If you like historical novels of the highest degree (Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory) you'll love The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak, a novel about Catherine the Great. The book has gained strong buzz among early readers who say this is first-rate.
If you like stories about re-inventing yourself (like Under the Tuscan Sun) and stories about animals (books by Jane Goodall), you'll love We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee. The title speaks for itself, but the book really delivers: funny, moving and nail-biting. And you can watch the film too (starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson).
If you liked The Birth House or The Midwife of Venice, then you'll love The Virgin Cure. Ami McKay's long-awaited new novel follows Moth, a young child growing up in lower Manhattan in 1871. Lyrical, evocative, and mesmerizing, I think The Virgin Cure should be on top of every book club's reading list.
The new book by Aravind Adiga (he won the Man Booker Prize in 2008) is the hugely entertaining Last Man in Tower, reminiscent of A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (though less tragic, and funnier). It's a sweeping story pitting a retired schoolteacher in Mumbai against the real estate developer planning to build a luxury complex overtop a slum. Best novel I've read in months.
If you liked The Time Traveler's Wife, you'll love The Night Circus. Both are epic love stories with magical qualities, but I'll venture to say The Night Circus (which is the buzz book of the season) is even more magical. At its heart is the story of two young, love-struck magicians who compete in a magical circus. I highly recommend.
I'm a big fan of Michael Ondaatje, and if you liked his book Running in the Family, or The Cinammon Peeler, you'll love The Cat's Table, his brand new novel. This is a page-turning coming-of-age story about a boy traveling by boat to England who absorbs all the adventures swirling about him. It's magical, lyrical and easily one of the most accessible Ondaatje novels I've ever read.
I've been waiting patiently until Natural Order was officially on-sale to rave about it. This second novel by Brian Francis (he wrote Fruit, a Canada Reads finalist) packs the emotional wallop of a Michael Cunningham or Wally Lamb novel; I distinctly remember having to leave the café where I was reading this manuscript because I was about to burst into tears, the story was so moving. I urge you to read this now.
If you like smart, sassy reads like The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing or One Day (or even the recent film Bridesmaids), you'll love Girls in White Dresses. I can't tell you how many colleagues have raved about this novel, about a group of friends struggling through love and life. This book is making waves internationally.
If you liked Late Nights on Air, the Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novel by Elizabeth Hay, you'll love Alone in the Classroom. Hay's new novel is a seductive, page-turning read. It has energy and mystique, and I think it's her most accomplished novel to date.
Even the most literary of book clubs will dip into the odd mystery book, and I'm telling you, if you like Stieg Larsson, you'll love Jo Nesbo. I've raved about Jo before — since the new year I've become addicted to his suspenseful, page-turning books. The Snowman is my favourite, but The Leopard (his latest) is that perfect summer read.
If you like heart-wrenching, tear-jerking reads like The Joy Luck Club or Jodi Picoult novels, you'll love Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin. The novel follows a family's search for their sixty-nine-year-old mother after she is separated from her husband in a crowded Seoul subway station, and vanishes. The book has hit a nerve in Korea where it has sold over 1.5 million copies!
If you like novels featuring characters drawn from real life, such as the book club favourite, Loving Frank, you will love Paula McLain's The Paris Wife, a novel of the life of Ernest Hemmingway's wife, Hadley. Meet characters like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, and experience Paris of the Lost Generation. It's easy to see why The Paris Wife is currently high atop North American bestseller lists.
If you like The Birth House, Midwives or The Memory Keeper's Daughter — all book club favourites about mothers and the consequences of their actions — you'll love The Midwife of Venice. Roberta Rich's novel depicts life in sixteenth-century Venice, and it features a wonderful heroine duty-bound to protect the women and babies in her life.
Everyone who has fallen in love with Stieg Larsson wants to read the next best thing, and I'm telling you that Jo Nesbo is the real deal. Over the holidays, nursing a cold, I was captivated for two days straight with Nesbo's The Snowman (which my colleague called "a perfect mystery."). Jo is Scandinavian (like Stieg) and writes with that same verve (lots of twists and bone-chilling crimes).
If you like smart and sophisticated mysteries like Ian Rankin or Louise Penny, you'll love Kate Atkinson. Pound for pound she is my favourite mystery writer – the Jackson Brodie series is entertaining and addictive! Start with Case Histories and work your way up to the newest one, Started Early, Took My Dog.
If you like the elegant prose of Alistair MacLeod, and the swashbuckling adventures found in Derek Lundy's books, you'll love The Sea Captain's Wife by Beth Powning. This story has it all: love, obsession, a gripping voyage and an unforgettable protagonist in Azuba Galloway. The Sea Captain's Wife was one of this year's best-reviewed novels and I can see why.
If you like the wit and sarcasm of David Sedaris, you will love David Rakoff, author of some of the funniest collections I've ever read (definitely read Fraud or Don't Get Too Comfortable). In Rakoff's newest collection, Half Empty, he continues to mine his own life for comical gems, such as what happens when he attends an erotica convention.
If you like wonderfully delicious historical novels like The Birth of Venus, The Gargoyle, or Perfume, then you'll love The Bells. In Richard Harvell's novel, a boy born in a belfry possesses an extraordinary gift of sound and song - a gift that takes him on an astonishing journey from a tiny village in the Alps to Europe's greatest theatres and operas. The Bells is a beautifully-written and completely enchanting debut novel.
If you liked the storytelling qualities of Yann Martel's Life of Pi, and the idea of animals as characters in a novel, then you'll love Fauna by Alissa York. Set in Toronto's ravines, Fauna follows men and women — and animals — who live on the outer edges of society. An extremely lyrical, modern gothic tale, Fauna is ultimately a love letter to a city. I loved it.
If you liked Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner for its emotional heft, you'll love Little Bee by Chris Cleave, which also deals with a single moment of crisis in a young person's life that leaves an indeliable mark. It is a novel about two cultures coming together, about reconciling history and healing wounds, both literal and physical, and it will take your breath away.
