Critical Mass Book Discussions
Updated May 17, 2011
The Critical Mass Unitarian Universalist Young Adult book discussion/pot-luck takes place monthly (usually 6pm on a Sunday) at various people's houses in Northern Virginia. We read a wide variety of books including fiction and non-fiction. We generally keep book length under 400 pages, and usually make sure books are available in the Fairfax County library system. Our first meeting was in November 1994. Everyone is welcome.
I added a "*" next to books we've already discussed which, in my opinion, have both lead to interesting discussions AND were worthwhile reading. I liked many of the other books, and we had many good discussions, but at the time these seemed to generate the best book-related discussions. (Sometimes we also have great discussions that are not related to the book we are discussing.)
The Edible Woman, by Margaret Atwood was probably our most interesting book-related discussion (Note the **). [We read it a second time in July, 2002.]
The Chosen, by Chaim Potok really impressed me with its fascinating storyline and its wonderful writing, and The Promise was an impressive sequel.
(Unfortunately) I could really relate to the main character in High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby, and it was great to read a book about relationships from a guy's perspective.
Wait Till Next Year (A Memoir), by Doris Kearns Goodwin was especially fascinating for me since I grew up in the town where it took place, though my experiences were very different.
- Eric Carlson
| Upcoming Book Discussions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| We would love to have more people attend the book discussions, so if you are interested, please join us. | |||||
| # | DATE | TITLE | AUTHOR | YEAR | PAGES |
| 197 | 5/29/11 | The Beekeeper's Apprentice | Laurie R. King | 1994 | 405 |
| 198 | 6/x/11 | x | x | x | x |
| 199 | 7/x/11 | x | x | x | x |
| 200 | 8/x/11 | x | x | x | x |
| 201 | 9/x/11 | x | x | x | x |
| 202 | 10/??/11 | x | x | x | x |
| Books We've Already Discussed | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | DATE | TITLE | AUTHOR | YEAR | PAGES |
| 1 | 11/20/94 | * The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an age of Anxiety | Alan W. Watts | 1951 | 152 |
| 2 | 12/18/94 | * Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus | John Gray | 1992 | 286 |
| 3 | 1/15/95 | Intellect: Mind over Matter | Mortimer J. Adler | 1990 | 205 |
| 4 | 2/12/95 | * Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling | John Gatto | 1992 | 104 |
| 5 | 3/19/95 | I and Thou | Martin Beuber | 1958 | 185 |
| 6 | 4/23/95 | Remembering | Wendel Berry | 1988 | 124 |
| 7 | 5/21/95 | The Seven Habits of Highly Effective people | Steven R. Covey | 1989 | 340 |
| 8 | 6/18/95 | The 13th Gen: abort, retry, ignore, fail | Neil Howe, Bill Strauss |
1993 | 229 |
| 9 | 7/??/95 | Stranger in a Strange Land | Robert Heinlein | 1961 | 414 |
| 10 | 8/20/95 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | 1960 | 281 |
| 11 | 9/24/95 | The Mismeasure of Man | Stephen J. Gould | 1981 | 352 |
| 12 | 10/22/95 | Something Wicked This Way Comes (or in Eric's words Here comes something wicked) | Ray Bradbury | 1962 | 215 |
| 13 | 11/19/95 | The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath | 1971 | 216 |
| 14 | 12/17/95 | * Love's Executioner: and Other Tales of Psychotherapy | Irvin D. Yalom | 1989 | 270 |
| 15 | 1/21/96 | ** The Edible Woman | Margaret Atwood | 1969 | 287 |
| 16 | 3/3/96 | The Dispossesed: an ambiguous utopia | Ursula Le Guin | 1974 | 387 |
| 17 | 3/24/96 | * Alice in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll | 1865 | 300 |
| 18 | 4/21/96 | Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man Formerly published as Coming Attractions, 1981 | Fannie Flagg | 1992 | 320 |
| 19 | 5/12/96 | All Quiet On the Western Front | Erich Remarque | 1958 | 175 |
| 20 | 6/30/96 | * The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul | Douglas Adams | 1988 | 309 |
| 21 | 7/21/96 | * A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes | Stephen W. Hawking | 1988 | 182 |
| 22 | 8/11/96 | The Stranger | Albert Camus | 1946 | 123 |
| 23 | 9/22/96 | I Could Do Anything (if only I knew what it was) How to discover what you really want and how to get it | Barbara Sher, Barbara Smith |
1994 | 315 |
| 24 | 10/13/96 | Practical Magic | Alice Hoffman | 1995 | 317 |
| 25 | 11/24/96 | Fit for Life (also: Fit for Life II: Living Health) | Harvey & Marilyn Diamond | 1985 | 285 |
| 26 | 12/22/96 | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou | 1969 | 290 |
| 27 | 1/19/97 | * The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy through the Maze of Computer Espionage | Cliff Stoll | 1989 | 326 |
| 28 | 2/23/97 | * The Handmaid's Tale | Margaret Atwood | 1986 | 311 |
| 29 | 3/16/97 | Adult Children . . . The Secrets of Dysfunctional Families | John & Linda Friel | 1988 | 193 |
| 30 | 4/20/97 | The Dilbert Principle | Scott Adams | 1996 | 336 |
| 31 | 5/25/97 | * The Game of School (The author is a member of the UU Congregation of Fairfax) | Robert L. Tripp | 1993 | 176 |
| 32 | 6/22/97 | Ladder of Years | Anne Tyler | 1995 | 406 |
| 33 | 7/20/97 | * Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance | Robert M. Pirsig | 1974 | 380 |
| 34 | 8/24/97 | * Your Money or Your Life Transforming your relationship with money and achieving financial independence | Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin |
1992 | 327 |
| 35 | 9/21/97 | * Illusions:The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah | Richard Bach | 1977 | 192 |
| 36 | 11/2/97 | Surfacing | Margaret Atwood | 1972 | 231 |
| 37 | 11/23/97 | UH-OH: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door | Robert Fulghum | 1991 | 246 |
| 38 | 12/21/97 | The Physics of Star Trek | Lawrence M. Krauss | 1995 | 188 |
| 39 | 2/1/98 | You can be Happy no Matter What Five Principles Your Therapist Never Told You (Heidi and Eric really liked this book) | Richard Carlson, Ph.D. | 1992, 1997 |
141 |
| 40 | 2/22/98 | Dangerous (a romance novel that Heidi picked to see how the guys respond to a book written for women) | Amanda Quick | 1993 | 338 |
| 41 | 3/22/98 | * Sphere (Movie was playing in area theaters when we discussed this book) | Michael Crichton | 1987 | 371 |
| 42 | 4/19/98 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | 1979 | 215 |
| 43 | 5/24/98 | * The Chosen
- (We all liked this book a lot) |
Chaim Potok | 1967 | 284 |
| 44 | 6/21/98 | Tailchaser's Song (This book is like Watership Down from a cat's point of view) | Tad Williams | 1985 | 364 |
| 45 | 7/19/98 | A Slipping-Down Life | Anne Tyler | 1969 | 186 |
| 46 | 8/23/98 | Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster | Jon Krakauer | 1997 | 360 |
| 47 | 9/20/98 | * The Man Who Listens to Horses | Monty Roberts | 1997 | 258 |
| 48 | 10/18/98 | * The Promise (This is an excellent book - David T & David C) | Chaim Potok | 1969 | 381 |
| 49 | 11/22/98 | * Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America | Elizabeth Wurtzel | 1994 | 317 |
| 50 | 12/20/98 | Siddhartha | Hermann Hesse | 1951 | 153 |
| 51 | 1/17/99 | * Nobody, Nowhere: The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic | Donna Williams | 1992 | 219 |
| 52 | 2/21/99 | Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York NOTE: This book was out-of-print, but we located 7 copies at used book stores. | Gail Parent | 1972 | 218 |
| 53 | 3/21/99 | Tao of Pooh | Benjamin Hoff | 1982 | 158 |
| 54 | 4/18/99 | Cat's Cradle | Curt Vonnegut, Jr. | 1963 | 191 |
| 55 | 6/13/99 | Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem | Gloria Steinem | 1992 | 325 |
| 56 | 7/18/99 | Toxic Sludge Is Good For You! -- Lies, Damn Lies And The Public Relations Industry | John Stauber, Sheldon Rampton |
1995 | 214 |
| 57 | 8/22/99 | Here on Earth | Alice Hoffman | 1997 | 293 |
| 58 | 9/19/99 | Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman | Richard Feynman | 1985 | 350 |
| 59 | 10/24/99 | * High Fidelity | Nick Hornby | 1995 | 323 |
| 60 | 11/21/99 | Mutant message down under | Marlo Morgan | 1994 | 187 |
| 61 | 12/12/99 | A Walk Across America | Peter Jenkins | 1979 | 320 |
| 62 | 1/16/00 | The Potter's Field | Ellis Peters | 1990 | 179 |
| 63 | 2/13/00 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | J.K. Rowling's | 1977 | 310 |
| 64 | 3/26/00 | * Wait Till Next Year (A Memoir)
Her memoir of growing up in the 50's on Long Island, and as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. [I grew up one block away from where she grew up, but 20 years later, and my experiences were quite different. - Eric] |
Doris Kearns Goodwin | 1997 | 260 |
| 65 | 4/16/00 | Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant | Anne Tyler | 1982 | 303 |
| 66 | 5/13/00 | Why...A Guide to Answering Life's Toughest Questions | Robin Norwood | 1997 | 214 |
| 67 | 6/25/00 | Ishmael | Daniel Quinn | 1992 | 236 |
| 68 | 7/30/00 | A Tribe Apart : A Journey into the
Heart of American Adolescence
(Students were from South Lakes High School in Reston, Va) |
Patricia Hersch | 1998 | 391 |
| 69 | 8/27/00 | part 1: The Dharma Bums part 2: Howl (plus footnotes) |
Jack Kerouac Allen Ginsberg |
1958 1956 |
244 22 |
| 70 | 9/23/00 | Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | 1953 | 179 |
| 71 | 10/29/00 | * Emotional Intelligence | Daniel Goleman | 1995 | 309 + notes |
| 72 | 11/19/00 | * Special: Short Story Night
1. The Yellow Wallpaper 2. The Light Years 3. Sometimes they come back 4. The Kugelmass Episode 5. Excerpts from The Book of Embraces |
1. Charlotte Perkins Gilman 2. Italo Calvino 3. Stephen King 4. Woody Allen 5. Eduardo Galeano |
1. 1892 2. 1965 3. 1978 4. 1975 5. 1991 |
1. 11 2. 12 3. 28 4. 10 5. 7 |
| 73 | 12/17/00 | * The Highly Sensitive Person: How to
Thrive When the World Overwhelms You Special for December: "Book gift exchange", contact Eric Carlson for details. Participation in the exchange is optional. |
Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. | 1996 | 239 + notes |
| 74 | 1/21/01 | The Book of Ruth | Jane Hamilton | 1988 | 328 |
| 75 | 2/25/01 | Fight Club
Movie at 4pm, Book discussion at 6pm |
Chuck Palahniuk | 1996 | 208 |
| 76 | 3/18/01 | Towing Jehovah
[Dark humor - God dies and his body falls to earth] |
James Morrow | 1994 | 371 |
| 77 | 4/22/01 | * The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence | Gavin De Becker | 1997 | 318 |
| 78 | 5/27/01 | Pride and Prejudice
Movie version 4pm, Discussion/Potluck 6pm |
Jane Austen | 1811 | 350 |
| 79 | 6/24/01 | Geeks: How two lost boys rode the Internet out
of Idaho
[or, you might call it: "the pains of being 'different' in High School"] (non-fiction) |
Jon Katz | 2000 | 208 |
| 80 | 7/15/01 |
Special: Play reading - The Importance of Being Earnest
(At noon, prior to the book discussion, come watch the 5 hour mini-series version of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice.) |
Oscar Wilde | 1895 | 160 |
| 81 | 8/19/01 | The Giver | Lois Lowry | 1993 | 180 |
| 82 | 9/23/01 | Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days | Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins | 1995 | 339 |
| 83 | 10/28/01 | Generation X: tales for an accelerated culture | Douglas Coupland | 1991 | 193 |
| 84 | 11/25/01 | My Family and Other Animals | Gerald Malcolm Durrell | 1956 | 300 |
| 85 | 12/16/01 | Special: Short Story Night
NOTE: We'll also do a voluntary, random, wrapped gift book exchange (new or in good condition) 1. The Rocket Man from The Illustrated Man 2. When It Happens 3. First Tale of Third Day Tale I from The Decameron |
1. Ray Bradbury 2. Margaret Atwood 3. Giovanni Boccaccio (translated) |
1. 1951 2. 1982 3. 1351 |
1. 10 2. 8 3. 6 |
| 86 | 1/20/02 | Who Moved my Cheese? (about dealing with change) | Spencer Johnson, M.D. | 1998 | 90 |
| 87 | 2/24/02 | The Phantom Tollbooth (Children's section) | Norton Juster | 1961 | 256 |
| 88 | 3/24/02 | Rocket Boys: a memoir [aka. October Sky] | Homer H. Hickam | 1998 | 368 |
| 89 | 4/21/02 | If Life is a Game, How Come I'm Not Having Fun?: A guide to lifes challenges [The author even quotes a UU minister :-)] | Paul Brenner | 2001 | 160 |
| 90 | 5/26/02 | * The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley | Malcolm X, Alex Haley | 1999 | 456 |
| 91 | 6/23/02 | The Liars Club: A Memoir | Mary Karr | 1995 | 320 |
| 92 | 7/21/02 | The Edible Woman
NOTE: We also discussed this in 1996. |
Margaret Atwood | 1969 | 287 |
| 93 | 8/25/02 | * Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal | Eric Schlosser | 2001 | 288 |
| 94 | 9/15/02 | The Parrot's Lament: and other true tales of animal intrigue, intelligence, and ingenuity | Eugene Linden | 1999 | 190 |
| 95 | 10/20/02 | The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements | Eric Hoffer | 1951 | 177 |
| 96 | 11/17/02 | Special: Play reading - Rosencrantz & Guildenstern
are dead
Also, bring copies of your favorite short story for the December discussion. |
Tom Stoppard | 1967 | 126 |
| 97 | 12/15/02 | Special: Short Story Night
1. Shiloh 2. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis/The Unlucky Winner 3. Rape Fantasies, from the book Dancing Girls: And Other Stories NOTE-1: Movie at 4pm: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead NOTE-2: We'll also do a voluntary, random, wrapped gift book exchange (new or in good condition) |
1. Bobbie Ann Mason
2. Max Shulman 3. Margaret Atwood |
1. 1982
2. 1951 3. 1977 |
1. 12
2. 17 3. 10 |
| 98 | 1/19/03 | Bridget Jones's Diary | Helen Fielding | 1998 | 270 |
| 99 | 2/23/03 | Poetry special: Bring copies of a favorite poem to the January discussion, and/or bring it to read aloud in February. | Assorted | ||
| 100 | 3/23/03 | 100th Anniversary Special: Welcoming
all old members, and all new members!
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. One reason we chose this book is because it has been banned in the past. We will also discuss children's/teen books in general, feel free to bring your favorite kids book, or your memories of it. |
Judy Blume | 1970 | 150 |
| 101 | 4/27/03 | The Orchid Thief | Susan Orlean | 1998 | 284 |
| 102 | 5/18/03 | The Restaurant at the end of the Universe | Douglas Adams | 1980 | 250 |
| 103 | 6/22/03 | Life After God | Douglas Coupland | 1994 | 360 short |
| 104 | 7/20/03 | The Richest Man in Babylon | George S. Clason | 1955 | 158 |
| 105 | 8/24/03 | Davita's Harp | Chaim Potok | 1985 | 371 |
| 106 | 9/28/03 | Blue Diary | Alice Hoffman | 2001 | 283 |
| 107 | 10/26/03 | * The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World (Or for you Extroverts: Gain a better understanding of your Introvert Friends) | Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D. | 2002 | 313 |
| 108 | 11/23/03 | Special: Play Reading -
Arsenic and Old Lace
Also, bring copies or source info of a favorite short story for December. |
Joseph Kesselring | 1941 | ? |
| 109 | 12/14/03 | Special: Short Story Discussion
1. Symbols and Signs 2. The Zebra Storyteller 3. A Rose for Ecclesiastes You are also welcome to participate in the Gift Book Exchange by bringing a good wrapped book to put in the random selection pile. |
1. Vladimir Nabokov
2. Spencer Holst 3. Roger Zelazny |
? | 1. 5
2. 1 3. 28 |
| 110 | 1/25/04 | Howl's Moving Castle | Diana Wynne Jones | 1986 | 336 |
| 111 | 2/29/04 | Life of Pi | Yann Martel | 2001 | 319 |
| 112 | 3/28/04 | The Five People You Meet in Heaven | Mitch Albom | 2003 | 196 |
| 113 | 4/25/04 | Memoirs of a Geisha | Arthur Golden | 1997 | 434 |
| 114 | 5/23/04 | The Botany of Desire: a Plant's Eye View of the World | Michael Pollan | 2001 | 271 |
| 115 | 6/13/04 | The Red Pony | John Steinbeck | 1945 | 100 |
| 116 | 7/18/04 | The Secret life of Bees | Sue Monk Kidd | 2002 | 320 |
| 117 | 8/29/04 | Bee season: a novel | Myla Goldberg | 2000 | 275 |
| 118 | 9/26/04 | Into the Wild | Jon Krakauer | 1996 | 207 |
| 119 | 10/24/04 | Please Stop Laughing at Me... One Woman's Inspirational Story [on the topic of school bullying] | Jodee Blanco | 2003 | 270 |
| 120 | 11/21/04 | [10-year anniversary of the book group]
* Brave New World NOTE: Bring copies of a favorite short story for December's discussion |
Aldous Huxley | 1932 | 310 |
| 121 | 12/19/04 | Special: Short stories
1. Paycheck 2. I Stand Here Ironing 3. The Lottery 4. The Reaper's Image 5. Millionaires You are also welcome to participate in the Gift Book Exchange by bringing a good wrapped book to put in the random selection pile. |
1. Philip K. Dick
2. Tillie Olson 3. Shirley Jackson 4. Stephen King 5. Michael Chabon |
1. 1953
2. 1953 3. 1948 4. 1985 5. 1990 |
1. 35
2. 12 3. 7 4. 8 5. 23 |
| 122 | 1/30/05 | Watchmen [a graphic novel] | Alan Moore | 1987 | 400 |
| 123 | 2/27/05 | Coraline [a children's book] | Neil Gaiman | 2002 | 162 |
| 124 | 3/20/05 | On The Road | Jack Kerouac | 1957 | 307 |
| 125 | 4/17/05 | Sex and the City | Candace Bushnell | 1996 | 228 |
| 126 | 5/15/05 | City of Truth | James Morrow | 1990 | 144 |
| 127 | 6/26/05 | Travels with Charley: in search of America | John Steinbeck | 1962 | 277 |
| 128 | 7/31/05 | Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress | Dai Sijie | 2000 | 184 |
| 129 | 8/21/05 | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | 2003 | 336 |
| 130 | 9/25/05 | Special: Play reading - The Clean House | Sarah Ruhl | 2003 | 18 |
| 131 | 10/23/05 | The Mist, found in his collection of short stories called Skeleton Crew | Stephen King | 1985 | ? |
| 132 | 11/20/05 | Bel Canto
Bring copies of your favorite short story for December, or e-mail the info to Eric Carlson. |
Ann Patchett | 2001 | 352 |
| 133 | 12/18/05 | Special: Short Stories
1. Before the Law 2. Happy Endings 3. The Music of Erich Zann 4. Lisey and the Madman 5. The Saga of Thordis Thorgilsdottir NOTE: The first 3 stories can be found online SPECIAL #2: (Optional) gift-book exchange |
1. Franz Kafka 2. Margaret Atwood 3. H. P. Lovecraft 4. Stephen King 5. ?? |
1. 1914 2. 1983 3. 1921 4. ?? 5. 2005? |
1. 2 2. 2 3. 9 4. 31 5. 12 |
| 134 | 1/29/06 | Franny and Zooey | J.D. Salinger | 1961 | 208 |
| 135 | 2/26/06 | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time | Mark Haddon | 2002 | 240 |
| 136 | 3/26/06 | 21 Dog Years: Doing time at Amazon.com | Mike Daisey | 2002 | 222 |
| 137 | 4/30/06 | Ishi: In Two Worlds
A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America |
Theodora Kroeber | 1961 | 243 |
| 138 | 5/21/06 | Somebody's Daughter | Marie Myung-Ok Lee | 2005 | 264 |
| 139 | 6/25/06 | Gathering Blue | Lois Lowry | 2000 | 215 |
| 140 | 7/30/06 | The Wonder Boys | Michael Chabon | 1995 | 368 |
| 141 | 8/27/06 | Lord of the Flies | William Golding | 1954 | 187 |
| 142 | 9/24/06 | Treasure Island [Unabridged] | Robert Louis Stevenson | 1883 | 300 |
| 143 | 10/22/06 | Go Ask Alice | Anonymous | 1971 | 200 |
| 144 | 11/19/06 | Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and other thing's I've learned | Alan Alda | 2005 | 224 |
| 145 | 12/10/06 | Special: Short Stories
1. A Good Man Is Hard To Find 2. Dinah, the Christmas Whore 3. Rip SPECIAL #2: (Optional) gift-book exchange |
1. Flannery O'Connor
2. David Sedaris 3. Thornton Wilder |
1. 1955
2. 1997 3. 1973 |
1. 11
2. 18 3. 24 pages |
| 146 | 1/28/07 | The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky | 1999 | 213 |
| 147 | 2/25/07 | Postponed to March 18 due to weather
Special: Play reading - The Shape of Things |
Neil LaBute | 2000 | 138 |
| 147 | 3/18/07 | Special: Play reading - The Shape of Things | Neil LaBute | 2000 | 138 |
| 148 | 4/29/07 | Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War | Tony Horwitz | 1998 | 390 |
| 149 | 5/20/07 | Freakonomics: A Rouge Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything | Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner | 2005 | 207 |
| 150 | 6/17/07 | Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable | Mark Dunn | 2001 | 206 |
| 151 | 7/15/07 | Night | Elie Wiesel | 1958 (2006 translation) | 115 |
| 152 | 8/19/07 | Confessions of a Shopaholic | Sophie Kinsella | 2001 | 310 |
| 153 | 9/23/07 | Messenger | Lois Lowry | 2004 | 169 |
| 154 | 10/28/07 | * A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana | Haven Kimmel | 2001 | 275 |
| 155 | 11/25/07 | Water for Elephants | Sara Gruen | 2006 | 335 |
| 156 | 12/15/07 | Special: Short Stories
SPECIAL #2: (Optional) gift-book exchange |
?? | ?? | ?? |
| 157 | 1/20/08 | The Thirteenth Tale | Diane Setterfield | 2006 | 406 |
| 158 | 2/24/08 | The World Without Us | Alan Weisman | 2007 | 324 |
| 159 | 3/29/08 | The World Without Us
(Same book 2 months in a row.) |
Alan Weisman | 2007 | 324 |
| 160 | 4/27/08 | Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood | Alexandra Fuller | 2001 | 301 |
| 161 | 5/18/08 | The Man Who Would Be King | Rudyard Kipling | 1888 | 35 |
| 162 | 6/29/08 | Me Talk Pretty One Day | David Sedaris | 2000 | 272 |
| 163 | 7/27/08 | The Clothes They Stood Up In / The Lady in the Van | Alan Bennett | 2002 | 240 |
| 164 | 8/17/08 | The Road | Cormac McCarthy | 2006 | 287 |
| 165 | 9/14/08 | Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation | Lynne Truss | 2004 | 209 |
| 166 | 10/26/08 | Assassination Vacation | Sarah Vowell | 2005 | 272 |
| 167 | 11/16/08 | A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
* NOTE: Bring copies of a favorite short story to be discussed in December, or e-mail the info or story to Eric Carlson |
Bill Bryson | 1998 | 274 |
| 168 | 12/14/08 | SPECIAL: Short story discussion
1. There Will Come Soft Rains 2. Homecoming + Lyle's Roof SPECIAL #2: Gift-book exchange (optional) * NOTE: Bring copies of a favorite short story to the November discussion, or e-mail the info or story to Eric Carlson |
1. Ray Bradbury
2. Garrison Keillor |
? | ? |
| 169 | 1/11/09 | Ender's Game | Orson Scott Card | 1985 | 226 |
| 170 | 2/22/09 | Bless Me, Ultima | Rudolfo A. Anaya | 1972 | 262 |
| 171 | 3/15/09 | Microserf | Douglas Coupland | 1995 | 371 |
| 172 | 4/19/09 | The Uncommon Reader: A Novella | Alan Bennett | 2007 | 128 |
| 173 | 5/31/09 | Fledgling | Octavia E. Butler | 2005 | 316 |
| 174 | 6/28/09 | The River King | Alice Hoffman | 2000 | 324 |
| 175 | 7/19/09 | Uglies | Scott Westerfeld | 2005 | 425 |
| 176 | 8/23/09 | Pretties | Scott Westerfeld | 2005 | 370 |
| 177 | 9/27/09 | Specials | Scott Westerfeld | 2006 | 400 |
| 178 | 10/25/09 | The Graveyard Book | Neil Gaiman | 2008 | 320 |
| 179 | 11/21/09 | Jonathan Livingston Seagull
* NOTE: Bring copies of a favorite short story to be discussed in December, or e-mail the info or story to Eric Carlson |
Richard Bach | 1970 | 96 |
| 180 | 12/13/09 | SPECIAL: Short story discussion
SPECIAL #2: Gift-book exchange (optional) * NOTE: Bring copies of a favorite short story to the November discussion, or e-mail the info or story to Eric Carlson |
???? | ???? | ?? |
| 181 | 1/24/10 | Sold | Patricia McCormick | 2006 | 263 |
| 182 | 2/28/10 | The Invention of Hugo Cabret | Brian Selznick | ?? | ?? |
| 183 | 3/28/10 | The Forest of Hands and Teeth | Carrie Ryan | ?? | ?? |
| 184 | 4/25/10 | The Sweetness at the Bottom of The Pie | Alan Bradley | ?? | ?? |
| 185 | 5/23/10 | The Book Thief | Markus Zusak | ?? | ?? |
| 186 | 6/27/10 | The House on Mango Street | Sandra Cisneros | 1984 | 110 |
| 187 | 7/25/10 | The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot | 1922 | 8 |
| 188 | 8/22/10 | The innocent man: murder and injustice in a small town | John Grisham | 2006 | 360 |
| 189 | 9/26/10 | Breakfast of Champions | Kurt Vonnegut | 1973 | 300 |
| 190 | 10/17/10 | Bring a ghost story to tell/read | Various | Various | Various |
| 191 | 11/14/10 | Things Fall Apart | Chinua Achebe | 1958 | 179 |
| 192 | 12/12/2010 | Short stories:
1. GDMFSOB 2. She 3. Miss Brill 4. Thank you Ma’am optional gift book exchange |
1. Nevada Barr
2. Charles Kaufmann 3. Katherine Mansfield 4. Langston Hughes |
? | ? |
| 193 | 1/16/11 | The Moonstone | Wilkie Collins | 1868 | 473 |
| 194 | 2/27/11 | The Wonderful Wizard of OZ | L. Frank Baum | 1900 | 220 |
| 195 | 3/27/11 | * The Victorian Internet | Tom Standage | 1998 | 215 |
| 196 | 4/17/11 | A Study in Scarlet | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | 1887 | ? |
If you have suggestions, comments, or questions about the
book discussion group, please send them to Eric Carlson, and visit Eric's web page.