The Reader's Shelf: Companion Reads for Your Next Book Club

Many groups find that discussing a series of books on a particular topic can broaden and deepen the experience of reading the individual titles separately. Although some clubs choose to discuss more than one book at a meeting, there's so much to talk about in these selections that I'd suggest you devote a separate meeting to each pick. The books should be read and discussed in the order in which they are listed below.

Growing up Hispanic in America is movingly described in both nonfiction and fiction. First published over 30 years ago, Piri Thomas's lyrical memoir of Spanish Harlem, DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS (Vintage. 1997. ISBN 0-679-78142-0. pap. $12), still resonates today. Esmeralda Santiago's WHEN I WAS PUERTO RICAN (Vintage. 1994. ISBN 0-679-75676-0. pap. $12; LJ 9/15/93) and ALMOST A WOMAN (Vintage. 1999. ISBN 0-375-70521-X. pap. $12.95; LJ 10/1/98) describe her life after coming to Brooklyn as a 13-year-old. Sandra Cisneros's THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET (Vintage. 1991. ISBN 0-679-73477-5. pap. $9.95), her autobiographical novel about a girl growing up in Chicago, is written in deceptively simple prose.

Two views of Southern life reflect one another in interesting and enlightening ways. Kaye Gibbons's CHARMS FOR THE EASY LIFE (Avon. 1994. ISBN 0-380-72270-4. pap. $7.99) tells the story of three generations of women living together in a small North Carolina town. Readers will be especially taken with the grandmother, a wonderful portrait of a strong elderly woman (something we don't find much of in contemporary fiction). In ADDIE: A MEMOIR (Berkley. 2000. ISBN 0-425-17442-5. pap. $13), award-winning novelist Mary Lee Settle recalls how she was shaped by her upbringing in the South.

Two novels about single women written almost 100 years apart, George Gissing's THE ODD WOMEN (Oxford Univ. 2002. ISBN 0-19-283312-X. pap. $13.95) and Gail Godwin's THE ODD WOMAN (o.p.) show that although much has changed, much remains the same in the lives of women.

Three books about Iran give us the opportunity to better understand this complicated land. James Buchan's THE PERSIAN BRIDE (Mariner: Houghton. 2002. ISBN 0-618-21923-4. pap. $13) is a love story about a young Englishman and an Iranian school girl in the period leading up to the Iranian revolution. Robin B. Wright's THE LAST GREAT REVOLUTION: TURMOIL AND TRANSFORMATION IN IRAN (Vintage. 2001. ISBN 0-375-70630-5. pap. $14; LJ 1/00) and PERSIAN MIRRORS: THE ELUSIVE FACE OF IRAN by Elaine Sciolino (Touchstone: S. & S. 2001. ISBN 0-7432-1779-9. pap. $14; LJ 10/15/00) are both journalistic accounts of Iran during and after the reign of the Shah and the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini.

The great and intrepid Victorian explorer Mary Kingsley is a wonderful subject for book club discussion. In his novel HELLO TO THE CANNIBALS (HarperCollins. 2002. ISBN 0-06-019295-X. $27.95; LJ 9/15/02), Richard Bausch alternates between Kingsley's story and the tale of a woman struggling to define herself in the late 20th century. Katherine Frank's A VOYAGER OUT: THE LIFE OF MARY KINGSLEY (o.p.) is a sensitive and moving biography. A welcome reprint is TRAVELS IN WEST AFRICA (National Geographic. 2002. ISBN 0-7922-6638-2. pap. $14), Kingsley's revealing account of her journeys, while Caroline Alexander followed in Kingsley's footsteps in ONE DRY SEASON: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARY KINGSLEY (o.p.).

Three excellent novels have main characters observing life without fully participating in it. In Wallace Stegner's National Book Award–winning THE SPECTATOR BIRD (Penguin. 1990. ISBN 0-14-013940-0. pap. $14), literary agent Joe Allston rethinks the course of his life after rereading one of his old diaries. Also a National Book Award winner, Walker Percy's first novel, THE MOVIEGOER (Vintage. 1998. ISBN 0-375-70196-6. pap. $12), is about Binx Bolling's attempts to overcome an existential despair that forces him to remain on the sidelines of his life. A GESTURE LIFE by Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead: Putnam. 2000. ISBN 1-57322-828-1. pap. $13; LJ 7/99) focuses on the not-quite-Americanized "Doc" Hata's repressed life following his conscription into the Japanese Army in World War II.

Dick and Nicole Diver, the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald's TENDER IS THE NIGHT (Scribner. 1995. ISBN 0-684-80154-X. pap. $12), were inspired by Sara and Gerald Murphy, the Lost Generation's golden couple. Their glamorous but ultimately tragic lives are the subject of two moving biographies: Calvin Trillin's LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE (Modern Library. 1998. ISBN 0-679-60308-5. $16.95) and Amanda Vaill's EVERYBODY WAS SO YOUNG: GERALD AND SARA MURPHY; LOST GENERATION LOVE STORY (Broadway. 1999. ISBN 0-7679-0370-6. pap. $15; LJ 3/15/98).

Another good idea for book groups is to read a classic novel and then move on to books that draw on the characters or themes of the original. Start with Charlotte Brontë's JANE EYRE (Everyman's Library: Random. 1991. ISBN 0-679-40582-8. $20), then move on to Jean Rhys's THE WIDE SARGASSO SEA (Norton. 1996. ISBN 0-393-30880-4. pap. $12.95), a beautifully rendered character study of the first Mrs. Rochester, and finally finish up with the delightful THE EYRE AFFAIR by Jasper Fforde (Viking. 2002. ISBN 0-670-03064-3. $23.95), a fantasy/mystery hybrid that will enchant not just Jane Eyre fans but all book lovers.