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It’s the plan that you’ve been waiting for since our first Virtual Book Club meeting announcement in April! Ok, maybe you have not been waiting for this, dear readers, but this enneagram 1 and Nikki’s enneagram 6 need a plan to follow.  After much discussion, we’ve decided to plan out the rest of 2020 in six week increments. We think six weeks is the Goldilocks of time frames: not so often that you feel rushed to read (we hope), not too long so that you forget what you’ve read, and just long enough to be able to get your favorite format from the library (depending on holds, of course). Every Virtual Book Club is scheduled for 7:30pm Central Time on a Friday, so mark your calendars! We will open registration for the next book in the Monday post following Friday’s meeting, so keep your eyes peeled to the socials for reminders and updates. Without further ado, here’s our list! (Keep scrolling for a little synopsis and background on each title…)

2020 VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB:

August 7 – The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray (This title has been on sale for a while on Kindle, so we hope you grabbed it!)

September 18 – Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin (#2 of this trilogy, Blood & Honey, comes out September 1, so get on the holds list now and suspend or keep an eye out as there may be a sale on the Kindle version of #1. We will let you know if that happens, too!)

October 30 – The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix (This title just came out in April, so library users are encouraged to get on the holds list ASAP.)

December 11 – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Feelings, dear readers.  If you’re a physical book person and don’t have a copy, buy a pretty one!  The Puffin in Bloom is just gorgeous, as is the Seasons Edition.  If you’re an ebook reader, inexpensive options are plentiful.)

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray was chosen last month as part of our personal challenge to read more diverse books. It’s a modern family drama written by a BIPOC and LGBTQ+ woman. Anissa Gray’s debut novel was published in February of 2019. It’s the story of the three Butler sisters and their response to the literal trial that will change all of their lives. Nikki and I plan on starting it soon, and we’re excited about sharing such a highly reviewed title. Critics say it’s for readers who loved An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (which Nikki read and suggests) and The Mothers by Brit Bennett.

Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin is YA Fantasy set in a French-inspired world of dark magic. With the Church that states thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, a witch in hiding from her coven is thrown into the path of a witch-hunter and forced into a decision that binds their lives together in holy matrimony. Shelby Mahurin’s debut novel was published in September of 2019 and the paperback will be released in August, just in time for book club and the September 1 publication of Blood & Honey, the second book in this trilogy recommended for fans of Sarah J. Maas (written by a Maas fan). Nikki rated it with FIVE STARS when she read it last year (and is VERY much looking forward to a reread). And, just to bring you more antici … pation for 2020 Blog Plans, October is looking to be a little witchy…

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix was published in April and it’s been sitting on our holds list since then. We’ve been planning a way to get Nikki’s holds list down, so reading this highly-rated title from historical horror author Grady Hendrix for October’s Halloween-y book club seemed too perfect to pass up! I can’t give you a better explanation of why we wanted to read it except by sharing the marketing copy: Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this ’90s-set horror novel about a women’s book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town. A horror book about a book club, written by a man, set in the 1990’s… we couldn’t find a more diverse pick from our TBR that felt right to share with you in October.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is the answer Ashley gives when she’s asked “What’s your favorite book?” When having to pick a favorite March sister, she’s always on board with bookish, tomboyish Jo, but has grown to have a new appreciation for the personalities of Meg, Beth, and Amy with every reread. We decided on another classic for December for several reasons. 1) It will probably be a reread for most of our book club participants, which makes it easy to discuss during the busy months of November and December. 2) With its opening scenes set during Christmas, Little Women seems to give off those wintery vibes.  3) It’s easy to get from the library or inexpensive copies either digitally or in print. And 4) Our December theme this year is centered around our book club pick! We have Little Women retellings, novels about Alcott’s life, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and non-fiction about the book and author among our list of possibilities. We want you, our dear readers, to be prepared for the onslaught of titles centered around the March family.

We hope we’ve gotten you excited about something that’s happening in 2020 by sharing our Virtual Book Club titles with you for the rest of the year! 

~Ashley

Dear, loving readers, we asked a lot of questions and you answered them!  THANK YOU from the bottom of my data-loving heart to those who did!  You are my favorites!  

Now, what did your fellow readers say?  A great many things that brought me so much joy!  Well, first things first, what we all assumed, we read a lot around here, more than the well-published number of 12 books annually by the average American.  Welcome fellow over-achievers!  Most of our readers are in the 2-3 books a month range (20-32 a year), but we did have one outlier at 75!  

There were a couple of questions where readers responded as Ashley and I expected.  All readers who responded generally borrow their books and only purchase a select few titles (really, with the rate at which we read, that’d be a budgetary impact to purchase most of the books we read).  How readers choose books was interesting, a mix of mood, TBR list, and life (book club, buddy read, etc.).  As I’m currently in progress with two books of very different genres, I definitely feel the mood piece (and the library deadlines are not so gently determining which book needs to be a priority over the next few days).  We’re also all on Goodreads, and we’re all friends.  If you’re reading this and you’re not on Goodreads, please check it out.  It has changed my reading life and how I think about my TBR.  It’s also social media + books and the drama, on the rare occasion there is any, is 100% passionate readers discussing books.  

Readers do vary as to preference on new vs older books.  It was a balance between older books (a century or more), new releases, and those who read all of the above, as long as the book is good.  We also had a variety of responses on the number of books you like to read at once, with half saying just one at a time, then other responses including two or three at a time, and four or more.  Oh dear readers, if you read four or more books at a time, I want to talk to you and learn what that looks like.  

Book club was another mixed bag.  About half of readers wish, or sometimes wish, they were in a book club, then others report they are in a book club and enjoy it, or they’re in a book club and don’t like the books often as they are generally depressing.  Oh dear readers if this is you, take a look at our book club selections for the rest of the year and see what appeals to you.  We are trying to include a variety of genres and authors.  In general, Ashley and I do read depressing books, but we also read a lot of romance because sometimes you just need to read a book with a guaranteed HEA.  We approach book club the same way, but we also need to confess, we haven’t read all of these books, so we can’t always say for sure how they’ll end (Serpent & Dove does not end on a cliffhanger, but a beautiful set up for #2).  Please feel free to comment below or send us a message if you’d like more information about the books we’ve chosen and why as you consider what to add, or not, to your personal TBR and to do list.  

My absolute favorite response was all-time favorite genre!  If I’d have taken this poll, this would have been the hardest for me to decide, so I commend all of you who did!  Favorites listed include dystopian, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and non-fiction.  Half of readers are good with their reading lives as is, while the other half want either more adventure or historical fiction.  This is great feedback for us!  Thank you!  

Now what you want in a great reading experience and what makes us want to recommend a book to fellow readers was a joy to read!  You want a well-written book with beautiful prose, with good characters to root for and character development, something with a good hook, that you can get lost in, a book that helps to see the world differently, that has something to teach you, and is an enjoyable, moving experience you can look forward to as you work through the book.  Yes to all of this!!  We love and want these things too. We’re glad our readers are on the same page (intended) with us.

We only had one specific title request.  We hear you dear reader.  No promises, but it is on hold, and that holds list is long.  If you have a specific title you’d like us to consider for a future post, book club, or just to read, let us know in the comments!

~Nikki

How to read with us:

Virtual Book Club Part Trois: Join us on Friday, August 7 at 7:30 p.m. CST for a discussion of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray.  If you’re interested, registration is open here. (Are we going to shame you if you don’t finish the book, or start it?  Nope, but we won’t try much to hold back on spoilers.) 

We are still working through, one day at a time, Layla F. Saad’s Me and White Supremacy and encourage others to join us.  Overdrive/Libby users can still check out a couple of other social justice titles in audiobook or e-book format with no holds, but this is scheduled to be back to the waitlist starting today.

How many book clubs do you need?  MORE!  Nope, we’re feeling two, and we read a lot.  Our second is ReadaBookwithKara to read and discuss Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.   If you too would like to Read a Book! With Kara, check out the details here, put the August 1 livestream discussion on your calendar, and then read some of Kara’s work here.