April 1, 2016, Book: 'Boys in the Trees: A Memoir'

"We have no secrets. We tell each other everything," sang Carly Simon in the 1970s.

For those of you who were awed by the feminine mystique of Carly back in the 70s, and perhaps sang along to "Anticipation" or "You're So Vain" playing on the turntable in your bedroom (or was that just me), then you'll be extra excited about this selection.

Juli is hosting on April 1, 2016, and she has chosen Carly's confessional new book, "Boys in the Trees: A Memoir" for our first spring selection.

Millennials may not know who Carly is, and they may not know she was married to the then very handsome (and troubled) James Taylor. But when I think about the demographics of our humble club, I'm pretty sure we ALL remember all of this. Like it was yesterday.

So whether you love Carly or you never thought much about her, you're going to learn all about her now.

And in case you'd like to flash back to the jaw-droppingly good music of the 70s (or just the bralessness of it), here's a great video for you to check out: https://youtu.be/Ux7HgO9QhAc

Feb. 19, 2016, Book: 'The Girl on the Train' by Paula Hawkins

Stacey will be hosting in February, and we will be going back to Europe with the "The Girl on the Train." Here is an overview from Amazon.com:

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Compulsively readable, "The Girl on the Train" is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller and an electrifying debut.

A few reviews:

“'The Girl on the Train' marries movie noir with novelistic trickery ... hang on tight. You'll be surprised by what horrors lurk around the bend.”—USA Today

“Like its train, the story blasts through the stagnation of these lives in suburban London and the reader cannot help but turn pages. . . . The welcome echoes of Rear Window throughout the story and its propulsive narrative make 'The Girl on the Train' an absorbing read.”—The Boston Globe

Jan. 8, 2016, Book: 'The Light Between Oceans' by M.L. Stedman

Tifiny will be kicking off our first meeting in 2016, which is also our sixth year as a book club! Wow the time goes by, does it not?

The book will be "The Light Between Oceans" by M.L. Stedman. Here is an excerpt of the description from Amazon.com:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

What? This sounds intriguing.

A few reviews:

"Irresistible...seductive...a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page."—Sara Nelson, O, the Oprah magazine

“An extraordinary and heart-rending book about good people, tragic decisions and the beauty found in each of them.”—Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief

For those of you ahead of the game in the reading department, you now have something to read!

Nov. 6, 2015, Book: 'All The Light We Cannot See' by Anthony Doerr

Maureen has selected the November book, so if you're a fast reader and are ahead of the game, then you're in good shape. She has selected "All The Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr. (It's another Pulitzer Prize winner!)

An Amazon.com description:

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

A review:

It has been a while since I have found a book that I wanted to read slowly so that I could soak in every detail in hopes that the last page seems to never come.

Sept. 25, 2015 Book: 'The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel' by Diane Setterfield

Kris has selected our September book, and it is "The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel" by Diane Setterfield.

Here's a brief overview from Amazon.com:

Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness -- featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess,a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

And a review:

The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida's plan. The transformative power of truth informs the lives of both women by story's end, and The Thirteenth Tale is finally and convincingly told. -- Valerie Ryan

Aug. 7, 2015, Book: 'The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel' by Adam Johnson

Tripp is hosting in August, and he has selected "The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel" by Adam Johnson. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book is a bit longer given we have a break in June and July, so don't delay!

We're heading to Asia, specifically to the Orwellian, modern-day North Korea, for this our next literary journey. It's a place of mystery for many of us in the U.S., and it will surely be an adventure reading this book.

Here's a synopsis from Amazon.com:

Jun Do is The Orphan Master’s Son, a North Korean citizen with a rough past who is working as a government-sanctioned kidnapper when we first meet him. He is hardly a sympathetic character, but sympathy is not author Johnson’s aim. In a totalitarian nation of random violence and bewildering caprice—a poor, gray place that nonetheless refers to itself as “the most glorious nation on earth”—an unnatural tension exists between a citizen’s national identity and his private life. Through Jun Do’s story we realize that beneath the weight of oppression and lies beats a heart not much different from our own—one that thirsts for love, acceptance, and hope—and that realization is at the heart of this shockingly believable, immersive, and thrilling novel. -- Chris Schluep

May 15, 2015, Book: 'Big Little Lies' by Liane Moriarty

Christy is hosting in May and has selected "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty. Here is a description from Amazon.com:

A murder, a tragic accident or just parents behaving badly?
What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.
But who did what?

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.