Monday, October 4, 2010

Some Book Club Suggestions: Historicals


My chapter of the Women's National Book Association does our own lists each year of some suggested book club books for National Reading Group Month, in addition to the Great Group Reads. Each of the four officers picks a topic, and lists about 12-13 books. This year, I picked American History as my topic, as my book club loves historical books. I tried to balance fiction and non-fiction, length, eras, and price (only one of these is available only in hardcover.) Here's my list:

1. Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts
2. Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
3. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
4. The Devil in the White City Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
5. The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
6. Impatient with Desire by Gabrielle Burton
7. Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund
8. The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
9. All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
10. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
11. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz
12. Roots by Alex Haley
13. Jim the Boy by Tony Earley

I should admit to having not read two of these - Moloka'i and Confederates in the Attic. My book club read Moloka'i, and I couldn't find the time to read it, but I listened to the audio of The Colony, a nonfiction book about the island. I have read Horwitz's other books, just not Confederates yet (but I'll bet I get to it before the end of the year.) Five of these were read for my book club.

I'll post the other officers' lists throughout the month.

2 comments:

Lyndsey said...

Carin, thanks so much for sharing this list! My group is always a bit reticent about suggesting the next book, so hopefully this should get us talking.
Lyndsey

Carin Siegfried said...

@Lyndsey - glad to be helpful! I'll have 3 more lists, one each Monday in October. Plus, be sure to check out my post from Oct. 1 that has the list of Great Group Reads!
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