Dear Daytime Book Club Members,
This is a reminder to vote for the books we will read together for the upcoming season!
Thank you to all who sent in suggestions! They were wonderful and Carrie and I wish there were more months in the season so that we could get to all of them. We tried to include a variety of genres and some new as well as older books in the mix. We’re very excited to see which you choose.
PLEASE VOTE FOR EIGHT (8) DIFFERENT BOOKS FROM THE FOLLOWING SELECTIONS
PLEASE SEND YOUR EIGHT (8) VOTES TO: cwcbook1@gmail.com by August 15th
GENERAL FICTION:
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali, 333 pgs, Rating: 4.6
In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in wealth until the untimely death of her father. When she and her mother are forced to move to a much more modest part of the city, Ellie meets Homa. The girls become inseparable, but when Ellie and her mother are given the opportunity to move back to their wealthy former life, Ellie’s memories of her friend fade. Years later, as political turmoil builds in Iran, one earth-shattering betrayal has enormous consequences.
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, 266 pgs, Rating: 4.4, A Read with Jenna Pick
Gifty, a PhD candidate in neuroscience at Stanford, is part of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression, addiction, and grief. Seeing suffering all around her, Gifty turns to her research to unlock the scientific answer to her family’s losses. Even as she looks to science, she hungers for her childhood faith and finds herself grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised.
The Names by Florence Knapp, 336 pgs, Rating: 4.2, A Read with Jenna Pick
Can a name shape the course of a life? In The Names, three alternate versions of a mother and her young son’s life unfold shaped by her choice of her son’s name. Spanning thirty five years, the novel explores the ripple effects of domestic abuse, difficult family relationships, and the possibilities of healing as we are drawn into the multitude of “what ifs” that create one life.
HISTORICAL FICTION:
The Book Club of Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick, 380 pgs, Rating: 4.4
By 1960s standards Margaret Ryan is living the American woman’s dream with a husband, three children, a station wagon, and a home in an exclusive suburb. But when the intriguing Charlotte Gustafson moves into the neighborhood, Margaret concocts a book club to draw Charlotte into her orbit. The four-woman book club’s first selection is The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. “The Bettys”, as the women call themselves, begin to discover that the dream they’ve been sold isn’t the utopia they thought and their book club becomes the glue that hold these women together through the tears and triumphs of the most consequential year of their lives.
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See, 383 pgs, Rating: 4.5
Set over several decades, beginning during the Japanese colonization of Korea, followed by WWII, and the Korean War and beyond, two girls, despite being very different, become best friends. As they grow up, the two begin working in their village’s all-female diving collective. But even after surviving hundreds of dangerous dives, when their village is caught between warring empires, forces outside of their control push their friendship to the breaking point.
Time of the Child by Niall Williams, 300 pgs, Rating 4.5, GMA’s #1 Favorite Book of the Year
In the Advent season of 1962, a respected, curmudgeonly doctor and his spinster daughter in the small Irish village of Faha, find their lives turned upside down by the discovery of an orphaned infant brought to their door. Can the doctor and his family overcome the gossip of a small village and the moral attitudes of the times to provide a home for their unexpected guest? This is a sequel to This is Happiness by the same author, but can also be read as a standalone novel.
James by Percival Everett, 304 pgs, Rating: 4.6, Puliter Prize Winner 2025
A loose retelling of Twain’s Huckleberry Finn through the intelligent, compassionate eyes of Jim, the slave who accompanied Huck on his journey along the Mississippi. With Jim as narrator, we see the familiar world of Twain’s Huck and America in a new and enlightening way.
WWII HISTORICAL FICTION:
Still Life by Sarah Winman, 464 pgs, Rating: 4.4, A GMA Book Club Pick
As Allied troops advance, a young English soldier takes refuge in the wine cellar of a deserted Tuscan villa. There, he has a chance encounter with a middle-aged art historian who is there to salvage paintings from the ruins. Kindred spirits, he and she set off on a course of events that will shape the young soldier’s life for the next four decades.
The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana R. Chambers, 397 pgs, Rating: 4.2, Washington Post Best Historical Book of 2024
Before she mastered the art of French cooking in midlife, Julia Child found herself working in the secrets trade in Asia during World War II, a journey that will delight both historical fiction fans and lovers of America's most beloved chef, revealing how the war made her into the icon we know now.
Single, 6 foot 2, and thirty years old, Julia McWilliams took a job working for America's first espionage agency, years before cooking or Paris entered the picture. The Secret War of Julia Child traces Julia's transformation from ambitious Pasadena blue blood to Washington, DC file clerk, to head of General "Wild Bill" Donovan's secret File Registry as part of the Office of Strategic Services.
MYSTERY/ PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER:
In the Woods by Tana French, 612 pgs, Rating: 4.1, Edgar (Mystery) Winner 2008
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers call their children home. But three children do not return from the dark and silent wood. Only one of the children is ever found, gripping a tree trunk, wearing bloodfilled sneakers, and unable to recall the previous hours. Twenty years later, that found boy is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad. He keeps his past a secret, but when another child is murdered in the same woods, he finds himself investigating the case. Snippets of long-buried memories from his shadowy past start returning to him as he tries to solve the case.
The Echo Maker by Richard Powers, 466 pgs, Rating: 4.0, National Book Award Winner 2006
When Mark Schluter flips his truck in a near-fatal accident, his sister Karin return to their Nebraska hometown to nurse him. But when Mark emerges from a coma, he believes that the woman who looks and acts like his sister is an imposter. A neurologist is called in and Mark is diagnosed with a rare delusion syndrome. But what the neurologist discovers undermines even the neurologist’s sense of reality. And when Mark, armed only with a note left by an anonymous witness to the accident, tries to learn the truth about the night of his accident, all three of their lives change beyond recognition.
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarity, 505 pgs, Rating: 4.3, NPR Book of the Year
Flight attendant Allegra Patel loves her job, but today is her twenty-eighth birthday and she’d rather not be placating a plane full of passengers unhappy about a long delay. Suddenly a woman traveling alone stands. She walks down the aisle making predictions about how and when passengers will die. Some dismiss her, they don’t believe in psychics. Some are delighted with her prophecies! Their lives will supposedly be long. Others are appalled. Then a few months later, the first prediction comes true.
MEMOIR:
The Athlete Whisperer by Andrea Kirby, 256 pgs, Rating: 5.0
Andrea Kirby was not a former athlete and had no ties to television. Still, in 1971, this single mom talked her way onto a small television station as a sportscaster. A rare female in the all-male culture of her beloved sports, she was harassed and discriminated against, but she wasn't deterred. A rare, entertaining, and uplifting story, The Athlete Whisperer will inspire any reader with an improbable dream. Andrea Kirby is a local author. She is willing to come one of our meetings and talk about her book and her experiences in television.
FANTASY:
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, 415 pgs, Rating: 4.4
This is the first book of an epic fantasy series centered around Celaena Sardothien, a young assassin who navigates a treacherous world of political intrigue, magic, and romance. The story begins with Celaena's release from a brutal labor camp, where she is offered a chance to compete for the position of the King's Champion and ultimately earn her freedom. The "Throne of Glass" series' popularity stems from a combination of factors, including a compelling female protagonist, engaging plot, and strong world-building.
ROMANTIC COMEDY:
You Are Here – David Nicholls, 355 pgs, Rating: 4.3, Voted Best Book of 2024 -GQ, Harper’s Bazaar
Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way. Adrift after his wife leaves him, Michael has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Marnie is alone and hiding in her London flat, avoiding old friends and any reminders of her rotten ex-husband. When a persistent mutual friend and unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on an epic 10-day hike, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.
WOMEN OF A CERTAIN AGE/ EPISTOLARY NOVEL:
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, 304 pgs, Rating: 4.6, Amazon Best Book of 2025
Seventy-two year old Sybil Van Antwerp has always wrote letters. To her brother, to her best friend, to Ann Patchett and Larry McMurtry (to tell them what she thinks of their latest books). But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the one letter she has been writing over the years but never sends, needs to be read and she can’t move forward until she finds it in her heart to forgive.
SHORT STORY COLLECTION:
The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, 209 pgs, Rating: 4.5, Pulitzer Prize Winner 2000
Navigating between the Indian traditions they’ve inherited and the baffling new world, Jhumpa Lahiri writes lyrical prose, and elegant and touching universal stories of characters who seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations.
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