… or to assemble a list of my and my book club friends’ discerning and eclectic reading!

Here is our group’s latest combined book list, reflecting books mentioned and discussed at our meetings in March. As I’ve mentioned before, each list reflects the reading of many of our members, whether or not they attended the meetings in question. The titles featured in each of our reports encompass print and digital versions of books, along with audiobooks.

Any title on any of our group’s lists means that at least one (often more) readers have given that title some consideration. That is encouragement, I’d say, for other readers reading our reports and lists to consider it, too. Is that a recommendation? It might be, but not exactly or necessarily. It always means that a title has been given thoughtful consideration and attention by our readers, which counts for a lot.

• Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo
• All’s Well by Mona Awad, narrated by Sophie Amoss (audiobook)
• Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay
• In Search of Al Howie by Jared Beasley
• Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
• Pascal’s Fire by Kristina Bresnen
• Our Spoons Came From Woolworths by Barbara Comyns
• The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin
• The Night Travellers by Armando Lucas Correa
• Upgrade by Blake Crouch
• VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, narrated by Julie Teal (audiobook)
• Tainna by Norma Dunning
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich, narrated by Cristine McMurdo-Wallis (audiobook)
• Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
• Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld
• The Relatives by Camilla Gibb, narrated by Mikaela Davies, Nathalie Toriel, Matthew Edison, Christina Tannous (audiobook)
• Grain by John Glenday
• Winter Recipes from the Collective by Louise Gluck
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For by Leslie Greentree
• Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
• Until Further Notice by Amy Kaler
• Antarctica by Claire Keegan
• Foster by Claire Keegan
• The Feast by Margaret Kennedy
• The Whitsun Weddings: Poems by Philip Larkin
• The Weight of Memories by Cixin Liu
• I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, narrated by Frankie Corzo (audiobook)
• Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah
• Songs for the End of the World by Saleema Nawaz
• Did Ye Hear Mammy Died by Séamas O’Reilly
• The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner
• The Glass Pearls by Emeric Pressburger, narrated by Mark Gatiss (audiobook)
• When You are Mine by Michael Robotham
• My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
• The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
• The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab
• One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, narrated by Lauren Graham (audiobook)
• Citizens of Light by Sam Shelstad
• The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff
• One Native Life by Richard Wagamese
• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, narrated by Lorna Raver (audiobook)
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

At mid-month, we enjoyed another meeting focused on themes rather than on our specific books read in the last month. This time, our main topic of discussion focused on authors and lived experience – that is, to what extent must an author have lived the experiences of their characters? As a reader, are you concerned or do you even check first to find out if an author knows firsthand about the socio-economic status, race, functional abilities, credos and so on of their characters? Or can an author achieve convincing authenticity with research, imagination and sympathy?

It was another rich, varied discussion. The overall discussion leaned towards authors having at least some exposure to the subject matter/circumstances/lived experience for believability/authenticity. As a counterpoint, we also explored the notion that any author worth their salt, imagination and research should be able to convincingly depict a character or experience – because, for example, what if it is a sphere in which no one could possibly have experienced it (e.g. science fiction, fantasy, etc.)? What we concluded is that this is a question that provokes much great and interesting debate, and one that cannot be sewed up neatly, can it? I sense this and other such questions will keep our group fueled for lots of future such meetings and discussions.