Clubbing

I read. A lot. Maybe you do to. One of my great pleasures is discovering what new books are coming out and what new authors might float my boat. But I get stuck in ruts anyway. That’s one of the reasons that I so enjoy belonging to a book club (the food & the company are the other reasons…sometimes we call ourselves an eating club with an interest in books). Because of the club I read books I never would choose on my own. Some are great (though, many, I have to say have not been contenders for re-reading–The Gravedigger’s Daughter, I’m looking at you.)
Right now, our book club is reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I had been intending to read it since right after it came out (the buzz!) and I like fantasy, I do. But I just wasn’t in the mood and other books grabbed my attention first and time went on. Now I’m enjoying it and wondering what took me so long. Have you read it? And the second book in the eventual-trilogy? What do you think? Thank goodness for the artificial assignments of a book club or just see what I’d be missing.

Want to see what my club has picked out for 2012? We’re an eclectic bunch. Here’s the subject-to-change (linkless) list:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot, Rebecca
The Women. Boyle, T.C.
Deep Fathom. Rollins, James
The River of Doubt. Millard, Candice
Justinian. Turteltaub, H.N.
Little Bee. Cleave, Chris
Parrot and Olivier in America. Carey, Peter
Stones from the River. Hegi, Ursula
Buffalo for the Broken Heart. O’Brien, Dan
Russian Winter. Kalotay, Daphne
Hiss and Tell: True Stories from the Files of a Cat Shrink. Johnson-Bennett, Pam
Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution. Moran, Michelle

Are you in a book club? Does it expand your horizons, broaden your mind, help you relax? Do something else for you? What’s on your club’s to read list? If you have a list to share, please do!

And now I’m going to try to get 1667 words of my own “novel” written before I crash and burn for the night. Happy reading/writing!