The Bent Pages
The Bent Pages book club (Grande Cache, AB) was started in 1999 and we have been going strong ever since. We are a group of 9 women who get together on the second Wednesday of each month to discuss the current book, socialize, and enjoy various branches of discussion, wherever they may lead . . .
We meet 9 months of the year, excluding December, July and August. Last year, however, we did gather in December at one of the local restaurants to enjoy a dinner out and to discuss Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Each May we draw months for the next year's schedule. The person who chooses September (for example) is the host that month and must choose a book to be read and discussed for that month. Hosts have the choice of entertaining in their homes and supplying appetizers and dessert or entertaining in a restaurant of their choice. If they choose the restaurant route, they are responsible for purchasing appetizers for the group. Members buy their own beverages and desserts. Schedules are distributed in June or early July so members know and are able read book selections over the summer. If a member does not finish a book, they are fined a loonie and those who do not even start the book are fined a toonie.
We begin our book club discussion with the host telling us why she chose the book . . .
The Bent Pages Top 11 Books
1999- 2004
A Fine Balance-Rohinton Mistry
The Red Tent-Anita Diamant
The Education of Little Tree-Forrest Carter
Outlander-Diana Gabaldon
Pope Joan-Donna Woolfolk Cross
Angela's Ashes-Frank McCourt
The Lovely Bones-Alice Sebold
Peyton Place-Grace Metalious
The Skystone-Jack Whyte
East of Eden-John Steinbeck
Open House-Elizabeth Berg
Compilation of Book Club Selections
1999 - 2000
Year 1
An Isolated Incident - Susan R. Sloan
While I Was Gone - Sue Miller
The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
Watership Down - Richard George Adams
A Wreath for the Bride - Lillian O'Donnell
The House Gun - Nadine Gordimer
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling
2000 - 2001
Year 2
Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shreve
Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
The Education of Little Tree - Forrest Carter
Egalia's Daughters - Gerd Brantenberg
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt
The Alibi - Sandra Brown
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
2001 - 2002
Year 3
Open House - Elizabeth Berg
Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
House of Dreams - Pauline Gedge
The Skystone - Jack Whyte
The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield
Where the Heart Is - Billie Letts
Lady of Hay - Barbara Erskine
Pope Joan - Donna Woolfolk Cross
The Last Time They Met - Anita Shreve
2002 - 2003
Year 4
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
Into the Wilderness - Sara Donati
Peyton Place - Grace Metalious
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason - Helen Fielding
Animal Dreams - Barbara Kingsolver
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
Good in Bed - Jennifer Wiener
Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood - Rebecca Wells
Crow Lake - Mary Lawson
2003 - 2004
Year 5
A Great Deliverance - Elizabeth George
Right Church, Wrong Pew - Walter Stewart
The Fourth Hand - John Irving
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Drowning Ruth - Christina Schwarz
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
2004 - 2005
Year 6
The Last Crossing - Guy Vanderhaeghe
Shout Down the Moon - Lisa Tucker
The Wife Tree - Dorothy Speak
Timeline - Michael Crichton
Angels & demons - Dan Brown
The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch
Albom
The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown
and
Daughter of the Empire - Raymond E. Feist
2005 - 2006
Year 7
Paula ...by Isabel Allende
The Time Traveler's Wife ...by Audrey Niffeneggerv
London ...by Edward Rutherford
The Secret Life of Bees ...by Sue Monk Kidd
The Kite Runner ...by Khaled Hosseini
Sweetwater Creek ...by Anne River Siddons
Rebecca ...by Daphne Du Maurier
A Complicated Kindness ...by Miriam Toews
Random Passage ...by Bernice Morgan
Movies: Hotel Rwanda & Crash
2006 - 2007
Year 8
Standing Together ...by Linda Goyette
The Tin Box ...Holly Kennedy
The Red Queen ...by Margaret Drabble
Ice Bound ...by Dr. Jerri Nielson
Girl With A Pearl Earring ...by Tracy Chevalier
The Glass Castle ... by Jeannette Walls
What the Body Remembers ...by Shauna Singh Baldwin
A Million Little Pieces ...by James Frey
Movies: Water & Hank Williams First Nation
The Poisonwood Bible ...by Barbara Kingsolver
2007 - 2008
Year 9
Freakonomics ...by Steven D. Levitt
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time ... by Mark Haddon
Suite Francaise ... by Irene Nemirovsky
The Other Side of the Bridge ... by Mary Lawson
Nineteen Minutes ... by Jodi Picoult
Alias Grace ... by Margaret Atwood
The Attack ... by Yasmina Khadra
Tuesdays with Morrie ... by Mitch Albom
Before Green Gables ... by Budge Wilson
Movie: Blood Diamond
2008 - 2009
Year 10
Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Plain Truth by Jodi Piccoult
Deep End of the Ocean by Jacqueline Mitchard
The Satanic Verses by Solmon Rushdie
The Birth House by Ami McKay
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Sixteenth Round: From Number 1 Contender to #45472 by Rubin Carter
The cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
2009-2010
Year 11
The Shack by William P. Young
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock
Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof
In the Woods by Tana French
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky
3 Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
2010-2011
Year 12
The Disappeared by Kim Echlin
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Night by Elie Wiesel
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Haunted Ground by Erin Hart
No Time for Goodbye by Lynwood Barclay
2011-2012
Year 13
As Long As the Rivers Flow by James Bartleman
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich
Under the Dragon’s Tale by Maureen Jennings
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Secret Daughter by Shilpli Somaya Gowda
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
2012-2013
Year 14
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Euginides
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window by Jonas Jonasson
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
When God Was A Rabbit by Sarah Winman
The Crow Trap by Anne Cleeves
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Lost Souls of Angel Kov by Linda Holeman
Molokai by Alan Brennert
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
Crossing on the Paris by Dana Gynther
2013-2014
Year 15
The Painted Girls by Cathy Buchanan
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova
A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead
Away by Jane Urquhart
The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley
The Dinner by Herman Koch
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
2014- 2015
Year 16
Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northup
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry
North of Normal by Cea Sunrise Person
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
White Buffalo Woman Trilogy by Hekoya Merrifield
The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh
Fever by Mary Beth Keane
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
2015 - 2016
Year 17
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go
The Wreckage by Emily Blecker
A Shining Affliction by Annie Rogers
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2016-2017
Year 18
The Nightingale…Kristin Hannah
The Widow…Fiona Barton
Where’d You Go Bernadette …Maria Semple
American Gods…Neil Gaiman
A Man Called Ove…Fredrick Backman
The Mountain Story…Lori Lansens
Don’t Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs: She Thinks I am a Piano Player in a Whorehouse…Paul Carter
Ru…Kim Thuy
Glory Over Everything…Kathleen Grissom
2017-2018
Year 19
The Break…Katherina Vermette
The Hero’s Walk…Anita Rau Badami
The Shadow of the Wind…Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Hate U Give…Angie Thomas
What She Know…Gilly MacMillan
The Days of Abandonment…Elena Ferrante
The Dry…Jane Harper
The Reluctant Canadian…Brad Barnes
2018-2019
Year 20
Forgiveness…Mark Sakamoto
The Alice Network…Kate Quinn
Warlight…Michael Ondaatje
The Great Alone…Kirstin Hannah
Love and Ruin…Paula McLain
Black-Eyed Susans…Julia Heaberlin
The Home For Unwanted Girls…Joanna Goodman
The Wife Between Us…Greer Hendricks
2019-2020
Year 21
I Was Anastasia…Ariel Lawhon
The Only Woman in the Room…Marie Benedict
The Indigo Girl…Natasha Boyd
The Woefield Poultry Collective: A Novel…Susan Juby
The Life We Bury…Allen Eskens
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo…Taylor Jenkins
Shadow Child…Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
I Feel Bad About My Neck…Nora Ephron