Book Club Recommendations?

I'm on the hook for bringing book options for tomorrow night's book club. The one criteria I've been given: something upbeat and cheerful.

This is because the last book we read, "The Informers", was so nasty and horrible that everyone wants something, well, not nasty and horrible and with at least one character who has redeemable qualities (something missing from the other book).

Because my idea of a good read is Dosteyvsky or Steinbeck (I heart Steinbeck) and that would probably cause English class flashbacks to some, I need help. What's some good modern fiction out there that works for a book club and has a happy ending? Or at least an ending that doesn't involve stoned out dregs of society murdering a small child in a bathtub?

I don't think there was one single character in The Informers who wasn't drugged up past the point of being a sentient being.

But that book is done and over. Moving on...

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Fabulous Co-worker Justin
If you feel like paying homage, Dr. Michael Crichton, most notably the author of Jurassic Park and several other blockbuster thriller novels, recently passed away (today I think).
crankypants

Hey, I've heard about Fabulous Co-worker Justin! haha!

What about Persepolis? It's a graphic novel, so it's a quick read but there's plenty to talk about.

Geez I'm looking at my reading list and it's either David Sedaris funny or downright depressing.

How about Godblog? :)

(Looking at my reading list I see that The Informers was the ONLY book I read in 2002. Not a good year, huh?)

Love In The Time of Cholera or something else by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?

Oh my gawd, I'm looking at my list, it's cracking me up at the books I like versus what you are requesting. It's either mindless or depressing. But, some of the depressing ones have good endings, like Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah.

AmyH

LOL! You are funny.

The gang said they were really excited about my picks, whatever they would be. Just because I'm the nerd of the group they think I'm up on my literature. I told them they are looking forward to my options only because the last book was so awful.

Oh yeah - and the gal who picked it can't make it to discussion because she's sick, so we're going to meet anyway and talk about how much we hated it without having to hurt her feelings. :-)

I was thinking about Grapes of Wrath because it's close to what we're looking at now from an economy standpoint, but I think it's way to depressing, too.

I'm leaning to Bill Bryson's "Walk in the Woods". That's supposed to be good.

Ooh - Godblog. I don't think it's hit the stores yet. I'm supposed to get a call from my bookstore soon! That's how I'll know if it's here or not. :-)

crankypants

I was actually going to suggest a walk in the woods, or another Bryson book. (I have an extra copy of In a Sunburned Country you can has....)

The Color Purple?

That's funny she can't make it, I thought you already had your meeting, but at least you can trash it guilt free. (no one takes notes or transcribes the discussion, do they? :-P)

Lamb: The Gospel According to Christ's Pal Biff by Christopher Moore?

I haven't read it yet but someone (Lauri?) told me it was good: Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver.

Other than that, all the books I've read that are worth discussing are pretty dark.

serenpoly
If science fiction and/or fantasy is acceptable, pretty nearly anything by Lois McMaster Bujold would do. All her books have more depth to them than you might expect, likable characters (if, well, not exactly the sort of people you meet on the street every day...), and people trying hard to be good, to be loving, to be practical, to be honorable, patriotic, and humane, ... and to figure all of it out on the fly. A Civil Campaign is a total hoot, and ends with the main characters becoming (happily) engaged, but needs some of the previous books in the Vorkosigan series to understand. Mirror Dance was difficult for me to read: one of the characters has a self-inflicted weight problem far greater than mine. If you can find the novella "The Mountains of Mourning", you won't be disappointed, although, be warned, it's fairly heavy going at times.

My very favorite of all her books is The Curse of Chalion, which is fantasy, but don't let that stop you. The SSOO has problems with fantasy books where characters can just use magic to solve all your problems. This is not one of those books. It's about a man who finds himself confronted with a curse on the princess he serves as secretary/tutor, and what he has to go through to rescue her, and the country, from it. It's set in an analogue of medieval Spain (although with a very different religious system) and is fully self-contained. There are several people who die or are killed, but it ends happily, and the Guy gets the Girl in the end... I have been known to start it over immediately after finishing it. (By this time, having read it several times, I can see some glaring 'continuity' problems, to use a motion picture industry term, but you don't while you're in the story...) There's a lot of food for thought in the book, if you don't just turn off your brain because it's 'fantasy'.

I can't imagine why, but A Rather Lovely Inheritance has 'book club' talking points in the back, but, while fun, it's total pure fluff... The author, C. A. Belmond, clearly has some experience in the movie business, which is cool for a studio brat like me, but that's not the main thrust of the story. To be honest, it's pretty hokey, but this one you can just park your brain and enjoy.

Good luck!
Metz

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

also I heard from someone else on Vox that Terry Pratchett's newest book Nation is a good read too.

LeendaDLL
Do you like SciFi? It's old but Ender's Game is one of my fav books ever. I'm always up for anything by Oscar Wilde.

Otherwise, I can only recommend lots of very not depressing S/M erotica. Somehow I don't think that's what you're looking for. Though a discussion of the reference novel "SM101" would be highly entertaining!! (for me, anyway - lol)
LeendaDLL
Bookmole had 3 recommendations in her latest post.
TreeSweater
Does it have to be modern?

What about something like "Miss Mapp" or "Mapp and Lucia" by E.F. Benson? They're not "upbeat and cheerful" perhaps. The characters can be pretty mean and spiteful at times. But the books (the whole series, in fact) are hilarious and everyone gets their comeuppance in the end, and it's very satisfying. And did I mention hilarious?
mom

A Walk In The Woods is great, I loved it. Anything by Elizabeth George is good, Three Cups of tea....did you say it had to be fiction? Lightweight and hilarious are the Stephanie Plum novels, 'One for the Money', etc.

If I open my night table door, books will fall out, so I don't want to look for any in there.

fatcat
Good Omens! Funny, clever, exciting and just plain good! Alternatively, if fantasy isn't an option: Tarnished beauty, the Elegance of the Hedgehog (lots of philosophy), Hunting and Gathering (possibly the sweetest, gentlest, most toughtful novel I've read, now also a wonderful movie), or Special topics in calamity physics. :)
crankypants

How about Glamorama, by Bret Easton Ellis? I can send you that one, too.

*ducks*

*runs*

Mr. Guilt
I just finished The Years of Rice and Salt, and found it an interesting read. It tells the history of the world as though the Black Plague wiped out Europe, so it is to Eastern places (the Middle East, India, and East Asia) to explore the world and industrialize. It is written as though it is a series of books, each one covering a different era. The characters all eventually die (it does cover several centuries). The downside is that it is a pretty thick book.
mariser
mrguilt, TYoRaS sounds awesome, thickness notwithstanding. I'll be picking it up. I'm not into book clubs and am not sure how TYoRaS would work for that.
Ned
[this is good]
petia
[this is good]

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