If you're in a reading club, you're familiar with the gentle struggle you go through after each meeting — which book should we read next?
Lit Lovers, an online book community, suggests choosing books based on good opportunities for discussion, rather than good plotlines. She also recommends against choosing books for the whole year at once, as it might keep you from reading new, exciting works.
HuffPost Canada blog editor Angelina Chapin has some rules of her own for running a book club, including not inviting your friends, appointing a group leader and limiting your wine intake.
Whether or not those work for you and your book club are entirely your call, but one thing you will need is a book. Including a variety of new and soon-to-be released books as well as older tomes that you may not yet have read, check out this list for ideas on what your book club might want to read next. And come back next month for more!
Book Club Books For April 2014
Book: Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
Genre: Suspense
Elevator pitch: By the author of Room, this book about a real-life murder in San Francisco in the 1870s bring up a cast of characters that wouldn't look out of place in the 1960s
Will it be a movie?: Not yet
Goes best with: A Blue Blazer, if you dare to make it
Number of pages: 416 pages
Comparables: The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean; The Luminaries
Book: Bark by Lorrie Moore
Genre: Short stories
Elevator pitch: Insightful, sometimes too-spot-on tales dealing with relationships and their myriad complications
Will it be a movie?: No
Goes best with: Scotch, or another hard liquor to swirl
Number of pages: 208 pages
Comparables: The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis; Birds of America
Book: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Genre: Fiction
Elevator pitch: A world-famous opera singer performs at a limited engagement for a South American dictator, only to result in a hostage situation
Will it be a movie?: Rumour has it, yes
Book club questions: Right here
Goes best with: Italian wine
Number of pages: 352 pages
Comparables: The Magic Mountain; The House Of Serenades
Book: 10% Happier: How I Tamed The Voice In My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, And Found Self-Help That Actually Works — A Trust Story by Dan Harris
Genre: Self-help meets memoir
Elevator pitch: Newscaster's attempt to become calmer and happier after an on-air panic attack turns into research into every type of spiritual guidance out there.
Will it be a movie?: Not yet
Goes best with: Herbal teas
Number of pages: 256 pages
Comparables: My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind by Scott Stossel; The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown
Book: Boy Snow Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
Genre: Fiction
Elevator pitch: A retelling of the Snow White story that asks questions about relocation, race and the power of the mirror
Will it be a movie?: Not yet
Goes best with: Appletinis, for the fairy tale's sake
Number of pages: 320 pages
Book: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Genre: Fiction
Elevator pitch: An account of the last days of a woman awaiting execution for murder in Iceland in 1829
Will it be a movie?: Yes
Book club questions: Right here
Goes best with: Vodka
Number of pages: 336 pages
Comparables: Arctic Chill; Before I Burn
Book: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
Genre: Crime fiction
Elevator pitch: The first crime novel by J.K. Rowling (under a pseudonym) centres a loose cannon cop investigating his supermodel sister's untimely death
Will it be a movie?: Unquestionably
Book club questions: Right here
Goes best with: London Pride beer, if you can get your hands on it, or any U.K. ale
Number of pages: 464 pages
Comparables: Moonlight Mile; The Little Sister
Book: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
Genre: Memoir
Elevator pitch: The true story of a girl whose belief in women's right to education took her right up against the Taliban
Will it be a movie?: It already is
Book club questions: Right here
Goes best with: Black tea and halwa
Number of pages: 352 pages
Comparables: Three Cups Of Tea; Half The Sky
Book: The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg
Genre: Fiction
Elevator pitch: A group of seniors at a retirement community decide to start committing crimes
Will it be a movie?: Probably not
Goes best with: Hot toddies
Number of pages: 400 pages
Comparables: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry; Stone Angel
Book: Living With A Wild God by Barbara Ehrenreich
Genre: Memoir
Elevator pitch: The author goes back to her teenage questions about life, religion and the meaning of it all, and tries to apply intelligence to finding the answers
Will it be a movie?: Not yet
Goes best with: Absinthe ... or nothing at all
Number of pages: 256 pages
Comparables: Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas; Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality
Book: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Genre: Fiction
Elevator pitch: Inexperienced woman gets hired to care for a paraplegic man in a plot that sounds obvious, but is utterly compelling
Will it be a movie?: Yes
Book club questions: Right here
Goes best with: Gin and tonics
Number of pages: 384 pages
Comparables: The Horse Whisperer; The Accidental Tourist
Book: Robin Roberts: Everybody's Got Something with Veronica Chambers
Genre: Memoir
Elevator pitch: The Good Morning America anchor recounts her health, personal and professional battles — and what got her through it
Will it be a movie?: No
Goes best with: Coffee
Number of pages: 272 pages
Comparables: Cancer is a Bitch: Or, I'd Rather Be Having a Midlife Crisis; Rob Lowe's Love Life
Book: The Blessings by Elise Juska (available May 6)
Genre: Fiction
Elevator pitch: The tale of how a close family can be torn apart — and come together — when an integral family member dies
Will it be a movie?: Not yet
Goes best with: Irish whiskey
Number of pages: 272 pages
Comparables: The Art Of Mending; The Life Of Objects
Book: The Dolphin Way: A Parent's Guide To Raising Healthy, Happy and Motivated Kids, Without Turning Into a Tiger
Genre: Parent advice book
Elevator pitch: The opposite of Tiger Mom
Will it be a movie?: No
Goes best with: Organic, non-GMO anything
Number of pages: 352 pages
Comparables: No Regrets Parenting: Turning Long Days and Short Years into Cherished Moments with Your Kids; Bad Mother
Book: The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld
Genre: Magical realism
Elevator pitch: A death row inmate's reimagining of where he is with fantastical elements, questioning who convicts are
Will it be a movie?: Not yet
Book club questions: Right here
Goes best with: Whatever you want to indulge in
Number of pages: 256 pages
Comparables: Night Circus; The House of the Spirits
Book: The Good Luck Of Right Now by Matthew Quick
Genre: Fiction
Elevator pitch: A man's journey to find himself (possibly within Buddhism) after his mother, who he's lived with for 38 years, passes away
Will it be a movie?: Of course
Book club questions: Right here
Number of pages: 304 pages
Comparables: Amy Falls Down; Lowboy
Book: Thank You For Your Service by David Finkel
Genre: War memoir
Elevator pitch: A picture of the mental health struggles soldiers go through once they return home, and how it affects family, friends and the rest of their lives
Will it be a movie?: Probably
Book club questions: Right here
Number of pages: 272 pages
Comparables: The Untold War; The Things They Cannot Say