Ellen & Jane’s favourites from the last 6 years of Book Clubbing
Great book club picks
From Ellen :
Bloodletting and miraculous cures
Vincent Lam (2006)
Winner of the Giller prize this linked short story collection follows the trials and tribulations of three young people from internship to medical practise.Made into a TV Movie.
CanLit
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time*
Mark Haddon (2002)
A young autistic boy, witha talent for numbersdecides to investigatethedeathof a neighbour’sdog. Who knewprime numberscould be so interesting!?
Those Brits can be so clever.
The Dress Lodger*
Sheri Holman (2000)
In early 19th century England a prostitute forms an unlikely alliance with a doctor in order to help her young child who was born with an unusual condition.
Historical Fiction.
The Help
Kathryn Stockett (2009)
Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including anAfrican-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend, and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project.Made into a film.
Literary Fiction.
March*
Geraldine Brooks(2005)
Why did Reverend March join up to fight in the Civil War? What kind of war did he experience? Brooks’s imagination takes us right into the time period and the not very rosy experiences of absent father of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women”
Pulitzer Prize winner!
Law of Dreams*
Peter Behrens (2006)
The story of a young man’s epic passage moves from innocence to experience during the Great Famine in Ireland of 1847.
Historical Fiction.
Midnight at the Dragon Café*
Judy Fong Bates (2004)
Set in the 1960s, is the story of a young girl, the daughter of a small Ontario town’s solitary Chinese family, whose life is changed over the course of one summer when she learns the burden of secrets.
CanLit Classic.
Old City Hall
Robert Rotenberg (2009)
When Gurdial Singh arrives at radio host Kevin Brace’s house to deliver the morning newspaper, he finds the man in hysterics, covered in blood and shouting that he has killed his wife in the bathtub. What appears at first to be an open-and-shut case proves far more complex. See also his next book in the series: The Guilty Plea.
Toronto Noir!
Pope Joan*
Donna Wolfolk Cross(1997)
Berated for being intelligent and scholarly, a 12th century German girl dons her dead brother's clothes, assumes a man's identity, and gains respect, authority and ultimately becomes the Pope.
Historical Feminist Fiction.
Small Island*
Andrea Levy (2004)
At the end of World War II the Joseph family arrives in London from Jamaica and Queenie, their white landlady, befriends them, until her racist husband, Bernard, arrives home from the front.
Literary Fiction.
From Jane :
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress*
Sijie Dai (2001)
During China’s Cultural Revolution, two boys are sent to the country for re-education where their lives take an unexpected turn when they stumble upon a forbiddenstash ofWestern literature.Made into a film.
Literary Fiction in translation from the original French!
Come thou Tortoise*
Jessica Grant (2009)
Reads a bit like a mystery this story is quirky and odd but the main character, Audrey and her pet tortoise draw the reader ever on. The craziness starts with Audrey summoned home to Newfoundland when her father is injured by aChristmas tree.
CanLit humour at its finest.
The Glenwood Treasure*
Kim Moritsugu (2003)
Having returned to her parents' home in a posh Toronto neighbourhood after a failed marriage, Blithe takes on a local history research project, thereby uncovering truths about a long-rumoured buried treasure.
Mystery set in Toronto á la Josephine Tey.
Gods Behaving Badly*
Marie Phillips (2007)
A humorous look at what it would be like for the ancient Greek gods if they lived in modern-day London. It’s bad enough that no one believes in them anymore but their powers appear to be waning. A young mortal woman comes to clean house and things go from bad to worse.
Satire meets ChickLit meets the Paranormal.
Keeping the World Away*Margaret Forster (2006)
Gwen John is a bold and spirited young English artist, who defies convention and sets out to study in Paris, where she has a tumultuous affair with the sculptor Rodin. Gwen creates a lovely painting of a quiet corner of her attic room -- a painting that is lost, found, sold, stolen and fought over, and that changes the lives of all who possess it.Historical Fiction about real people.
Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
Spanning eight decades and chronicling the wild ride of a Greek-American family through the vicissitudes of the twentieth century, On one level this is a traditional story about three generations of a fantastic, absurd, lovable immigrant family -- blessed and cursed with generous doses of tragedy and high comedy. But there’s a provocative twist. Cal, the narrator -- also Callie -- is a hermaphrodite.
Pulitzer Prize Winner.
Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout (2008)
Thirteen short stories are bound through the presence of one larger-than-life, unforgettable character: Olive Kitteridge.
Pulitzer Prize Winner.
Outlander*
Gil Adamson (2007)
Canadian Gothic in the form of a Western! Set in 1903 this is story that is almost mythical. Evil twin brothers chase a murderess who meets a wild man, a dwarf and a giant as she escapes into the wilderness of southern BC.
CanLit meets the Western.
Reluctant Fundamentalist*
MohsinHamid (2007)
A riveting tale told by a single narrator, a young Pakistani man, who believes in the American Dream until 9/11.
Literary Fiction.
Water for Elephants*
Sarah Gruen (20??)
He’s either 91 or 93 but not entirely sure. So our narrator begins to tell his tale of running away to the circus as a young man. Not quite a vet he gets a job with a traveling circus that’s one notch down from Barnum & Bailey. This is the depression and times are tough. If circus folk can’t pull their weight they get thrown off the train!
American Lit. Made into a Film.
Go to - Your next Great Read – for more suggestions
* Book Club Set available.