Show Us Your Book Club!

Appleton Book Club — Appleton, Wisconsin

How did you get together? A little more than two years ago, two of us decided it was time to get a neighborhood book club together. We made a list of people we knew were readers and who we thought would enjoy getting together in a casual, relaxed setting to exchange thoughts.

Where do you usually meet? Our Appleton Book Club is very low-key, with no rules or study questions. It's just an excuse to read and a place state your thoughts without judgment! We usually meet once a month at a member's house or occasionally a coffee shop or restaurant. 

Which of Oprah's Book Club selections have you read together? The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and, of course, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. 

What are your all-time favorite selections? Our favorite books that the Appleton Book Club has read are: The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See and The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. Some of our lifetime favorite books are: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, I Know This Much Is True, The Poisonwood Bible, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, Atonement by Ian McEwan, Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz and People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.

How do you decide what to read next? We usually decide what the next book will be at our book club meeting. A few people make suggestions and we go from there. We all have very diverse tastes in books which encourages each of us to explore books to which we would not normally gravitate.

Are you planning any special trips or events around a book you're reading? Have you in the past? We plan to rent the movie Love in the Time of Cholera and travel to Chicago for the Devil in the White City tour when the weather gets warmer! 

See what this book club had to say during the Edgar Sawtelle webcast!