My office (2M, 1F) are all readers, but we rarely have overlapping reads. We have talked intermittently about having our own little book club, but our talks always devolve when we try and decide on our the book. I think that mystery may be the best genre for our book, but am open to any and all ideas!
Here are our reading preferences:
Me: I lean hardest into sci-fi and contemporary literary fiction, but dabble in fantasy, classics, romance, and non-fiction. I dip into boredom a lot with nonfiction though.
Male co-worker: Almost exclusively reads non-fiction. These are often related to interesting people, cults, crime, or bizarre events. He has read a little bit of fiction and enjoyed some sci-fi previously
Female co-worker: Almost exclusively splits her time between romance (smutty style) and non-fiction biographies. She also dabbles in a bit of literary fiction and romantasy. She hasn’t really *enjoyed* any of the literary fiction that she has read though.
by BobDanovic
22 Comments
Short history of nearly everything, Bill Bryson. Non fiction, not a single sentence is boring. Very fun and educative. Edit: also, Sex lives of cannibals, Maarten Troost.
{Raptor by Gary Jennings}. Yikes on bikes.
You all don’t have to love every book. It would be good if you each took turns sharing something from each of your fave genres.
That being said, one book popped into mind that kind of overlaps several of the categories you mentioned.
*A Star is Bored* by Byron Lane.
It is fiction, but loosely based on Carrie Fisher. (Lane was her personal assistant for a time.)
It’s a fun read, and I think there is enough to satisfy all three of you.
How about [A Tree Grows in Brooklyn](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/dc5de2f5-b132-4c4c-8e49-8bf46005d5da) by Betty Smith?
The Boys From Brazil is a well written thriller novel. Twist on post WWII history, well paced. No romance though :/ solid book still
I have been in the same bookclub for 25 years with the same 14 women, because we are very busy people with jobs and families about 10 show up each month (a different 10 each time:) we have a very wide range of interests and I love when someone picks a book that I would never pick up and read. Each person picks the book for their month and then hosts bookclub, so I host about every 13-14 months. I have found my range of book preferences has widen so much because of these people! And yea, sometimes I have to read something that I really don’t like but still enjoy the conversation.
The lock artist
I think The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson might be a perfect fit! It’s a non-fiction about an obscure crime: someone breaks into the London museum of natural history to steal rare bird feathers… to use for the underground salmon fly-tying community (fancy fishing lures). It’s fast paced and reads like nonfiction, it’s partly a biography/partly true crime, and overall has tons of content for discussion. It’s the book I never thought I’d care about and ended up loving!
Have an alternative book club where ye go & discuss what you’ve read that month and if you’d recommend it. It takes the pressure off, you get book recs. Win win 😊
Is there a biography of a science fiction writer? Maybe that would split the difference. Maybe a current book about your industry? Good luck.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory – Caitlin Doughty
Seems like the common denominator is non-fiction. Try Educated by Tara Westover. It’s a great memoir and one of the best books that I’ve read!
Fertility Wheel by Stephen Manning, he shows the signs of the zodiac were meant for agricultural purposes, not for horoscopes. My wife and I are still talking about it today. Also Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda is really good.
Piranasi by Susannah Clarke. Fantasy with lots of literary chops. Can be read like non-fiction with a very interesting person.
The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan. There are several books so you could just read the first one. Reads like a scholarly hitorical memoir but is secondary world fantasy with dragons (but no magic). Lady Trent is certainly a very interesting person and there are certainly bizarre events. There’s also some romance but that’s really not the focus.
I think with such different tastes, you either need to to pick something none of you would ever choose to read or alternate your picks.
Maybe look at book awards and pick something that’s won or was nominated that none isn’t any of your preferred genres. You might find a new style that you love!
Interesting idea. Okay, four books come to mind which, I think, will have a wide appeal:
1. *Doomsday Book* by Connie Willis: It’s a science-fiction novel that combines time-travel, history and human drama, focusing on the era of the Black Plague.
2. *In the Garden of Iden* by Kage Baker: a unique blend of science fiction and romance that follows the story of a secret, near-immortal operative who falls in love while on a mission in Elizabethan England.
3. *The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra* by Vaseem Khan: A charming blend of mystery, humour, and cultural exploration, about a retired police captain in Mumbai trying to solve a crime. I love this series.
4. “Sweet and Low” by Rich Cohen. Non-fiction book about the family behind the creation of the Sweet’N Low sugar substitute. A blend of family drama, business intrigue, and cultural impact. The writing is smart, funny, and at times, tragic. Do you know the story of Sweet’N Low’s popularity? You will.
The first one that springs to mind is Bad Blood, about Elizabeth Holmes. It reads like a thriller.
Project Hail Mary is sci fi but loved by a really broad swath of people.
Demon Copperhead is long but an amazing read.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a perfect book to start with. It has historical setting that is very interesting (Guernsey Islands during WWII), has a sweet romance, and is just an all-around great book. Our book group has read over 150 books and this is an absolute favorite, top five of all time.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It is non-fiction, but it reads like fiction. It ticks the crime and bizarre events boxes and it focuses heavily on a single historical person (biography?).
It is the story of the Chicago Worlds Fair and a prolific serial killer that was killing in Chicago around the same time as the World’s Fair. I definitely tend towards boredom with non-fiction, but I found it fascinating.
Have everyone put in books they were assigned to read in school but never actually read
What if you read more like self-help/business books? My women’s group at work did this. We read Radical Candor which I think is so helpful. It’s sort of aimed at managers but you can really use it for giving feedback to anybody. I used it to give awkward/difficult feedback to my boss.
Madhouse at the End of the Earth. An incredible nonfiction that is written like a fiction.