Our book club was just a random idea I wanted to try. I love reading. I love connecting with all of you. Maybe some of you like reading too? So, we decided to give it a try.
One of my original goals with the book club was to force myself to make more time to read. I really love reading, but it's so easy to get busy and never make time for it. But having the book club keeps me more accountable to finish books in a reasonable amount of time. So, mission accomplished.
My second goal with the club was to have another means to connect with some of you. And I think that's worked pretty well. However, now that we are six months in together, I'd love to ask you all what you think. Do you have any suggestions for the book club? Different ways we could connect together? Do you have any specific books you'd like to see us read? Would you like to see more variety of genres covered, or less? Any and all suggestions are welcome. I'd just love to hear what you think, and I'm sure there are ways in which we could improve the ABM book club together.
One idea I've been kicking around is to have a few different folks be the moderators throughout the year (so it's not always me). They could bring more variety to the types of books we read, and they will bring different perspectives. In July, Elsie will be taking over the book club and we'll be reading…
P.S. Don't forget that on Monday, June 30, we'll be discussing the June selection, The Good Luck of Right Now.
89 Comments
I haven’t participated before, but I would love to start! I was an English major in school and I miss having an outlet to read and share ideas. And your books are excellent choices so far!
-Lindsay from Dearest Darling
Ok if there weren’t a million reasons to buy #GIRLBOSS before, now I have another one. Going to Amazon..right…meow…..:)
Yes! This is my favorite series on ABM. Thank you so much for starting it- it’s so nice to have a good book to look forward to.
I want to read the Girl Boss book..I have only read good comments on this..
http://vodkaandarose.blogspot.co.uk
The only one of these I have been able to read so far has been Longbourn. My library must have really long wait lists for the others. I have other to reads in the meantime though. I am a big lover of historical novels and historical mysteries. Reading many right now that center around WWI and WWII.
YES TO #GIRLBOSS! I’m reading it right now and I love it so far!! It’s inspiring and so real. I love that’s she’s so truthful about her journey. 50 pages in so far and I’ve been recommending it to all my friends!
Neha
http://nehasharmaphoto.com/blog/
yes!! just ordered this book off of amazon..i started reading it in barnes and noble and literally fell in love. i cant wait! 🙂
#Girlboss is top on my “to read” list right now. I can’t wait!
I really love this book club, even though I haven’t always kept up the best. It’s challenged me to read some books that I probably would never have read otherwise. 🙂
I am actually reading #girlboss right now. Love it so far!
I like the book club. I like getting the reading recommendations. I don’t always get to participate because I am in a book club with friend. We have been doing that for a year now. So when you were reading Goldfinch, we are reading the Book Thief. I wasn’t certain I had time for 2 long books. I really want to read Goldfinch.
I did read Longbourn but it was a couple months before so it wasn’t as fresh in my memory.
I did get The Good Luck of Right Now completed and eagerly waiting for the discussion.
I would suggest maybe looking at trying a classic.
My book club has started having the hostess send out a list of books she wants to read then everyone votes for the book for the meeting. That seems to work well.
first…let me say I have been checking your blog every day this week waiting for July’s selection. So excited. I have really enjoyed this book club and have finished every book before the end of the month except one. “The Lowlands” I just could not get through. I was having the same issue with getting busy and not making time to read and really enjoy reading so this has made me accountable and I am really enjoying it. So Please, please keep the book club going. I would love to read ‘One Thousand White Women” by Jim Fergus. I have heard wonderful things and think it would be a great choice for this book club,
thanks for inspiring me to read again
Kim Bolyard
Great books, I might try #Girlboss as it looks really great. I love book clubs and discussing books. Great post again, but I keep saying that ;).
ooooo! I will join for this book!
Just made my own Summer Reading List and will now have to add this one!
Hurray!! #GIRLBOSS is on my to-read list! again Hurray!
I haven’t participated on the book club yet but it got me to read both The Fault in Our Stars and The Good Luck of Right Now, both of which I read in about a week. And then I scoured all the TFIOS comments for everyone else’s opinions!
I think that it would be a great idea to mix in a classic every now and then–classics get referenced a ton in pop culture and makes a person seem very well-rounded to bring them up every now and again. Maybe a Poe anthology during October or something?
Another thing I have loved doing is going back and reading best-sellers from a few years ago. I was too young for Cold Mountain to be on my radar when it was first popular, now I have read it and was blown away!
I’m too slow to keep up with you guys (about to finish The Goldfinch) but I love taking your recommendations.
Long live book club! I consider myself an avid reader so I always support the growth of reading. It is so easy for people to say they don’t have time, and then years go by and they haven’t read a book. TV shows are great, but sometimes you can get so much more out of a book and it can be just as relaxing as zoning out in front of the tv. Just my two cents 😉
Some recommendations for future books: The Rosie Project, Ready Player One, The Husband’s Secret, Dark Places, Oxygen, The Shining Girls, Neverwhere, Wild (from lost to found on the Oregon Trail), and Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore.
I love reading and I love talking about books! I’ve been wanting to read girlboss for awhile now, so I need to buy this book ASAP! I love finding new books to read/recommendations, so I love this!
Love the idea of different moderators! What a fun way to switch up the conversation.
yay! count me in. i need to find some direction and inspiration lately. i hope this book helps!
– Christina http://www.cityloveee.blogspot.com
That’s what my two bookclubs do as well. It’s nice for the facilitator, because she or he gets a guarantee that she or he will like the book selected, but everyone gets to give some input. I’m guessing that it’d be pretty easy to do this in poll format here on the blog.
I also love the book club! I tend to read fantasy/sci fi so this has encouraged me to step outside of that normal zone and read other things that I definitely ended up liking! I think how you are the moderator every time, seems more personal that way! If you change it up a bunch it might get away from that connection some. Anyway, bookclub is awesome.
Love this book club idea and all of your books look like such great summer reads!
http://thenotebookeffect.com/
Lifestyle and Photography Blog In and Out of Boston
Ordered!
I’m joining to celebrate my birthday in July, too bad I haven’t joined before but I do feel like reading all 6 books which I’ll eventually do and hopefully this year. 🙂
I love this book club. I have read all the books and found them all to be excellent choices.
My suggestion for the next 6 months (and more) would be to maybe read a classic now and then (and not only ‘classical classics’ but also ‘modern classics’ like ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’) and also branch out into international literature (if it gets translated into English, of course).
Thank you so much for all the amazing books I got to read because of your suggestion!! xoxo
I’ve read three of the six books here and liked them all, I’m thinking I need to check out the other three you all read because now I’m intrigued.
historical, huh? That sounds fun. I’ll keep that in mind for future picks. 🙂
-Emma
Yes, I love getting suggestions. Some of the picks so far have been reader suggestions (from emails or comments). We have do a post toward the end of 2014 that ask all you guys to give us some suggestions for 2015 picks. I feel like I always end up hearing about such great books even if we don’t get to read all of them in the club.
-Emma
Very cool. Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll be checking out One Thousand White Women for sure.
-Emma
Those were both so fun. I also recently made Trey go see the movie version of TFIOS.
I say I “made” him but he really didn’t mind at all. He’s a nice guy like that. We both really enjoyed the movie even though he hadn’t read the book. BUT our favorite movie this month has been Edge of Tomorrow! I wasn’t expecting much and I really enjoyed it. But, that has nothing to do with books…
-Emma
I’ll be looking for a classics to spice in for sure. Great suggestion.
-Emma
Hint: One of your suggestions is already on the list for a coming month. 🙂 Thanks for all the good recs.
-Emma
Welcome and happy (early) birthday!
-Emma
I love the book club idea, maybe later this year i could participate since i didn’t read the books you guys read, but I put them in my huge list of must read!
But that doesn’t mean that i didn’t read at all during the year, and by far my favorite book of this year is The Thirteenth Tale, which i read twice, one time after the other, and of course The Book Thief
Have you read them Emma?
Wow! I can’t believe that it’s been half a year already! And that it’s already JULY!!! Whaaaa! I’m super excited for July’s pick because I’ve been wanting to read this book. I can’t wait to see the different perspectives!
xoxo
Taylor
I’ve loved having this good list of books to read through. I’m behind on this months but hopefully catching up before the 30th.
It might be fun to have a chat on twitter with hashtag #abmbookclub. You can see chats on tchat.io , so it’s easier to continue chatting on a certain subject and easily see what others are saying. Just a thought.
I’ve been wanting to read that! I’m still working on the Goldfinch, so I guess I had better hurry up!!
You’re gonna love it!
xx- Elsie
First of all i should admit being a web developer and part of IT world never get much of time for book reading your this section provoke me for doing so, Thankx for it. I would like to suggest to bring “Khalid hosseini” books “hamid Mohsin” books, in coming future
yay! i really want to read this!
xxoo,
nikki
http://www.dreaminneon.blogspot.com
I have looked at every selection. I was only able to pick up The Lowlands (which I loved). Every other book was far too popular of a book to get in time from the library, as there were so many holds before me for every other book selected. I would love to see some great lesser known books or maybe just some great books not on the “everyone in the world is reading the same thing right now” list. That would make it accessible for people who maybe can’t afford or don’t necessarily want to buy every book.
I have read SO many incredible books lately – all different types of genres. I would recommend for the book club:
The Ocean at the End of the Lane – a fantastical, clever, whimsical quick-read (this will SO be made into a movie some day)
Life After Life – a thought-provoking, internal questioning book about choices and do-overs
Eleanor & Park – a fun, odd, quick-read, romantic, coming of age book
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – another fantastical, incredibly unique book inspired by original vintage pictures
I could go on and on….
Have fun reading!
Currently reading The Shining Girls. LOVED Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore. So fun.
The Thirteenth Tale and The Book Thief were great reads! Try anything by Kate Morton if you like the Thirteenth Tale – castles, mysteries, wonderful reads.
I love the idea of other moderators. Maybe with you (Emma) and another moderator both chiming in your different opinions/answers. I think Ms. Elise Blaha Cripe would be excellent for this 🙂
I would love to suggest Game of Thrones, but the books are very heavy, and they do take a while to read. I just need an outlet to discuss them because EVERYONE I KNOW WATCHES THE SHOW. It’s upsetting try to talk about a really good series and not spoil it for people who want to watch the series and not the book.
Other than that, I think some classics would be in order, like Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Anna Karenia, etc
THe Ocean at the End of the Lane was BEAUTIFUL. If you read the recap by Amanda Palmer on the book and how when Neil Gaiman was writing the book and she was making her album “Theater is Evil” the two hit a very hard time in their marriage due to how differently each person delt with creating. Amanda being holed up in a studio somewhere until it’s finished, and Neil wanting to be near her.
I love the idea of the book club, but I wonder if there is another way to connect. It’s difficult when it is just through the comments because there are so many and it’s hard to follow. I stopped participating after Fault in Our Stars, even though I really like the idea of it. Is there some sort of online chat platform or something similar to make it more interactive? Maybe there could also be like check-ins through the month? To keep motivated 🙂 I feel like the book is announced, and then I always forget until the end of the month when there is the recap. Thanks ladies (and gents!)
I love your idea of a book club! It got me reading books of other genres, and I’m so glad I branched out! There are so many amazing books in the world! 🙂
http://everydayingrace.blogspot.ca/
I just stumbled upon this, and I can’t wait to join the book club next month :). I have been looking for a book club type thing online so I am very excited. I purchased The Fault In Our Stars a month ago, but I can’t get myself to read it. Now I have to!
xx
Nida from Nida Does Beauty
I’m in the same boat! I was an English major and would read constantly. Recently I’ve started reading more but I have a hard time finding a good variety of books. I’m looking forward to jumping in with this book club!
I also like the idea of having a poll on a limited number of book choices. I am excited to get into nonfiction with #Girlboss. I wouldn’t mind having a short classic either (maybe even with a corresponding movie that we could compare). I appreciate how you announce the picks so early so I can reserve them at the library!
I am a reader so I have been loving it. I’ve heard great things about #GirlBoss so I will add it to my July Reads 🙂
I was gonna suggest #girlboss and then I scrolled down and there it was! I first heard of this book club now and now I can join!
I think it’s a really fun idea, even though I haven’t participated yet. I did end up reading The Interestings after seeing it here, and went back and read through the comments when I was done. I just finished the Good Luck of Right Now for this month, though.:)
Also, I just concluded my very first year of book club meetings here in Hong Kong where i live. One of my favorites of the ones we read was “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?”. I also just finished and loved “The Rosie Project”. I hope you continue!
I’d like to join and read #girlboss in July. Is that a possibility?
I so want to be a part of it!
I’ve read 3 books in the last month and a half, and I’m starting to wonder how I’m gonna back home with all those books packed in my suitcase!
Okay, my interest is piqued and I want to join in on the fun! Last time I was in a book club, I must have been nine. Love the list so far, I’ll have to pick up a copy of The Good Luck of Right Now. Excited for #Girlboss,
http://faitboum.blogspot.com
Yay! I loved #GIRLBOSS!
http://brittannytaylor.com/blog/
Oh my UNIVERSE!!!! Uhm, I’ve been hearing and reading about how super #GIRLBOSS is and now I get to share the fun with you ladies! Woo hoo!
Super excited!
When you started this series I really wanted to join, but the book you choose was only availible in english (it will be availible in german soon 😀 ) and as I started reading I was having a hard time following the plot. I never thought that could happen, since I’m reading most blogs in english and never have problems with understanding, but reading a book seems to be different. Especially since I read in bed until I can’t hold my eyes open 😀
Long story short. I will join in now that I’m on my summer break and have more time to read. But it would be great if there would be books like “The fault in our stars” that are availible in more languages.
I was finishing a degree this year, so I unfortunately couldn’t manage to join on your book club. Although it was in my plans for the next year. I hope it will still be on in September! I will try to read a few of the books selected this year over the summer! I’m especially looking forward to be reading The Lowlands and the Goldfinch. My suggestion: reading short stories… Canadian author Alice Munro won the Nobel price this year, it would be fun to read some of her stories!
Well, here’s another great suggestion: I was deeply impressed by
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
I have been enjoying this book club SO MUCH the last few months. This is the first time joining any sort of book club, and I am so glad I did. It has opened up my reading preferences. I’ll be participating for as long as it goes on. Happy Friday!
So far, I’ve read all of the books – though not always on time. Only I had to skip the June book, because it took me too long to read the Goldfinch (am still not quite done *cough*).
Did you ever notice that your selection had a theme?
In “The Interestings”, Ash does not tell Ethan the whereabouts of her brother – and that she is in touch with him at all and a lot of the plot depends on this secret.
In “The Fault in our Stars”, Hazel is afraid of exploding on other people (I can’t remember her exact expression. She meant that she did not want to make other people feel emotionally attached to her only to die on them later on). The fact that she keeps this a secret from Gus makes some of her actions hard to understand for him. But Gus has a secret, too: At some point, he knows that it’ll be him who dies first, but he also keeps this secret.
In “The Lowland”, Subhash keeps it a secret from Bella (and other people in his life) that he is not her real father and that his marriage started on quite unusual terms.
In “Longbourn”, a lot of the plot happens because James tries to keep it a secret that he deserted the army.
Finally, the central theme in “The Goldfinch” is the fact that Theo has stolen the painting and needs to keep this a secret from the world.
It was fun to see this theme evolve – it was kind of like being in a literature class in school only without knowing what the topic was and slowly figuring it out. But I have to admit: After a while I got a bit tired of it. “Oh, somebody else who’s keeping something very important from the people who are most important to him – we know that’s not going to end well.”
I’ve been trying to keep up with the book club, but The Goldfinch is just so long. I’m just 60% of the way through the book even though I started in May.
I have a couple of book suggestions:
-The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin has been on my to-read list for quite some time as has The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida.
-I’ve been curious about the book A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. It won a Pulizer Prize.
-I’ve heard a lot about Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple.
-Oh! And Stephen Colbert says we should read California by Edan Lepucki (and who am I to argue with Stephen).
Hello Emma,
I really like your book club and I wrote a longer post about your selection, but I’m not sure it got sent. Seems like either my computer or the internet swallowed it whole 🙁
Maybe I’ll try to put it together again later.
So far I’ve been loving the book club!! It’s helped me get back in the groove of reading again. And so far I’ve been happy with all the book choices. I am really excited to order the next book on list. Can’t wait!
This book in particular has been popping up everywhere lately! Maybe it’s a sign I should read it? I think I’ll joining book club for July – it will be my first book club ever!
xo Katie
bluepoppyblog.com
How about Fangirl or Eleanor & Park? Both by Rainbow Rowell. Amazing reads.
Hi Rika! It should be showing up for you now 🙂 – Jacki
i have to say i started to read again since i saw the beginning of the book club! i usually get very sleepy reading at night, then i found out that reading in the middle of my lunch break was the best way to be entertained with my reading 🙂 i was only able to read The Fault in our Stars and Longbourn, because i didn’t found the others in portuguese version in Brazil, and i’m a little lazy to read a entire book in english… but i’m loving the book club!!! and i’m taking notes of all these other books and waiting for the translation 🙂 so… would it be really selfish if i suggested books that have foreign translations? yeah, i think so…. p.s: sorry for my writing mistakes
I recently finished reading #GirlBoss and I also got addicted! Sophia Amoruso is so inspirational! I love how true she is to herself. I can see her personality and character through her words. Loved it!
I haven’t participated yet, but am excited to start! The monthly picks are books i am reading/want to be reading anyway. I think it’s a great way to connect and make the internet a little more human 🙂
Should have gotten involved with the ABM Book club in January. Such great books! Lots already on my Goodreads shelves. I’m a bit late to the game but I’m jumping in. I love historical fiction, too. Always interesting to read about history with a twist from someone’s imagination. Great selections! Looking forward to the reads!!
Love ABM Book Club <3
I so want to read #GIRLBOSS! I just wanted to say though that having the book club around on ABM really helps me find more books to read personally. I was holding off reading "The Fault in Our Stars" for a while (too in love with John Green's book "Looking for Alaska"). But I did read it for the book club and loved it!
Have you tried putting the ABM book club on Goodreads? It's a great way to track progress on books as well as getting more people involved.
Oh this is awesome! I love to read but never have anyone to discuss with and was always too shy to join an in-person book club. Definitely adding this to my summer reading list!
I love the book club! It’s fun to see what books you’re planning to read next. However, I’ve only been able to participate twice due to long waiting lists at the library (still waiting on Goldfinch….). Maybe you could also include some books that are not quite so new and crazy popular? Even books from last year would be way easier to get.
Thanks, and keep up the good work!
I’m reading now #GIRLBOSS and I love it! She is so inspiring! I saw this book here and i’m very thankful for what you’re posting here <3
I like the book club. I signed up so I would read some books I wouldn’t normally read. I read the first two, then got a tad behind, missed the third, but I’m reading the Goldfinch now. I’ve loved the ones I’ve read so the club has worked well for me, I figure if I read half of the books I’ve expanded my world of reading a lot since I normally stick to cheesey mysteries lol. But I’ll stick with it whatever y’all decide – only please don’t stop! Thank you!
I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about #GIRLBOSS, and I have a goal to read 3 books (small goal since I don’t read a ton) before my next birthday… and your book club was the kick I needed to order + read it! Thank goodness for an Amazon gift card I had + Prime membership my fiancé has. Woop!
I think it would be a greta idea to have other people share their experience with books. Maybe even blogger from abroad 😉
I love this. I’ve found so many books that I’ve forced myself to take the time to read. I need to figure out how to get them done in the month time though. Maybe can you release the next two or three? I could probably get a book done and participate every other month. Just an idea. Could be a terrible one.
LOVED this book! How I was led to it was crazy-awesome! Her ad showed up on YouTube, and I was drawn in by her brief synapsis about starting as a freeman, dumpster-diving, shop-lifter and now is the CEO of Nasty Gal. Looked for it on Amazon, saw they didn’t have a reading sample, but a Audible listening sample instead. First audio book I’ve ever listened to and I was HOOKED.
The woman that read her book was AMAZING! I loved her voice and reading style. I’ve been listening to book nonstop since! I can ONLY listen when I’m doing chores like dishes or cleaning the bathroom (I get easily distracted otherwise). Makes it MUCH less painful to do! Haha.
#GIRLBOSS was an excellent read; I’ve been telling EVERYONE about it!!
yay i loved reading #GIRLBOSS!
Is there a way to “sign up” for your book club, or does one read the selection for the month and stop by every so often for discussion about the book? Thx!
Just started reading this and I love it! I can’t wait to discuss it. Also, you probably get comments like this all the time, but I just want to say thank you so much for sharing all of your inspirations, and keep up the amazing work it really makes a difference in my life and Im sure so many others’!
I worked in a bookshop for years and we run a book club but it’s so hard to get new members. I think an online bookclub is the perfect idea, and would also love to meet face to face too.
I adored ‘Goldfinch’ and think you choices are spot on.
Just finished reading #Girlboss and can’t wait to catch your discussion!!
Thanks for this series x
Why did you not warn us that you were telling the endings to every book! Just say SPOILER ALERT!
I will join ASAP! I need to finish some of the books on my must read reading list! Looks fun and interesting! Can’t wait!