Best for Book Clubs (1733 books)

Best for Book Clubs

Best books to read for a great book club discussion. Suggest books that your group has read that led to a lively discussion, whether people loved or hated them.

all votes add books to this list

1	The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Goodreads Author) 4.45 avg rating — 295,921 ratings score: 88,660, and 906 people voted	My rating:
2	Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 4.06 avg rating — 305,839 ratings score: 83,849, and 852 people voted	My rating:
3	The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 4.15 avg rating — 510,160 ratings score: 79,248, and 803 people voted	My rating:
4	The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Goodreads Author) 3.91 avg rating — 402,993 ratings score: 55,416, and 567 people voted	My rating:
5	The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Goodreads Author) 4.33 avg rating — 147,570 ratings score: 53,742, and 549 people voted	My rating:
6	To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 4.18 avg rating — 885,254 ratings score: 46,509, and 484 people voted	My rating:
7	A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 4.28 avg rating — 194,628 ratings score: 43,791, and 450 people voted	My rating:
8	The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 4.14 avg rating — 158,654 ratings score: 42,677, and 441 people voted	My rating:
9	The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd 3.86 avg rating — 380,243 ratings score: 40,979, and 428 people voted	My rating:
10	My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult 4.00 avg rating — 212,558 ratings score: 39,050, and 405 people voted	My rating:
11	The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold 3.66 avg rating — 498,813 ratings score: 35,617, and 374 people voted	My rating:
12	Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden 3.95 avg rating — 476,126 ratings score: 35,332, and 371 people voted	My rating:
13	The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) by Suzanne Collins 4.54 avg rating — 424,155 ratings score: 35,148, and 367 people voted	My rating:
14	The Red Tent by Anita Diamant 4.08 avg rating — 121,410 ratings score: 30,516, and 319 people voted	My rating:
15	The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows 4.10 avg rating — 113,642 ratings score: 30,274, and 319 people voted	My rating:
16	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 3.76 avg rating — 221,577 ratings score: 27,617, and 292 people voted	My rating:
17	Life of Pi by Yann Martel 3.78 avg rating — 214,149 ratings score: 25,690, and 269 people voted	My rating:
18	Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 4.22 avg rating — 556,725 ratings score: 25,629, and 273 people voted	My rating:
19	The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 3.87 avg rating — 234,133 ratings score: 24,222, and 258 people voted	My rating:
20	Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Goodreads Author) 3.98 avg rating — 77,782 ratings score: 23,492, and 247 people voted	My rating:
21	Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides 3.83 avg rating — 207,526 ratings score: 20,401, and 214 people voted	My rating:
22	The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield 3.89 avg rating — 68,182 ratings score: 20,161, and 214 people voted	My rating:
23	Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 3.38 avg rating — 352,678 ratings score: 19,743, and 210 people voted	My rating:
24	The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author) 3.95 avg rating — 130,185 ratings score: 19,066, and 205 people voted	My rating:
25	Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (Goodreads Author) 4.03 avg rating — 75,509 ratings score: 17,770, and 194 people voted	My rating:
26	The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards 3.48 avg rating — 227,909 ratings score: 17,487, and 193 people voted	My rating:
27	The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 3.73 avg rating — 660,923 ratings score: 16,695, and 180 people voted	My rating:
28	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 4.20 avg rating — 85,268 ratings score: 16,653, and 180 people voted	My rating:
29	The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory 3.95 avg rating — 119,708 ratings score: 16,315, and 176 people voted	My rating:
30	Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson (Goodreads Author) 3.77 avg rating — 91,279 ratings score: 16,233, and 172 people voted	My rating:
31	The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 4.02 avg rating — 520,368 ratings score: 15,913, and 176 people voted	My rating:
32	The Pillars of the Earth (The Pillars of the Earth, #1) by Ken Follett 4.17 avg rating — 106,707 ratings score: 15,907, and 173 people voted	My rating:
33	Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 4.03 avg rating — 383,060 ratings score: 15,619, and 173 people voted	My rating:
34	The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón 4.17 avg rating — 63,535 ratings score: 14,880, and 159 people voted	My rating:
35	1984 by George Orwell 4.00 avg rating — 520,452 ratings score: 14,630, and 159 people voted	My rating:
36	The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 3.98 avg rating — 285,136 ratings score: 14,273, and 158 people voted	My rating:
37	Atonement by Ian McEwan 3.74 avg rating — 100,319 ratings score: 13,994, and 150 people voted	My rating:
38	A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron (Goodreads Author) 4.31 avg rating — 7,041 ratings score: 13,760, and 142 people voted	My rating:
39	Bel Canto by Ann Patchett 3.83 avg rating — 57,902 ratings score: 13,713, and 148 people voted	My rating:
40	I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb 4.08 avg rating — 64,242 ratings score: 12,906, and 141 people voted	My rating:
41	The Road by Cormac McCarthy 3.93 avg rating — 145,378 ratings score: 12,658, and 136 people voted	My rating:
42	Little Women (Little Women, #1) by Louisa May Alcott 3.93 avg rating — 472,219 ratings score: 12,303, and 140 people voted	My rating:
43	The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 3.81 avg rating — 135,628 ratings score: 11,963, and 134 people voted	My rating:
44	The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan 3.76 avg rating — 239,977 ratings score: 11,603, and 130 people voted	My rating:
45	Room by Emma Donoghue (Goodreads Author) 3.96 avg rating — 83,383 ratings score: 11,446, and 125 people voted	My rating:
46	Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells (Goodreads Author) 3.60 avg rating — 196,378 ratings score: 11,359, and 125 people voted	My rating:
47	The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3.70 avg rating — 663,061 ratings score: 10,985, and 125 people voted	My rating:
48	Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom 3.88 avg rating — 138,670 ratings score: 10,477, and 117 people voted	My rating:
49	The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck 3.86 avg rating — 59,951 ratings score: 10,354, and 114 people voted	My rating:
50	The Shack by William P. Young 3.47 avg rating — 88,423 ratings score: 10,344, and 113 people voted	My rating:
51	Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years, #1) by Gregory Maguire 3.36 avg rating — 171,397 ratings score: 10,238, and 113 people voted	My rating:
52	White Oleander by Janet Fitch (Goodreads Author) 3.79 avg rating — 65,425 ratings score: 10,208, and 113 people voted	My rating:
53	Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 3.87 avg rating — 317,169 ratings score: 10,018, and 111 people voted	My rating:
54	Midwives by Chris Bohjalian (Goodreads Author) 3.82 avg rating — 32,261 ratings score: 9,880, and 111 people voted	My rating:
55	The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads Author) 3.62 avg rating — 357,101 ratings score: 9,671, and 104 people voted	My rating:
56	Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 3.71 avg rating — 537,643 ratings score: 9,640, and 110 people voted	My rating:
57	Breaking Dawn (Twilight, #4) by Stephenie Meyer 3.77 avg rating — 411,647 ratings score: 9,325, and 101 people voted	My rating:
58	The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri 3.89 avg rating — 69,723 ratings score: 9,144, and 99 people voted	My rating:
59	Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (Goodreads Author) 3.71 avg rating — 98,320 ratings score: 8,865, and 104 people voted	My rating:
60	The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Goodreads Author) 3.63 avg rating — 49,472 ratings score: 8,812, and 97 people voted	My rating:
61	Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier 4.11 avg rating — 69,647 ratings score: 8,538, and 98 people voted	My rating:
62	Loving Frank by Nancy Horan 3.62 avg rating — 26,478 ratings score: 8,441, and 94 people voted	My rating:
63	A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (Goodreads Author) 4.17 avg rating — 73,175 ratings score: 8,439, and 96 people voted	My rating:
64	Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 3.78 avg rating — 202,999 ratings score: 7,900, and 85 people voted	My rating:
65	East of Eden: by John Steinbeck 4.30 avg rating — 88,127 ratings score: 7,868, and 90 people voted	My rating:
66	The Color Purple by Alice Walker 4.06 avg rating — 86,277 ratings score: 7,863, and 92 people voted	My rating:
67	Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 3.71 avg rating — 66,053 ratings score: 7,663, and 85 people voted	My rating:
68	The Host (The Host, #1) by Stephenie Meyer 3.87 avg rating — 149,848 ratings score: 7,527, and 81 people voted	My rating:
69	Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich 3.50 avg rating — 96,284 ratings score: 7,398, and 81 people voted	My rating:
70	Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez 3.77 avg rating — 94,444 ratings score: 7,095, and 80 people voted	My rating:
71	Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Goodreads Author) 3.62 avg rating — 56,983 ratings score: 7,063, and 81 people voted	My rating:
72	Outlander (Outlander, #1) by Diana Gabaldon (Goodreads Author) 3.96 avg rating — 114,918 ratings score: 6,714, and 73 people voted	My rating:
73	Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut 3.89 avg rating — 310,925 ratings score: 6,580, and 74 people voted	My rating:
74	Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 4.12 avg rating — 71,393 ratings score: 6,421, and 69 people voted	My rating:
75	Peace Like a River by Leif Enger 3.90 avg rating — 23,025 ratings score: 6,301, and 68 people voted	My rating:
76	Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt 3.74 avg rating — 167,069 ratings score: 6,252, and 67 people voted	My rating:
77	My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok 4.12 avg rating — 13,314 ratings score: 5,847, and 64 people voted	My rating:
78	Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 4.16 avg rating — 265,806 ratings score: 5,842, and 69 people voted	My rating:
79	The Giver (The Giver, #1) by Lois Lowry 4.11 avg rating — 263,018 ratings score: 5,699, and 65 people voted	My rating:
80	Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks 3.91 avg rating — 27,557 ratings score: 5,563, and 65 people voted	My rating:
81	A Million Little Pieces by James Frey 3.49 avg rating — 67,978 ratings score: 5,497, and 63 people voted	My rating:
82	Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Goodreads Author) 3.42 avg rating — 37,364 ratings score: 5,424, and 62 people voted	My rating:
83	The History of Love by Nicole Krauss 3.85 avg rating — 39,422 ratings score: 5,342, and 59 people voted	My rating:
84	Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand 3.76 avg rating — 72,648 ratings score: 5,333, and 58 people voted	My rating:
85	Blindness by José Saramago 3.95 avg rating — 36,388 ratings score: 5,313, and 57 people voted	My rating:
86	Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 4.23 avg rating — 51,118 ratings score: 5,268, and 58 people voted	My rating:
87	These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner 4.42 avg rating — 18,557 ratings score: 5,023, and 54 people voted	My rating:
88	Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum (Goodreads Author) 4.08 avg rating — 15,455 ratings score: 4,889, and 55 people voted	My rating:
89	The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende 4.10 avg rating — 36,939 ratings score: 4,825, and 56 people voted	My rating:
90	My Antonia by Willa Cather 3.67 avg rating — 37,243 ratings score: 4,688, and 56 people voted	My rating:
91	Beloved by Toni Morrison 3.67 avg rating — 67,633 ratings score: 4,459, and 53 people voted	My rating:
92	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Goodreads Author) 4.09 avg rating — 49,933 ratings score: 4,436, and 50 people voted	My rating:
93	Truly, Madly, Deeply. by Faraaz Kazi (Goodreads Author) 4.07 avg rating — 526 ratings score: 4,397, and 44 people voted	My rating:
94	Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (Goodreads Author) 3.90 avg rating — 40,797 ratings score: 4,386, and 50 people voted	My rating:
95	We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver 3.98 avg rating — 14,359 ratings score: 4,293, and 47 people voted	My rating:
96	Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie 3.54 avg rating — 17,117 ratings score: 4,123, and 48 people voted	My rating:
97	The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author) 3.86 avg rating — 32,382 ratings score: 4,098, and 48 people voted	My rating:
98	The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1) by Mary Doria Russell (Goodreads Author) 4.15 avg rating — 13,145 ratings score: 4,050, and 44 people voted	My rating:
99	The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (Goodreads Author) 4.08 avg rating — 64,427 ratings score: 4,035, and 47 people voted	My rating:
100	One True Thing by Anna Quindlen 3.81 avg rating — 7,481 ratings score: 4,018, and 48 people voted	My rating:

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1,733 books · 4,619 voters · list created June 13th, 2008 by Jessica (votes).

Tags: bookclub and discussion

Lists are re-scored approximately every 500 seconds.

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People Who Voted On This List (4619)

Jessica
1636 books
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Jardley
443 books
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amanda
145 books
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Colleen
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Brandy
910 books
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Donna
236 books
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M
1331 books
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Lindsey
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Comments (showing 1-17 of 17) (17 new)

date

newest »

message 1: by Jen (new)

Sep 20, 2008 04:33pm

The author combines a love story, history and a gorgeous unusual setting to create a powerful novel that really makes you think and want to talk about.

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message 2: by Deb (new)

Nov 13, 2008 06:23am

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

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message 3: by Marla (new)

Nov 13, 2008 02:59pm

Knowledge of Angels by Jill Paton Walsh and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve and Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier were all big hits with our BBC Book Club. One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus and Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross were also favorites with excellent discussions.

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message 4: by Travis (new)

Feb 28, 2009 04:28pm

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte is a great one for book clubs. She's the little known Bronte sister, compared to her far more famous siblings. Comparing her work to that of her sisters brought about quite a discussion in our group.

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message 5: by Cat (new)

Aug 24, 2009 11:07pm

Home Repair by Liz Rosenberg and Open House by Elizabeth Berg were tops for my book club group. Excellent discussions ensued. We realized we all like books that make us laugh and cry. Laurie Colwin is up soon, and so is the Guernsey Literary Potato Pie book.

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message 6: by Kono (new)

Sep 06, 2009 08:55pm

Cat-- your choices sound great! Recommend you also consider Dan Chaon's new novel after Home Repair and Open House when you are ready for something a bit darker. He's a great writer. Can't go wrong with jane Austen.

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message 7: by Darienbo (last edited Oct 24, 2009 11:24am) (new)

Oct 24, 2009 11:23am

Had a great book discussion of HOME REPAIR with the author in Philly. So inspiring I had to pass it along. We all agreed it's good to have a book that makes you want to write, too, and has enough characters you can love.

I love the book about friendship Ann Patchett (sp?) wrote and think it would make a great discussion book. Also, to me Dostoevsky scares too many people away and should not. There is so much there to talk about!

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message 8: by Shelby (new)

Oct 25, 2010 05:33pm

The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

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message 9: by Gerrie (new)

Nov 29, 2010 02:28pm

Prodigal Summer, yes.

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message 10: by Sheryl (new)

Jan 18, 2011 02:01pm

The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke

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message 11: by ♣Ðᾰƞƞᾰ♥ (new)

Mar 01, 2011 07:27am

A very good list, all my favs in one place :)

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message 12: by Katie (new)

Apr 23, 2011 05:00pm

I've just discovered this list. Is there anyway to search this very extensive list? I would love to be able to look at it in alphabetical order. Or is it solely based on votes. There is no way to go through so many pages and vote with any kind of rationality! Just wondering.

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message 13: by Darbi (new)

May 06, 2011 08:52am

This is just a random list of books that are featured in PEOPLE magazine! this is the worst list ever! No one put any thought into it at all.

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message 14: by Tammy (new)

Oct 19, 2011 08:48am

A great book to add to this list is The Sixth Extinction by d. leonard freeston. Couldn't put it down!

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message 15: by Carla (new)

Nov 08, 2011 11:54am

"Addressing Spirits" by Carla Foft would be a good choice for a book club. It's by a new author, so it has some really different perspectives. It's short, so the club can finish it quickly and get down to discussing it faster. Carla Foft discusses Spirits' Rights on her website and it has started some lively discussions. The book is fun and has received great reviews.

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message 16: by Jim (new)

Nov 11, 2011 03:32pm

Finished "Rare & Endangered Species" by Richard Bausch 1994. Every short story in this collection is top-drawer and insightful into the human condition. The characters and their thoughts/actions ring true and signify life's lessons. Writing this great should not go out of style

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message 17: by Kim (new)

Jan 18, 2012 02:30pm