Each month my book club does a themed meetup and my month to host is coming up. I’ve liked the books we’ve read, but they haven’t been as thought provoking as I’d like. I’d like to explore memoirs, coming of age and other genres apart from fantasy, romance or thriller
Here is what we’ve read recently
The Guest List
Outlander
Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow
Final girls
Tom Lake
I need to be able to host a themed event around my pick. Some activities, food, decor should relate to the book so keep that in mind
Books I like but won’t be choosing:
The Hobbit
Life of Pi
Harry Potter
by M0th3rb1rd
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>I’d like to explore memoirs, coming of age and other genres
Memoirs:
* Stealing Buddha’s Dinner by Bich Min Nguyen. About the author’s experiences as a child coming to the US as a refugee from the Vietnam War. Food and how it factors into cultural integration is one thing she writes about, but it’s been long enough since I read it I can’t remember specific ones.
* The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher, about her time filming the Star Wars original trilogy. There’s probably mountains of fun Star Wars themed activities, decor, and food out there on the internet.
Others:
* Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. Historical fantasy but I’d say it’s very thought provoking. It was made into a TV adaptation, so maybe you could watch that at the meetup.
* To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. This is so old it’s in the public domain, so you can legally find ebooks of it free online. It’s kind of coming of age but not exactly, I’ve seen it described as “maturation of an artist” so like coming of age but instead of age, it’s self expression. That definitely flew over my head. But it’s a classic, and there’s a big dinner party scene in the book so you could try to replicate the foods from that for the event.
Celebrity memoirs are a good intro to non-fiction/thought provoking convos because they are usually a mix of light-hearted and serious. Some I’ve liked: Britney Spears, Matthew Perry, Julia Fox.
Non-fiction:
Braiding Sweetgrass
You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey
Shrill
Greenlights
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Fiction:
Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
Mad Honey
We Ride Upon Sticks (not actually fantasy, you’d have to read it to see why. Hilarious coming of age, great for this season.)
Some memoirs:
((Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner))
((I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy))
((The Liar’s Club by Mary Kerr))
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth, a thriller full of family secrets and protective love.
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston, a cute time travel romance with second chances.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager, an atmospheric isolated mansion mystery with dark secrets.
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner – memoir about growing up as the only Asian American in school. Heavily features Korean food.
Another option: Sourdough by Robin Sloan. Software engineer takes over sourdough starter from her baker neighbors. This could be a bread baking theme.
A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving
King’s Counsellor: Abdication and War: The Diaries of Tommy Lascelles
Sir Alan Frederick “Tommy” Lascelles was a British courtier and civil servant who held several positions in the first half of the twentieth century, culminating in his position as Private Secretary to both George VI and Elizabeth II.
You could do a Fall or Halloween theme with a coming-of-age story such as Boys Life or The Body or Joyland.
Crazy Rich Asians
Ready Player One
Memoirs- I recommend Ruth Reichl’s Tender to the Bone, Comfort me With Apples, or Garlic and Sapphires. Ruth is a food writer/editor, and was the New York Times restaurant critic before becoming the last editor of Gourmet magazine.
Turning Pages by John Turner Sergeant- about his life in publishing
Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard- book about her relocating to Paris to live with a boyfriend pretty impulsively and what led to that.
Travels with Alice by Calvin Trillin- very funny book by a food writer about trips with his wife to various places he was going to write about, and the foods they ate.
Radium Girls by Kate Moore- about the women who worked in manufacturing putting uranium on watch dials and what happened. (non-fiction)
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom. i read this book at fourteen and at twenty three, i STILL think about it at least once a week. and music is such an easy and fun theme!!