One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus - We read this in my local book club and all shredded it. Written by a man who’s maybe never met a woman let alone been intimate with one, and wrote a story from a woman’s point of view. We don’t support burning books, but we strongly considered making an exception for this one.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - I’ve mostly pushed it from my mind, but I still shutter when I think about it.

Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks - It’s so blatantly fake and propaganda, not even done well.

Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - Pretentious, obnoxious, stupid.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - Another I’ve mostly pushed from my mind but ugh, I hated every second. I think I finished out of spite.

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Bradshares - You had a perfectly good ending with book four and you had to go and cash-grab and ruin it all and ruin the characters you’d done so well with.

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - Another local book club read, another we don’t support burning books but we might make an exception for this one. The main character was insufferable, among other things.

Home Front by Kristin Hannah - Another local book club read, the second and final strike for the author. She’s banned from further selections in our book club (since that’s been misread in the past- we don’t care what you read outside of book club, but this author will never be a book club selection again). The first offense was Night Road. Never again.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed - Another local book club read, mixed reviews with no one loving it but not all hating or disliking it. Main was insufferable, made the same stupid decisions over and over again. Needed to be bailed out constantly and never learned. All major pet peeves of mine.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - Another local book club read, mostly positive responses except for me (not uncommon). The main character was god awful. You don’t get to be a complete asshole and treat others poorly and look down on them because you have issues. Also I saw the ending coming a mile away.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child “by” J.K. Rowling - This one speaks for itself.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders - No, I didn’t just “not get it.” It was pretentious and awful and anyone who tells me “I just didn’t get it.” probably didn’t get it themselves but wants to sound smart and elevated. That argument is such BS anyway.

And since there’s a bunch of “local book club picks” on here- why do I keep going back? Well, I’ve been in it for over ten years now. I like most of the members, friends with a few outside of it, and I read books I’d never pick up otherwise.

I’ll gladly take ten or more 1 star or 0 star reads to find that one 5 star read I’d never have found otherwise. I’ve found a couple of amazing books, including my second favorite book ever, Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, which I wouldn’t have likely found without it being a book club pick.

Even if we don’t like the books, or we’re mixed, our conversations are almost always great and the discussions are interesting and intellectual. We can respect differing opinions and see why someone liked i t or someone didn’t, even if we don’t think the same, because they’ve spoken up and said why.