Anyone have a category or book suggestion they are dying to share? Or a whimsical idea? Let us know!

One of my best girlfriends from high school is author Kyra Davis. She has written three books in her Sophie Katz series called Sex, Murder And A Double Latte, Passion, Betrayal And Killer Highlights, Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate... These are great books (chick lit mysteries)... She has also written a stand alone piece called So Much For My Happy Ending, which is pretty heavy (especially for someone like me who KNOWS Kyra and her background) and was especially strange for me to read because the main character's name is April...

The reason for this shameless plug is that the fourth book in her Sophie Katz series comes out in June. It is called Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss and I would love for it to be one of our June Book of the Month selections...

So perhaps our June poll could be centered around Female Sleuths? And we could add Kyra's new book to the list...

Hope that you are all having a fantastic Easter!

We could go for nonfiction this month, like a memoir, or a book by a well-known creative essayist like Barbara Kingsolver or David Sedaris.

I'm going to suggest The Likeness by Tana French. I liked it more that In the Woods although April's suggestion does sound interesting, but I hate finding a book that I can't get into until I read the previous ones.

April can you jump into the new book or are you suggesting the book of the month be first of the series?

Since people normally vacation/travel during the summer, and totally jumping all over Jacqueline's non-fic suggestion, perhaps we could do travel narratives for June? I particularly like The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It by Mark Twain. So good. A friend of mine also suggested Honeymoon with My Brother A Memoir by Franz Wisner, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Without Reservations The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach has also been on my radar for a while, but I haven't gotten around to it. Can you tell how much I love travel narratives?? LOL

I like that idea, Dominique. I vaguely recall reading the beginning of Honeymoon with My Brother: A Memoir in an airport and liking it so I'm on board with that. I've also always wanted to read the travel essay collections edited by Jennifer L. Leo, like Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures: Funny Women Write from the Road. Has anyone read those?

LOL The title made me laugh, then I felt uncomfortable. Ugh, sand in my bra. Yuck! hahaha

The funny thing about sand is its uncanny ability to get everywhere in less than a second.

I'm always a fan of the super random categories. Like books featuring an inanimate object as a main character. Or books you hated in high school but would love now. Or books you could finish in a day.

Expanding on Adam's idea and Dom's travel theme, how about books with a city/town in the title?

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam or The Good Thief's Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Winter in Madrid by C.J. Samson
The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst
The Madonnas of Leningrad A Novel by Debra Dean

I think that is a great idea!!!! Love it!

I enjoy classics and always read at least one I haven't read each summer, but I'm a nerdy English teacher, so...

Lolita--Nabokov
The Sun Also Rises--Hemingway

I just picked up Lolita but haven't started it yet. What did you think?

Jenn wrote: "I just picked up Lolita but haven't started it yet. What did you think?"

I haven't read it, but I have always wanted to. It's right here on my shelf just waiting to be read. Many critics and writers say it is the best book ever written, so I've always been intrigued.

Viola, summer is NOT supposed to feel like a school assignment! :)

Jenn "Awww Yeaaahhh" wrote: "Viola, summer is NOT supposed to feel like a school assignment! :)"

I know, but really, there's nothing better than sitting out in the sun and bonding with Hemingway. I'm serious! :) Beach reads are good too, but a good classic? I mean, they're called classics for a reason you know. They've stood the test of time, and it's not coincidence. Oh gosh. MUST take off teacher hat! I'm preaching! :)

*grabbing red pen from Viola's hand*

Jenn "Awww Yeaaahhh" wrote: "*grabbing red pen from Viola's hand*"

I do NOT grade with a red pen. I use sparkly gel pens in vibrant colors. :)

I started Lolita and never finished it so wouldn't mind giving that a go.

But then there's lots of travel narratives I'd like to read

I fancy a Crime/Thriller. Here are my 2 suggestions if possible with the Synposis of them both.

Fallen Idols - Neil White

Everyone would kill for their fifteen minutes of fame! A Premiership footballer is shot dead in cold blood on a busy London street, and a country is gripped by terror. Who is behind this apparently motiveless killing -- and who's next in the firing line? Jack Garrett is determined to find out. A small-time journalist who's left behind his Lancashire roots for the glitz and glamour -- and seediness and squalor -- of the capital, he's convinced this is no celebrity stalker. Aided and abetted by DC Laura McGanity, desperately trying to juggle police life with motherhood and her feelings for Jack, the trail takes them back to Jack's home town of Turner's Fold -- and his past. What's the connection between the recent murder and the death of a young girl 10 years before? Conspiracy, revenge and the high price of fame all combine in this stunning debut from a dazzling new voice in crime fiction.

The Righteous Men - Sam Bourne

This work presents a blisteringly high-concept serial killer thriller combined with delicious religious conspiracy theory from a hot new British talent. It shows two murders at opposite ends of America, one in the backstreets of New York City, the other in the backwoods of Montana. It presents a series of killings in every corner of the globe, from the crowded slums of India to the pristine beaches of Cape Town. There can't possibly be a connection. That's the instinct of Will Monroe, a young, British-born reporter for "The New York Times" - until the morning his beautiful wife Beth is kidnapped. Holding her are men who seem ready to kill without hesitation. Desperate, Will follows a trail that leads to a mysterious sect right on his own doorstep - fervent followers of one of mankind's oldest faiths. He will have to break through multiple layers of mysticism and ancient prophecy, unearthing riddles buried deep in the Bible - until he finds the secret that is said to have animated the world for thousands of years, a secret on which the fate of humanity may depend. But with more murders by the hour, and each clue wrapped in layers of code, time is running out...

I have quite a few crime/thrillers on my shelves that I've been meaning to get to. Great idea!

And I just saw April's post! How did I miss that? I'm liking the sleuth/mystery/crime angle.

All the proposed ideas sound interesting. If we do a memoir theme, I would like to suggest Heather Armstrong's It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown and a Much-Needed Margarita. Admittedly I just read this, but I am so far behind on the book club picks.... :D :D :D

It was so funny it had me in tears from laughing at times, and it's a very frank look at Heather's experience with depression, pregnancy, childbirth, post-partum depression and motherhood. Heather, by the way, is the author of Dooce.com. I've been reading her blog for years and that's why I picked up the book in the first place.

I think a true story of courage is good. Here is my nomination:Endal: How One Extraordinary Dog Brought a Family Back from the Brink - Allen & Sandra Parton