Book Club Picks
What Lowcountry Ladies Are Reading
August 2024 Issue
Want to know what Lowcountry Ladies are reading?
We asked five local book clubs for
a peek inside their reading lists and to share their No. 1
book recommendation that stirred the soul and created compelling conversations amongst these friendships born from the love of reading.
Lynne Miller
Book Pick: The Women by Kristin Hannah
Book Club: Chapters and Chat (Hilton Head Island)
Number of members: 25
How long has this book club been together? 15 years—the club has grown with many new people in the last few years!
Club Meetings: We almost always meet at our leader Nancy Sigmund’s home but take turns leading the discussion. Weather permitting, we sit around the pool and enjoy homemade cookies and soft drinks. Nancy makes a special lunch for us at Christmas. I’m sure book clubs have different ways to select the books. Ours is structured that we send all the recommendations to Nancy to compile. She writes a synopsis for each one and e-mails them to us to select our top six. It seems to work quite well.
About Our Pick: The Women is a NY Times bestseller and extremely popular historical fiction novel about women who are forced to see the real world while nursing troops in Vietnam during the war. Though the book highlights the horrors, divided politics, and the changing world, it is beautifully written with tons of emotional moments. So many readers are claiming this epic tale about heroic women as the best book they’ve ever read!
Andrea Gannon
Book Pick:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Number of members? 7: Members include Andrea Gannon, Shannon Stratton, Hester Hodde, Karen Kenneweg, Jamie Berndt, Sheri Nixon, and Lisa Davis. (Hilton Head Island)
How long has book club been together? The original members (Andrea, Shannon and Sheri) formed the book club in 2002. Over the years, we have added members who are dedicated, serious readers. We are thrilled to have an incredible group of brilliant, insightful women.
Club Meetings: In the past, we’ve decorated or dressed according to the book’s theme. Not so much lately because this is a busy group of women on-the-go. We’re doing well to choose a date when we’re all available. We take turns hosting at our homes or going out to restaurants that have private rooms so we can talk.
About Our Pick: We enjoyed the historical fiction aspect of this book which is centered around WWII, but we were especially drawn in by the lyrical writing style of Doerr in this Pulitzer Prize-winning book. His two protagonists were both vulnerable and strong, swept up in a violent time of history, while navigating their own individual struggles. It was a phenomenal and satisfying read!
Dawn Morgan
Book Pick: The Measure by Nikki Erlick
Book Club: The Bluffton Bookers (We are "well read, badly behaved”)
Number of Members: 10
How long has this book club been together? 1.5 years
Club Meetings: We meet one evening each month to discuss our book. Everyone brings their favorite adult beverage and a snack to share. After visiting and catching up, we settle in to discuss the month's selection. We try to make a theme based around whatever we are reading, either through the snacks we share (string cheese for The Measure, apple pie moonshine for a book about the Appalachian librarians) or dressing up in a theme (next month is Daisy Jones & The Six, so we will be channeling our inner flower child and wearing our best 70's outfits!) We plan to start reading a book by a local author every year and inviting them to attend one of our gatherings.
About our Pick: Everyone should read this book! This is the only selection we have had where 100% everyone loved it. So much to talk about, so much to think about—a "what would you do?" and "would you want to know?”—fostered great discussion within the group. There are so many aspects relevant to society today and seeing both sides of a situation.
Jackie Spooner
Book Pick: West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
Book Club: Book Club V (which is in the Palmetto Dunes Women's Club)
Number of members: 12
How long has this book club been together? 3 years
Club Meetings: We meet at different place on the third Wednesday of every month from 10:15 a.m. to noon. Some of our favorite places to meet are the Leamington Beach Club, Corner Perk, or at one of the member’s home. In January, we have dinner at Floras and have a wrapped book exchange which is a lot of fun. It has been a great way to meet neighbors. We just finished The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, and our next book, which I am excited about, is The Women by Kristin Hannah.
About Our Pick: West with Giraffes’ is a historical fiction novel, which our club tends to enjoy. This is a great, heartwarming tale based on a true story and set in the late 1930s during the Great Depression. It’s about two giraffes and their guardians going across the country on a 12-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. There’s lots of trials and tribulations, which are both adventurous and fun all at the same time, and there is a little love story, too.
Tamela Maxim
Book Pick: Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Tahir Shah
Book Club: Second Thursday Book Club (Bluffton/HHI Blend)
Number of members: 12: Amelia Warner, Annelore Harrell, Beth Woods, Candace Lovely, Carol Aita, Elizabeth Millen, Ferebee Ruffalo, Rose Newton, Simone Griffeth McDonald, Susan Stephens, Tamela Maxim, Yvette Acuff
How long has this book club been together? 11 years
Club Meetings: We meet once a month on the 2nd Thursday for lunch. Each member takes a turn as hostess for the lunch meeting either in her home or at a restaurant. The hostess also leads the discussion.
About Our Pick: This is our book for this coming November’s meeting. I recommend The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Tahir Shah because it’s a fabulous read but also because it’s a book that resonates with personal connections and the joy of shared experiences. The year was 2002 and blogging was relatively new. Back then, authors, even famous ones like Tahir, blogged directly with their fans, and I enjoyed the privilege of a few fun online conversations which led to occasional emails. I’ve read almost all of Shah’s books and some of his father’s (Idries Shah). I’m also a fan of his award-winning IMAX documentaries. Sorcerer’s Apprentice transports the reader from the comforts of high-class England to the mysterious, magical belly of India as the author shares how he tracked down an Indian Pashtun named Hafiz Jan so he could learn how to perform magic—how to be a sorcerer. It’s a hold-your-breath-page-turner, a stay-up-all-night kind of story. And if I didn’t know a little about Tahir personally, I would say his tales are fanciful exaggerations, but that’s the kicker—Tahir really does the stuff he writes about. So get ready for a roller coaster ride and buy a copy of any of his books—after you read this one first.
Bonnie Hargrove
Book Pick: The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
Book Club: Mockingbird Book Club (our first book was
To Kill a Mockingbird) (Beaufort)
Number of members: 7
How long has this book club been together? 14 years
Club Meetings: Lots of wine and nibbles!
About Our Pick: Some of us met author Brendon Slocumb at a Pat Conroy Center event and found him fascinating. We love to read Southern writers, and this one did not disappoint. The Violin Conspiracy is a beautifully written, musical mystery that keeps you guessing, thinking and feeling until the final page.