gmhTODAY 07 gmhToday Mar Apr 2016 | Page 67

BOOK CLUB BEAT with Sherry Hemingway

How will you pick your books this year?

Finding a good book is hit or miss. Finding a great book takes some work.
One way to improve the odds of finding worthwhile reading is to look to book clubs for what they are choosing. Take advantage of their legwork. Book clubs are ever on the prowl for books with broad appeal that will provoke lively discussion. They may look at literary winners that have been singled out for the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award or Man Booker Award. They peruse the New York Times bestsellers and the newer Amazon lists. They might also look at the new NPR Morning Edition Book Club which has come to rival the heyday of Oprah’ s recommended books.
So many books, so little time.

We asked those local book clubs that compile an annual reading list to share with gmh TODAY readers their picks for 2016. Surprisingly, among the vastly different choices, the only crossovers are Memory of Water, The Martian and The Life We Bury.

Last year, locally, the most popular book club selections were All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer, which won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and The Whip, a work of historical fiction with roots in the South Valley, by Karen Kondashian.
Take a lesson from local book clubs, be choosy and grab a new book!
BookSmart Book Club Monthly, open-to-thepublic, meet in Morgan Hill’ s independent bookstore( 3rd Thurs., 7 pm)
The Dinner, Herman Koch
Sherwood Nation *, Benjamin Parzybok
What Alice Forgot, Liane Moriarty
Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World, Steven Johnson
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
The Plover, Brian Doyle
The Octopus, Frank Norris
Different Seasons, Stephen King
A Man Called Ove, Frederik Backman
Gilroy Library Book Club Monthly, public book club discusses each book twice( 1st Fri., 10:15 am and last Tues., 7 pm)
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, Nathaniel Philbrick
Memory of Water **, Emma Itäranta
The Marriage Bureau for Rich People, Farahad Zama
So Big, Edna Ferber
The Sandcastle Girls, Chris Bohjalian
Land of Love and Drowning, Tiphanie Yanique
All the Bright Places, Jennifer Niven
Three Day Road, Joseph Boyden
Golden Spruce: The True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed, John Vaillant
The Life We Bury, Alan Esklins
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin
Pageturners Book Club Morgan Hill friends who have been talking over books for 10 years.
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
My Father the Maker of Trees, Eric Irivuzumugabe
The Moment of Everything, Shelly King
The Martian, Andy Weir
The Weight of Blood, Laura McHugh
Bloody Kin, Margaret Maron
The Color of Water, James McBride
The Husband’ s Secret, Liane Moriarity
Black Dove, White Raven, Elizabeth Wein
The Life We Bury, Allen Eskins
Home, Marilynne Robinson
Las Madres Book Club Affiliate of Las Madres of Gilroy social group for mothers of young children.
The Hypnotist’ s Love Story, Liane Moriarty
The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah
Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline
The Short & Tragic Life of Robert Peace, Jeff Hobbs
The Light Between Oceans, M. L. Stedman
The Martian, Andy Weir
Peace Like a River, Leif Enger
Miss Peregrine’ s Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
Morgan Hill Library’ s‘ Books with Dessert’ Monthly, public book club over potluck desserts( last Mon., 7:30 pm)
Memory of Water **, Emma Itäranta
Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng
Swamplandia, Karen Russell
The Rook, Daniel O’ Malley
Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell
My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
* Silicon Valley Reads selection for 2016. Author will be at the Morgan Hill Library at 7 pm, Tuesday, March 8.
** Silicon Valley Reads selection for 2016. Author will be at Gilroy Library at 2 pm, Saturday, March 19.
SHERRY HEMINGWAY spent her childhood after lights out with a book and flashlight under the covers. With degrees from Kent State University and Harvard University, her lifelong career was in journalism and public relations. Her hobbies are travel in( very) remote countries, volunteering, and two book clubs.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN MARCH / APRIL 2016 gmhtoday. com
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