The Best Books to Read With Your Virtual Book Club
There’s nothing better than discussing a book you loved. (Well, except for maybe discussing a book you hated!) Either way, if you’re a book lover, then belonging to a book club feels like coming home. When I was living abroad in London, UK, I started the first chapter of the Girly Book Club (GBC) as a way to meet other women who shared my love of books. Twelve years later, there are now over 120 chapters of GBC across 15 countries—including more than 35 in Canada. (For now, we’ve taken GBC online; find a virtual meeting here.)
Suffice to say, over the past 12 years I’ve learned a thing or two about choosing a book that will get people talking. Here are 10 picks guaranteed to generate conversation at your next book club—or just enjoy on your own.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (G.P Putnam’s Sons)
In my opinion, this was one of the best books of 2019, with good reason. Where the Crawdads Sing is set in 1969 outside a small town on the coast in North Carolina, and follows the life of Kya Clark, a.k.a. The Marsh Girl, who is suspected of murder after a local boy is found dead. In addition to the riveting plot and rich character development, Owens—an American wildlife scientist—also includes lots of fascinating details about local fauna and flora. I’m not the only one to love this book: it was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and her production company, Hello Sunshine, is working on the film adaptation.
Conversation starter: Do you blame Kya’s mother for leaving, or did she do the right thing?
The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica (Park Row)
Sadie and Will Foust have just uprooted their family from Chicago to small-town Maine after a series of unfortunate events, including the sudden death of Will’s sister, whose home they now inhabit in order to care for their teenage niece. Then, a neighbour is found dead, and Sadie—who has already been second-guessing the move—wants nothing more than to return to Chicago. Will is in no rush to go anywhere and insists on making things work in their new home. But as in all good mysteries, nothing is as it seems.
Conversation starter: When did you start to realize that Sadie isn’t exactly who she seems?
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
Kreuger, a prolific mystery writer, has a gift for weaving beautiful stories with grace. This Tender Land is the coming-of-age story of Odie, Albert, Mose and Emmy, all escapees from The Lincoln School, where Indigenous children are forced to live away from their families in unforgiving conditions. Over the course of the summer of 1932, they all must ask and answer some of life’s biggest questions—including who they are and what their place is in this world.
Conversation starter: Now that you know the difficult journey that the four children undertake, would you have made the same decision to escape?
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (Penguin Books)
Set in 1985 at the height of the U.S. AIDS epidemic, protagonist Yale Tishman is an art gallery director in the prime of his career, whose friends begin falling ill, one by one—including Nico, whose sister, Fiona, becomes Yale’s close friend. Fast forward 30 years: Fiona is trying to track down her estranged daughter, who became immersed in a cult. Yale and Fiona lost so much during the epidemic, and through their stories we see how that loss has played out over the years. In our annual year-end vote, The Great Believers won Best GBC Book of 2019.
Conversation starter: This work of fiction is based on fact. How familiar were you with the scope of the AIDS epidemic before reading it?
Long Bright River by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books)
This is the story of two sisters with very different lives: Mickey, a cop, and Kasey, who is homeless and addicted to opiates. Mickey tries, without success, to help her sister—but wonders whether she might be a lost cause. Then Kacey disappears during a string of local murders, and Mickey can’t help but risk her own job and well-being to find her sister.
Conversation starter: Do you think Mickey did enough to help Kacey—or did she overstep?
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal (William Morrow)
Practically estranged, Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina find themselves thrown together when their mother—on her deathbed—asks them to make a pilgrimage to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in northwestern India, to carry out her final rites. What follows is a warm, funny and tender novel that examines the relationship between sisters, and also between tradition and modernity.
Conversation starter: Who was your favourite sister and why?
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray (Berkley)
This novel—Gray’s first— centres around the Butler family, whose eldest sister and acting matriarch, Althea, and her husband Proctor, have just been arrested. Sisters Lilian and Viola are left to pick up the pieces and raise Althea’s children. The arrest turns out to be only the first in a string of problems for their beleaguered family.
Conversation starter: While family relationships are at the heart of the novel, friendships are crucially important as well. Which ones were most relatable to you?
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel (Flatiron)
Rosie and Penn have four boys, and aren’t at all surprised when their fifth child is also a boy, whom they name Claude. The couple thinks they already know everything they need to know about raising another boy, but do they? At the age of four, Claude puts on a dress and decides he would like to carry a purse. His parents think it’s just a phase, but when Claude turns five, he declares that he wants to be a girl and Rosie and Penn embark on an entirely new adventure in parenting.
Conversation starter: Did this book change the way you think about gender or identity? If so, how?
From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle (Simon & Schuster)
Canadian Metis-Cree author Jesse Thistle was abandoned by his parents as a toddler, and his youth was marred by drugs, alcohol and crime. However, as Jesse hits rocks bottom and begins repairing his relationships and rebuilding his life, you will applaud his incredible transformation.
Conversation starter: What do you think was the biggest turning point in Jesse’s journey?
Vox by Christina Dalcher (Berkley)
If you could only utter 100 words a day, you can imagine how particular you’d be when choosing them. This is the premise of Vox, in which the government decrees that women must wear counters that tally up their daily verbiage, when they reach 100, they receive an electric shock. Among this futuristic American landscape, protagonist Dr. Jean McClellan fights to reclaim her voice.
Conversation starter: Would you have jumped at the opportunity Dr. McClellan is offered to take back her job? Why or why not?
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