Looking for fun book club books? Here’s some suggestions for what our book club is reading and a few favorites of my own.
Last night was book club.
Sigh.
It was amazing.
The only thing better than people who love to read books are people who love to read books and talk about them.
I’m new to this book club and it’s one of the very best ones I’ve ever attended. There were so many opinions and thoughts and questions on the most recent book that they all came tumbling out in a jumble of laughter and conversation.
But even better than the conversation?
Was the decor and display and food our hostess put together for us.
If you have a book club? Wait until you see the cute ideas and displays for your next get-together.
And of course, I have a few book recommendations, too.
Here’s what we read, what we are going to read along with 10 book club books you won’t be able to put down.
10 Book Club Books That You Won’t Be Able To Put Down
1. The Women
Let’s start with the book we just finished for book club.
You’ve heard me talk about it before. It’s Kristen Hannah’s new book called “The Women.”
You can see it here.
It’s a gritty novel about nurses during the Vietnam War.
I didn’t really know much about the Vietnam War so I found it fascinating. It centers around a main character named Frankie who joins the Vietnam War as a nurse in the middle of Vietnam where some of the hardest fighting took place and it follows her journey with two different love stories and her experience both during the war and when she came home.
It’s so powerful and I couldn’t put it down.
Nine out of ten stars for me.
Here are some ideas you can use for this book (or even recreating these ideas for other book club books)
You can see some of the examples in these pictures I took from the book club display.
Our hostess was NEXT LEVEL and I’m so inspired to recreate some of these when I host next month.
- Make cookies of the book’s cover. Our hostess made these incredible book cookies and nurses uniforms, stars and stripes, dog tags and even nurse cookies.
- Recreate a featured element from the book. For example, in The Women, Frankie is always requesting care packages. Our hostess created this incredible care package with all the things Frankie requested in the book.
- Create a display with the cover of the book. She took the book cover, added camouflage and displayed it on a stand.
- She also recreated food featured in the book like these wraps from the McGrath family (Frankie’s family) Garden Party.
- You could also write out favorite quotes on a large board for guests to read as they arrive.
- Print quotes on vintage-style paper and frame them for the party display.
- Leave blank cards and pens for guests to write their favorite quotes or thoughts on the book when they arrive to discuss during the Q & A period.
- Create a signature drink inspired by the book, and give it a clever name.
- If the book involves a journey or certain locations, create a map highlighting these places.
- Create custom bookmarks with significant quotes or images from the book as party favors. These can be personalized with guests’ names.
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Here’s our book for next month.
I’m hosting and it’s going to be an Octopus there.
I’ve already read the book and you are going to have to trust me on this one. I went outside of my comfort zone on this book because Remarkably Bright Creatures is about an octopus named Marcellus.
Someone recommended it to me and I’m so happy they did because the book is amazing. A woman named Tova who works the night shift at a local aquarium. She has suffered so much sadness and loss and is at a crossroads in her life and the octopus is instrumental in helping her heal. It’s kind of a mystery and a love story and a heartfelt story all rolled into one.
It’s one of my new favorite books and you can see it here.
And now here are some other books I think would be perfect for book club.
A Dress of Violet Taffeta
I am about two chapters away from finishing this book.
It’s SO GOOD and I’d never heard of the author before.
I think it would make such a fun book club book because it’s a rags-to-riches story that takes place at the turn of the century and features the Titanic.
It has an amazing love story, too.
You can see A Dress of Violet Taffeta here.
The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
This was a fun read.
It’s based on the life of the Post cereal heiress, Marjorie Post. I wasn’t sure how much of it was true, but most of the research I found echoed the book.
Spoiler alert: she has a LOT of husbands.
But it’s such a fun read and I think the book club discussion would be amazing.
You can see The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post here.
The Perfect Couple
This was one of our book club reads from another book club and IT IS SO GOOD.
The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand is a page-turner.
I love a book that you can’t figure out the ending until it surprises you in the end.
It’s a mystery that takes place at a wedding on Nantucket. The maid-of-honor is discovered dead and everyone is a suspect.
Spoiler alert. It’s NOT who you think it is.
This book is such a good read.
The Nightingale
No book club list would be complete without The Nightingale.
And it has over 300,000 reviews on Amazon.
It would be PERFECT for discussion. I love a historical drama and this one is set against the backdrop of WWII and Germany’s invasion of France.
It’s the story of two sisters with romance and struggle and sometimes almost impossible choices and it’s amazing. I wish I would have read The Nightingale before I read her other books because it’s my absolute favorite book she’s ever written. If you haven’t read Kristen Hannah before? This is an amazing one to start with. You can see The Nightingale here.
Hello Beautiful
Where do I begin?
Hello Beautiful is the sweetest book. Someone said in the reviews that it was Little Women with basketball, but it’s so much more than that.
It’s poignant and if you like different stories of different characters that all entwine together? This is the book for you. It’s about a boy named William who has a super sad childhood and he finds refuge in basketball and he finds Julia and her large outgoing family who welcome him in and surround him. It’s a story of love and loss and overcoming where you come from to become the person you were meant to be.
You can see Hello Beautiful here.
The Giver of the Stars
I saw the movie Me Before You based on the book written by this author so I was intrigued enough to explore The Giver of the Stars.
It’s another historical drama about a team of women who are part of the team helping to deliver Eleanor Roosevelt’s traveling library.
It’s the story of the challenges they face on the journey and the love they discover and the challenges of the land they travel.
I loved her other story, so I’m excited to read this one. You can see The Giver of the Stars here.
The Midnight Library
Fun fact. My mother didn’t like this book. But I LOVED IT.
I love a story where you aren’t sure of the ending.
It’s a story about choices. Somewhere on the edge of the galaxy, there’s a library. The library is full of books that tell the stories of people’s lives—with different endings. Some are stories of their life as they know it. Some are stories of their life that could have been.
Nora Seed is faced with which story to choose.
And what makes life worth the living after all.
You can see The Midnight Library here.
Are you in a book club?
If so, I’d love to hear what you all are reading.
And if you just like to read? I’d love to hear what you are reading, too.
Remember.
The only thing better than people who love to read books are people who love to read books and talk about them.
PS I loved all your recommendations and I added them all here in case anyone else wanted more recommendations, too.
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