As usual, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the fantastic blog The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s topic is ten books you’d want to read with your book club (whether you belong to one or wish you did!) I decided to split mine up by my favorite genres when it comes to discussions.
I love YA books that tackle tough social topics, so I chose three books that handled different issues and that handled the tough topics without being preachy. Topics in my picks include racism, bullying, abusive relationships, and slut shaming. As I’ve mentioned before, along with majoring in English while in college I also majored in Religious Studies (not to be confused with theology, religious studies looks at comparative world religions through an interdisciplinary approach including sociology, history, and anthropology). I love reading modern books with religious themes, whether they be retellings (such as East of Eden being a retelling of Adam/Eve and Cain/Abel) or if they just pull from religious concepts (I’d love to read Angelfall and nerd out over all of the biblical references and interpretations with someone!) Lastly, I chose three YA psychological thrillers that I would love to read with a club so we could deconstruct the narrative, as all three feature very unreliable narrators!
What books made your book club wish list this week? Let me know in the comments!
Ooh! Great choices. I love how similar our taste in books is. I’ve read 6 of these! 🙂 I think Mara Dyer would be fascinating to discuss with others!
I love the Mara Dyer series because she’s at times the antagonist herself! Even though I’ve finished the trilogy it would be so fascinating to discuss the psychological elements with others!
I love the way you’ve chosen the books on your list! This is the second time I’ve seen East of Eden today, and I agree that it’d make a great book club read – there’d certainly be plenty to talk about!
Yay, more East of Eden fans! I decided this week to break down my book club reads based on the topics I would want to discuss- I can imagine it would be a bit of a drag if you belonged to a book club that chose a focus that wasn’t your thing. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Eleanor and Park and The Truth About Alice would be great books to discuss! I haven’t read anything by Sarah Dessen in years but seeing her on your list is making me want to go read something by her again 🙂
I haven’t read Sarah Dessen in years either, but Dreamland really stuck with me because it was such a sad portrayal of how abusive a relationship can be.
Eleanor and Park would be a great read for a book club. I loved Fangirl! 🙂
My TTT
Wonderful blog by the way!
New Bloglovin follower. 🙂
Jess @ Jess Time To Read
Thank you so much! 🙂 I’ve loved all of Rowell’s books, but Fangirl and E&P have been my favorites as well 🙂
Awww, Eleanor & Park would have been great to read with a book club! Man, all of these posts are making me wish that I was a part of one! Great list! 🙂
My TTT: http://nutfreenerd.com/2015/01/27/top-ten-tuesday-books-id-like-to-read-with-a-book-club/
Me too! It makes me want to participate in some more read-a-longs!
I haven’t read the Mara Dyer series yet, but I’ve got the first two books so I need to do that soon! I don’t know if I want to read We Were Liars – I’ve seen a ton of bad reviews that focus on the weird writing style which I’m pretty sure would irritate me too. Worth reading?
My TTT!
We Were Liars definitely has a really strange prose style, but it’s a really short book (I read it in like a day) so I personally think it’s worth the fast read because I thought the twist was so interesting (it also has a lot of critique about classism and racism). Mara Dyer is fantastic, I would highly recommend getting to that asap!
Hmmm. Well maybe I will try We Were Liars sometime. It won’t be a priority but I’ll keep it on my to read list. 🙂
I just love the theme of your book club! East of Eden and Eleanor & Park both have themes and messages that would make interesting discussions. Great list 🙂
I’ve talked a lot about E&P on my blog but East of Eden was so good (and so long, it was fascinating how it covered so many generations) and I wrote a few papers on it while in college, and there’s SO MUCH that could be discussed! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I think any book with an unreliable narrator is perfect for a book club setting. These are the ones that have you saying “WHAT?” aloud and who better to bounce ideas off of than other people?
Exactly! I love books with unreliable narrators which perhaps makes me cynical but it makes for a more thought-provoking reading experience!
Thrillers are a great choice for a book club because you can discuss possible theories and what you think is going to happen next. I’ve only read We Were Liars from your thrillers picks, but the other two are very high up on my TBR list!
Here’s My Top Ten Tuesday
Dangerous Girls would be an AMAZING book club read (you HAVE to read it, I was in post-book shock for like a week!) Thanks for stopping by and commenting 🙂
The Truth about Alice sounds so thought provoking!!! Great List! Check out my Top Ten Tuesday! http://bookbabble.weebly.com/blog/top-ten-tuesday
It’s a really quick read and worth it, I’d definitely recommend picking it up!
Nice selection of books this week!!
Here’s a link to my TTT for this week: http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2015/01/top-ten-tuesday-ten-books-id-love-to.html
What a great list! All of these picks look like good reads!
Check out my TTT
https://onenightbookstandblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/top-ten-tuesday-ten-books-id-love-to-read-with-my-book-clubif-i-had-a-book-club/
I’ve read Angelfall and I really liked it. I can’t wait for the final one. I’m afraid I didn’t notice any of the religious themes besides the obvious angels. I’ve been curious about Mara Dyer. That’s another of those books that you either love it or hate it.
Mara Dyer is definitely one you’re going to have strong feelings about regardless of HOW you feel about it! I liked how it constantly kept me guessing as to WHAT was really going on, and it would be great to bounce theories around with other book club members!
I still haven’t read The Truth About Alice but I feel like it’d a great novel to break down and analyse. I think I wouldn’t be as angry if I read We Were Liars in a group setting (well, that’s questionable) since there’d be a support system to play devil’s advocate with and argue everything that I found difficult to digest with it.
Cheers,
joey via. thoughts and afterthoughts
The Truth About Alice would be great for that, especially because it has so many alternating POV’s of both males and females. We Were Liars had such a different type of writing style, and I didn’t guess the twist but it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting either.
Great list! I really wanted to read Angelfall and it seems like a great book! Here’s my top 10 Tuesday list:
https://rabbitearsblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/top-ten-tuesday-5-top-10-books-i-would-use-in-my-rabbit-ears-book-club/
Oh my goodness.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes to Eleanor and Park, Dreamland, The Truth About Alice, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Dangerous Girls and We Were Liars. I loved Eleanor and Park, The Truth About Alice and We Were Liars. I haven’t read Dangerous Girls yet. 🙁 I haven’t finished it I mean.
I have Dreamland and really want to read it. I want to read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer too. I’m always “down” for a book with religious themes, even if I haven’t read any. I want to read The Read Tent. I love the categories you chose, so different and yet…they kind of fit together (in my mind).
The Red Tent is SO good. Literally life changing if you’re looking for a feminist perspective read on biblical women! Dreamland, in my opinion, is one of Sarah Dessen’s stronger novels because it deals with a deeper issue that’s buried within the romance itself.