Local Book Group Choices 2005 and 2006, by Month
2006 Choices 2005 Choices
The 2002 – 2004 choices have been archived here.
Updated January 8, 2006
Non-fiction titles are in Bold.
Click here to see the choices arranged by author.
2006 Choices, by month
December
| Author |
Title |
| Buchan, John |
The Thirty–nine Steps |
| Clark, Mary Higgins |
Kitchen Privileges |
| Dunant, Sarah |
Mapping the Edge |
| Fergus, Jim |
One Thousand White Women |
| Fraser, Antonia |
The Warrior Queens |
| Gordimer, Nadine |
The Pickup |
| Hemingway, Ernest |
The Sun Also Rises |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo |
Never Let Me Go |
| Learner, Tobsha |
The Witch of Cologne |
| Lelyveld, Joseph |
Omaha Blues |
| Mahfuz, Najib |
The Beginning and the End |
| Mason, Daniel |
The Piano Tuner |
| Pouncey, Peter R. |
Rules For Old Men Waiting |
| Robinson, Marilynne |
Housekeeping |
| Saramago, Jose |
Blindness |
| Sparks, Muriel |
The Finishing School |
| Stewart, Leah |
The Myth of You & Me |
| Tóibín, Colm |
The Blackwater Lightship |
November
| Author |
Title |
| Doctorow, E.L. |
The March |
| Ilibagiza, Immaculée |
Left to Tell |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo |
Never Let Me Go |
| Jin, Ha |
The Crazed |
| Jones, Edward P. |
The Known World |
| Kerr, Philip |
A German Requiem |
| Krauss, Nicole |
The History of Love |
| Lewis, Sinclair |
Babbitt |
| Obama, Barack |
Dreams From My Father |
| Paley, Grace |
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute |
| Perlman, Elliot |
Seven Types of Ambiguity |
| Picoult, Jodi |
My Sister's Keeper |
| Salinger, J.D. |
Franny and Zooey |
| Smith, Zadie |
White Teeth |
| Tyler, Anne |
Digging to America |
| Wallach, Janet |
Seraglio |
| Wallance, Gregory |
Two Men Before the Storm |
October
| Author |
Title |
| Banville, John |
The Sea |
| Barnes, Julian |
Arthur & George |
| Buchan, John |
The Thirty–nine Steps |
| Chang, Jung |
Wild Swans |
| Cross, Donna Woolfolk |
Pope Joan |
| Dai, Sijie |
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress |
| Dearborn, Mary V. |
Mistress of Modernism |
| Didion, Joan |
The Year of Magical Thinking |
| Fergus, Jim |
One Thousand White Women |
| Gregory, Philippa |
The Constant Princess |
| Kingsolver, Barbara |
Prodigal Summer |
| Lahiri, Jhumpa |
The Namesake |
| Lethem, Jonathan |
Motherless Brooklyn |
| Mahfuz, Naguib |
Palace Walk |
| Mann, Thomas |
The Magic Mountain |
| McEwan, Ian |
Saturday |
| Munro, Alice |
Runaway: Stories |
| Roth, Philip |
American Pastoral |
| Smith, Zadie |
White Teeth |
| Tsukiyama, Gail |
Women of the Silk |
| Vanderbes, Jennifer |
Easter Island |
| Wills, Garry |
What Jesus Meant |
September
| Author |
Title |
| Barnes, Julian |
Arthur & George |
| De Bernieres, Louis |
Corelli's Mandolin |
| Gordimer, Nadine |
Get a Life |
| Gregory, Philippa |
The Other Boleyn Girl |
| Lavigne, Michael |
Not Me |
| McEwan, Ian |
Saturday |
| Monette, Paul |
Borrowed Time: an AIDS Memoir |
| Morrison, Toni |
Beloved |
| O'Connor, Flannery |
Everything That Rises Must Converge |
| Ozick, Cynthia |
Heir to the Glimmering World |
| Pamuk, Orhan |
My Name is Red |
| Schlink, Bernhard |
The Reader |
| Shteyngart, Gary |
The Russian Debutante's Handbook |
| Smith, Zadie |
White Teeth |
| Stafford, Jean |
Collected Stories of Jean Stafford |
| Winik, Jay |
April 1865 |
August
| Author |
Title |
| Chandler, Raymond |
The Long Goodbye |
| Conlon, Edward |
Blue Blood |
| Gladwell, Malcolm |
Blink |
| Japrisot, Sébastien |
A Very Long Engagement |
| Trevor, William |
Felicia's Journey |
| Weiner, Jennifer |
Goodnight Nobody |
July
| Author |
Title |
| Brookner, Anita |
The Bay of Angels |
| Burroughs, Augusten |
Dry |
| Didion, Joan |
The Year of Magical Thinking |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo |
Never Let Me Go |
| McEwan, Ian |
Saturday |
| Sholokhov, Mikhail |
And Quiet Flows the Don |
June
| Author |
Title |
| Austen, Jane |
Persuasion |
| Cather, Willa |
My Ántonia |
| Ellison, Ralph |
Invisible Man |
| Erdrich, Louise |
The Painted Drum |
| Gill, Anton |
Art Lover |
| Halter, Marek |
Sarah |
| Heller, Zoe |
What Was She Thinking? |
| Hornby, Nick |
A Long Way Down |
| Jones, Edward |
The Known World |
| Kidder, Tracy |
Home Town |
| McEwan, Ian |
Saturday |
| Obejas, Achy |
Days of Awe |
| Reichl, Ruth |
Garlic and Sapphires |
| Roth, Philip |
The Plot Against America |
| Shriver, Lionel |
We Need to Talk About Kevin |
| Twain, Mark |
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court |
| Vonnegut, Kurt |
Cat's Cradle |
| Austen, Jane |
Persuasion |
| Wood, Monica |
Any Bitter Thing |
May
| Author |
Title |
| Alcott, Louisa May |
Little Women |
| Alvarez, Julia |
In the Time of Butterflies |
| Atkinson, Kate |
Case Histories |
| Bellow, Saul |
Seize the Day |
| Cather, Willa |
My Ántonia |
| Faulkner, William |
As I Lay Dying |
| García Márquez, Gabriel |
Memories of My Melancholy Whores |
| Guterson, David |
Our Lady of the Forest |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo |
Never Let Me Go |
| Kluger, Jeffrey |
Splendid Solution |
| Lahiri, Jhumpa |
The Namesake |
| Ligocka, Roma |
Girl in the Red Coat |
| Lipsyte, Sam |
Home Land |
| McCullough, David G. |
1776 |
| McEwan, Ian |
Saturday |
| Mitchell, Margaret |
Gone with the Wind |
| Ruiz Zafón, Carlos |
Shadow of the Wind |
| Smith, Zadie |
On Beauty |
| Stegner, Wallace |
Crossing to Safety |
| Wilson, Jonathan |
A Palestine Affair |
April
| Author |
Title |
| Addonizio, Kim |
Little Beauties |
| Austen, Jane |
Pride and Prejudice |
| Bezmozgis, David |
Natasha and Other Stories |
| Capote, Truman |
Breakfast at Tiffany's |
| Capote, Truman |
In Cold Blood |
| Finney, Jack |
Time and Again |
| García Márquez, Gabriel |
One Hundred Years of Solitude |
| Isaacson, Walter |
Benjamin Franklin |
| Jen, Gish |
The Love Wife |
| Lahiri, Jhumpa |
The Namesake |
| Mahfouz, Nguib |
Wedding Song |
| Mistry, Rohinton |
A Fine Balance |
| Morrison, Toni |
Beloved |
| Oz, Amos |
A Tale of Love and Darkness |
| Perrotta, Tom |
Little Children |
| Robinson, Marilynne |
Housekeeping |
| Roth, Joseph |
The Tale of the 1002nd Night |
| Russo, Richard |
Straight Man |
| Samuel, Wolfgang |
German Boy |
| Wallach, Janet |
Desert Queen |
March
| Author |
Title |
| Ali, Monica |
Brick Lane |
| Allende, Isabel |
Daughter of Fortune |
| Borges, Jorge Luis |
Ficciones |
| Didion, Joan |
Play It As It Lays |
| Doctorow, E.L. |
The March |
| Dunant, Sarah |
Mapping the Edge |
| Garcia, Cristina |
Dreaming in Cuban |
| Hamill, Pete |
Downtown, My Manhattan |
| Krauss, Nicole |
The History of Love |
| Lee, Chang Rae |
Aloft |
| Mahfuz, Najib |
Palace Walk |
| Mahfuz, Najib |
Wedding Song |
| Maine, David |
Fallen |
| Meloy, Maile |
Liars and Saints |
| Morgan, Edmund Sears |
Benjamin Franklin |
| Munro, Alice |
Runaway: Stories |
| Murakami, Haruki |
A Wild Sheep Chase |
| Nabokov, Vladimir |
Pale Fire |
| Oates, Joyce Carol |
Missing Mom |
| Oz, Amos |
A Tale of Love and Darkness |
| Reichl, Ruth |
Garlic and Sapphires |
| Robinson, Marilynne |
Gilead |
| Sasson, Jean P. |
Princess |
| Seierstad, Asne |
The Bookseller of Kabul |
| Sittenfeld, Curtis |
Prep |
| Vargas Llosa, Mario |
Death in the Andes |
| Woolf, Virginia |
Mrs. Dalloway |
February
| Author |
Title |
| Aciman, Andre |
Out of Egypt |
| Bohjalian, Christopher A. |
Before You Know Kindness |
| Cahill, Thomas |
Pope John XXIII |
| Foer, Jonathan Safran |
Everything Is Illuminated |
| GAines, Ernest J. |
A Gathering of Old Men |
| Hornby, Nick |
A Long Way Down |
| Krauss, Nicole |
The History of Love |
| Lahiri, Jhumpa |
The Namesake |
| Martel, Yann |
Life of Pi |
| Naslund, Sena Jeter |
Four Spirits |
| Ozick, Cynthia |
Heir to the Glimmering World |
| Pynchon, Thomas |
The Crying of Lot 49 |
| Samuel, Wolfgang W.E. |
German Boy |
| Sittenfeld, Curtis |
Prep |
| Suberman, Stella |
When It Was Our War |
| Twain, Mark |
Life on the Mississippi |
| Winn, Marie |
Red–Tails in Love |
January, 2006
| Author |
Title |
| Atwood, Margaret |
Alias Grace |
| Bellow, Saul |
Henderson the Rain King |
| Chang, Jung |
Wild Swans |
| Dostoyevsky, Fyodor |
The Idiot |
| Feiler, Bruce |
Walking the Bible |
| Greene, Graham |
The Captain and the Enemy |
| Hosseini, Khaled |
The Kite Runner |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo |
Never Let Me Go |
| Kafka, Franz |
The Trial |
| Lee, Chang–Rae |
Aloft |
| Lively, Penelope |
The Photograph |
| Mistry, Rohinton |
Family Matters |
| Robinson, Marilynn |
Gilead |
| Rosen, Jonathan |
Joy Comes in the Morning |
| Seierstad, Asne |
The Bookseller of Kabul |
| Shriver, Lionel |
We Need To Talk About Kevin |
| Stowe, Harriet Beecher |
Uncle Tom's Cabin |
| Tuck, Lily |
The News From Paraguay |
2005 Choices, by month
December, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Albright, Madeleine |
Madam Secretary |
| Cleage, Pearl |
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day |
| Coelho, Paulo |
The Alchemist |
| Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee |
Queen of Bees |
| Faulkner, William |
As I Lay Dying |
| Forster, E.M. |
Howards End |
| Gilman, Susan Jane |
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress |
| Glass, Julia |
Three Junes |
| Gur, Batya |
Bethlehem Road Murder |
| Holthe, Tess Uriza |
When the Elephants Dance |
| Jones, Edward |
The Known World |
| Lethem, Jonathan |
Motherless Brooklyn |
| Plath, Sylvia |
The Bell Jar |
| Robinson, Marilynne |
Housekeeping |
| Rosner, Bernat |
An Uncommon Friendship |
| Roth, Philip |
The Plot Against America |
| Shirer, William |
20th Century Journey: v. 2 The Nightmare Years |
| Steinbeck, John |
East of Eden |
| Wolitzer, Meg |
The Wife |
November, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Austen, Jane |
Persuasion |
| Diamant, Anita |
Good Harbor |
| Fast, Howard |
The Immigrants |
| Garcia, Cristina |
Dreaming in Cuban |
| Greer, Andrew Sean |
The Confessions of Max Tivoli |
| Kingsolver, Barbara |
Small Wonder |
| Lansky, Aaron |
Outwitting History |
| Maugham, W. Somerset |
The Razor's Edge |
| Mukherjee, Bharati |
Desirable Daughters |
| Nabokov, Vladimir |
Lolita |
| Niffenegger, Audrey |
The Time Traveler's Wife |
| Ondaatje, Michael |
Anil's Ghost |
| Oz, Amos |
A Tale of Love and Darkness |
| Shaara, Michael |
The Killer Angels |
| Shorto, Russell |
The Island at the Center of the World |
| Shreve, Anita |
The Weight of Water |
| Tuck, Lily |
The News from Paraguay |
| Turgenev, Ivan Sergeevich |
Fathers and Sons |
| Warren, Robert Penn |
All the King's Men |
October, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Beck, Martha |
Expecting Adam |
| Bellow, Saul |
The Adventures of Augie March |
| Brooks, Geraldine |
March |
| Cather, Willa |
Death Comes for the Archbishop |
| Cather, Willa |
My Antonia |
| Dunant, Sarah |
Mapping the Edge |
| Ellison, Ralph |
Invisible Man |
| Finney, Jack |
Time and Again |
| Goldberg, Myla |
Bee Season |
| Hosseini, Khaled |
The Kite Runner |
| Kincaid, Jamaica |
The Autobiography of My Mother |
| Larson, Erik |
Devil in the White City |
| Levy, Andrea |
Small Island |
| Mathews, Jay |
Class Struggle |
| O'Faolain, Nuala |
Are You Somebody |
| Patchett, Ann |
Bel Canto |
| Robinson, Marilynne |
Gilead |
| Roth, Philip |
The Plot Against America |
September, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Chabon, Michael |
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
| Conrad, Joseph |
The Secret Agent |
| Dickens, Charles |
Bleak House |
| Enger, Leif |
Peace Like a River |
| Foer, Jonathan Safran |
Extremely Loud & Extremely Close |
| Fowler, Karen Joy |
The Jane Austen Book Club |
| Garcia Marquez, Gabriel |
One Hundred Years of Solitude |
| Gildiner, Catherine |
Too Close to the Falls |
| Hosseini, Khaled |
The Kite Runner |
| Leahy, Syrell Rogovin |
Family Ties |
| Lethem, Jonathan |
The Fortress of Solitude |
| Munro, Alice |
Runaway: Stories |
| Noble, Elizabeth |
The Reading Group |
| Oates, Joyce Carol |
Blonde |
| Oz, Amos |
A Tale of Love and Darkness |
| Rhys, Jean |
Wide Sargasso Sea |
| Roth, Philip |
The Plot Against America |
| Saint–Exupery, Antoine de |
Wind, Sand and Stars |
| Wolfe, Tom |
I am Charlotte Simmons |
August, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Dunant, Sarah |
The Birth of Venus |
| Hughes, Langston |
The Best of Simple |
| Jones, Edward P. |
The Known World |
| Kinzer, Stephen |
All the Shah's Men |
| McCullers, Carson |
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter |
| Orlean, Susan |
The Orchid Thief |
| Simenon, Georges |
Maigret and the Yellow Dog |
July, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Bellow, Saul |
Him With His Foot In His Mouth |
| Bezmozgis, David |
Natasha and Other Stories |
| Blum, Jenna |
Those Who Save Us |
| Danticat, Edwidge |
The Dew Breaker |
| Eugenides, Jeffrey |
Middlesex |
| Haddon, Mark |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night–time |
| Leonard, Elmore |
Swag |
| Ruiz Zafon, Carlos |
The Shadow of the Wind |
| Spencer, Scott |
A Ship Made of Paper |
June, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Ali, Monica |
Brick Lane |
| Bellow, Saul |
The Adventures of Augie March |
| Brooks, Geraldine |
Year of Wonders |
| Burgess, Anthony |
Cyrano de Bergerac |
| Coetzee, J. M. |
Age of Iron |
| Dyja, Thomas |
Awake |
| Esquivel, Laura |
Like Water for Chocolate |
| Haddon, Mark |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time |
| Heller, Zoe |
What Was She Thinking? |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo |
The Remains of the Day |
| Lee, Chang-rae |
Aloft |
| Obama, Barack |
Dreams From My Father |
| Picoult, Jodi |
My Sister's Keeper |
| Renault, Mary |
The Persian Boy |
| Ruff, Matt |
Set this House in Order |
| Chine, Cathleen |
She Is Me |
| Sebold, Alice |
The Lovely Bones |
| Wolff, Tobias |
Old School |
| Yohoshua, Abraham B. |
A Journey to the End of the Millennium |
May, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Ali, Monica |
Brick Lane |
| Armstrong, Karen |
The Spiral Staircase |
| Buchan, Elizabeth |
Revenge of the Middle-aged Woman |
| Chesterton, G.K. |
The Man who was Thursday |
| Danticat, Edwidge |
The Dew Breaker |
| Enger, Leif |
Peace Like a River |
| Eugenides, Jeffrey |
Middlesex |
| Foer, Jonathan Safran |
Everything is Illuminated |
| Ford, Ford Madox |
The Good Soldier |
| Haddon, Mark |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time |
| Japrisot, Sebastien |
A Very Long Engagement |
| Joyce, James |
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man |
| Martel, Yann |
Life of Pi |
| Mistry, Rohinton |
Family Matters |
| Roth, Philip |
Goodbye, Columbus |
| Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre |
Building the Earth |
| Toibin, Colm |
The Master |
| Welty, Eudora |
The Optimists Daughter |
| Wharton, Edith |
The Custom of the Country |
April, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Atkinson, Kate |
Case Histories |
| Buck, Pearl |
The Good Earth |
| Dai, Sijie |
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress |
| De Bernières, Louis |
Corelli's Mandolin |
| Dunant, Sarah |
The Birth of Venus |
| Fitzgerald, F. Scott |
Tender is the Night |
| Fuller, Alexandra |
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight |
| Gregory, Philippa |
The Queen's Fool |
| Haruf, Keith |
Plainsong |
| Hendra, Tony |
Father Joe |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo |
When We Were Orphans |
| Kalfus, Ken |
Thirst |
| Landers, Ann |
A Life in Letters |
| Mahfuz, Najib |
Palace Walk |
| Nafisi, Azar |
Reading Lolita in Tehran |
| Parker, Robert |
Small Vices |
| Parker, Robert |
Pastime |
| Parker, Robert |
Early Autumn |
| Parker, Robert |
A Catskill Eagle |
| Roth, Henry |
Call It Sleep |
| Russo, Richard |
Mohawk |
| Shapiro, Laura |
Something From the Oven |
| Shreve, Anita |
Sea Glass |
| Tropper, Jonathan |
The Book of Joe |
| Tuck, Lily |
The News from Paraguay |
| Turgenev, Ivan Sergeevich |
The Torrents of Spring |
| Updike, John |
Rabbit, Run |
| Wasserstein, Wendy |
The Heidi Chronicles and Other Plays |
| Waters, Sarah |
Tipping the Velvet |
| Whitaker, Robert |
The Mapmaker's Wife |
March, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Alvarez, Julia |
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent |
| Bradbury, Ray |
Fahrenheit 451 |
| Butler, Samuel |
The Way of All Flesh |
| Calof, Rachel |
Rachel Calof's Story |
| Cather, Willa |
Death Come for the Archbishop |
| Cooper, James Fenimore |
The Last of the Mohicans |
| Glass, Julia |
Three Junes |
| Greene, Bette |
Summer of My German Soldier |
| Lahiri, Jhumpa |
The Namesake |
| Langer, Adam |
Crossing California |
| Lawson, Mary |
Crow Lake |
| Mahfouz, Najib |
Palace Walk |
| Niffenegger, Audrey |
The Time Traveler's Wife |
| Siddons, Anne Rivers |
Islands |
| Sontag, Susan |
In America |
| Stringer, Lee |
Sleepaway School |
| Tyler, Anne |
The Amateur Marriage |
| Welty, Eudora |
The Optimists Daughter |
| Whitaker, Robert |
The Mapmaker's Wife |
| Yates, Richard |
Easter Parade |
February, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Albom, Mitch |
The Five People You Meet in Heaven |
| Austen, Jane |
Pride and Prejudice |
| Brooks, David |
Bobos in Paradise |
| Buchan, Elizabeth |
Revenge of the Middle–aged Woman |
| Coetzee, J. M. |
Elizabeth Costello |
| Delman, Carmit |
Burnt Bread and Chutney |
| Dubner, Stephen J. |
Turbulent Souls |
| Gornick, Vivian |
Fierce Attachments |
| Haddon, Mark |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night–time |
| Jones, Edward P. |
The Known World |
| Kidd, Sue Monk |
The Secret Life of Bees |
| Lahiri, Jhumpa |
The Namesake |
| Liss, David |
A Conspiracy of Paper |
| Morgan, Marlo |
Mutant Message From Down Under |
| Nguyen, Kien |
The Unwanted |
| Otsuka, Julie |
When the Emperor Was Divine |
| Patchett, Ann |
The Patron Saint of Liars |
| Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft |
Frankenstein |
| Tuck, Lily |
The News From Paraguay |
| Wells, H. G. |
The Invisible Man |
January, 2005
| Author |
Title |
| Allende, Isabel |
Portrait In Sepia |
| Brookhiser, Richard |
Alexander Hamilton, American |
| Conway, Jill K. |
The Road From Coorain |
| De Bernières, Louis |
Birds Without Wings |
| Dickens, Charles |
David Copperfield |
| Dunant, Sarah |
The Birth of Venus |
| Gogol, Nikolai |
Dead Souls |
| Harouf, Kent |
Eventide |
| Heaney, Seamus, trans. |
Beowulf |
| Hillerman, Tony |
A Thief of Time |
| Jile, Paulette |
Enemy Women |
| Kemelman, Harry |
Wednesday the Rabbi Slept Late |
| Larson, Erik |
Devil in the White City |
| Lee, Chang–rae |
Aloft |
| London, Joan |
Gilgamesh |
| Maguire, Gregory |
Wicked |
| Martel, Yann |
Life of Pi |
| Maupin, Armistead |
The Night Listener |
| Murdoch, Iris |
Under the Net |
| Pye, Michael |
The Pieces From Berlin |
| Sasson, Jean P. |
Princess |
| Smith, Betty |
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn |
| Steinbeck, John |
The Moon Is Down |
| Tyler, Anne |
The Amateur Marriage |
| Welty, Eudora |
The Optimist's Daughter |
