A friend of mine recently asked me for some book club suggestions, so below are some of the books that I recommended from the book club I'm in. I included a little info about some of the books but not all.
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - It's about a girl who has aged out of the foster care system and how she works toward creating a life on her own. It alternates between the present time and her time as a child in foster care.
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom - I've loaned this to a number of friends and it has been well liked (probably even more by my friends than by me).
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - I don't want to ruin it so I can't say much. This story would get so frustrating but at the same time, everybody agreed that they couldn't stop reading because we wanted to know what happened.
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz - This was our fun pick. It's about a family of private eyes. The characters are crazy and spy on each other as much as they spy on other people. We all agreed this was fun to read.
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman - Here's the synopsis: While working as a lighthouse keeper, WWI veteran Tom Sherbourne finds a boat cradling a dead man and a crying baby. His wife, disappointed by two miscarriages and a stillbirth, convinces him to keep the baby. That decision has a far-reaching impact in this debut from a bold new voice in fiction.
Others I have read on my own:
Room by Emma Donaghue - The story is similar to the Jaycee Dugard story and based on the synopsis I was a little afraid to read it, but it was actually a good book.
I also read a lot of young adult books as well. There are a lot of really good ones.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell - It's a young adult book but it takes place in 1986. I just thought it was both sweet & sad at the same time.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - Another young adult book that made me both laugh & cry. The main characters are kids who have or have had cancer. There are a lot of happy parts, but with cancer you can't really avoid sad parts.
If you like Vampire books, there is always the Twilight series. But there is also the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead that I liked better than Twilight. It's a very different take on vampires than Twilight. And the first Vampire Academy movie is supposed to be coming out in February. And when the Vampire Academy series finished, Richelle Mead started the Bloodlines series which features a group of minor characters from the Vampire Academy series.
I have also read Divergent by Veronica Roth. It's the first of a 3 book series and the movie comes out in March. I stopped reading the series temporarily because.....
I switched the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare because the first movie just came out this week. I just started on book 4 and parts of it are frustrating, but I'm still reading.