Picking the next book for your book club can be stressful! Depending on how your club operates, you may submit books and vote on one or you may rotate and allow different members to choose a book for the group each month.
However your group likes to roll, these are some great book picks for your club this winter!
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1. Demon Copperhead by Barbarba Kingsolver
If you’re fans of Barbarba Kingsolver (like me!), Demon Copperhead should definitely be your next read. Be warned, it is not one you’ll be able to skim through. This book is rich with content, but most of the dialogue is presented in the paragraph without quotation marks. On top of that, it’s nearly 600 pages. This will take some dedication, but you won’t be disappointed. The conversations that could stem from this book are endless.
Synopsis:
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.
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In addition, if you haven’t read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, please do it!! This is a rare book that I’ve read twice. It’s also dense and rich, in true Kingsolver fashion. It would make for incredible discussion and is one that will stay with you for years.
Synopsis:
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it — from garden seeds to Scripture — is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.
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2. Solito by Javier Zamora
If your club is looking for a memoir, consider Solito by Javier Zamora. Solito is the retelling of Javier’s experience embarking on a three thousand mile journey, fleeing from El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border at just nine years old. This book is filled with hardship, but is also a reflection of kindness and love in unexpected places. It would make for fantastic discussion!
Synopsis:
Javier’s adventure is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone except for a group of strangers and a coyote hired to lead them to safety, Javier’s trip is supposed to last two short weeks.
At nine years old, all Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents’ arms, snuggling in bed between them, living under the same roof again. He does not see the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside a group of strangers who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family.
A memoir by an acclaimed poet that reads like a novel, Solito not only provides an immediate and intimate account of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is Javier’s story, but it’s also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home.
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3. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeny
Maybe your club is in need of a fast-paced thrill? Let me introduce you to Daisy Darker by Alice Feeny! I’m a complete sucker for trapped thrillers! You know the ones where they’re all locked in a house or on a deserted island? THOSE. This one is very Agatha Christie-esque with a dark moody feel, perfect for the winter months.
Synopsis:
After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.
The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…
Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.
With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.
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4. Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
There’s something about winter that makes me especially keen on magical realism. Call it holiday spirit or the sparkle of a new year, but something about this time always persuades me to pick up a book with the element and I always love it!! Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen is the one I’ll be turning to this season. Estranged relatives, quirky and secretive neighbors, and ghosts? Count me in!
Synopsis:
Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways.
Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.
When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at the Dellawisp she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a young woman with a past, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and a lonely chef, and three ghosts. The sudden death of one of Zoey’s new neighbors sets off a search that leads to the island’s famous author and to a long-estranged relative of the sisters.
Each of them has a story, and each story has an ending which hasn’t yet been written.
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5. Once Upon a December by Amy E. Reichert
Maybe you’re looking for a sugar cookie of a book to finish out the year, one you can really just float through and enjoy because you know the happily ever after will be waiting for you at the end. I’d suggest Once Upon a December by Amy E. Reichert. This book is filled with holiday magic, swoon-worthy dates, and cozy sweet spirit! This one could inspire an entire book club snack menu!
Synopsis:
With a name like Astra Noel Snow, holiday spirit isn’t just a seasonal specialty–it’s a way of life. But after a stinging divorce, Astra’s yearly trip to the Milwaukee Christmas market takes on a whole new meaning. She’s ready to eat, drink, and be merry, especially with the handsome stranger who saves the best kringle for her at his family bakery.
For Jack Clausen, the Julemarked with its snowy lights and charming shops stays the same, while the world outside the joyful street changes, magically leaping from one December to the next every four weeks. He’s never minded living this charmed existence until Astra shows him the life he’s been missing outside of the festive red brick alley.
After a swoon-worthy series of dates, some Yuletide magic, and the unexpected glow of new love, Astra and Jack must decide whether this relationship can weather all seasons, or if what they’re feeling is as ephemeral as marshmallows in a mug of hot cocoa.
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Let me know if your club chooses any of these books! I’d love to hear your thoughts!
What genre of books do you pull toward in the winter months?
