I’m going to stop suggesting “should reads” to my book group

Should book groups read sure bets or challenging books they may not love?

The seven members of my fiction-reading group are open to challenging novels, but I still hope that everyone likes the books I suggest. Fortunately, we have a process that makes the whole group ultimately responsible for the choice. The person whose turn it is proposes a few, usually three, titles from which the rest of us pick. 

The word “like” doesn’t fit our last choice suggested by me, N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn. We all thought the 1969 Pulitzer Prizer winner, about a Native American who feels alienated on both the reservation and in urban society, was an arduous read, with its dense, poetic language, nonlinear plot, and inscrutable main character. 

House Made of Dawn could contend for the least-liked book in our 25-year history were that title not already held by another of my suggestions, Women of Sand and Myrrh, by Hanna al-Shaykh. For my first turn after 9/11, I thought it would be good for us to read something by an Arab writer.

Not learning a lesson about recommending novels that we “should” read, I have the distinction of suggesting our only recalled book, Jean Toomer’s Cane, proposed when I thought we were due for an African American author. Finding the first few pages grueling, I nervously emailed the group, asking to substitute the second choice. 

Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, chosen from my “great American novels we haven’t read” list, was another one I disliked. I found it tedious, rambling, and long-winded, although some of the group didn’t agree. 

My history suggests that I ought to play it safe on my next turn, perhaps proposing books that I’ve read, liked, and want to reread and discuss.

Granted, enjoyment isn’t the sole reason for being in a book group. We join book groups to stretch our intellects, to get others’ help in understanding what we read, and to discover new authors. Even as our group was criticizing House Made of Dawn, a couple of people commented, “I’m glad I read it.” I think they meant they found value in exposure to an unfamiliar perspective. 

Still, I want to take pleasure in what I read, and I want others to take pleasure from books they’re reading on my suggestion. Yes, it’s impossible to know beforehand whether a book will be liked by anyone else, much less everyone. There are no sure bets. I think I’d come closer to the target, however, if I stopped thinking about book group as the place for difficult books I should but wouldn’t read on my own. 

My file called “book group possibilities” that is full of “should reads” — international authors, major authors we haven’t read, neglected classics — is going to get a lot shorter.