I met Brad Meltzer at LAX in the book store when I was in Law School (right after his first book had been published). I was looking for a book to read and he tried to convince me to buy his book (and succeeded).

Ironically, my uncle owns a mystery bookstore here in town and Brad Meltzer does book signings for him all the time now. He's a really nice guy.

i'm so excited about this- good idea james;) i'm reading the secret life of bees by sue monk kidd- it is amazing! its really emotional- but definately awesome
some suggestions for titles:
i love john irving: a prayer for owen meaney, hotel new hampshire, whats eating gilbert grape, a widow for one year

the da vinci code is always a good one- i read the lovely bones too (haven't gotten to lucky yet) and i have tons of books- i was an english major for a long time too- so i read lots of different things there as well and i LOVE to read (pm me if you want a good reading list lol)

i'll volunteer to be the "leader" for the book club if there is a need- just let me know:)

I'll read On the Road, but here's another nomination to add to the poll:

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Description from Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...rid=O9t1vATsXG

Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies established this young writer as one the most brilliant of her generation. Her stories are one of the very few debut works -- and only a handful of collections -- to have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Among the many other awards and honors the book received were the New Yorker Debut of the Year, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the highest critical praise for its grace, acuity, and compassion in detailing lives transported from India to America. In The Namesake, Lahiri enriches the themes that made her collection an international bestseller: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the conflicts of assimilation, and, most poignantly, the tangled ties between generations. Here again Lahiri displays her deft touch for the perfect detail -- the fleeting moment, the turn of phrase -- that opens whole worlds of emotion. The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged marriage, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name. Lahiri brings great empathy to Gogol as he stumbles along a first-generation path strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. With penetrating insight, she reveals not only the defining power of the names and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents, but also the means by which we slowly, sometimes painfully, come to define ourselves. The New York Times has praised Lahiri as "a writer of uncommon elegance and poise." The Namesake is a fine-tuned, intimate, and deeply felt novel of identity.

I want in, well, as much as I can until I get home for the summer.

I'm supprised no one has mentioned this but..

"The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom
(he also wrote "Tuesdays With Morrie" another GREAT book)

Seriously, this is one of THE best books I have ever read. it such a quick and easy read. If you haven't read it already, please do, it will change you perspective on a LOT of things.

dzandiloo- I haven't read "On The Road" yet either.

I agree on The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie.....both are great books, and easy to read.

I loved "The 5 People You Meet In Heaven." I have not read "Tuesdays with Morrie" but I would like to.

How about "Confessions of a Shoaholic?" ;) I just read it and it's cute. :D

I think a book club would be a great idea! :) I'm in!

I'd considered joining one but never had enough free time to go to meetings.

I don't have a book to suggest, but I'll vote for "On the Road" as I haven't read it yet either.

The only suggestion I do have is perhaps we should stick to books that have the "suggested questions" or whatever in the back specifically for book clubs? I think someone earlier in the thread mentioned they knew several books w/ this they could recommend.

i absolutely loved this book. my cousin lent it to me to read right after my grandfather passed away in january- i think it helped me get over my initial grief with tears and laughter... it was comforting to know that my grandpa is on his own journey


on the road is ok- my dad gave me my own copy a few years ago and i've read it- i wasn't too impressed though- i spent much of the time trying to figure out where they were lol- but i do like it for the fact that it was and is so different- and that jack kerouac is such a free spirit- his writing is filled with a feverish glow- you almost feel like you are there

so even though i didn't much care for the story- i definately can appreciate the writing

I wanna be in the book club.

I vote for douglas adams, Hitchhicker's Guide, its a great book a lot of laughs and make you think.

When is the deadline for the decision on the book picked?

ms gwyn

I want in too! :)

Since The DaVinci Code has been discussed on here, we could read Angels and Demons, which is also by Dan Brown and features Robert Langdon. It's on my "to-read" list this summer already.

Tonight.

I'd like to nominate Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil by John Berendt. Here is a description from Amazon:
John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has been heralded as a "lyrical work of nonfiction," and the book's extremely graceful prose depictions of some of Savannah, Georgia's most colorful eccentrics--remarkable characters who could have once prospered in a William Faulkner novel or Eudora Welty short story--were certainly a critical factor in its tremendous success. (One resident into whose orbit Berendt fell, the Lady Chablis, went on to become a minor celebrity in her own right.) But equally important was Berendt's depiction of Savannah socialite Jim Williams as he stands trial for the murder of Danny Hansford, a moody, violence-prone hustler--and sometime companion to Williams--characterized by locals as a "walking streak of sex." So feel free to call it a "true crime classic" without a trace of shame.

I'm interested in a book club. I usually read several books at a time. I was actually about to start a thread about recommended readings, but I'll post them here incase they would like to be considered.

So far this year I've read and have enjoyed:
Catholic Bible-cover to cover (though I keep reading the New Testament and books of wisdom( Wisdom, Sirach, Proverbs, and Psalms)
Who's Looking Out for You
White Oleander
Italian Love Stories- A Kentuckian's Journal of Tuscany (written by a Theta sister in the Louisville Alumnae chapter)
The Street Lawyer
Twelve and One Half Keys(a devotional type reading)
I Promise You A Crown(a devotional type reading)
You Are My Hiding Place(a devotional type reading)
The Celts by Juliette Wood

I have also read Under the Tuscan Sun. This book is okay...it moves kinda slow till it gets to the end, plus there are two chapters that are pretty much just italian recipes.

I'm currently reading and enjoying:
The Rosary of Our Lady
How the Irish Saved Civilization
Mythology by Edith Hamilton (mainly about roman and greek mythology)

In addition to these i have a long list of books to read that i havent gotten to yet. :P

I just thought of another good one...Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

I echo this on "the five people...". For me it was a life perspective changing book. I am frequently thinking....which one would I be to this person or they to me?

I gave a copy of this to a dear sister who was losing her husband of 35 years to cancer, and she said it was so special to her now.

I would put this on the recommended reading list of High School seniors...

My mom gave me a copy of this book around Christmas time because in the 6 months leading up to December, I had lost 2 VERY close friends, one to cancer at age 20 and one in a car accident, also age 20.

I definitely reccomend it to anyone struggling with soemthing in life, someone who has lost someone or someone who is moving into a new phase in their life.

What's the verdict? I'm going to the beach this weekend and need to know what my reading material is going to be.

I just went to the bookstore today and stocked up for surgery- what other book am I gonna have to buy, cause I am for the book club!

James, you're the leader of the group..........what are we supposed to be reading :P

I vote for James' pick...I forgot the name of it. :p

I know the list to select from and voting has already taken place, but I'd like to pitch in a book for future book club consideration: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. I know that it was an Oprah's Book Club book, but it was first published in Argentina in the late 60's. I read it before Oprah got her grubby lil hands on it. I recommend it to everyone to read, even if it never makes it into the book club here. This is a little bit of what was written about it on Amazon.com:

One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize–winning career.

The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.

Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel García Márquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master.

Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the history of the human race.

So, that's my pick for a future book club read :)