I have a problem with book groups. Even though I love to read, I don't love being told what to read (which is why I was an English major in college for exactly one day). I especially don't love being told what to read when the books in question are not my kind of books. So even though there is a book group in my congregation every time I move to a new place, I never join.
Well. I am not alone in my anti-book-group feelings. Some other young moms in my ward (an LDS congregation) got together and decided to start up their own underground book group where we will not read edgy, tragic, ultra-modern, and let's face it, often hard-to-get-through books. We're gonna read for fun! At the end of a long day, if I'm going to sit down to pick up a book, it's not going to be with a whole lot of remaining mental energy. I just wanna be entertained.
Our first book-group read was a new-ish middle-grade fantasy book called Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger. I totally loved it and had to immediately reserve book two, Exile, at the library. Book two was, perhaps, even better. I really love this series. Imaginative, fun, exciting, clever, sometimes laugh-aloud funny, and just-plain great. Alas, book two was published this year, which means I have to wait for the next. I don't know if it's a trilogy or a series. On the back of the book, it's described as Harry Potter meets Lord of the Rings. That's kind of true. Definitely more Harry Potter vibe than the latter. Check it out, though, especially if you have a middle-grade reader who loves fantasy. Or if you are an adult reader who loves middle-grade fantasy. :)
Our next underground-book-group read is Keturah and Lord Death. My choice. I can't wait for my friends to read it!