Just Good Readin’ Book Club

Paul Knopick

Robson’s “The Just Good Readin’ Book Club” has selected the 12 books it will begin reading and discussing, one a month, in May. Our selection for May is My Father’s Paradise, by Ariel Sabar. The club meets monthly on the first Monday of the month at 7 p.m. in the clubhouse. All are invited.

The German Girl, by Armando Lucas Correa. An international bestseller, deeply poignant, beautifully written, and unforgettable. A young girl flees Nazi Germany for safe passage to Cuba.

The Ride of Her Life, by Elizabeth Letts. A triumphant, true story about a woman who rode her horse across America to fulfill her dying wish to see the Pacific Ocean. Triumphant!

Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. Gorgeously written, speculation about Shakespeare’s life.

Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. An Oprah Book Club pick, 20,000 Amazon readers loved it. Critics call it hilarious and heartbreaking, brilliant, enthralling, and captures the heart.

Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult. Critics nailed it: One of the best books of the year, powerfully evocative, a triumph of the human spirit.

The Last Green Valley, by Mark Sullivan. A historical novel inspired by one family’s daring and triumphant survival at the end of World War II. Illuminates the power of love, faith, and the will to survive.

Fifty Words for Rain, by Asha Lemmi. Set in Japan after World War II, a New York Times Best of the Year, this novel is dazzling, epic, lovely, and also details prejudice and pain.

The Girls in the Stilt House, by Kelly Mustian. Two teenage girls. Murder. Mississippi in the 1920s. Perfect for those who loved Where the Crawdads Sing.

My Father’s Paradise, by Ariel Sabar. The story of a paradise of Kurdish Jews, still speaking the same language as Jesus, in Northern Iraq. One of the lost tribes of Israel.

In The Woods, by Tana French. The Washington Post calls French the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years. Guilty of ingenious plotting.

Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus. This witty, irresistible novel was named a Best Book of the Year from Oprah’s Book Club to The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly. Laugh-out-loud funny.

The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey. Bombay’s only female lawyer is involved in an investigation that turns into a murder. An award-winning mystery with a captivating heroine.