If you’re in a book club or know someone who is, you know that book selections are a big deal. You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can judge a book club by what it reads. Grace Harper of Mac’s Books-Books on Coventry gave us this list of recent book club picks.
“Mostly Dead Things”
By Kristen Arnett
A father’s suicide, a taxidermy shop and an artist who creates aggressively lewd art — with the stuffed animals. There’s a lot to unravel in this complex family tale. And, truthfully, aren’t you curious about a book with a taxidermy sub-theme? We are.
“Giovanni’s Room”
By James Baldwin
Baldwin’s second novel about gay life in 1950s Paris fits the bill for book club fodder. There’s plenty to talk about and process when an American discovers and tries to resist as he wrestles with his impulses. Some will love it. Some won’t get it. That’s the beauty of a book club discussion.
“The Sellout”
By Paul Beatty
Sometimes the best way to process race relations is through satire. Beatty is a master of it, bringing together disparate topics of dads and sons, the Civil Rights Movement, slavery and the Constitution. It’s a lot to take in. Beatty is more than up to the challenge.
“Nice Big American Baby”
By Judy Budnitz
Described as “modern fables” by one reviewer, these 12 short stories are inventive and sometimes bizarre, traversing the worlds of a man and a mail-order bride, the link between a surrogate mother and son, and a woman who crosses the border to give birth on American soil.
“Girl, Woman, Other”
By Bernardine Evaristo
The joint winner of the Man Booker Prize 2019, “Girl, Woman, Other” provides snapshots of the lives of 12 British women, mostly Black, and their diverse realities. Set in contemporary Great Britain, the book is a poetic and detailed fictional story of women from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.
