Caruthersville Area Arts Council Bookgroup
The Caruthersville Area Arts Council Bookgroup meets on the 4th Tuesday of every month (except for the summer months) at 10:30 a.m. in the Genealogy Room. If anyone has questions or comments about this group, please contact Lynne Wilson at 333-1896 or Caruthersville Public Library at (573)333-2480.
Current Schedule for 2022-2023:
Summer reading/September, 2022 – “The Thorn Birds” by Colleen McCullough
October 2022 – “The Ladies Midnight Swimming Club” by Faith Hogan
November 2022 – “Hannah Coulter” by Wendell Berry
January 2023 – “The Accidental President” by A. J. Baime
February 2023 – “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith
March 2023 – “The Deep End” (Book One of “The Country Club Murders” series) by Julie Mulhern
April 2023 – “Wish You Were Here” by Jodi Piccoult
May 2023 – “The Book of Lost Friends” by Lisa Wingate
Summer/September 2023 – “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara
They have read a vast collection of books since their inception in January, 2003 when the first selection was “Snow Falling on Cedars” by David Guterson. These lists can also serve as a reading guide to quality literature, since most have stood the test of time.
2004-2005
“The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith (Jane Ellen Lazenby – December 9)
“Reading Lolita in Tehran” by Azar Nafish (Kaye McKaskle – January 27)
“The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd (Sandra Barnes – February 24)
“Enemy Women” by Paulette Jiles (Martha Fowlkes – March 24)
“Leaving Ireland” by Ann Moore (Lynne Wilson – April 28)
“Hissy Fit” by Mary Kay Andrews (Dot Currie – May 26)
2005-2006
“The Known World” by Edward P. Jones (Martha Fowlkes – November 17)
“The Undomestic Goddess” by Sophie Kinsella (Sandra Barnes – December 15)
“Mrs. Kimble” by Jennifer Haigh (Mary Stutzman – January 26)
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini (Lynne Wilson – February 23)
“My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult (Teresa Tidwell – March 23)
“Widow of the South” by Robert Hicks (Kaye McKaskle – April 27)
“1776” by David McCullough (Jane Ellen Lazenby and Charlotte Tate – May 25)
2006-2007
“The Master Butcher’s Singing Club” by Louise Erdrich (September 28, 2006)
Read any Ernest Hemingway Book. We will meet at the library at 10:30 a.m. for a trip to Piggott, AR. Lunch is scheduled for 12 noon and the museum tour is at 1:00 p.m. There is a $5.00 donation for the tour. (Brenda Collins – October 26, 2006)
“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls (Sandra Barnes and Lynne Wilson – November 16)
“The House” by Danielle Steele (Anne Grantham – December 14)
“Prep” by Curtis Sittenfeld (Mary Stutzman – January 25)
“Mayflower” by Nathaniel Philbrick (Charlotte Tate – February 23)
“The Mighty and the Almighty” by Madeleine Albright (Jane Ellen Lazenby – March 23)
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen (Teresa Tidwell – April 27)
To Be Chosen (Kaye McKaskle – May 25)
2007-2008
“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” by Lisa See (Group Discussion – October 25)
“Mockingbird” by Charles J. Shields (Sandra Barnes – November 15)
“Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia” by Elizabeth Gilbert (Becky Wilson – December 13)
“The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak (Teresa Tidwell – January 24)
“My Antonia” by Willa Cather (Dot Currie – February 28)
“March” by Geraldine Brooks (Martha Fowlkes – March 27)
“Alexander Hamilton” by Ron Chernow (Charlotte Tate – April 24)
“The Pirate’s Daughter” by Margaret Cezair-Thompson (Subject to Change – May 22)
2008-2009
“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dot Currie – November 20)
“Here If You Need Me” by Kate Braestrup (Jane Ellen Lazenby – December 18)
“Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson (Martha Fowlkes – January 22)
“People of the Book” by Geraldine March (Teresa Tidwell – February 26)
“The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” by David Worblewske (Charlotte Tate – March 26)
“The Last Town on Earth” by Thomas Mullen (Carrie Ann Hippler – April 23)
“American Wife” by Curtis Sittenfeld (Group Discussion – May 22)
2009-2010
“Trinity” by Leon Uris (Group discussion – September 24)
“The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young (Mary Stutzman – October 22)
“Anne Morrow Lindbergh: A Biography” by Susan Hertog (Martha Dorroh – November 19)
“Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World” by Vicki Myron (Dot Currie – December 17)
“The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (Teresa Tidwell – January 28)
“The Independence of Miss Mary Bennett: A Novel” by Colleen McCullough (Jane Ellen Lazenby – February 25)
“Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt” by H. W. Brands (Charlotte Tate – March 25)
“The Wishing Year: A House, A Man, My Soul: A Memoir of Fulfilled Desire” by Noelle Oxenhandler (Carrie Ann Hippler – April 22)
A “Miss Julia” book (Sandra Barnes – May 27)
2010-2011
“My Name is Mary Sutter” by Robin Oliveria (Dot Currie – October 28)
“The Horse Boy” by Ruper Isaacson (Carrie Ann Hippler – November 18)
No meeting in December
“Rebecca” by Daphne DuMaurier (Sandra Barnes – January 27)
“Up From Thunder” by Susan K. Salzer (Martha Fowlkes – February 24)
“The Cookbook Collector” by Allegra Goodman (Group Discussion – March 24)
Undetermined Selection (April 28)
“8.4” by Peter Hernon (Mary Stutzman – May 26)
2011-2012
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot (Carrie Ann Hippler – October 27)
“Unbroken” by Laura Hilderbrand (Martha Fowlkes – November 17)
No meeting in December
“Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain OR “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck (Jane Ellen Lazenby and Brenda Collins – January 26)
“The Paris Wife” by Paula McLain (Lynne Wilson – February 23)
“Remembering Isaac: The Wise and Joyful Potter of Niederbipp” by Ben Behunin (Dot Currie – March 22)
“Summer Rental” by Mary Kay Andrews (Group discussion – April 26)
2012-2013
“The Red Queen” AND/OR “The White Queen” by Phillippa Gregory (Mary Stutzman – September 27)
“Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese (Group discussion – October 25)
“The Inn at Rose Harbor” by Debbie Macomber (Sandra Barnes – November 15)
No meeting in December
“Mr. Churchill’s Secretary” by Susan Ella MacNeal (Jane Ellen Lazenby – January 24)
“Sarah’s Key” by Tatianna deRosnacy (Lynne Wilson – February 28)
“Destiny of Republic” by Candice Millard (Carrie Ann Hippler –March 28)
“The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks (Dot Currie – April 25)
“The Kitchen House” by Kathleen Grissom (Martha Fowlkes – May 23)
2013-2014
“Fall of Giants” by Ken Follett (Martha Fowlkes – September 26)
“The Blue Bistro” by Elin Hilderbrand (Carrie Ann Hippler – October 24)
“The Aviator’s Wife” by Melanie Benjamin (Jane Ellen Lazenby – November 21)
No Meeting in December
“The Dove Keepers” by Alice Hoffman (Mary Stutzman – January 23)
“And the Mountains Echoed” by Khaled Hosseini (Lynne Wilson – February 27)
“The Litigators” by John Grisham (Nancy Luber – March 27)
“Killing Lincoln” by Bill O’Reilly (Dot Currie – April 24)
“The Light Between Oceans” by M. L. Stedman (Sandra Barnes – May 22)
2014-2015
“The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt (Group discussion – September 25)
“Goodnight, June: A Novel” by Sarah Jio (Dot Currie – October 23)
“The Tilted World” by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly (Sandra Barnes – November 20)
No meeting in December
“Somerset” by Leila Meacham (Nancy Luber – January 22)
“Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President Kennedy and its Aftermath” by Mimi Alford (Carrie Ann Hippler – February 26)
“Natchez Burning” by Greg Iles (Jane Ellen Lazenby – March 26)
“Orphan Train” by Christina Baker Kline (Martha Fowlkes – April 23)
“Philomena” by Martin Sixsmith (Lynne Wilson – May 28)
2015-2016
September – “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr
October – “I Feel Bad About My Neck” by Nora Ephron
November – “The Secret Keeper” by Kate Morton
No meeting in December
January – “The Book of Strange New Things” by Michael Faber
February – “The Gratitude Diaries” by Judith Kaplan
March – “Murder on the Floodways” by Harold G. Walker
April – “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” by John Fowles
May – “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown
2016-2017
September – “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah
October – “As Time Goes By” by Mary Higgins Clark
November – “A Spool of Blue Thread” by Anne Tyler
No meeting in December
January – “Goodnight Mr. Wodehouse” by Faith Sullivan
February – “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman
March – “One Second After” by William Forstchen
April – “Small Great Things” by Jodi Piccoult
May – “Mudbound” by Hilary Jordan
2017-2018:
September – “Iris and Lily” by Angela Scipioni
October – “Browsings: a year of reading, collecting, and living with books” by Michael Dirda
November – “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead
January – “A Column of Fire” by Ken Follett
February – “Homer’s Odyssey” by Gwen Cooper
March – “Lilac Girls” by Martha Hall Kelly
April – “The Immortalists” by Chloe Benjamin
May – “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
2018-2019:
September 27, 2018 – “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles
October 25, 2018 – “The Great Alone” by Kristin Hannah
November 15, 2018 – “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
No meeting in December
January 24, 2019 – “Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon
February 28, 2019 – “Handle with Care” by Jodi Picoult
“The Girls at 17 Swann St: a novel” by Yara Zgheib
March 28,2019 – “The Nest” by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
April 25, 2019 – “You Learn by Living” by Eleanor Roosevelt
May 23, 2019 – “The Cold Dish: a Longmire mystery” by Craig Johnson
Summer Selection for September 26, 2019 – “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee
2019-2020
September 26, 2019 – “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee
October 24, 2019 – “Educated: a memoir” by Tara Westover
November 21, 2019 – “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens
January 23, 2020 – “Column of Fire” by Ken Follett
February 20, 2020 – “The American Agent” by Jacqueline Winspear
March 26, 2020 – “A Mother’s Reckoning: living in the aftermath of tragedy” by Sue Klebold
April – “Olive Again: a novel” by Elizabeth Strout
May – “The Other Einstein: a novel” by Marie Benedict
Summer reading/September, 2020 – “The Wednesday Letters” by Jason F. Wright
2020-2021:
Summer reading/September, 2020 – “The Wednesday Letters” by Jason F. Wright
October 2020 – “The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides
November 2020 – “Circe” by Madeline Miller
December 2020 – “American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins
January 2021 – “Caste: the origins of our discontent” by Isabel Wilkerson
February 2021 – “Tidelands” by Philippa Gregory
March 2021 – “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett
April 2021 – “The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah
May 2021 – “The Dutch House” by Anne Patchett
2021-2022
Summer reading/September, 2021 – “The Evening and the Morning” by Ken Follett
October 2021 – “A Time for Mercy” by John Grisham
November 2021 – “Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders and the Birth of the F.B.I” by David Grann
January 2022 – “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante
February 2022 – “The Other Boleyn Girl” by Philippa Gregory
March 2022 – “Unstoppable” by Joshua M. Greene
April 2022 – “Carnegie”s Maid” by Marie Benedict
May 2022 – “Finding Freedom” by Erin French
Books also read (probably in the first years when the schedule wasn’t as established):
“Founding Fathers: The Revolutionary Generation” by Joseph J. Ellis (Charlotte Tate)
“Ireland” by Frank Delancy
“The Bishop and the Beggar Girl from St. Germanine” by Andrew Greeley (Jane Ellen Lazenby)
“Spoken From the Heart” by Laura Bush and “True Compass” by Edward Kennedy
“Exodus” by Leon Uris
“And Ladies of the Club” by Helen Hoover Santmyer
“The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett
“The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri
“Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett
“The DaVinci Code” by Dan Brown
“Cold Sassy Tree” by Olive Ann Brown
“Cold Mountain” by Charles Frazier
“Year of Wonders” by Geraldine Brooks
“The Birth of Venus” by Sarah Dunant
“Broken for You” by Stephanie Kallos
“The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” by Kim Edwards
“Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich
“Life of Pi” by Yann Martel
“The Pilot’s Wife” by Anita Shreve
“A Map of the World” by Jane Hamilton