INDY BOOK CLUB – BOOK SUGGESTIONS
(Updated October 2015)
Following is a list of titles that have been suggested for the Indy Book Club’s consideration. This update
includes books that have been suggested since May 2015. A number of titles that did not receive any votes,
despite being on the list for 6-12 months, have been deleted in order to keep the list manageable. I’ve also
started noting the month/year that a book was added in brackets at the end of the description so that it will
be easier to cull the list in the future. Most of the titles that do not have such a notation were most likely
added between September 2014 and May 2015.
The descriptions are very brief and simplified in order to help us remember basically what each book is about .
Those who want to read reviews or more details about plots or themes should check the Internet (Delaware
Library System, Amazon, New York Times, etc.). Titles of books selected for discussion during 2014 and 2015
are shown at the end of this list.
FICTION
Half Broke Horses – Jeanette Walls (author of Glass Castle; “true-life” novel about the author’s grandmother)
The Sense of an Ending – Julian Barnes (“a meditation on history, memory, and individual responsibility”)
Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff – Christopher Moore (“Biff” is Christ’s childhood pal)
Beneath a Marble Sky – John Shors (the love story and background of hatred and violence surrounding the construction of
the Taj Mahal)
Room: A Novel – Emma Donoghue (the story of a woman and her son held captive in a single room, their escape, and
their life in the outside world)
An Arab, A Jew, and A Truck – Moustafa M. Soliman (local author from Bethany; a book intended to spark a worldwide
peace movement)
Those We Love Most – Lee Woodruff (story of a family’s life in the aftermath of a tragedy)
In the Shadow of the Banyan: A Novel – Vaddney Ratner (the story of a child whose wealthy family is forced into exile in
the wake of the takeover of the Cambodian government by the Kmer Rouge)
The Submission – Amy Waldman (A Muslim architect wins a blind contest to design the Ground Zero monument
Little Bee – Chris Cleave (a brutal event on a beach joins the future of a 16-year-old orphan and a British couple trying to
repair their strained marriage)
Songs of Willow Frost: A Novel – Jamie Ford (Depression-era novel about a boy with dreams for the future and a woman
with a haunted past)
The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel – Helen Wecker (A chance meeting between mythical beings takes readers on a
journey through cultures in turn-of-the-century New York.)
Left Neglected – Lisa Genova (The story of a young mother whose traumatic brain injury leaves her with no awareness of
anything on her left side.)
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (The story of a passion that spans 50 years and explores how we
look at love by the Colombian novelist and Nobel Prize for Literature recipient)
The Club Dumas – Arturo Perez-Reverte (A literary thriller set in the world of antiquarian booksellers)
The Flanders Panel – Arturo Perez-Reverte (A young art restorer becomes involved in a mystery involving art, chess and
murder when she discovers a hidden inscription “Who killed the knight?” on a Flemish painting)
The Painter of Battles: A Novel – Arturo Perez-Reverte (An award-winning war photographer meets a subject of one of
his most famous photos who reveals the impact of the photo on his life)
Those Who Save Us – Jenna Blum (A history professor discovers family secrets as she collects oral histories of German
and Jewish survivors of World War II.)
Keep Quiet – Lisa Scottoline (The story of family relationships when the son is involved in a car accident and they decide
to keep quiet about it.)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry -- Gabrielle Zevin (A curmudgeonly bookstore owner and a variety of small-town
characters; lots of references to other books, including recent publications as well as the classics– a “tale of transformation
and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.”)
The Children Act – Ian McEwan (A judge deals with a case involving a seriously ill teenager who is refusing treatment for
religious reasons while the judge is facing a crisis in her personal life.)
End of Secrets – Ryan Quinn (A smart, suspenseful novel that delves into the world of social media, entertainment, and
profit.)
My Sister’s Grave – Robert Dugoni (A breathless legal thriller that wrenches your heart as a murder affects a family and
an entire town.)
Hannah's Dream: A Novel - Diane Hammond (The story of the efforts to save the lone elephant at a fading 1950s-era zoo
by the elephant’s aging caretaker and the zoo’s new elephant keeper.)
Nobody’s Fool – Richard Russo (The unexpected operation of grace in a deadbeat, upstate New York town and in the
lives of the unluckiest of its citizens, including Sully, a man who has spent most of his life happily doing the wrong thing
and is now dealing with an estranged son who seems to be following in his father’s footsteps.)
The Kind Worth Killing: A Novel – Peter Swanson (A chance encounter leads to murder in this psychological thriller
reminiscent of Stranger on A Train with Hitchcock-style twists and turns.)
The King’s Curse (The Cousins’ War) -- Philippa Gregory (The story of lady-in-waiting Margaret Pole, seen by the
mother of Henry VIII as a potential rival to the Tudor claim to the throne.)
Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng (Literary thriller about a missing girl in a small Ohio town—a familiar scenario
presented in an unfamiliar way)
Clara and Mr. Tiffany – Susan Vreeland (Novel based on the true story of Clara Driscoll, the woman who was the creative
force behind Louis Comfort Tiffany’s stained glass windows, mosaics, and decorative objects)
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell – Nadia Hashimi (Novel that interweaves the stories of two remarkable women from two
different centuries and their destiny and identity in Afghanistan)
The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat – Edward Kelsey Moore (The lives of three close friends who come of age in the
1960s in a southern Indiana town)
Euphoria – Lily King (A novel inspired by the life of Margaret Mead that covers the lives of three young anthropologists
involved in a love triangle that threatens their bonds, their careers, and their lives)
Circling the Sun – Paula McClain (Fictional retelling of the love triangle involving Out of Africa author Karen Blixen,
safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton, and aviator Beryl Markham.
The Taming of the Queen – Philippa Gregory (Historical fiction about Henry VIII's sixth and last wife, Kateryn Parr.
Sacred Hunger – Barry Unsworth (The story of a merchant pinning his last chance to a slave ship; his son who needs a
fortune because he is in love with an upper-class woman; and his nephew who sails on the ship as its doctor because he
has lost all he has loved. [Added to list Oct. 2015]
Heft – Liz More (The story of two improbable heroes whose sudden connection transforms both their lives and explores
the concept of love and family found in the most unexpected places.) [Added to list Oct. 2015]
The Martian – Andy Weir (The story of an astronaut who is inadvertently stranded on Mars after his crew is forced to
evacuate during a dust storm.) [Added to list Oct. 2015]
Go Set a Watchman – Harper Lee (The “draft” of the manuscript that would eventually be rewritten and published as To
Kill A Mockingbird follows the adult Scout and her return to the south as the push for civil rights began to awaken the
conscience of the nation.) [Added to list Oct. 2015]
The Heart Goes Last – Margaret Atwood (Living in their car, surviving on tips, Charmaine and Stan are desperate, so
when they see an advertisement for Consilience, a “social experiment” offering stable jobs and a home of their own, they
sign up immediately. All they have to do in return for suburban paradise is give up their freedom every second month–
swapping their home for a prison cell.) [Added to list Oct. 2015]
The Alchemist – Paul Coelho (The mystical story of an Andalusian shepherd boy who travels from his homeland in Spain
to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids.) [Added to list Oct. 2015]
Love Mail Fail – Matthew Quick (An aspiring feminist and underappreciated housewife searches for human decency and
goodness and her high school English teacher in South Jersey after escaping her ritzy Florida life and cheating husband.)
[Added to list Oct. 2015]
Kitchens of the Great Midwest – J. Ryan Stradal (After a childhood shaken by tragedy, a young woman finds solace in the
flavors of her native Minnesota and becomes the mysterious chef behind the most sought-after dinner reservations in the
country.) [Added to list Oct. 2015]
A Spool of Blue Thread – Ann Tyler (The story of four generations of a family from the 1920s into the 21st century as their
lives unfold in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that was their anchor.) [Added to list Oct. 2015]
NON-FICTION
Lady Aimina and the Real Downton Abbey – Countess of Carnavon (fans of Downton Abbey TV series)
The Girl in the Red Coat: A Memoir - Roma Ligocka & Iris Von Finckenstein (A 50-year chronicle of the survival and
life of Roma Ligocka, the little girl in the red coat depicted in the movie Schindler’s List.)
Missoula :Rape and the Justice System in a College Town -- Jon Krakauer (This well-respected author of Into Thin Air
takes on a controversial topic much in the news in this investigative story of the sexual assaults at the University of
Montana.) [Added to list Oct. 2015]
I am Malala – Malala Yousafzai (The story of the young girl who was shot by the Taliban after fighting for the right of
girls to get an education.) [Added to list Oct. 2015]
Books Selected for 2015
January – The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt)
February –Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake (Anna Quindlin)
March – Orphan Train: A Novel (Christina Baker Kline)
April – All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel (Anthony Doerr)
May -- Miss Dreamsville & the Collier County Women’s Literary Society (Amy Hill Hearth)
June – The Boys in the Boat (Daniel James Brown)
September – Outlander—Diane Gabaldon
October – The Girl on the Train -- Paula Hawkins
November – Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania -- Erik Larson
December -- The Invention of Wings: A Novel – Sue Monk Kidd
Books Selected for 2016
January – At the Water’s Edge (Sara Gruen)
February – The Wright Brothers (David McCullough)
March – The Girl in the Spider’s Web (David Lagercrantz)
April – Rosemary-The Hidden Kennedy Daughter (Kate Clifford Larson)
May – TBD
June – TBD
September – TBD
October – TBD
November – TBD
December -- TBD
Books Discussed in 2014
And the Mountains Echoed (Khaled Hosseini)
Still Alice (Lisa Genova)
Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier)
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
The Distance Between Us: A Memoir – Reyna Grande
Faith: A Novel (Jennifer Haigh)
Heading Out to Wonderful (Robert Goolrick)
The Husband’s Secret (Liane Moriarty)
The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic (Hazel Gaynor)
Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark (Bill Dedman & Paul Clark, Jr.)