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Hi, readers!

Please find below the poll for our upcoming genre: dystopia. All books are over 100,000 words, so they will be read over the course of a month rather than two weeks. I’m open to genre and book recommendations for when we finish dystopia. I thought a zombie one could be pretty fun, but let me know if you have alternative thoughts!

Happy reading!

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

103,000 words

Two teens must learn the “art of killing” in this Printz Honor–winning book, the first in a chilling new series from Neal Shusterman, author of the New York Times bestselling Unwind dystology.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

Scythe is the first novel of a thrilling new series by National Book Award–winning author Neal Shusterman in which Citra and Rowan learn that a perfect world comes only with a heavy price.

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

130,000 words

Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a “glorious” story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City.

In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn’t remember who he is, where he’s from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.

In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it’s as if the paint is literally calling to her.

In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.

And they’re not the only ones.

Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She’s got six.

Followers by Megan Angelo

117,000 words

An electrifying story of two ambitious friends and the dark choices they make to become internet famous.

Orla Cadden is a budding novelist stuck in a dead-end job, writing clickbait about movie-star hookups and influencer yoga moves. Then Orla meets Floss—a striving, wannabe A-lister—who comes up with a plan for launching them both into the high-profile lives they dream about. So what if Orla and Floss’s methods are a little shady—and sometimes people get hurt? Their legions of followers can’t be wrong.

Thirty-five years later, in a closed California village where government-appointed celebrities live every moment of the day on camera, a woman named Marlow discovers a shattering secret about her past. Despite her massive popularity—twelve million loyal followers—Marlow dreams of fleeing the corporate sponsors who would do anything to keep her on-screen. When she learns that her whole family history is based on a lie, Marlow finally summons the courage to run in search of the truth, no matter the risks.

Followers traces the paths of Orla, Floss and Marlow as they wind through time toward each other, and toward a cataclysmic event that sends America into lasting upheaval. At turns wry and tender, bleak and hopeful, this darkly funny story reminds us that even if we obsess over famous people we’ll never meet, what we really crave is genuine human connection.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

103,000 words

In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future.

Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.

When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.

Vote Here!

Hi, readers!

I have just a couple of quick updates for you all.

Firstly, we are now introducing Social Saturdays! On weekends where there isn’t an official book club meeting, you are free to join a Zoom call to hang out if you wish. This is for free form conversation, though you of course may use it to discuss books. These will take place on alternating Saturdays at 6pm PST/9pm EDT. The same link as for the official meetings will be used, and as always, do not feel pressured to show up. It is purely casual for anyone who wants it.

We are also introducing a recommendation window! After the book conversation on meeting days has faded out to general conversation, we will have a window where you are free to recommend anything you’ve read lately or would like others to check out. These will not be official book club reads, just something fun for members to look into if interested. I ask for spoilers not to be present during this window, no matter how many people have already read it. Save it for the social day! 😊

Many of you have asked if we can push meeting times back to 6pm PST/9 pm EDT. We will begin this schedule for next meeting (March 27) unless it is not going to work for enough of you. Please message me if this won’t work with your schedule.

Lastly, remember to submit book recommendations for our upcoming genre (dystopia) or any genre in general if you have ideas. The dystopia poll will be up this weekend.

Thank you for all of your suggestions, thoughts, and assistance while we figure out everything. Each of the above points were recommended by several of you, and I’m grateful for your active participation in where this club is going. Reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Hello my Rather be Readers!

We are switching away from Discord! All future meetings will be over Zoom, and a big thank you to those who have helped me test it out to ensure it meets our needs. Days and times remain the same: Saturdays at 10 pm Eastern.

Announcements will be sent via (free for you) text message and Telegram. Currently, only North Americans may opt into texts, but we will continue searching for an alternative. If you are not in North America or want Telegram announcements as well as or in place of texts, you may join the channel.

I’m also offering a social Telegram group if anyone is interested. If anything important is discussed in it, that information will be put into the announcements channel. Nobody has to join/participate in it if they aren’t up for it.

This is all pretty new, so I hope you will have patients with me while I navigate it and iron out any wrinkles that might come up.

Please find our new join page here, where you may opt in to what modes you would like.

Thank you all!

Hi readers!

 

Sorry for not updating the blog for the last while! We’ve been trying to sort out better structure for our book selections, and in case you weren’t around for the results, they are as follows:

 

When I put together the polls, wordcount will be listed. If a book is under 100,000 words, we will read the whole thing in two weeks. If the book is over 100,000, we will meet twice as we have for many in the past.

 

The submission poll has a space for you to identify how many weeks a book should be read, so if you can find the wordcount and put that info it, that’d be great. If not, I don’t mind finding it myself. 😊

 

Other than that, it would be very helpful to me if you could send me a message or post in the Discord channel what genre(s) you’d like to see next. I don’t mind selecting one, but I want you to have the chance to read the genres you’d like. Doing this in writing is a quicker and more efficient process than doing it during the meetings, so please send any suggestions my way! Even if you don’t care what we read, that is still valuable information that I’d appreciate.

 

Our genre for next session(s) is nonfiction. I’ve tried to find a variety of books, since I don’t have any of the genre in the submissions. I recognize that there is a wide variety of nonfiction styles, so if you are hoping for a different type, let me know and I’ll consider it for our next meetings.

 

Without further rambling…

 

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks

 

76,000 words

 

If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it. Dr. Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of patients struggling to adapt to often bizarre worlds of neurological disorder. Here are people who can no longer recognize everyday objects or those they love; who are stricken with violent tics or shout involuntary obscenities; who have been dismissed as autistic or retarded, yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. If inconceivably strange, these brilliant tales illuminate what it means to be human.

 

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

 

190,000 words

 

In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.

 

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking.

 

Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane

 

136,000 words

 

In Underland, Robert Macfarlane delivers an epic exploration of the Earth’s underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself. Traveling through the dizzying expanse of geologic time—from prehistoric art in Norwegian sea caves, to the blue depths of the Greenland ice cap, to a deep-sunk “hiding place” where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come—Underland takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind.

 

 

Global in its geography and written with great lyricism, Underland speaks powerfully to our present moment. At once ancient and urgent, this is a book that will change the way you see the world.

 

(Quiet) by Susan Cain

 

114,000 words

 

The book that started the Quiet Revolution

 

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.

 

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

 

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

 

45,000 words

 

I read this book four or five years ago and absolutely loved it. I think it  might be too short and perhaps too sad for the club at this time, but I strongly encourage any of you to read it. I’ll include it in the poll just in case. 🙂

 

For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question ‘What makes a life worth living?’

 

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

 

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

 

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.'” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

 

Choose Here

 

Hi, readers!

 

I’ve been pretty busy with school and life in general, so I apologize for the delay in opening this poll. I will leave it open until Sunday night to give everyone a chance to vote. You can also vote for two books, because we have more than usual.

 

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

 

96,000 words

 

A poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.

 

Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can’t fix up their own marriage. There’s a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can’t seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroom, and you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world.

 

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in a motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

 

Humorous, compassionate, and wise, Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious of times.

 

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

 

100,000 words

 

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine

 

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding unnecessary human contact, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

 

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen, the three rescue one another from the lives of isolation that they had been living. Ultimately, it is Raymond’s big heart that will help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. If she does, she’ll learn that she, too, is capable of finding friendship—and even love—after all.

 

Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

 

the only way to survive is to open your heart.

 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

 

63,000 words

 

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

 

Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, for fifteen-year-old Christopher everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor’s dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is funny, poignant and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.

 

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

 

75,000 words

 

An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.

 

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

 

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

 

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.

 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

 

201,000 words

 

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last – inexorably – into evil.

 

Vote Here!

 

Please select two books.

 

Hi, readers!

 

I really need to create better titles for these blog posts, but considering the files in my documents folder named “untitled”, “untitled2”, and “new untitled thing”, it’s just not going to happen.

 

Anyway, thank you to those who attended our last meeting. The thriller genre is one with which I am very familiar, and I enjoyed exploring it with you. We were originally planned to read a second thriller since the first was so short, but a couple of you expressed an interest in a lighter read.

 

We have our next meeting on January 30, and, unless anyone is opposed to it, I think we can read one of our selections fully by then.

 

While our genre is memoir/biography, I received two types of submissions: lighthearted, short ones and heavier, longer ones. I decided that we can do one of the former now and revisit one of the latter afterword, because both types are absolutely worth reading.

 

Thank you to those who submitted books; it’s incredibly helpful to have input from you!

 

Some Important Notes

 

• The book submissions form now has a place to say whether you think a book can be read in 2 or 4 weeks. I will put the information with the summary so that everyone can vote accordingly. This does mean that I may need to do some future planning and have books prepared for the next session’s poll, so I encourage you to submit books you’d like to read no matter what genre they are.
• There is no longer a book submissions Discord channel. Please put all submissions in the Google form! It is much easier for me to keep track this way.
• Over the next few days, please think about the club and what you would like to see happen its future. I am going to create a survey to get your thoughts and opinions, so this is your chance to tell me what you love and hate.
• One of our members, Nick, is starting a writing club! You can find the Discord server here.
• I originally was going to include Hyperbole and a Half in our poll, but it’s extremely short so replaced it with another book. I did accidentally read about half of it, and I highly recommend it. It’s hilarious and relatable.

 

Book Summaries

 

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

 

(71,000 words)

 

Hemingway’s memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties are deeply personal, warmly affectionate, and full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, but also at the other writers who shared Paris with him – James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald – he recalls the time when, poor, happy, and writing in cafes, he discovered his vocation. Written during the last years of Hemingway’s life, his memoir is a lively and powerful reflection of his genius that scintillates with the romance of the city.

 

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

 

(76,000 words)

 

In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by.

 

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

 

(88,000 words)

 

In Furiously Happy, a humor memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions, and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest:

 

“I’ve often thought that people with severe depression have developed such a well for experiencing extreme emotion that they might be able to experience extreme joy in a way that ‘normal people’ also might never understand. And that’s what Furiously Happy is all about.”

 

Jenny’s readings are standing room only, with fans lining up to have Jenny sign their bottles of Xanax or Prozac as often as they are to have her sign their books. Furiously Happy appeals to Jenny’s core fan base but also transcends it. There are so many people out there struggling with depression and mental illness, either themselves or someone in their family—and in Furiously Happy they will find a member of their tribe offering up an uplifting message (via a taxidermied roadkill raccoon). Let’s Pretend This Never Happened ostensibly was about embracing your own weirdness, but deep down it was about family. Furiously Happy is about depression and mental illness, but deep down it’s about joy—and who doesn’t want a bit more of that?

 

The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek

 

(51,000 words)

 

Longtime Jeopardy! host and television icon Alex Trebek reflects on his life and career.

 

Since debuting as the host of Jeopardy! in 1984, Alex Trebek has been something like a family member to millions of television viewers, bringing entertainment and education into their homes five nights a week. Last year, he made the stunning announcement that he had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. What followed was an incredible outpouring of love and kindness. Social media was flooded with messages of support, and the Jeopardy! studio received boxes of cards and letters offering guidance, encouragement, and prayers.

 

For over three decades, Trebek had resisted countless appeals to write a book about his life. Yet he was moved so much by all the goodwill, he felt compelled to finally share his story. “I want people to know a little more about the person they have been cheering on for the past year,” he writes in The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life.

 

The book combines illuminating personal anecdotes with Trebek’s thoughts on a range of topics, including marriage, parenthood, education, success, spirituality, and philanthropy. Trebek also addresses the questions he gets asked most often by Jeopardy! fans, such as what prompted him to shave his signature mustache, his insights on legendary players like Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer, and his opinion of Will Ferrell’s Saturday Night Live impersonation. The book uses a novel structure inspired by Jeopardy!, with each chapter title in the form of a question, and features dozens of never-before-seen photos that candidly capture Trebek over the years.

 

Book Poll