a question for Outlander fans

[sunnylady303]

We have a book club that I go to with really wonderful women, intelligent with really cool professions - doctors, an acclaimed artist, a winery owner, a well known teacher, a CSA owner - I frequently ask myself how I ended up with them. They are all (except one) older than I am. It is my turn to pick the book and it is supposed to be a fiction book and I have been stressing.
So I am thinking about Outlander. It is lighter than what we have read before but even with that I think it is so well written and there is lots to talk about. What do you all think? Is it too, you know, chick lit-y to be a good book club book? What do you all think?

[Storm Bride]

I've never belonged to a book club, but Outlander seems like a reasonable choice. I will mention that it was my mom who exposed me to it in the first place.

[sunnylady303]

Oh. Or maybe The Host by Stephanie Meyer. That's kind of light too, but interesting. I told you that I am not high brow enough for this book club!

[crittersmum]

We're a bunch of lightweights, I know, but my Book Club would freak out if I showed up with a brick-sized book like that! I did looooove that book, though!

[AngieB]

What are some of the other books you have read with the group?

[Katie Bugs Mama]

Honestly? I enjoyed Outlander, but I consider it about one step up from a bodice-ripper romance. : I don't think that I would pick it for a book club like you describe. What other books has your club read?

[KaraBoo]

Yeah, I wouldn't chose it. As everyone said, if you can give us some titles you have already read with the group, that would help.

(Ditto what KBMama said: I read them. Enjoyed them. But they are Historical Romances, with emphasis on the romance)

[Gendenwitha]

I immediately came up with like 30 books, then realized you said FICTION.... and can't think of one.

The most recent series I read that's fiction was the Brian Cromwell books that begin with "Lords of the North". Might like it if you're into historical fiction, but, excuse the stereotype, but it's more of a "guy's" book... lots of fighting and war. But if you liked Outlander... I actually found Outlander to be a little too gruesome for me.

What's on my bookshelf.... Chesapeake Song is a good one about how our parents lives and expectations affect our own. Starts the book a couple of generations ahead. Good for discussions. I like to re-read "The Walking Drum" historical fiction again) on lazy days, but it's pretty fluffy and again more of a "guy" book.

I've got a few fiction books I have but haven't gotten around to reading. In that category right now are "Midwives", "The King of Vinland's Saga" "The Dispossessed" "The Word for World is Forest" and "The Shack". (56 books on my amazon wish list and only one is fiction... hmm...) "The Shack" is supposed to be a good one for discussion, so is Dispossessed and Forest.

[Katie Bugs Mama]

What about The Red Tent or The Last Days of Dogtown? The second one is very good and brings up all sorts of interesting questions about race, gender, class, and sex in colonial America.

[oceanwinds]

Pillars of the Earth
World Without End

Both by Ken Follett

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus

[*Jessica*]

Originally Posted by Gendenwitha

The most recent series I read that's fiction was the Brian Cromwell books that begin with "Lords of the North". Might like it if you're into historical fiction, but, excuse the stereotype, but it's more of a "guy's" book... lots of fighting and war. But if you liked Outlander... I actually found Outlander to be a little too gruesome for me.

I'm making a list to take with me to the library tomorrow and they have a book called "Lords of the North" written by Bernard Cornwell. Is that the book you are talking about, or is it definitely by author Brian Cromwell?

[KaraBoo]

I love a writer named Wilke Collins. I'd love to do his Armadale or Woman in White for a book club. That would be awesome!

[annethcz]

I just read Disobedience by Jane Hamilton.

Apparently, one of the author's other books was an Oprah book pick, so I don't know if that counts as a strike against her or not.

But I found it to be a fabulous book that raised all sorts of interesting moral questions. The book is told from the point of view of a young man who discovered at age 17 that his mom was having an affair. I strongly identified with the mother (she was a very AP type of mom).

I LOVE the Outlander books, and I think the first book is less cheesy than the subsequent books. But it is somewhat racy, and LONG.

[Amberoxy]

I've read Outlander and I've read trashy historical novels. I think Outlander has enough other content to be worth reading in the club. Maybe the other women would welcome the opportunity to get a little lighter? I know in my club, we like to alternate between heavy and light. It is a large book but I think a quick read. I usually finish the books in this series in a weekend because they are so addicting - that was pre-baby though

One fiction book I recently read is called "The Road." I think that book is definetely more complex if that is what you want. It is a short book and also a quick read. It leaves a lot to the reader's imagination as far as wondering what circumstances put the characters in the situation they are in. I think that would make for a really interesting discussion. It is set in post-appocolypse times and is the story of a father and son trying to survive. The writing is very mesmerizing I thought.

Good luck picking something!

[Viola]

I think the Outlander series definitely raises some interesting points. I used to read historical books and wish I could give the characters advice, so there is something really interesting about someone from the 20th century being able to go back to the 18th century and bring her knowledge to help a small group of people. But it is long, there are parts I didn't really enjoy, and there were parts I outright skipped. The torture of Jamie at the end of book 1--I just skipped that entire part. Then in one of the later books, when Roger is looking for Brianna and gets sold to a local tribe, I skipped ahead. I felt like she really didn't handle the pacing well. There is a trick to a good cliffhanger, and she didn't quite get it.

[Storm Bride]

I've got to say that I don't think Outlander has much in common with standard "bodice rippers" at all. I could happily re-read the Outlander books, and I won't even read a bodice-ripper the first time. I can't stand them. Outlander is a whole other type of book. Honestly, I think it somewhat defies being stuffed into any genre. It's definitely a romance. It's definitely historical. It throws in a bit of occult weirdness in spots, although the overall time travel theme also makes it slightly science-fictional. It's a very unusual series.

[mwherbs]

yep I always try to forget those painful extreme parts the description of Jamie's beating by dear old unc and the prison torture and have skipped over them too-- Diana has a blog and she had a recent increase in men readers mostly guys deployed, these parts really get to them as well.
she does do her research I would say many notches above the typical historic romance- but yes there is some sex in it as well- if they are older than you they may have already read the book(s) although I discovered them recently it seems many women my age have already read them.

[pixiepunk]

are you looking for something particulary new, or just good fiction?

i love most everything by Margaret Atwood and Tom Robbins (i know he's come out with at least 2 since the last one i read). E.L. Doctorow is good too, and Anne Tyler. and i do love me some Anne Rice, though i know she's not everyone's cup of tea, but speaking of historical fiction she's got a couple of one-offs (not part of the Mayfair Witch or Vampire series) that have some cool historical content. specific book names are totally escaping me on all accounts atm, unfortunately...