Barbara's Book Club turns 4!

Barbara's Book Club turned 4 on the 4th of this month! A golden birthday! In this blog post I am going to reflect on my favorite and least favorite picks from the past year. My opinions have been different from my fellow book clubbers so don't take this as everyone's opinion! Just mine!

Here are the books we've read since March 2024

1. Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

2. Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman

3. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

4. The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

5. The Last of the Moon Girls by Barbara Davis

6. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

7. Those Empty Eyes by Charlie Donlea

8. Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

9. By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

10. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

11. Code Name Helène by Ariel Lawhon

12. We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

What's great about Barbara's Book Club is that I'm not the only one who picks! Each member of the book club is able to choose twice a year—we have a wheel system to see who picks the next month. I think it's pretty cute. That's probably standard book club protocol but still. We have fun with it.

Favorite

This is tough. I had a CLEAR favorite in my last blog post about Barbara's Book Club, when it was turning 3 but this year I have a few that I really really liked but not loved. I think if I had to choose I would pick: All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker.

This book broke my heart over and over again yet I couldn't stop reading! I was so invested in the lives of each character—so much so that I found myself thinking about them for days after I finished reading. It really hurt.

Least Favorite

My least favorite had to be my own selection: Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman. The story sounded good when I read the back cover but it fell flat for me. The characters were so unlikable I found myself not caring what happened to them. It lost my interest and although I pushed through and finished it, I almost wish I didn't.

DNF*

My DNF for this year was: Code Name Helène by Ariel Lawhon. This was a bit controversial in Barbara's Book Club because many members really liked it but I just couldn't get into it! I know that it's about a real person (an incredible and truly amazing person!) but after reading 200+ pages and finding myself still bored... I had to toss it to the side. I will say that I would watch the movie version if there ever is one!

*DNF = Did Not Finish.

This past year has been so fun and I can't wait to see what other books we read! Have you read any of the ones listed above? If so, what did you think? I'd love to hear it.