Year nine of the No Wine or Whiners book club was a particularly memorable one. I'm leaving out several highlights in the interest of ensuring this post is no longer than the usual length.
Most well-received novel of the year: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (2023) - James McBride. The bonus accompanying this discussion with my book club was the opportunity I had to evangelize on behalf of McBride's first book - The Color of Water (1995) - one of the best memoirs I've ever read.
Most well-received non-fiction of the year: The Wager (2023) - David Grann. My selection of this exceptional title inadvertently broke a guideline established in January 2017 at the club's inception, i.e., never to repeat an author. I'd forgotten we'd read Grann's equally masterful Killers of the Flower Moon a few years back. In the end it didn't matter because The Wager was universally well-received and inspired a rich discussion.
In August, the club hosted Jim Thomson, author of A Better Ending: A Brother's Twenty-Year Quest to Discover the Truth about His Sister's Death (2025). The event drew almost forty people and was followed by a reception at our home. This was a first for the club, helping to make our ninth year special.
Coming up in the early fall of year ten: A celebration when we reach book #100; more in next year's report. In the meanwhile, I'd welcome hearing highlights from any club you're involved with, though I can't promise I won't steal some of your good ideas.
2025 was the year of the "bird." Here are the books I read:The Bird Hotel by Joyce Maynard. Colby College PBC Guru selection. Read in a matter of days. Best book I have read this. Year so far. Beautiful heartfelt story of an American woman who ends up in a Central American country (Guatamala – author has spent time there and now has a writer’s retreat center there – totally beautiful). It is an epic novel that I couldn’t put down and recommended for BB book club.
ReplyDeleteAnd:Birding to Change The World – A Memoir by Trish O’Kane – Colby College bookclub. Katrina destroyed her home and she became inspirited by birds and pursued a PhD in environmental studies in Madison, WI. Warner park – near her house – plays a big role in her studies and activism. She starts a program for middle school children who are paired with college student mentors. (She now does this in Burlington, VT.). She explores many themes in this memoir, not just the love of birds and nature, but social and environmental justice and activism, race, class, hubris – to name a few. Well written and engaging. P. 163. And I remembered the counsel of my most important Jesuit mentor in Nicaragua that if you want to make a difference in your community, you don’t do what you want to do – you do what the community needs you to do.
And, I gave The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan to my husband as a gift. Her illustrations are exquisite.
Ines; Thanks for the extensive comment and sharing part of your 2025 reading flight with me and others. Note below another member of the flock has a suggestion for you. I'll stop winging it right there.
DeleteInes. I just read THE BIRD WAY by Jennifer Ackerman. If you haven’t you may enjoy.
ReplyDeleteCookie; Thanks for passing along the reading morsel to Ines.
DeleteThanks. Will check it out!
Delete