The Book Club in a Box

Anil’s Ghost (Michael Ondaatje)

In Anil’s Ghost, Michael Ondaatje presents an intimate and detailed picture of the costs and pain of the civil war in Sri Lanka, as uncovered through the novel’s main character, Anil, a Sri-Lankan-born, American-trained forensic anthropologist.
Anil’s Ghost is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Ash Garden (Dennis Bock)

The Ash Garden tells the story of Emiko, a child victim of the bombing of Hiroshima; Sophie, a child survivor of the Holocaust; and Anton, a German national who joined the effort in the West to develop and use the atom bomb for the purpose of ending the war. These three people are joined together by a shared history, a shared loss and a shared grief.
The Ash Garden is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Atonement (Ian McEwan)

Thirteen-year-old Briony makes up stories and plays and is mesmerized by the potential of the imaginary world and by the power of words. McEwan looks closely at the impact that words have on one’s consciousness and behavior.
Atonement is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Bel Canto (Ann Patchett)

Ann Patchett’s novel Bel Canto is a fictional account of the actual 1996 siege of the Japanese Embassy in Peru. What should be narrated as a tense and terse action-filled tragedy, turns out to be a human story told with warmth and sardonic humor.
Bel Canto is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Book of Negroes (Lawrence Hill)

Novel Notes

Hill’s excellent novel is known in the United States as Someone Knows My Name.

The tragedy of slavery in North America has been chronicled and discussed in many forms – literature, poetry, film, and documentary. Hill’s excellent novel adds new dimensions through an intimate look at a fictional survivor of the British slave trade. Through Aminata’s eyes, Hill explores the depth and breadth of the slave industry, including the little known links to Canada and to Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Hill covers a tremendous amount of historical ground and presents his findings in a clear, comprehensive and intelligent manner. The story is extraordinary and the characters are captivating.

The Book of Negroes is available in ACROBAT PDF version

The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)

A book thief who can’t read, a housepainter with nothing to paint, a Jew hidden in a basement, and a narrator named Death form the heart of this magnificent novel. Markus Zusak takes one of the most recorded periods in history, WWII and Hitler, and puts a new spin on an old story.
The Book Thief is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

A Complicated Kindness (Miriam Toews)

Miriam Toews describes a community where individual skills and emotions are held in strict check by the Mennonite leadership of the town.

A Complicated Kindness is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)

In this fast-paced and funny novel, Jonathan Franzen tells the story of Enid and Alfred Lambert, and their three grown children, Gary, Chip and Denise. It is Enid’s goal to bring her family back together for a Christmas celebration; a last chance to have everyone together before something serious happens to Alfred, a fast-failing Parkinson’s disease victim. This is the novel that Oprah Winfrey ‘de-listed’ from her television book club.
The Corrections is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time (Mark Haddon)

Mark Haddon takes you inside the exceptional mind of Christopher Boone, a young man who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, a condition associated with autism.
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Deafening (Frances Itani)

As the surviving number of WWI veterans dwindle in number and become forever silent, Frances Itani seeks to recreate the words and thoughts of the participants of this war. Itani highlights the soundless world of the deaf against the constant noise of battle.
Deafening is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Disgrace (J. M. Coetzee)

This Booker Prize winner by J.M. Coetzee is well named. From the disgraceful affair of a middle-aged professor with a student, to the disgrace of an entire country reeling from the after-effects of Apartheid, this novel will leave you breathless.
Disgrace is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Elizabeth and After (Matt Cohen)

The story of Elizabeth and After begins dramatically with Elizabeth’s death. The narrative thread follows the tormented and broken Carl, who had driven the car the night his mother was killed. Cohen offers choices to his emotionally damaged characters in order to see if these choices might make a difference to their futures.
Elizabeth and After is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions.

A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)

It is 1975 and Indira Gandhi has declared a State of Emergency in India. Rohinton Mistry vividly portrays the tragedy of human suffering and the dignity of the human spirit during this time. His four main characters manage to sew together the scraps of their individual lives to create a strong, supportive family.
A Fine Balance is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Fugitive Pieces (Anne Michaels)

Anne Michaels explores how the chance and circumstance of life is measured against the power of love. The novel is set during and after WWII and links the stories of two men – Jakob and Ben – both of whom are lost and found through love.
Fugitive Pieces is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Girls (Lori Lansens)

Novel Notes

Lori Lansens’ fantastic novel, The Girls, brings us the extraordinary story of Rose and Ruby Darlen, conjoined twins. They are physically connected at the head and because of that they have never looked into each other’s eyes.
The Girls is available in an ACROBAT PDF version

Herzog (Saul Bellow)

Novel Notes

Novel Notes is the Bookclub-in-a-Box mini-guide to Saul Bellow’s novel, Herzog. Saul Bellow uses his character, Moses Herzog, to discuss and discover the meaning of being one human being among others. This novel is Bellow’s most autobiographical. Bookclub-in-a-Box looks at Bellow’s philosophy of writing, his values and ethical perspective, as well as his views on interpersonal relationships.
Deconstructing Herzog is available in ACROBAT PDF version.

The Hours (Michael Cunningham)

Michael Cunningham seamlessly weaves together the stories of three women, set in three locations during three different time periods. One of the characters is a fictional Virginia Woolf, while the other two, despite being wholly distinct personalities, portray other aspects of the real Virginia Woolf.
The Hours is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Human Stain (Philip Roth)

Nathan Zuckerman, Philip Roth's favorite narrator, is at it again, discussing the human condition and the human characteristics that stain that existence.
The Human Stain is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)

In his first novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses the story of two boys, Amir and Hassan, to show the human faces behind the historic events in Afghanistan, during three turbulent decades in the country’s history.
The Kite Runner is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Known World (Edward P. Jones)

This Pulitzer prize-winning novel highlights a little known fact of American history: black slaves belonging to black slave owners. Henry Townsend, a black slave owner, dies as the novel opens. Everyone wonders what will happen next.
The Known World is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

We join Pi on his life's journey – from his childhood in Pondicherry, through his oceanic struggle alone in a lifeboat with only a Bengal tiger for a companion, to his rescue and afterlife in Canada.
Life of Pi is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)

In Alice Sebold’s story, fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon is murdered. Many readers might stop reading right there, but that would mean missing Sebold’s unique perspective on life and death, and it would mean not getting to know her unusual narrator, Susie, who tells her story from heaven.
The Lovely Bones is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Mark of the Angel (Nancy Huston)

In her novel, Nancy Huston sets the story of a love triangle between Raphael, a Parisian flautist, Andras, a Holocaust survivor, and the enigmatic young Saffie, a German national, against the backdrop of the French-Algerian conflict of the 1960s.
The Mark of the Angel is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards)

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards is a thoughtful and provocative novel that explores the idea of secrecy as a moral backdrop for people’s motives, choices, behavior, and interactions.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF version

Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides)

Transformation, identity, fate, destiny, crime and punishment are just some of the themes that are unraveled for readers in the Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide for this Pulitzer prize-winning novel.
Middlesex is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith (Gina B. Nahai)

Gina Nahai tells the lovely story of Roxanna the Angel, who disappears one night when her daughter is five years old. Her story is set in the Iranian-Jewish community, first in the years prior to the fall of the Shah in 1979, and later, in California, where many of these Jews emigrated.
Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri)

American-born Gogol Ganguli is linked to the Bengali culture through his parents. However, his name, Gogol, connects him to the immensely talented but psychologically wounded Russian author, Nikolai Gogol. Jumpha Lahiri’s Gogol has a big problem with identity.
The Namesake is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)

The future is now and it is quite frightening as Ishiguro tells it. Listen to Kathy H., a cloned human being, as she tells her incredible story.
Never Let Me Go is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood is a classic futuristic story about life as we may soon know it. The story follows Snowman (Jimmy) back through his memories to unravel how a technologically driven world spiraled out of control. Oryx and Crake was first released in 2003, but it is scarily relevant to our world today.
Oryx and Crake is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

People of the Book (Geraldine Brooks)

People of the Book looks at the 600-year history of a real book, known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, which originated in Spain in the mid-1300’s and now lives in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Geraldine Brooks tells an engrossing story, seamlessly filling in known facts with imagined fiction.
People of the Book is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Plot Against America (Philip Roth)

Philip Roth imagines that American hero, Charles Lindbergh, has won the presidency of the United States away from the other grand American hero of the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Plot Against America is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)

Into the Belgian Congo’s jungle comes a narrow-minded American missionary from America’s deep South, along with his wife and four daughters. These five women tell the tale of the family's unexpected relationship with the Congo against the backdrop of America's relationship with Africa.
The Poisonwood Bible is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid)

This second novel by Mohsin Hamid is an important story for our times because it explores personal loyalties, both cultural and political, that are compromised by fear and assumption.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The River Midnight (Lilian Nattel)

The River Midnight tells a story of the friendship of four women who were born and raised in a small village (the shtetl, Blaszka). The place is Poland and the date is the late 1800s, a time in history that is nestled between tragic events. The novel is a day-to-day diary of a slice of Jewish life not overshadowed by the Holocaust.
The River Midnight is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Small Island (Andrea Levy)

Small Island is a delightfully entertaining and probing book about Jamaican immigration to Britain in the days after World War II.
Small Island is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions.

A Student of Weather (Elizabeth Hay)

The student of the title, Maurice Dove, arrives from lush Ontario to study weather patterns in the bleak Canadian prairies. He becomes the object of fascination for the two sisters, Lucinda and Norma Joyce.
A Student of Weather is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Suite Française (Irène Némirovsky)

Irène Némirovsky’s novel is extraordinary as a fiction, as a witness to an ongoing history, and as its own mystery. Written in 1942 and published in 2004, this novel has taken quite a journey.
Suite Française is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini)

A Thousand Splendid Suns, the new novel by Khaled Hosseini brings us the female perspective of how hard life is in Afghanistan, a story which he began in his first novel, The Kite Runner.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

The Time Traveler’s Wife is the romantic and tender story of an unusual love affair. Clare meets Henry when she is 6 and he is 36 years of age; Henry meets Clare when he is 28 and she is 20. Niffenegger frees their relationship from the traditional definitions of time and love.
The Time Traveler's Wife is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

To The Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)

Come along with Bookclub-in-a-Box and the Ramsay family on a journey To The Lighthouse. This novel is Virginia Woolf’s favorite and most autobiographical book. Find out about Virginia Woolf, the woman, the wife, and the writer.
To The Lighthouse is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

True History of the Kelly Gang (Peter Carey)

True History of the Kelly Gang is the story of Australian outlaw-turned-hero Ned Kelly. In this novel, Peter Carey has captured the essence of a character, who has risen to mythical proportions in Australia. As Carey explores Ned’s story, he also explores the mythology of Australia, the country.
True History of the Kelly Gang is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Uncommon Reader (Alan Bennett)

Bennett’s novel is a very uncommon read. If you have ever thought that you were the queen (or king) of your own household, read this book and see what happens when real royalty becomes distracted by a newfound love of reading.
The Uncommon Reader is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Water For Elephants (Sara Gruen)

Come along with Bookclub-in-a-Box as we run away to the circus. Sara Gruen’s fantastic novel presents Jacob Jankowski as a ninety-something senior looking back on the exciting, romantic, difficult, and often tragic days of circus life during the Great Depression era.
Water For Elephants is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The Way The Crow Flies (Ann-Marie Macdonald)

Ann-Marie Macdonald tells a graphic tale of murder, false accusation, cruelty and slavery, based on true history. The novel is her vehicle for exploring the following questions: How often do we make irreversible decisions based on assumptions instead of fact? On convenience instead of truth?
The Way The Crow Flies is available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

The White Tiger (Aravind Adiga)

Novel Notes

The world is changing fast. Aravind Adiga’s biting satirical novel tackles India’s growing technological empire, her expanding middle class and the hasty dismantling of the old social and class structures. Balram is a self-proclaimed entrepreneur in the new India. His story is unique and enlightening. The novel’s narrative is simultaneously humorous and tragic. If you are interested in world politics, economics, social change, this story is for you.
The White Tiger in available in ACROBAT PDF version

The Yiddish Policeman's Union (Michael Chabon)

In the case of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, the Jewish people have just ended a 60-year hiatus in the state of Alaska, and they are being evicted. Where will they go? How will they fare? These are a couple of the emotional questions that Chabon explores, while at the same time solving a murder mystery. This novel offers in-depth discussion and thoughts on a great number of levels.
The Yiddish Policeman's Union in available in PRINTED or ACROBAT PDF versions

Bookclub-in-a-Box Discusses

Novel Notes

Novel Notes

Novel Notes

Novel Notes