Play Book Tag discussion

For those of you who participate in book club group discussions in real life or online, which books generated the best discussions? "Best" could mean the most in-depth, most enthusiastic, most personal, most controversial, or funniest discussions.

My local bookclub will be selected 8 books soon, so I'm looking for ideas for the group, and my own personal reading. We read mostly fiction.

Goodreads just posted an article about the books that were most frequently selected for group discussions in goodreads groups. It got me wondering which were the best.

In my real-life groups, mysteries/thrillers don't seem to generate a lot of discussion.

To the mods - If this isn't the best folder for this topic, please let me know, or move it to a better place. Thanks!

The Weight of Ink led to such amazing discussions! So did the Nix. Interesting question of why. A couple of times my book group has read something and there just wasn’t much to talk about. But mostly I look for something that I intuit is going to have interesting topics beyond the storyline. Moral questions, trauma, social justice, religious or spiritual elements all make for great discussions of depth. Sometimes I think if you have the right people in your group, the book choice matters less.

An American Marriage, The Power, and This Is How it Always Is kept my book club talking for HOURS this year.

Amy wrote: "The Weight of Ink led to such amazing discussions! So did the Nix. Interesting question of why. A couple of times my book group has read something and there just wasn’t much to talk about. But most..."

Nicole R wrote: "An American Marriage, The Power, and This Is How it Always Is kept my book club talking for HOURS this year."


Thanks, I'll share these ideas with the group.

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Circe, kept this groups chatting-

I just read The Silence of the Girls, which I think would be great for discussion(beware, it has explicit scenes on war and rape)

Two others that I read this year In the Time of the Butterflies and French Exit would also be good for Book Clubs

Joanne wrote: "Circe, kept this groups chatting-

I just read The Silence of the Girls, which I think would be great for discussion(beware, it has explicit scenes on war and rape)
..."

Hopefully I will be reading In the Time of the Butterflies sometime next year!

We Were the Lucky Ones led to the best discussion in my IRL book club so far.

Joanne wrote: "Circe, kept this groups chatting-"

My IRL book club is reading Circe right now and will be discussing it at the end of January. I think it will be a good discussion as well!

Meli wrote: "Joanne wrote: "Circe, kept this groups chatting-

I just read The Silence of the Girls, which I think would be great for discussion(beware, it has explicit scenes on..."

I know you will love it!-heartbreaking, but so good!

Joanne wrote: "Meli wrote: In The Time of Butterflies

I know you will enjoy it-heartbreaking, but so very good!

Nicole R wrote: "Joanne wrote: "Circe, kept this groups chatting-"

My IRL book club is reading Circe right now and will be discussing it at the end of January. I think it will be a good discussion ..."

would love to hear the feedback-there were a lot of differing views
here

Joanne wrote: "Joanne wrote: "Meli wrote: In The Time of Butterflies

I know you will enjoy it-heartbreaking, but so very good!"

Hopefully it doesn't come up soon in the trim tbr random picks because I am just wrapping up A Little Life and that is plenty of heartbreak for a while...

I did a IRL bookclub for Children of Blood and Bone and it actually generated a lot of good discussion because we had a mix of hardcore fantasy fans and casual fans, or complete newbies, so we could also dissect whether the world building and other fantasy elements were successful or not, in addition to the characters, their motivation, and conflicts they faced individually.

I like reading genre books with a group that has both longtime fans of that genre and also newbies, adds an interesting spin to the discussion. Although, it is harder to recruit people who are unwilling to get out of their comfort zone.

Another good book club book is Little Fires Everywhere. Some controversial topics that are interesting to unpack.

My book clubs last two books had really good discussion and was surprised how we all agreed with everything said. and

Robin wrote: "My book clubs last two books had really good discussion and was surprised how we all agreed with everything said. and [bookcover:You Will Know Me|25251..."

Between the World and Me is on my trim the tbr list of 36 and You Will Know Me is a want-to-read.

I love the signature of all things as a suggestion as well as we were the lucky ones!

Book Concierge wrote: "The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell"

Oh good. I added the Sparrow to my own TBR last night.

I've got a bunch for you.

From me: The Weight of Ink and Circe both had really good discussions here on PBT. But Circe is also the book for discussion this month over in Pop Sugar group and it has been a bust. I think that's because it is not a good read for December - people are just too busy both to read a book like that and discuss.

A friend of mine is retired and spends time with book clubs - one in her coop and 2 others affiliated with area independent bookstores - very broad mix of participants - very diverse book clubs. Here's what she had to say about books read and discussed at those meetings she attended this year:

Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survivalnon- fiction. Interesting read about a famous mountaineering accident and the aftermath. Non-fiction discussions are always iffy. Less to critique than fiction reads.

A Tale for the Time Being Good discussion on this one.

The Hate U Give Good discussion but not a group favorite. One comment was that it read too much like a screenplay.

Watership Down. Interesting discussion, mostly positive reception. You could tell who was country-raised and who was city-bred - one member didn’t know what a rabbit warren was and at least one didn’t realize that most of the rabbits had plant names.

The Underground RailroadGood discussion, lots of likes on this one.

Born to Run. Non-fiction. OK discussion

The Left Hand of Darkness Good discussion.

The Monk of Mokha. Non-fiction but read like a cross between non-fiction and fiction. OK discussion.

When I Was Puerto Rican. Non-fiction. Good read, good discussion.

Commonwealth. Good discussion. Liked by a lot.

The Ozeki, Patchett, and Whitehead were the best received fiction picks. The Patchett had the largest turnout.

Fingersmith Good discussion, especially about how subtle Waters is at planting clues. She reels you in and tricks you and you never see it coming.

Also Affinity by Waters triggered a good discussion.

The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World. Non-Fiction Interesting discussion about whether one liked the Sally Horner sections or the Nabokov sections better and did they mesh into a cohesive whole. My friend has not actually read Lolita, and said it didn't matter at all.

NancyJ wrote: "For those of you who participate in book club group discussions in real life or online, which books generated the best discussions? "Best" could mean the most in-depth, most enthusiastic, most pers..."

It's older and most people have read it by now, but thinking back on the years I've been in a book club, the one that I would say had the most/best discussion around it was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

LibraryCin wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "For those of you who participate in book club group discussions in real life or online, which books generated the best discussions? "Best" could mean the most in-depth, most enthusia..."

I still haven't read that one! I think I was traveling when my book club read it.

Charlotte wrote: "We Were the Lucky Ones led to the best discussion in my IRL book club so far."

Thanks! I'm putting that on my Trim TBR list too.

Thank you everyone! This is really helpful. I'm putting many of these on my tbr list as well. It's getting harder to winnow down to a list of 36 when I keep adding more. I love it!