So I belong to a book club with some VERY well-read women. We range in age from mid-30’s to mid-60’s. Most of us have read the vast majority of “classics” and a good portion of “modern classics.” We have two rules- 1) Each month we read one fiction and one nonfiction book as a group, and 2) We can’t choose anything anyone in the club has read.
Now. These are mostly REALLY well-read people. It is HARD finding books we are interested in reading as a group that no one has already read. We prefer things with literary merit and/or cultural relevance.
Things like thrillers and romance tend not to go over well, and neither do most things you could buy in a Walmart or target. Also, things like the house in the cerulean sea or a man called ove, while enjoyable to read, are generally not what we look for (so nothing overly cozy or saccharine). We like to read things that have a lot of depth and meaning but aren’t melodramatic or over the top. Things that have won major awards (like Nobel prize for literature winners) tend to be well-received, but finding one that no one has read is tough.
Anyhow, in December we make lists and then they get collated and each member crosses off any book they have read and the remaining list is then either voted on or added to, depending on whether we have 12 fiction and 12 nonfiction.
So I’m low on ideas because it is not easy to find stuff we haven’t read, and this is like our sixth year.
Please don’t suggest books that have been very widely read, because there is no chance that they won’t be crossed off.
Give me some lesser-known books that have a lot of literary merit and/or cultural relevance.
New books are great because there is less chance that someone will have read them, BUT if they aren’t very well-written (think Jhumpa Lahiri or Kazuo Ishiguro, NOT Jodi Picoult or Harlen Coben), a lot of people will dismiss them as not having merit/relevance. Don’t suggest Jhumpa Lahiri or Kazuo Ishiguro… most of us have read all or most of their books.
So like, don’t suggest The Satanic Verses, but sure, suggest Victory City. Don’t suggest One Hundred Years of Solitude, suggest Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
Anything that you think that 10% of educated people have read is almost definitely not going to work.
Anyhow sorry for the looooonnnggg request, but even going through like 1001 books to read before you die… a lot of them there is no chance that someone hasn’t read them.
I really appreciate your suggestions!
by millera85