The Los Angeles Book Club

Read as much as you can and we'll discuss There There.

"PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.

A contemporary classic, this “astonishing literary debut” (Margaret Atwood, bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale) “places Native American voices front and center” (NPR/Fresh Air).

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

Among them is Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, pulling his life together after his uncle’s death and working at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen-year-old Orvil, coming to perform traditional dance for the very first time. They converge and collide on one fateful day at the Big Oakland Powwow and together this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism

A book with “so much jangling energy and brings so much news from a distinct corner of American life that it’s a revelation” (The New York Times). It is fierce, funny, suspenseful, and impossible to put down–full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with urgency and force. There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable." - Randomhouse

"Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight is a 2013 book written by a female law professor under the pen- name of M.E. Thomas, describing her up-and-down life as a sociopath. The book describes sociopathy as a disorder that consists of a spectrum of behaviors, rather than the more simplistic stereotype of serial killers. Thomas claims sociopathy helped her be a better lawyer, and in an interview, she suggests that revealing herself in the book helps keep her in check: "Because there's that much pressure and scrutiny, I think I actually will be more successful in continuing to be a good member of society." Lacking her own moral code, she relies on the teachings of her church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."- Wikipedia

Read as much as you can and come discuss A Thousands Splended Suns with us.

"A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Khaled Hosseini that tells the story of two Afghan women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become intertwined through marriage to the same abusive man, Rasheed, in war-torn Kabul from the 1960s to the 2000s. The book explores themes of love, friendship, sacrifice, and survival as the women form a powerful bond, finding strength and salvation in each other amidst the violence and oppression of their country's history. It is a story of female resilience, contrasting with Hosseini's previous novel, The Kite Runner, by focusing on women's experiences in Afghanistan."

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells, taken without her knowledge, were used in groundbreaking medical research and became one of the most important tools in medicine. The book explores the ethical issues surrounding this scientific discovery, the impact on Henrietta's family, and the history of racism and medical inequality in the United States.

"The book was awarded the National Academies Best Book of the Year Award, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Young Adult Science Book award, and the Wellcome Trust Book Prize, awarded annually to an outstanding work of fiction or non-fiction on the theme of health and medicine.[5] It also won the Heartland Prize for non-fiction, among others, including a Salon Book Award, and a 100 New York Times Notable Books of the Year. The paperback edition had spent 75 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list."