I am starting a book club and need help confirming and choosing my books. However, my main issue with book clubs in the past have been: I have already read the book, I'm not interested in the book and I don't have time to read the book. So in an effort to circumnavigate those problems my book club has a "menu" each month with a short book (<250pg), and two others (usually a classic and a modern one) all on the same theme/discussion question. People only have to read one but it makes for some fun conversations! However I am struggling to find some last few modern books for my 4 categories! I have read the majority but would love to know peoples thoughts/recommendations/edits for both my gaps and existing lists!
My current lists below:
Survival: would you take on man, woman or bear?
– Lord of the flies (182pg)
– I who have never known men (208)
– Into the Wild (217)
Love: would you love me if?
– Metamorphosis (201) – if I were a bug
– Giovanni's room (224) – society said no
– Klara and the sun (303) – I were a copy
Hope: what can you hold on to when all seems lost?
– tender is the flesh (209)
– memory police (274)
– never let me go (288)
Outsider: what is it to feel "other"?
– we have always lived in the castle (146)
– the stranger (159)
– ?????
Science: how far is too far?
– Prometheus (160)
– Modern Prometheus (Frankenstein) (324)
– American Prometheus (721)
Youth: what is it to be young?
– ???
– a catcher in the rye (294)
– the bell jar (294)
Myths: how can legends be retold and invented?
– Penelopiad (198)
– Circe (393)
– Mythos (416)
Humanity: what is it to be human?
– ???
– remains of the day (258)
– a gentleman in Moscow (496)
Fear: what keeps you up at night?
– the haunting of Hill House (182)
– something wicked this way comes (293)
– Dracula (488)
Morality: is evil a choice?
– a clockwork orange (240)
– ???
– crime and punishment (671)
Stories: how can a story evolve?
– we (226)
-1984 (393)
-Julia (400)
Shadows: what terrifying worlds are a scary reflection of our own potential?
-???
– brave new world (268)
– the handmaid's tale (311)
by BeltProud8481