Book Club Picks
If you’re in need of new selections for your book club, we can help! Our quarterly picks lists below are filled with engaging titles sure to spark lively discussion. For each title, we:
- purchase multiple copies so they’ll be available to book club members
- purchase multiple formats so you can read the way you like best
- commit to keeping the titles for 18 months from the time we pick them so you can plan ahead
Book Club Resources
Book club online tracking tool
What we’re reading in WCLS book clubs
Pro tip: manage your book club requests
Whatcom READS
Join the Whatcom READS discussion by reading Washington Black with your book group and then attending virtual events that explore themes from the book. Find a list of events here.
Author Esi Edugyan visits Whatcom County via video conference in March 2021.
WINTER 2021 PICKS
“Circe is a bold and subversive retelling of the goddess’ story that manages to be both epic and intimate in scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right.” Winner of the 2019 Indie Choice Award.
Fiction
A gripping and brilliant novel based on a true story about a boys’ reformatory school in Florida in the 1960s, written in spare, suspenseful prose. Winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Nonfiction
This creative, deeply reflective memoir challenges what we think we know about memoirs. Machado documents a relationship gone wrong through a maze of short stories and vignettes. Winner of the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction.
Nonfiction
Desperation during wartime entwines four souls: a mother, her daughter, a mystical golem, and the woman who brings the golem to life. Set in Nazi-occupied France between 1941 and 1944, this is a bittersweet parable about survival, resistance, and how we define humanity. Emotional and gravely beautiful.
Fiction
Lillian, an aimless young woman receives a surprising request from an estranged friend. She asks Lillian to nanny her kids for a summer while she campaigns with her politician husband. The catch: the kids spontaneously combust. A peculiar, entertaining, and insightful book about the hazards of child-rearing and the value of friends.
Fiction
Casey Cep unravels two mysteries. The first: a court case that Harper Lee researched obsessively for years. The second: what happened to Harper Lee after To Kill a Mockingbird? A compelling hybrid of true crime thriller, courtroom drama, and a miniature biography of Harper Lee.
Nonfiction
The year is 1965. At 15 years old, Ana marries a much older man and immigrates to New York City. Her lonely life becomes more complicated and exciting when her husband returns to the Dominican Republic during political turmoil and leaves her alone in the city. A lyrical coming-of-age novel about immigration, love, freedom, and the complicated road to adulthood.
Fiction
An investigation into how Soviet propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of history’s worst nuclear accident. Despite being meticulously researched, this fast-paced narrative reads like a thriller or adventure novel. Winner of the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence.
Nonfiction
Willis Wu is an actor who dreams of being a leading man but keeps finding himself in the same role: Generic Asian Man. This modern satire explores Asian stereotypes, cop TV shows, and the immigrant experience through a playful mix of formats. Winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction.
Fiction
In the 1970s, a Stanford psychologist and seven volunteers went undercover into asylums, where they remained until they “proved” their sanity. This real-life detective story delves into mental health care’s troubling history and asks the question: how should we define insanity? Gripping, investigative, and timely.
Nonfiction
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