I guess this is a recommendation in a way. Book group members across the United States reflected on all the books they read and discussed during the year and these surfaced as the titles most often mentioned. This list represents the voices of more than 4,000 book group members who answered the survey.
The following books are the most discussed at book groups, going back to 2002.
Top Book Group Favorites of 2004
1) TIE — The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking)
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday)
2) Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harcourt)
3) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead)
4) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Picador USA)
5) Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik (Ballantine)
6) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins)
7) The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (Hyperion)
8) The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (Picador USA)
9) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon (Vintage)
10) The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger (Harvest)
11) East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Penguin)
12) Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (Plume)
13) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Vintage)
14) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Back Bay)
15) My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square Press)
16) No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor)
17) Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Random House)
18) Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (ReganBooks)
19) The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson (Vintage)
20) Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (Grove)
Top Book Group Favorites of 2003
1) The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking)
2) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday)
3) The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (Picador USA)
4) Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House)
5) Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harcourt)
6) Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (Plume)
7) Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (Grove)
8) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins)
9) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little Brown)
10) Empire Falls by Richard Russo (Knopf)
11) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Picador USA)
12) No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor)
13) Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross (Ballantine)
14) Atonement by Ian McEwan (Anchor)
15) Cold Mountain by Charles Frasier (Vintage)
Top 20 Book Group Favorites of 2002
1) The Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (Plume)
2) The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (Picador USA)
3) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little Brown)
4) Empire Falls by Richard Russo (Vintage)
5) Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (Grove)
6) Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (Ballantine)
7) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (HarperPerennial)
8) John Adams by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster)
9) Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland (Penguin)
10)The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial)
11) Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross (Ballantine)
12) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Warner & HarperCollins)
13) Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani (Ballantine)
14) The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan (Ballantine)
15) Jim the Boy by Tony Earley (Back Bay)
16) The Jew Store by Stella Suberman (Algonquin)
17) Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund (HarperPerennial)
18) The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin)
19) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Vintage)
20) Hanna’s Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson (Ballantine)
