Reading History 2006-2026

Bon Air Bookies Reading Group

(updated Oct 27, 2025 with the 2025-2026 list)

2006

• The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
• Founding Mothers, by Cokie Roberts
• The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan
• Truth and Beauty: A Friendship, by Ann Patchett
• Good Harbor, by Anita Diamant
• The Jane Austen Book Club, by Karen Joy Fowler
• The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather
• I Got Somebody in Staunton, by William Henry Lewis
• The Master Butcher’s Singing Club, by Louise Erdrich
• The Mermaid Chair, by Sue Monk Kid

2007

• When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka
• Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, by Carlos Eire
• First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped Our Presidents, by Bonnie Angelo
• Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
• The Seven Sisters, by Margaret Drabble
• Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Saturday, by Ian McEwanWilla Cather, The Emerging Voice, by Sharon O’Brien
• The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle
• Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson
• The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield

Bookies — the Greater Richmond AAUW Reading Group
2008

• Various Works by Flannery O’Connor
• Fall on Your Knees, by Ann-Marie McDonald (Canadian)
• Empress Orchid, by Anchee Min
• Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, by Kiran Desai
• March, by Geraldine Brooks
• Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
• Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell, by Janet Wallach
• The Map of Love, by Ahdaf Soueif
• The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck
• The Tender Bar, A Memoir , by J.R. Moehringer
  

2009

• The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
• A Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII, by Sarah Helm
• Salt: A World History, by Mark Kurlansky
• The Grandmothers – Four Short Novels, by Doris Lessing
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
• The Inn at Lake Devine, by Elinor Lipman
• Suite Française, by Irene Nemirovsky
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Go-Between, by L.P. Hartley
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Burrows

January 2010 – July 2011

• The Towers of Trebizond, by Rose Macaulay
• People of the Book: A Novel, by Geraldine Brooks
• Dark Enough to See the Stars in a Jamestown Sky, by Connie Lapallo
• Remembering Babylon, by David Malouf
• The Bookmaker’s Daughter: A Memory Unbound, by Shirley Abbott
• Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

July 2011 – June 2012

• The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness, by Karen Armstrong
• Summer social
• The Help, by Katherine Sockett
• The Eustace Diamonds, by Anthony Trollope
• The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, by Sandy Tolan
• Dreamers of the Day, by Mary Doria Russell
• Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, by T.E. Lawrence
• Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
• When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to Present by Gail Collins
• Quinn’s Book, by William Kennedy
• The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors: A Novel. by Michele Young-Stone
• An Imperfect Lens, by Anne Roiphe

July 2012 – June 2013

• The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman, by Andrzej Szczypiorski (major Polish writer and intellectual)
• August 2012 – Summer social
• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand
• Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiving, by Tracy Kidder
• The Marble Faun: or, the Romance of Monte Beni, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Quinn’s Book, by William Kennedy
• The New Jim Crow:  Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• Galileo’s Daughter:  A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love
  by Dava Sobel
• Regular Book Broup meeting cancelled
• The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
• Caleb’s Crossing, A Novel by Geraldine Brooks

July 2013 – June 2014

• The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
• Team of Rivals:  The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Silver Sparrow, by Tayari Jones
• How the Irish Saved Civilization, Hinges of History Series, Volume I, by Thomas Cahill
• Poetry sharing & book exchange
• Clara and Mr. Tiffany, by Susan Vreeland
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
• Women’s History Month – One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd, a Novel, by Jim Fergus
• In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir, by Neil White
• The Bookseller of Kabul, by Åsne Seierstad
• Lives of Women and Girls, by Alice Munro

July 2014 – June 2015

• My Beloved World, Supreme Court Justice, by Sonia Sotomayor
• Lives of Girls and Women, by  Alice Munro
  
• Born Fighting:  How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, by James Webb
  
• Book exchange & poetry sharing (no book discussion)
• Virginia is For Mysteries Short Story Anthology, by Sisters in Crime Mystery Writers Group
• The Secrets of Mary Bowser, by Lois Leveen
  
• The Spy Mistress (a novel about Elizabeth Van Lew), by Jennifer Chiaverini
  
• Graphic Novels, chosen by individual members Précis
  
•  Shine Shine Shine, by Lydia Netzer
  
• Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline
  
• The Swerve:  How the World Became Modern, by  Stephen Greenblatt
  

September 2015 – June 2016

• Winter Solstice, by Rosamund Pilcher
• Murder at the Book Group, by GRAAUW member Maggie King
• How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It, by Arthur Herman
• Book exchange & poetry sharing (no book discussion)A
• ll the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
  
• The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. DuBois
• The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, by Denise Kiernan
• The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer
• All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr 
• Mother’s Day Out (2014) and Mother Knows Best (2016), by Karen MacInerney
• The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd

September 2016 – June 2017

• Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver
• Riding the Bus With My Sister, A True life Journey, by Rachel Simon
• Above Us Only Sky, by Michele Young-Stone
• January 19, 2017 – The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain
• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson
  OR Another Brooklyn, by Jacqueline Woodson
• World War II & Post-War Diaries of British Housewife Nella Last: Nella Last’s War; Nella Last’s Peace; Nella Last in the 1950s  Nella Last
• I Always Loved You: A Story of Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas, by Robin Oliveira
• Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County: A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle, by Kristen Green
• Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope

September 2017 – June 2018

• The Valley of Amazement, by Amy Tan
• Machine Dreams, by Jayne Anne Phillips
• The Cherokee Rose: A Novel of Gardens and Ghosts, by Tiya Miles
• The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
• Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families Who Share the Tomlinson Name – One White, One Black, by Chris Tomlinson
• Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World, by Linda Hirshman
• The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride
• The Children Act, by Ian McEwan
• Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, by Helen Simonson
• The Storyteller, by Jodi Picoult

September 2020 – June 2021

• Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles
• The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote  , by Elaine Weiss
• On Bear Mountain, by Deborah Smith
• Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult
• Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone, by Nadine Cohodas
• Louisa Catherine:  The Other Mrs. Adams, by Margery M Heffron
• Women Talking, by Miriam Toews
• On the Clock: What Low Wage Work Did to Me and Why It’s Driving America Insane, by Emily Guendelsberger
• Mrs. Bridge   and  Mr. Bridge, by Evan S. Connell
• The Stories of Eva Luna, by Isabelle Allende
• The Guest Book, by Sarah Blake

 September 2023 – August 2024

• The Last Green Valley, by Mark Sullivan
• A Thief of Time, by Tony Hillerman
• Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Gormus
• Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson
• Moonrise Over New Jessup, by Jamila Minnicks
• Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy
• Choose a book about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
• Beekeeper of Aleppo, by Christy Lefteri
• Dinners With Ruth, by Nina Totenburg
• House of Spirits, by Isabel Allende
• The Violin Conspiracy, by Brendan Slocumb

September 2024 – September 2025

• Mark Twain, Man in White: The Grand Adventure of his Final Years by Michael Sheldon
• The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
• Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Richardson
• American Dirt by Janine Cummins
• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
• The Campaign for Woman Suffage in Virginia by Brent Tarter, Marianne Julienne, Barbara Batson
• Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
• The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes
• Renegade by Adam Kinzinger
• Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
• The Overstory by Richard Powers

September 2025 – September 2026

• The Overstory, by Richard Powers
• Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII, by Chester Nez
• James, 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner, by Percival Everett (2024, 320 pages)
• Symphony of Secrets, by Brendan Slocumb
• The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Still I Rise: the Persistence of Phenomenal Women, by Marlene wagman-Geller
• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn
• Carnegie’s Maid, by Marie Benedict
• Freedom: Memoirs 1954 – 2021, by Angela Merkel
• Ken Follett’s 20^th Century Trilogy – each member chooses one of the three to read
  • Book 1 — Fall of Giants (2011, 1000 pages) — primarily focuses on World War I
  • Book 2 — Winter of the World (2013 – 992 pages) – primarily focuses on World War II
  • Book 3 – Edge of Eternity, (2015, 1120 pages) – the 1960s through the 1980s