Top Ten Tuesday - Books I Want to Discuss

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme for bloggers who like books and lists.  It's awesome and is graciously hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Topic for this week is books you'd like to read with a book club (if you have a book club).  I don't participate in a book club but I do like to discuss books (I just don't like reading assignments).  Here goes.


1) Lydia Netzer's books

I've recently read both of Netzer's novels and they are both interesting with hidden depths that would be fun to plumb.  Also I think they may have a little of the love 'em or hate 'em vibe about them (her style is somewhat unique) and that can be stimulating to conversation.

2) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I think Science Fiction, especially when it explores a world not too far shifted from our own, sparks all kinds of questions and food for thought.  A science fiction book club!

3) Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh

This would be a book I would want to read in my science fiction book club.  A future where resurrection is possible and it is being used to cryogenically preserve mortally injured women and then selling them to rich men who can afford to resurrect them.  McIntosh also imagines a world where social media has taken over the world in an eerily plausible manner.  Despite all this heavy matter the book is a great read and doesn't get too weighed down.

4) Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

This book has actually had a pretty significant impact on my life since reading it a couple years ago.  Would be interesting to read in an Introvert/Extrovert mixed crowd.

5) Defending Jacob by William Landay

This is a well done legal thriller that folks would enjoy reading and there are also some family dynamics and twists that would be interesting to discuss.

6) In the Woods by Tana French

If you've read this psychological crime thriller than you know there is SO much to talk about!  It also has a bit of a love it or hate it thing going on.

7) The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Lily Bart would be an interesting character to dissect with a group not to mention all the social commentary about society at the turn of the century.

8) Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Just recently a blogger reviewed this book and had a completely different opinion and take on the main character.  I think the differences in how different people respond to the same character is really fascinating.

9) The Lymond Series by Dorothy Dunnett

Oh how I'd love to have a Dorothy Dunnett book club.  The six books in this series could keep a club busy for a while.


10) Shakespeare's Plays

This would be less a chatty wine and cheese book club and more a scholarly discussion group picking apart all of Shakespeare's plays.  I took a Shakespeare class or two and I adore studying him.  If everybody in the group was wealthy we could read three or four a year matched up with whatever the Royal Shakespeare company is putting on and then culminate our reading and dissecting with a trip to England to watch the plays..... Dreamland is so nice...

I realized after I put my list together that besides a few of Shakespeare's plays I've read all the books above which is not generally how a book club works.  But whatever.  It's my list and I'll be ridiculous if I like.

What books would you like to read with a group?