A Year of Reading: A Month-by-Month Guide to Classics and Crowd-Pleasers for You or Your Book Group

by Elisabeth Ellington, Jane Freimiller Ph.D.

Overview

Desire a book to cozy up with by a wintery window? How about an addictive page-turner for sunbathing on the beach?

Thousands of new books are published each year, and if you're a book lover – or just book curious – choosing what to read next can seem like an impossible task. A Year of Reading relieves the anxiety by helping you find just the right read, and includes fun and interactive subcategories for each choice, including:

• Description and history
• Extra credit
• Did You Know?
• Have You Seen the Film?
• and more!

A Year of Reading also gives advice and tips on how to join or start a book group, and where to look for other reading recommendations. Perfect for clubs or passionate individuals, this beautiful and concise second edition is the essential guide to picking up your next inspiring, entertaining, and thought-provoking book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492642237
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	10/04/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	818 KB

About the Author

Elisabeth Ellington received her BA in French and English Literature from Vesalius College in Brussels, Belgium. She has taught at Brandeis University for several years. Her forthcoming doctoral dissertation is a biography of eighteenth century novelist and playwright Frances Sheridan. She lives in New Hampshire. Her book group has been together for seven years.

Jane Freimiller received her BA in Philosophy from Haverford College. After earning a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Boston College, she taught at the university for several years. She has published articles in Philosophy and social Criticism, Teaching Philosophy and Capitalism, Nature, Socialism. She currently lives in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One
January
Winter's Tales
Crowd-Pleaser
Skating to Antarctica: A Journey to the End of the World by Jenny Diski
Classic
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Challenge
Winter Journey by Isabel Colegate
Memoir
After and Before the Lightning by Simon J. Ortiz
Potluck
Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape by Barry Lopez

Chapter Two
February
In Honor of Black History Month: Family Legacies
Crowd-Pleaser
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Classic
Passing by Nella Larsen
Challenge
Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
Memoir
Pearl's Secret: A Black Man's Search for His White Family by Neil Henry
Potluck
The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat

Chapter Three
March
In Honor of Women's History Month:
New Life in the New World
Crowd-Pleaser
Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee
Classic
Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska
Challenge
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman
Memoir
To See and See Again: A Life in Iran and America by Tara Bahrampour
Potluck
Becoming American: Personal Essays by First Generation Immigrant Women edited by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah

Chapter Four
April
Spiritual Gardening
Crowd-Pleaser
Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan
Classic
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Challenge
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams
Memoir
Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris
Potluck
My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid

Chapter Five
May
Women and Family
Crowd-Pleaser
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
Classic
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Challenge
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Memoir
And I Don't Want to Live This Life by Deborah Spungen
Potluck
The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family by Elisabeth Bumiller

Chapter Six
June
Men and Family
Crowd-Pleaser
Before and After by Rosellen Brown
Classic
The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
Challenge
Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee
Memoir
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Potluck
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

Chapter Seven
July
Women's Journeys
Crowd-Pleaser
On Pilgrimage: A Time to Seek by Jennifer Lash
Classic
Travels in West Africa by Mary Kingsley
Challenge
Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark by Jane Fletcher Geniesse
Memoir
Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa
Potluck
Talking to High Monks in the Snow: An Asian
American Odyssey by Lydia Minatoya

Chapter Eight
August
Catastrophic Reading
Crowd-Pleaser
The Fireman's Fair by Josephine Humphreys
Classic
A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Challenge
Matigari by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Memoir
The Last Voyage of the Karluk: A Survivor's Memoir of Disaster by William Laird MacKinlay
Potluck
Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire by John Maclean

Chapter Nine
September
Back to School
Crowd-Pleaser
Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
Classic
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Challenge
Moo by Jane Smiley
Memoir
Dangerous Minds (previously published as My Posse Don't Do Homework) by LouAnne Johnson
Potluck
The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem by Deborah Meier

Chapter Ten
October
Scary Stories
Crowd-Pleaser
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Classic
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Challenge
Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis
Memoir
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Potluck
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Chapter Eleven
November
Comfort Food, Comfort Reading
Crowd-Pleaser
She Flew the Coop: A Novel Concerning Life, Death, and Recipes in Limoges, Louisiana by Michele Lee Wes
Classic
The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher
Challenge
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
Memoir
Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl
Potluck
Stand Facing the Stove: The Story of the Women Who Gave America 'The Joy of Cooking' by Anne Mendelson

Chapter Twelve
December
Heartwarming Classics
Crowd-Pleaser
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Classic
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Challenge
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank
Memoir
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
Potluck
Watership Down by Richard Adams

Appendix A: FAQs for Book Group Beginners
Appendix B: Twenty-Five Ways to Build a Better Book Group
Index of Authors
Index of Titles
About the Authors