The Paper & Glam Book Club 2018
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Paper & Glam Readers,
It's time to meet our 2018 Reading List!
Before I walk through our year in books, let's briefly discuss the framework and heart behind the Paper & Glam Book Club.
How are the titles chosen each year?
Our reading list framework is a three-way split between classics, fiction, and non-fiction. In addition, the list includes a work of children's literature and a young adult title. This structure ensures whether you're a devoted fan of pop-culture phonemes, literary greats, or a student of the human experience, you're sure to meet a book you can't put down!
The goal of the Paper & Glam Book Club is to read both deeply into each title as well as widely into many genres, thus expanding our literary horizons while experiencing each book within the context of community. Each title on the reading list received many votes from the Paper & Glam reading community, and at least one glowing endorsement from a monthly book chatter who read it and savored every page.
You will notice these titles are by no means the latest releases in the publishing world. This is by design. New releases are hot commodities, and therefore, difficult to procure at your local public library. Few pursuits enrich my life to the degree that avid reading does, and I want to ensure everyone is equipped to read along with an internet connection and library card.
If an advance screening of the best new literary releases is a priority, I cannot recommend the Book of the Month Club highly enough. A subset of the Paper & Glam Book Club titles were previous Book of the Month titles, and the hardcover editions are available from Book of the Month for $9.99. If you're interested in joining Book of the Month, do so using this link and receive 30% off your membership!
“Is there anything more satisfying than to keep abreast of the best new books of our time as they appear? In reading them, in enjoying them, in talking with others about them, we feel our day taking shape.”
—Book of the Month Club founding statement, 1926
—Book of the Month Club founding statement, 1926
How do I join The Paper & Glam Book Club?
There are a few ways to get connected and read along:
- Live Monthly Book Chat: Our main monthly event and connection point is the Book Club livestream. As in 2015 and 2016, Book Club is live the last Thursday of the month on P&G TV at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST (with the exception of December when we'll meet the third Thursday, December 20th). Join us live and discuss the books along with our eight live chatters in real-time.
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Facebook: Join the Book Club community on Facebook to discuss our monthly selections and all things reading-related. From reviews to memes, we've got reading covered. No spoilers allowed.
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GoodReads: When you've finished our monthly read or as your reading along, join us in our GoodReads forum to share your thoughts with the group, favorite quotes, spoilers welcome.
- Instagram: We've set-up a Paper & Glam Book Club Instagram with posts including our monthly discussion questions, quotes from our monthly reads, reviews of books I'm currently reading, and fun library shots from candles to covers and everything in between.
That's a wrap on book club logistics! Without further ado, let me introduce our Paper & Glam Book Club Reading List with a brief description of how each title fits in and why it was chosen:
Here in Paperandglamland, we like to do things seasonally. This means January's read is a non-fiction motivational kick-starter to set our new year off with a bang. Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air has been on my to-read list since it was a Book of the Month title back when it released January of 2016. Here is excerpt from the publisher with a glimpse into Paul's world:
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all.
What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all.
I can't wait to read the last words from a brilliant neurosurgeon, father, and husband, who was forced to confront life's hardest questions. I hope this book sets the tone for our by reminding us to stay present in the moment and focused on what makes life worth living.
Only Love Can Break Your Heart is one of our thriller fiction reads for 2018. The title was a Book of the Month selection and an NPR Books selection, with just shy of a five star review on Amazon. NPR Books called our read, “A lush mystery-within-a-coming-of-age-tale-within-a-Southern-Gothic. If a book could have an Instagram filter, Tarkington’s would be set on something called ‘Nostalgic’ . . . interesting, readable and beautifully written.” I'm excited...let's dive in.
It's a Paper & Glam tradition to start our spring with thriller fiction, so this March we're reading two back to back. Paula Hawkins skyrocketed to literary greatness with her debut novel Girl On The Train and a smash-hit movie that came quickly after. We read Girl On The Train together in March 2016, and Paula became a glam reader favorite. As a result, she's back on our list and I can't wait to read her latest!
In April, Jenny Han returns with the third book in the To All The Boys I've Loved Before Collection. We read her debut young adult novel, To All The Boys I've Loved Before together in April 2016, and many of us quickly devoured the follow-up, P.S. I Still Love You. Since then, we've been waiting with baited breath to read the final installment, Always & Forever Lara Jean. The Lara Jean trilogy are my all-time favorite young adult series even de-throning Twilight. Jenny Han takes me right back to walking the halls of my high school and sitting shotgun in "Peter's" black sports car.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass is our children's title and one of our classics for 2018. I've never read the darkly whimsical adventures of Alice, and I can't wait to visit Wonderland together. P.S. How gorgeous is the Penguin clothbound classics edition (linked above) with it's flamingo cover?!
One of our all-star original book chatters, Tabatha, selected A Piece of Cake. Tabitha says it's one of her all-time greats and we're ready to know why. Here's an excerpt from the publisher:
There are shelves of memoirs about overcoming the death of a parent, childhood abuse, rape, drug addiction, miscarriage, alcoholism, hustling, gangbanging, near-death injuries, drug dealing, prostitution, or homelessness.
Cupcake Brown survived all these things before she’d even turned twenty. And that’s when things got interesting...
Cupcake Brown survived all these things before she’d even turned twenty. And that’s when things got interesting...
In July, we're reading Maria Goff's debut, Love Lives Here. Maria's husband Bob Goff's book Love Does: A Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World is in my personal canon and is a book I could read once a month. The spirit of the Goffs is captured so clearly in their work in all its whimsy inspirational glory. This summer, I'll be reading Love Does by the pool once again, and then diving into Love Lives Here.
All the Ugly & Wonderful Things is recommended by Paper & Glam reads weekly since it's release in 2016. It's been called a "modern day Beauty & The Beast" which also gained my attention quickly. The title took Book of the Month's Book of the Year Award as well as second place in GoodReads Best Fiction category.
This September, I'm introducing you to one of my all-time favorite authors, Jen Lancaster, with her self-publishing debut Stories I'd Tell In Bars. Jen Lancaster is a comedic genius. I can't tell you how many times she's left me cackling in the bathtub wishing I could re-live the hilarity with another reader. My personal favorite Jen Lancaster books are her Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office, Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, Such A Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big. I'll be re-reading those classics this summer in preparation for her comedic return along with The Tao of Martha: My Year of LIVING; Or, Why I'm Never Getting All That Glitter Off The Dog.
Our 2018 Glamoween read is Anne Rice's gothic classic, Interview With A Vampire. This cult-classic has been on my to read list for years and the film adaptation starring Brad Pitt & Tom Cruise is on my books to movies list. Now is the perfect time to catch-up or relive the "original" vampire chronicles as Anne Rice is adapting the books into a TV series set to release in 2019.
In November, we read our third and final quarterly classic, Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. Hemingway's final work has been on my to-read list since my favorite author, Shana Niequist, cited it as a favorite. Subsequently, I stumbled on a first edition copy at Powell's in Portland. I'm ready to roam the streets of Paris with Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. This book is heavy with beautiful quotes and passages, get your pink highlighters ready!
"You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil."
Lastly, December's read is another seasonal selection! We're reading John Grisham's Skipping Christmas together. Christmas with the Kranks is the film adaptation of this fun holiday read staring Tim Allen. This read came highly recommended by Katrina, one of our original all-star book chatters. Let's curl up by the fireplace or get cozy under the Christmas tree!
RESOURCES
To keep us organized and accountable to turning pages together in 2018, I created a Paper & Glam Book Club Planner Kit. The planner kit includes the 2017 Reading List and matching planner stickers for each book in the line-up.
If you'd like the reading list and planner stickers delivered to your door ready to rock in hot pink, the Glam Mail Book Club Planner Kit is for you! If you'd like to print and cut your own kit, the Digital Glam Book Club Planner Kit is available instantly the digital glam shop!
For a video walk-through of our 2018 Reading List and all the details, watch here!
That's a wrap on Book Club 2018! Are you ready to read along with us in 2018?
Were any of the titles already on your to-read list?
Is there one or two you're particularly excited to read? It's going to be tough not crack these titles early!
Is there one or two you're particularly excited to read? It's going to be tough not crack these titles early!
Looking so forward to our fourth year of reading together,
Lisamarie
FTC Disclaimer: Links may be affiliates. Thank you for your support of the Paper & Glam Book Club.
Hi Lisamarie! I’m super excited for 2018 book club! I just had a quick question, the post says the digital book club stickers are free but Paper&Glam shop shows they are $8.99. Can you help me clear my confusion? Thank you!
Posted by: natalie gutierrez | Friday, November 24, 2017 at 12:11 AM
Hi Natalie! I'm so excited you're excited. :) Thank you for bringing that typo to my attention. The post should say the digital version is available instantly. It's updated!
Posted by: Paper and Glam | Friday, November 24, 2017 at 10:41 AM