ashley Audrain
- Like a Mother by Angela Garbes
Loved loved loved reading your book club comments!❤️