Renata’s Comments (group member since Jul 12, 2019)

Renata’s comments from the EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club group.

This begins a group discussion of our Classic book selection, The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, nominated by Theresa.
Here you can comment, without spoilers, on any aspects of the book, either before, during, or after reading it.

This begins a group discussion of our Modern book selection,
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, nominated by Kristen.
Here you can comment, without spoilers, on any aspects of the book, either before, during, or after reading it.

This begins our 2nd group discussion of our Catch-Up book selection, nominated by Renata.
Here you can comment, without spoilers, on any aspects of the book, either before, during, or after reading it.

I nominate Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, 217 pages

I second Love in the Time of Cholera

Tracking through message: 50
🌈Poll Candidate

Breakfast of Champions (303p) - 4
Eat, Pray, Love (368p) - 1
Into the Wild (217p) - 2
White Noise (310p) - 3
🌈Sunrise on the Reaping (387p) - 7
Chocolat (306p) - 3
Beautiful World, Where Are You (337p) - 3
The Great Alone (435p) - 3
The Woman in Black (140p) - 3
Ender’s Game (324p) - 4
American Psycho (399p) - 4
The Lovely Bones (372p) - 3
🌈The Bluest Eye (216p) - 5
🌈On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (246p) - 5
🌈Tales from the Café (192p) - 5
City of Bones (485p) - 1

Hi all! Starting up the book-of-the-month suggestions for August 2025 in the MODERN/POPULAR category. Top 4 will be selected for the poll.

Books that qualify for this category:

1. Must have a publication date 1970 or after. For older books, please make your suggestion on the Classics thread.

2. Have not been previously ready by this group. Previously read books can be nominated in the Bookshelf Catch-Up thread. See the group's Bookshelf for previously read books.

3. Be reasonably well-read, with at least 50,000 ratings, to fit the "Everyone Has Read This but Me" claim.

Only one nomination is allowed per person, per category. If you nominate more than one book only your first nomination will be added toward the tracking post. Please continue to second as many nominations that interest you!

Page numbers are now required for every nomination. To find out how many pages a book has; go to the book's page on Goodreads. Look under the section titled "GET A COPY" and above the book's ISBN number.

Nominations end midnight PST June 16.

Tracking through message: 43
🌈Poll Candidate

🌈Tess of the D’Urbervilles (518p) - 5
🌈Black Beauty (245p) - 6
Père Goriot (384p) - 4
Franny and Zooey (201p) - 4
Inferno (490p) - 4
The End of the Affair (160p) - 2
🌈My Cousin Rachel (349p) - 6
🌈James and the Giant Peach (176p) - 5
Orlando (336p) - 2
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (282p) - 3
🌈Cat’s Cradle (179p) - 6
The Good Earth (418p) - 3
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (438p) - 1
Go Tell It on the Mountain (256p) - 3
Down and Out in Paris and London (216p)

Hi all! Starting up the book-of-the-month suggestions for August 2025 in the CLASSICS category. Top 4 will be selected for the poll.

Books that qualify for this category:

1. Must have a publication date 1969 or before. For newer books, please make your suggestion on the Modern Classic/Popular Reads thread.

2. Have not been previously ready by this group. Previously read books can be nominated in the Bookshelf Catchup thread. See the group's Bookshelf for previously read books.

3. Be reasonably well-read, with at least 50,000 ratings, to fit the "Everyone Has Read This but Me" claim.

Only one nomination is allowed per person, per category. If you nominate more than one book only your first nomination will be added toward the tracking post. Please continue to second as many nominations that interest you!

Page numbers are required for every nomination. To find out how many pages a book has; go to the book's page on Goodreads. look under the section titled "GET A COPY" and above the book's ISBN number.

Nominations end midnight PST June 16.

Tracking through message: 50
🌈Poll Candidate

Love in the Time of Cholera (348p) - 3
The Color Purple (287p) - 3
Catch-22 (453p) - 1
🌈The Hunger Games (374p) - 4
American Gods (635p) - 2
🌈The Alchemist (182p) - 6
The Starless Sea (498p) - 3
🌈The Catcher in the Rye (277p) - 5
Water for Elephants (368p) - 3
A Tale of Two Cities (489p) - 3
🌈Ready Player One (480p) - 5
🌈The Joy Luck Club (288p) - 4
Life of Pi (460) - 2

These books have been re-read within the last 12 months and are ineligible to be nominated:

Northanger Abbey
And Then There Were None
The Princess Bride
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Pride and Prejudice
A Christmas Carol
The Midnight Library
Jane Eyre
Pachinko

Hi all! Starting up the book-of-the-month suggestions for August 2025 in the BOOKSHELF CATCH-UP category. Top 4 will be selected for the poll.

For this category, you can nominate any book that the group has previously read. For a list of books that the group has previously read and discussed, please see the Bookshelf HERE.

Books selected as a group reread within the last twelve months are not eligible. See Message 2 below.

Only one nomination is allowed per person, per category. If you nominate more than one book only your first nomination will be added toward the tracking post. Please continue to second as many nominations that interest you!

Page numbers are now required for every nomination. To find out how many pages a book has; go to the book's page on Goodreads. look under the section titled "GET A COPY" and above the book's ISBN number.

Nominations end Midnight PST June 16

I second Memoirs of a Geisha and Underground Railroad

Rora wrote: "Looks like The Underground Railroad is already on the read shelf"

Thanks Rora. You're absolutely right. We read the book in 2020. My bad.

Elina wrote: "I nominate : The Woman With the Cure (400p)

Elina, your book doesn't quite meet our "well-read" criteria of 50,000 ratings (see message 1). Is there another book you would like to nominate instead?

Ali wrote: "I nominate The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, 320 pages, first published August 2, 2016

Your book has already been read by this group in 2020. You can still nominate it in the Catch-Up section though.

I second the Martian Chronicles.

Theresa wrote: "I nominate Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, 297p"

Theresa, this book doesn't quite meet our "well-read" criteria of 50,000 ratings (see message 1). Is there another book you would like to suggest instead?

This begins a group discussion of our Modern book selection,
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, nominated by Elina.
Here you can comment, without spoilers, on any aspects of the book, either before, during, or after reading it.

This begins a group discussion of our Classics book selection, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, nominated by Adrienne.
Here you can comment, without spoilers, on any aspects of the book, either before, during, or after reading it.