Mostly Social Book Club

The Mostly Social Book Club (MSBC) has been in existence since about 1992. We are a group of (now) 4 people who at one time all worked on the “Network Performance Team” at IBM. But, we’ve all moved on—Suzanne is now working at BCBS and John, Sharon, and Mary are all retired. Through 2006, we met each week for lunch, and in 2007 changed our meetings to once a month, usually on the third Sunday of the month. During the COVID-19 pandemic years, we continued monthly meetings virtually.

Sometimes at our meetings, we even discuss books. However, as the name of our book club implies, we are mostly social, and we don’t put too much pressure on ourselves to read books. We started off reading mostly self-improvement kinds of books, but quickly diverged. Our rotation for selecting books is: Suzanne, Sharon, John, Mary

Year Book Author Chosen by
2023 Mrs. March Virginia Feito John
2023 North to Paradise Ousman Umar Sharon
2023 The Dutch House Ann Patchett Suzanne
2022 Murder in the First Edition Lauren Elliott Mary
2022 Summer at the Cape RaeAnne Thayne John
2022 The Only Woman in the Room Marie Benedict Sharon
2022 The People We Keep Allison Larkin Suzanne
2022 The Midnight Library Matt Haig Mary
2022 Here for It; Or, How to Save Your Soul in America: Essays R. Eric Thomas John
2022 The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek Kim Michele Richardson Sharon
2022 The Personal Librarian Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray Suzanne
2022 The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett Annie Lyons Mary
2022 The Editor Steven Rowley John
2022 The Plot Jean Hanff Korelitz Sharon
2022 Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance (abandoned) Erica Dhawan Suzanne
2022 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Mark Manson Mary
2022 Oona Out of Order Margarita Montimore John
2021 The Good Sister Sally Hepworth Suzanne
2021 Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng Suzanne
2021 The Souvenir Museum: Stories Elizabeth McCracken John
2021 Guests on Earth Lee Smith Mary
2021 Far from the Tree Robin Benway Suzanne
2021 Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Lori Gottlieb John
2021 Running with Sherman Christopher McDougall Suzanne
2021 Man’s Search for Meaning Viktor E. Frankl Sharon
2021 Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens Suzanne
2021 The Nature of Fragile Things Susan Meissner Mary
2021 Tell the Wolves I’m Home Carol Rifka Brunt Suzanne
2021 The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South Osha Gray Davidson Sharon
2021 Have You Seen Luis Velez? Catherine Ryan Hyde John
2021 The Things We Cannot Say Kelly Rimmer Mary
2020 Hercule Poirot’s Christmas Agathie Christie John
2020 Christmas Cake Murder Joanne Fluke John
2020 A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership James Comey Mary
2020 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai John
2020 White Fragility Robin DiAngelo John
2020 The Husband’s Secret Liane Moriarty John
2020 Be Frank With Me Julia Claiborne Johnson John
2020 What Alice Forgot Liane Moriarty John
2020 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead Suzanne
2019 Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story Jacob Tobia John
2019 The Wonder of All Things Jason Mott Mary
2019 Winter in Paradise Elin Hilderbrand Sharon
2019 One Plus One Jojo Moyes Suzanne
2019 The Last Romantics Tara Conklin John
2019 Becoming Michelle Obama Mary
2019 Eileen Ottessa Moshfegh Sharon
2019 Before We Were Yours Lisa Wingate Suzanne
2018 Logical Family: A Memoir Armistead Maupin John
2018 A Day No Pigs Would Die
Breakfast at Tiffany’s		 Robert Newton Peck
Truman Capote		 Sharon
2018 Aging: An Apprenticeship Nan Narboe Mary
2018 Me Before You Jojo Moyes Suzanne
2018 People of Darkness Tony Hillerman Janet
2018 Anansi Boys Neil Gaiman John
2018 The Ninth Hour Alice McDermott Mary
2017 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See Sharon
2017 All My Puny Sorrows Miriam Toews Suzanne
2017 small great things Jodi Picoult Janet
2017 The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss Anderson Cooper, Gloria Vanderbilt John
2017 Still Alice Lisa Genova Sharon
2017 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi Mary
2017 The Liars’ Club Mary Karr Suzanne
2017 Born a Crime Trevor Noah Janet
2016 So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed Jon Ronson John
2016 The Rosie Project Graeme Simsion Sharon
2016 A Place at the Table Susan Rebecca White Mary
2016 A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail Bill Bryson Suzanne
2015 Circling the Sun Paula McLain Janet
2015 The Astronaut Wives Club Lily Koppel John
2015 The Call Yannick Murphy Sharon
2015 Benediction Kent Haruf Mary
2015 Room Emma Donoghue Suzanne
2014 Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez Janet
2014 South of Broad Pat Conroy John
2014 Divergent Veronica Roth Sharon
2014 The Interestings Meg Wolizer Mary
2014 Life After Life Jill McCorkle Suzanne
2013 The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follet Janet
2013 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald John
2013 The Fault in Our Stars John Green Sharon
2012 A Whole New Mind Daniel Pink Mary
2012 Cutting For Stone Abraham Verghese Suzanne
2012 The Art of Racing in the Rain Garth Stein Janet
2011 Outliers: The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell John
2011 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins Sharon
2011 The Color Purple Alice Walker Mary
2011 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot Suzanne
2010 The Help Kathryn Stockett Janet
2010 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon John
2010 The Blind Side Michael Lewis Sharon
2010 My Stoke of Insight Jill Bolte Taylor Mary
2009 Three Cups of Tea Mortenson &
Relin		 Suzanne
2009 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy Janet
2009 Dewey: The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the World Vicki Myron Sharon
2009 Lost on Planet China J. Maarten Troost John
2008 The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother James McBride Suzanne
2008 Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert Mary
2008 The Shipping News Annie Proulx Janet
2007 The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls Sharon
2007 Lucky in the Corner (Note: It’s debatable whether we really read this book as a book club.
John is the only one who remembers anything about it.)		 Carol Anshaw John
2007 My Sister’s Keeper Jodi Picoult Suzanne
2007 Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting Lynn Grabhorn Mary
2006 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden Janet
2005 The Power of Full Engagement Loehr & Schwartz Sharon
2004 The Nuclear Age Tim O’Brien John
2004 Eats, Shoots, & Leaves Lynn Truss Suzanne
2004 The Five People You  Meet in Heaven Mitch Albom Mary
2004 The Life of Pi: A Novel Yann Martel Janet
2003 Seabiscuit: An American Legend Laura Hillenbrand Sharon
2003 Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion and the End of Gender Riki Wilchins John

 

The following books were read before we started keeping track of the dates.

Book Author Chosen by
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith Anne Lamott Suzanne
The Nanny Diaries Laughlin & Kraus Mary
Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown Janet
Cane River Lalita Tademy Sharon
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver John
Moo Jane Smiley Sharon
Forged by Fire Sharon M. Draper Suzanne
Sweet Savage Love Rosemary Rogers Mary
Groomed for Death Carolyn Banks Janet
Jung to Live By (abandoned) Eugene Pascal Suzanne
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig John
The Wealthy Barber David Chilton John
The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula Le Guin Johnnie
The Turn of the Screw Henry James John
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte Janet
Skye O’Malley Beatrice Small Mary
Midwives Chris Bohjalian Suzanne
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone J. K. Rowling All
Principle-Centered Leadership Stephen R. Covey All
Friedman’s Fables Edwin Friedman Janet
The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster Suzanne
Bridges of Madison County Robert James Waller John
7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen R. Covey All