Book Club in a Bag

If your group likes richly detailed historical fiction with authentic characters try The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

In 1947, a young American woman, pregnant and exiled by her family, travels to England to search for a long-lost cousin who disappeared in the war, there she meets and joins forces with a reclusive former spy who was involved in the Alice Network.

If your group likes dark, fast-paced, psychological suspense, try The Black Hour by Lori Rader-Day. 

For Chicago sociology professor Amelia Emmet, violence was a research topic--until a student she'd never met shot her. He also shot himself. Now he's dead and she's back on campus, trying to keep up with her class schedule, a growing problem with painkillers, and a question she can't let go: Why?

If your group likes mysteries with a strong sense of place, read Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker for a mystery set in rural France, and enjoy a story filled with investigations, provincial coziness, and richly detailed meals.

Bruno is a former soldier who has embraced the pleasures and slow rhythms of country life - living in his restored shepherd’s cottage, patronizing the weekly market, and ignoring the European Union bureaucrats from Brussels. But then the murder of an elderly North African who fought in the French army changes everything and spurs this mystery series.

If your group likes lyrical, sweeping fiction with strong female leads, try Circe by Madeline Miller.

In this reframing of Homer’s “Odyssey,” Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios, evolves from a frightened, outcast to an independent woman who slowly discovers, and ultimately controls, both her power and her fate.

If your group likes lyrical memoirs about family and relationships, read Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. The Japanese Breakfast indie pop star presents her reflections on growing up Korean-American, becoming a professional musician, and caring for her terminally ill mother.

In her memoir, Zauner reflects on growing up as one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon. She shares her struggles with her mother’s particularly high expectations of her, her painful adolescence, and treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.

If your group likes hopeful, inspiring, true stories of people coming together in a crisis, try The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede.

When the small Canadian town of Gander took in passengers from 38 jetliners diverted from the U.S. by the events of September 11, the outpouring of kindness from the town’s residents resulted in enduring friendships and bonds that continued long after the passengers went home.

If your group likes character-driven family sagas, try The Dutch House by Ann Patchett.

For over three generations the Dutch House, a 1920s mansion, has served as the site of family drama with difficult memories alongside happy ones, resulting in a deep-seated nostalgia that binds siblings Maeve and Danny to the past and to the Dutch House.

If your group likes issue-oriented, courageous coming-of-age stories, try The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré.

A Nigerian teenager dreams of an education and a future that would upend the traditional role expected of her. Despite experiencing tragedy and violence in her village and later in the city, Adunni never gives up hope or stops trying to achieve a life of her choosing.

If your group likes stories of forbidden love that span generations and are impacted by historical events, try The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende.

This epic story of forbidden love moves from Alma’s present life in a nursing home, back in time to revisit her flight from WWII Poland to her relatives in California where she meets and falls in love with Ichimei Fukuda, the son of the family’s gardener.

If your group likes reflective and lyrical science-fiction that focuses on characters, try Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Waiting to be chosen by a customer, an Artificial Friend programmed with high perception observes the activities of shoppers while exploring fundamental questions about what it means to love.

Ishiguro takes readers to a vaguely futuristic, technologically advanced setting for a surprising parable about love, humanity, and science. Klara is an Artificial Friend (AF) who is eventually bought by teenager Josie and learns about humans through her interactions with Josie’s family and childhood friend. When Josie becomes seriously ill, Klara pleads with the sun to make her well again and confronts the boundary between service and sacrifice.

If your group likes compelling, richly detailed non-fiction with a touch of the absurd, try The Library Book by Susan Orlean.

A 1986 fire inside the Los Angeles Public Library is the catalyst for this wide-ranging exploration of the history and meaning of libraries and the intriguing characters that inhabit them.

If your group likes intricately-plotted, atmospheric mysteries, like the author’s Vera Stanhope or Shetland series, try The Long Call by Ann Cleaves.

In Cleaves’ latest mystery series opener set on the lonely English coast, inspector Matthew Venn must confront his past, including his estranged mother and the restrictive church that turned its back on him, in order to solve the mystery of a body found on the beach.

If your group likes engaging historical mysteries, try Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. Winspear writes the story of Maisie Dobbs who becomes the pupil of a wise family friend. In 1929, following an apprenticeship, Maisie hangs out her shingle: M. Dobbs, Trade and Personal Investigations.

In this delightful mix of mystery, war story, and romance set in WWI–era England, humble housemaid Maisie Dobbs climbs convincingly up Britain’s social ladder, becoming a university student, a wartime nurse, and ultimately a private investigator.

If your group likes offbeat, engaging memoirs that insightfully explore unusual topics, try Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty.

The author describes her time as a young mortician and crematorium operator, detailing the many mundane chores and unsavory aspects with curiosity and humor, while also addressing how Americans treat death versus other cultures

If your group likes elegantly written and leisurely paced fiction, try Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen. This slim novel is an engaging and moving read.

Abandoning her expensive world to move to a small country cabin, a once world-famous photographer bonds with a local man and begins to see the world around her in new, deeper dimensions while evaluating second chances at love, career, and self-understanding.

If your group enjoys thought-provoking, issue-oriented fiction, try This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. This heartwarming and moving story will leave readers with much to discuss.

A family reshapes their ideas about family, love, and loyalty when their youngest son Claude reveals increasingly determined preferences for girls' clothing and accessories and refuses to stay silent.