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2024/04/09

Book Club News: Last Year's Flurry of Book Club Favorites, Picked by our Subscribers!

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Book Club News: April Issue

Hello,


This month, we feature our book club discussion of Nadine Bjursten's Half a Cup of Sand and Sky, the story of a poetic-minded woman who falls into politics during Iran's Islamic Revolution, as well as A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda, about an Indian American family dealing with racism and prejudice in contemporary California.


It's time to reveal the most popular book club books of 2023 according to our subscribers. Check out our list to see if your favorites made the Top 10!


We also invite you to browse our Adult-YA Crossover Fiction category, which includes hundreds of books recommended for teens and adults alike.


And take full advantage of our Book Club Central page's continually updated selection of top-notch book club resources.


With best wishes,


The BookBrowse Team

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Book Club Discussions
Discussions are open to all to view and participate, so if you've read a book, click on "discuss."
If you have not, we suggest you go to "about the book" to avoid spoilers.
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Half a Cup of Sand and Sky

by Nadine Bjursten


From the Jacket


It is 1977, and the anti-shah protests at Tehran University are intensifying, but Amineh is not like her peers who want a say in the future of their country. Her thoughts are on the beautiful literature of another era and her past of rose harvests and Sufi poetry evenings under the desert sky. A chance encounter with Farzad, an opposition leader and disarmament activist, will thrust her into a life she never could have imagined.


From the Discussion


"I think this book would be appropriate for book club discussions. It...shows the growth of one woman as she faces marriage and political involvement. The book would also lend itself to discussions on the arms race and what actually could be done today to limit escalation." —Gardenlily


"This book ranks as one of my all-time favorites. I learned quite a lot about this period of history and global nuclear standings. I hope it wins a ton of awards." —bethb


"The author does a good job of making one feel they are there with her words and descriptions of the land and what is going on at the moment." —LoLa

About the Book
Discuss
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A Great Country

by Shilpi Somaya Gowda


From the Jacket


From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel in the tradition of Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere, exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police.


From the Discussion


"I thought the author did a really nice job spotlighting a family who, by all means, is pretty ordinary, but is going through something extraordinary. By focusing on the Shahs and introducing periphery characters, the contrast between the Shahs' experience and the other characters is more highlighted." —maren


"This book tells in a fictional way what Isabel Wilkerson's Caste is all about." —Joyce


"The story was thought-provoking. What does one have to do to attain the American Dream? At what cost? What threatens that success? Those are just a few questions you will have as you read this book." —Marcia S

About the Book
Discuss

The Best Books for Book Clubs in 2023

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What were the most popular book club books in 2023? The results are in! Read on to see the titles our subscribers enjoyed discussing most with their book groups over the past year.


Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus not only retains its spot on the list from the previous year but claims an even larger percentage of the votes (up to 18.6% from 13.9%). That's not especially surprising, as this debut novel, a humorous and charming but substantial story exploring aspects of 1960s misogyny, was voted a BookBrowse Best Book of the Year in 2022 and is well established as a book club and reader favorite. ... continued

Read More

Adult-YA Crossover Fiction

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Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead and James McBride's The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, appearing in our list of most popular 2023 book club titles above, are just two of 500+ books in our Adult-YA Crossover Fiction category. Check it out to discover more highly recommended adult fiction that may also appeal to teen readers.


This is one of 100+ themed categories you can explore on BookBrowse to find the perfect read for your book club or yourself. Members can access all categories and filters to narrow their browsing, while non-members have limited access.

Go to Category

Book Club Central

While BookBrowse offers plenty of general info for keeping up with the latest great books, we also have a special section dedicated to resources for book clubs.


On our Book Club Central page, which is accessible from the "Book Clubs" tab on the top menu bar, you can browse our current top-viewed book club books with accompanying reading guides, ongoing online book discussions, many interviews we've conducted with all kinds of book groups over the years, advice and more!

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Go to Book Club Central

Discussions Coming Soon

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Discussions are open to all, so please join us! If you would like to receive a message when a particular discussion opens, you can sign up for a one-time notification. You can also find inspiration for your book club among our more than 200 past discussions.


We're currently discussing Nadine Bjursten's Half a Cup of Sand and Sky and Shilpi Somaya Gowda's A Great Country, among other books. We feature Susan Meissner's Only the Beautiful starting on April 18, followed by Leigh Bardugo's The Familiar on April 25.

See All Discussions
Resources
BookBrowse offers a cornucopia of resources for book clubs including recommended books by genre, time period, setting and a wide range of themes; advice on starting and running a book club and much more!
Go to Book Clubs
Usually published once a month, Book Club News is one of BookBrowse's four free newsletters. We also publish BookBrowse Highlights every Thursday, Publishing This Week every Sunday; and Librarian News monthly.
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