Correction to an older post . . .

It probably only matters to me, but as I was updating our 2024 list, I discovered another author we have read multiple books by - well, two. Helen DeWitt! Who would have guessed that she wrote both THE LAST SAMURAI (which we read in 2001) and THE ENGLISH UNDERSTAND WOOL (which we read late 2024). Two very different books. Furthermore, who would have guessed she would still be smoking in this century? Helen, Helen, Helen.

Another book club cartoon . . .

 

Which authors have we read MORE than one book by???

 I confess I am obsessed with keeping up with these odd kinds of trivia. So I took a list at which authors we have read multiple books by. To be honest, since we have been reading together since 1988, it's not all that surprising that we have done this, but hey, there are a whole lot of authors we HAVEN'T read more than one book. 

With no further ado, our multi chosen authors! 26 of them. 

The all time most read author by our group: 

Amor Towles	Louise Erdrich
Ann Patchett	Marc Salzman
Anthony Doerr	Margaret Atwood
Barbara Kingsolver	Marilynne Robinson
Edith Wharton	Oliver Sacks
Elizabeth Stout	Orhan Pamuk
Erik Larson	Patti Smith
Geraldine Brooks	Ruth Ozeki
Haruki Murakami	Sue Miller
Irvin Yalom	Susan Orlean
Jane Smiley	Toni Morrison
Jeffrey Eugenides	Wallace Stegner
Kazuo Ishiguro	Willa Cather

 

The most often read author over the years? BARBARA KINGSOLVER, chosen four times, as shown below (book plus the year we read it. 

Flight Behavior	2023
The Lacuna	2010
The Poisonwood Bible	2001
Animal Dreams	1992

I couldn't resist . . .

 

How to Have a Successful Book Club Meeting

• Pick a classic Russian Novel. Have the meeting be a potluck with a Russian theme. Start the evening off with caviar, pickles, Russian pancakes (and much more) accompanied by chilled potato vodka shots. Propose numerous toasts to our group, to our mothers, to reading, and more! 

• Move on to the dining room and indulge in a huge feast! Discuss the book between bites. Discuss the movie based on the book. Discuss other books that are completely unrelated. Get completely off topic and discuss anything and everything! 

• Finally, pick the next book, the next location, the next date, and hug each other goodbye, as we leave bearing leftovers! 

(Note: This post is in my preferred font, Trebuchet. LOL)

Theme of the Group

2023 Arrives with our 313th book. Yowza.

It's hard to believe that this book club has been around since late 1988, and that we have read 313 books together. Of course, the composition of the group has changed a little over the years, but several of us have read most of them. (Maybe Debra has read all of them? Let us know.) 

We start 2023 out with a fascinating book, EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR MOTHER IS A WITCH. In 1618, long before social media, there was endless whispered gossip about one's neighbors, and because of the belief in witches, and lack of knowledge about what, for example, caused an illness, women were unfairly accused to dabbling in magic, and persecuted relentlessly. 

This story is a fictionalized version of the plight of Johannes Kepler's mother, Katharina, a real woman, a plainspoken woman, who could not read or write, and whose neighbors both consulted her to get herbal treatments and feared her for providing them. 

As you can imagine, her story will inspire sympathy and outrage in readers, as we see the consequences of the ignorance and follies of humanity laid out before us.