More than 12,000 book club members have voted, and the results are in: The Help by Kathryn Sockett is the number one discussion book for book clubs and reading groups. The poll was organized by ReadingGroupGuides.com on the occasion of the online community’s 10th year of operation, and ran from May through July. ReadingGroupGuides.com compiled six lists from reader entries, including an “overall list,” a YA/kids’ list, a memoir/biography list, a “selections you might not expect” list, a classics list, and a list of books featuring animals.
Carol Fitzgerald, president of The Book Report Network, which runs ReadingGroupGuides.com, said the overall list “did not present any surprises”; it includes bestsellers like Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. But Fitzgerald said, “these lists reinforce the popularity of these bestselling titles, solidifying them as perennial favorites for book club members.”
All clubs that participated in the poll had to share 10 titles with ReadingGroupGuides.com. Fifty entrants were selected to receive a $200 gift card to the retailer of their choice. The YA/kids’ list includes Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo and The Giver by Lois Lowry; while the memoir/biography list features The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride and The Tender Bar by JR Moehringer. The “selections you might not expect” list ranges from Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us by Allen Salken and Jerry Stiller to The Core Strength Workout by Karen Karter.
ReadingGroupGuides.com will share more lists this fall, including one of historical fiction titles broken out by time frame. All six of the top 10 lists compiled from the list of submissions by ReadingGroupGuides.com readers are online.
