Once again, I am sharing my reading group’s top picks for the year, because I know I’m not the only one who enjoys hearing about other reading groups.
I’ll start by sharing what we read in the order we read them (with links on titles to my reviews):
- Barbara Kingsolver, Demon copperhead: novel, American author
- Richard Flanagan, Question 7: nonfiction, Australian author
- Shankari Chandran, Chai time at Cinnamon Gardens: novel, British-Australian author
- Anna Funder, Wifedom: hybrid memoir/biography, Australian author
- Gail Jones, Salonika burning: novel, Australian author
- Charlotte Wood, Stone Yard devotional: novel, Australian author
- Melissa Lucashenko, Edenglassie: novel, First Nations Australian author
- Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s cradle and/or Slaughterhouse-Five: novels, American author
- Jane Caro, The mother: novel, Australian author
- Raynor Winn, The salt path: travel memoir, British author
- Marion Halligan Tribute Night: pick any Halligan/s to read and share: various forms, Australian author
This year’s schedule was rather less diverse than we’ve done for a while, with eight of our eleven authors being Australian. (Next year will see some “correction” to this.) Last year we read only four Australian women, while this year we read seven (plus an Australian man). We did, however, schedule a classic (Vonnegut) which we omitted to do last year, but we read no books in translation, which is a bit ethnocentric of us. We read more nonfiction than we have for a while, with books by Flanagan, Funder and Winn, and we read fewer male authors, just two. However, despite the list looking less diverse from the author origin point of view, it is more diverse in subject matter, with nothing like the concentration we had last year on the status and condition of women’s lives. If I were pushed to name a flavour for this year, I’d say that there was a strong serving of (socio)political and/or philosophical issues in this year’s books.
The winners …
This year all eleven of our regularly attending members voted, meaning the maximum a book could get was 11 votes, and that there were 33 votes all up. The rules were the same. We had to name our three favourite works, and all were given equal weighting. This year, unlike last year, the top three positions were closely fought and we ended up with three clear winners. Last year, there was a runaway winner, and then two second and two third place getters. 2024’s top three places were:
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (8 votes)
- Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko (7 votes)
- Stone Yard devotional by Charlotte Wood (6 votes )
Last year, the highly-commendeds right behind the two third place getters, but this year, the next two books were a few votes behind, at three votes each: Question 7 by Richard Flanagan and Chai time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran.
As for my three picks, it was very tough (as it usually is). I got something out of every book I read, and many will stay with me for a long time, but, like last year, the group’s number 1 pick was not in my top three. This is not to say I didn’t like Demon Copperhead, because I did very much, but that I loved something else more. My three books, in alphabetical order, were Marion Halligan’s Wishbone, Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie, and Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard devotional. I chose these because Halligan just knows human beings and uses wit and humour to show us ourselves; because Lucashenko tells us our history from a First Nations perspective and does it with fierce honesty but also with humour and generosity; and because Wood explores the place of stillness, silence, solitude, contemplation in our noisy, troubling world.
Selected comments
Not everyone included comments with their picks, and not all books received comments, but here’s a flavour of what was said:
- Demon Copperhead: Commenters used superlatives like “huge”, “outstanding”, “brilliant”, “powerful” but also commented on its exploration of poverty and disadvantage, and its relevance to now.
- Edenglassie: Commenters focused on the value, the importance, of seeing our history through a First Nations perspective, and how it brought our intellectual knowledge to life.
- Stone Yard devotional: Commenters talked about its gorgeous evocation of place (as we all know the Monaro), and loved its sparseness, introspection, meditativeness, its exploration of solitude and silence.
- Chai time at Cinnamon Gardens: Commenters liked its exposing the traumas involved in human movement, of its mix of politics, culture and human suffering, with one calling Chandran a “true story-teller”.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, particularly if you were in a reading group this year. What did your group read and love?
Whispering Gums 
I agree with your three winners. Edenglassie in particular, being a Brisbane person. I thought it brilliantly showed two utterly foreign cultures sharing a place, with the local people having to adapt to the newcomers as best they could. Great sense of the spirit of place. Inevitably sad, but balanced. Melissa Lucashenko has sharp humour and a great gift for authentic dialogue.
Interesting reading group!
Thanks Rose … I like that you like our winners, and that you think my reading group is interesting. Your description of Edenglassie is spot on, and I agree with your characterisation of Melissa Lucashenko. The humour and dialogue are excellent, and make her work so readable, while the content is so valuable.
I’m not sure which books my clubs loved…. I’ll make sure I do a poll for Biscuit Book Club, though ☺️
Haha … do poll yourself and Biscuit. And tell me the response.
I will! I’m going to talk to her tomorrow and maybe Friday, too. She has both days off this week.
Excellent.
I’m surprised Question 7 didn’t get more love. Or was there just too much competition? I hope to read it in the new year. Also Stone Yard Devotional is on my tbr. Does your reading group have the book plan for 2025 yet or do you make the list as you go along?
There was just too much competition Stefanie. We all loved the book – at least that’s my memory. And yes we have the first half of the year planned. We do two schedules a year. The first half only has two Aussie writers. We are starting with a big book, Andrew O’Hagan’s Caledonian Road … we accept one big book a year, over summer which of course is now for us.
PS … I look forward to hearing what you think of Question 7.
“eight of our eleven authors being Australian. (Next year will see some “correction” to this.)”
Yeah, I see your inverted commas but …
Aren’t reading groups meant to be fun ? No ? They oughta.
Good … glad you noted the inverted commas, MR. And more glad that you commented on noting them. And yes, they should be fun but that doesn’t mean you can’t be serious about your goals (or, should I add, that you can’t have fun reading serious books?)
I stands corrected. You know much much much much more about this !! 🙂
I guess I know more about reading groups than you! But as I reckon you know, when people who like each other get together, they usually have fun (unless something terrible has happened…)
My husband loved Demon Copperfield but I keep forgetting it’s on the shelf. I have read SaltPath (enjoyed) as well as Chai Gardens which wasn’t my favourite but I appreciated the message. I also read Charlotte Wood’s which was also good.
Thanks Pam … sounds like you should read Demon Copperhead then? What was your favourite read of the year … you are allowed, like my reading group, to name three … no more!!
I don’t really have a lot of favourites. I sort of base it on what I remember the most and I think it was the mouse plague of Stone Yard Devotional.
I understand that Pam … it was amazingly written wasn’t it.
I always enjoy hearing about book group picks 🙂
If I was voting from your list, I think Stone Yard, Salt Path and Wifedom would have been my picks. I enjoyed the others I’ve read from your list but seeing Demon there made me realise that it hasn’t lingered in the way I would have imagined – I read it in January this year, totally engrossed, but it really hasn’t stayed with me.
Thanks Kate. Love hearing your selections from that list. Wifedom only got one top 3 vote, though we had a great discussion, while The salt path got two votes. We loved all these books but the top 3 really were runaways in a way we don’t usually see. We read Demon in January too and while it wasn’t my Top 3, it has stayed with me reasonably strongly.
Hi Sue, you and your book club read some interesting books. My club read several of your reads. Our favourite is Restless Dolly Munder by Kate Grenville. We were lucky that she visited one of our libraries and gave a very interesting talking on her grandmother. Next year, our January read is Rapture by Emily Maguire. Also, I will be running a book group for U3A, so hopefully there will be some more good reads!
Hi Sue, hopefully this won’t be seen twice. Your book club had some interesting reads, and some were the same as my book club. Though our favourite is Restless Dolly Munder by Kate Grenville. We were lucky to see Kate Grenville give a talk about her grandmother at our local library. Our first read for next year is Rapture by Emily Maguire. Also, I will be running a book club for U3A, and hopefully there will be more good reads!
Oh good for you Meg … that’s a commitment. My mum was in a U3A Bookgroup here for 15 or so years. She loved it.
Thanks so much for sharing your group’s favourite for the year. For some reason we didn’t have that one on our schedule suggestions. Of the books our two groups shared which did your group like best?
Sue, our favourite of your reads, would be Stone Yard Devotional.
Makes sense to me! Thanks Meg.
I’ve not read the number 1 or 2 books chosen by your club but I did read Stone Yard Devotional. I didn’t dislike it but I felt she weakened the novel with all the sex chapters. I don’t want to sound prudish here but I thought we got the point well enough without page after page of the stuff.
Our book club read five books last year. One I did not care either way about, one was OK, two I disliked. I did like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It seems to be popular among the young, meaning those under 40. Our son got our copy once we were done with it, and a co-worker in her late 30s took a copy along on an overseas trip.
I listened to an abridged audio of Wifedom earlier this year when it was featured on BBC’s Radio 4, and I found it very absorbing. I can imagine it being a fascinating book to discuss with a book group. (The Salt Path has also been hugely popular with book groups in the UK.)
Thanks Jacqui. I can imagine it would work well as an audiobook. We had a good discussion even if it wasn’t a popular top pick! Same with The salt path. We thought it had some similarity to a popular book here – although it’s a few decades old now – Robyn Davidson’s Tracks.
Demon Copperhead topped our book club end of year poll in 2023. We are in the middle of voting for our 2024 reads…
Interesting Brona … thanks so much for coming back and sharing. I’ll be interested to hear what you schedule for 2025.
It’s a nice problem to have, when there are so many good books in a reading year that the top three are all books you enjoyed but not necessarily your very favouritests of the bunch!
You’ve said it Marcie!