BOOK GROUP: Books We Have Read - Updated May 2014!

Note: Midtown Book Group Ratings are based on a 5-star scale, with 5 being the highest. Individuals ratings are purely subjective and personal. Attending book group members rate each book at the monthly meeting at the beginning of the discussion and the average is the Midtown Book Group Rating. We started group ratings in September 2009.

Coming Up:
May 2014 (05/14/14) - Dear Life: Stories by Alice Munro * Nobel Prize *
Jun 2014 (06/11/14) - Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
Jul 2014 (07/09/14) - Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Month of the CLASSIC!
Aug 2014 (08/13/14) - Speak My Secret Name by Van Hall * w/Author! *
Sep 2014 (09/10/14) - Desert Queen...Gertrude Bell by Janet Wallach

Midtown Book Group: Books We Have Read

Apr 2014 - The Round House by Louise Erdrich - 4 / 5 Stars - * HIGH *
Mar 2014 - The Bear by Claire Cameron - Rated 2.6
Feb 2014 - The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain - Rated 3.5
JAN 2014 - Empire Falls by Richard Russo - Rated 3.5

"The Goldfinch" - Rating (Avg) 4.5 - HIGH
Dec 2013 - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - Pg. 427 to End
Nov 2013 - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - to pg. 427
Oct 2013 - Must Win: A Season of Survival for a Town and its Team
by Drew Jubera * * LOCAL AUTHOR EVENT at Barnes & Noble/Georgia Tech * *
Sep 2013 - The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach - Rated 4 / 5 Stars
Aug 2013 - Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones - 3.8 / 5 Stars
Jul 2013 - Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - Month of the CLASSIC! - 3.4 / 5 Stars
Jun 2013 - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese - 4 / 5 Stars *HIGH*
May 2013 - State of Wonder by Ann Patchett - 3.2 / 5 Stars
Apr 2013 - The Uprooted by Oscar Handlin - 3 / 5 Stars
Mar 2013 - Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang - 3 / 5 Stars
Feb 2013 - The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides - 2.4 / 5 Stars *LOW*
JAN 2013 - The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver - 3.5 / 5 Stars

Dec 2012 - POETRY - Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey - 4 / 5 Stars
(December EXTRA CREDIT SUGGESTION also by Natasha Trethewey:
Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast)
Nov 2012 - Fahrenheit 451 in honor of the late RAY BRADBURY - 3.9 / 5 Stars
Oct 2012 - The Snowman by Jo Nesbo - 2.8 / 5 Stars
Sept 2012 - Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History by Sharon Foster Jones - NR
Aug 2012 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by R. Skloot - 4 / 5 Stars (REVIEW)
July 2012 - Shantaram: A Novel - PARTS 4 & 5 - by Gregory David Roberts
June 2012 - SHANTARAM - PARTS 1,2&3 - by Gregory David Roberts - 3.8 / 5 Stars
May 2012 - The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown - Rated 2.75 / 5 Stars
Apr 2012 - A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - Rated 3.4 / 5 Stars
Mar 2012 - West with the Night by Beryl Markham - Rated 3.4 / 5 Stars
Feb 2012 - Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - Rated 3.2 / 5 Stars
Jan 2012 - Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey - Unrated

Dec 2011 - Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris - Rated 2 / 5 Stars NEW *LOW*
Nov 2011 - In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson - Rated 4 / 5 Stars
Oct 2011 - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - Rated 3.6 / 5 Stars
Sept 2011 - Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Varga Llosa - Rated 3.7 / 5 Stars
Aug 2011 - Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann - Rated 3.6 / 5 Stars
July 2011 - A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway - Rated 3.4 / 5 Stars
June 2011 - The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien - Rated 4.25 / 5 Stars
May 2011 - The Help by Kathryn Stockett - Rated 3.5 / 5 Stars
Apr 2011 - Self-Made Man by Norah Vincent - Rated 2.4 / 5 Stars - *LOW*
Mar 2011 - Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff - Rated 3.8 / 5 Stars
Feb 2011 - Tinkers by Paul Harding - Rated 2.8 / 5 Stars
Jan 2011 - Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel - Rated 3.125 / 5 Stars

Dec 2010 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Rated 4.4 / 5 Stars
Nov 2010 - The Essential Tales And Poems of Edgar Allen Poe - Rated 3 / 5 Stars
* * * Oct/Nov 2010 - The NEA BIG READ/ATLANTA: Edgar Allan Poe * * *
Oct 2010 - The Beautiful Cigar Girl by Daniel Stashower - Rated 2.79 / 5 Stars
Sept 2010 - The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen - Rated 2.75 / 5 Stars (REVIEW)
Aug 2010 - Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins - Rated 3.25 out of 5 Stars
July 2010 - The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - 4.5 / 5 Stars - NEW *HIGH*
(July 2010 Extra Credit: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton)
June 2010 - The Lost City by Henry Shukman - Rated 3.15 / 5 Stars (REVIEW)
May 2010 - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - 2.5 / 5
Apr 2010 - Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson - Rated 4.1 / 5 Stars (REVIEW)
Mar 2010 - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - 4.2 / 5 *HIGH*
Feb 2010 - A Good Man Is Hard to Find & Other Stories F. O'Conner - 3.5 / 5 Stars
Jan 2010 - The Shipping News by Annie Proulx - Rated 3.8 / 5 Stars!

Dec 09 - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - Rated 3.7 / 5 Stars
Nov 09 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - Rated 3.5 / 5 Stars
Oct 09 - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach - 2.6 / 5 Stars
Sept 09 - The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga - Rated 3.2 / 5 Stars
Aug 09 - Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen
July 09 - The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
June 09 - Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
May 09 - People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks
Apr 09 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Mar 09 - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Feb 09 - Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Jan 09 - The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Dec 08 - Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson
Nov 08 - The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Oct 08 - The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Sept 08 - Them by Nathan McCall
Aug 08 - Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman
July 08 - Persuasion (Dover Thrift Editions) by Jane Austen
June 08 - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
May 08 - Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson (REVIEW)
Apr 08 - Memo to the President Elect by Madeleine Albright
Mar 08 - Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan
Feb 08 - Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Jan 08 - Love in the Time of Cholera by Gariel Garcia Marquez

Dec 07 - Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
Nov 07 - Chasing the Devil's Tail by David Fulmer *SPECIAL GUEST AUTHOR*
Oct 07 - The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield
Sept 07 - Midnight's Children: A Novel by Salman Rushdie (REVIEW)
Aug 07 - Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides - *A FAVORITE*
July 07 - Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - *WE LOVE OUR JULY CLASSICS*
June 07 - The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
May 07 - The Sea by John Banville - *MAN BOOKER PRIZE*
Apr 07 - The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J.R. Moehringer (REVIEW)
Mar 07 - The Worst Hard Time by T. Egan (REVIEW)
Feb 07 - The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel by Anita Diamant
Jan 07 - 1776 by David McCullough

Dec 06 - The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Nov 06 - The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
Oct 06 - Victorine by Catherine Texier
Sept 06 - March by Geraldine Brooks

Midtown Book Group: Recurring Themes (Tentative):

January - New Year/New Beginnings
February - Romance/Anti-Romance
March - Memoir/Biography
April - International/Travel - Non-Fiction
May - Ladies' Choice
June - For The Men - Adventure/Manly
July - MONTH OF THE CLASSIC
August - Beach Read/Humor
September - Back to School/Non-Fiction
October - Spooky
November - History/Ancient History
December - Comfort Food/Feel Good