Book club book list

We’ve been meeting as a book club for just over a year now and  list has been complied of the books we’ve read over the year, and it is an interesting collection (dates are of publication) There is no particular criteria for choosing a book, it is a mixture of recommendations by members of the group and looking at what is popular at the moment. It is quite democratic, and quite random… what do you think:

• Victoria Hislop     ‘The Thread’, 2011
• Alan Sillitoe            ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’, 1959
• Cormac McCarthy   ‘The Road’, 2006
• Charles Dickens      ‘A Christmas Carol’ 1843
• Khaled Hosseini      ‘The Kite Runner’, 2003
• Kate Summerscale   ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’ 2008
• George Orwell            ‘1984’, 1949
• Wilkie Collins             ‘The Moonstone’ 1868
• Charlotte Rogan         ‘The Lifeboat’ 2012
• Mary McCarthy           ‘The Group’, 1963
• Vladimir Nabokov      ‘Lolita’ 1955
• Augusto Cury              ‘The Dreamseller’ 2011
• Helen Dunmore          ‘The Siege’ 2001

So, we’ve read 7 British, 1 Afghan, 3 American, 1 Russian, 1 Brazilian authors, 5 women and 8 men, and the publication dates have ranged from 1843-2012. What a diverse list! My top four in order are

1. The Moonstone
2. The Lifeboat
3. A Christmas Carol
4. Lolita

… but it was a close run thing! Hot on their heels was Mr Whicher, it was very interesting but rather too much of it!

My top three in order of how well they were written (in my opinion!) are

1. Lolita
2. The Moonstone
3. A Christmas Carol

… and my least favourite are in descending order,

1. The Siege
2. The Dreamseller,
3.  The Thread,