Uplifting Books for Book Clubs

by Robert Dugoni

Born with ocular albinism, Sam Hill is a young boy whose rare red eyes cause problems from the moment he is enrolled at Our Lady of Mercy.

Labeled "Hell Boy," he is bullied not only by his classmates but also given a hard time by the nun who is the principal at his elementary school. Eventually, Sam finds the new best friend he desperately needs in Ernie Cantwell, the only African American boy in his class, and years later in a fiercely individual girl named Mickie.

Years later, Sam is a respected ophthalmologist still moving through life with Ernie and Mickie by his side. But, his world is about to be upturned when he's unexpectedly reunited with the biggest school-yard bully from his past.

The Book Girls Say... We both rated this novel five stars, and recommend it to everyone! Angela especially loved the audiobook version, which the author himself narrates.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
100% Would Recommend to a Friend

The ebook and audio versions of this novel are included with Kindle Unlimited as of 2/7/23.

by Allison Larkin

It’s the mid-1990s, and sixteen-year-old April has a rough life. While her father is off playing house with his new family, she fends for herself in a motorless motorhome that he won while playing poker. April works at a diner, but dreams of being a songwriter. After flunking out of school and having another fight with her dad, she sets off to find a better life.

Along the way, she meets others with their own complex stories, which are the perfect inspiration for her songs. But even more importantly, she finds that family doesn’t have to mean the community you were born into. As April bounces from town to town, she meets people who leave lasting impressions, even after she’s left them behind. Ultimately she discovers that the people you meet can become the family you need.

The Book Girls Say… This is a beautifully written, character-driven, coming-of-age novel. April isn’t always likable, and she makes many bad decisions along the way. But she’s a raw and real character you’ll come to love despite her flaws. This book is packed with so much genuine emotion, honesty, and heart that you’ll want a copy on your shelf so that you can read it again!

We especially recommend this book to those who enjoy “found family” stories.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
100% Would Recommend to a Friend

by Jon Cohen

Harry has always loved trees, but he spends his days stuck behind a computer as an analyst in a treeless US Forest Service office. After his wife dies suddenly and tragically, Harry can’t seem to move forward. One day he decides to follow the advice his wife always gave him - he quits his job and escapes to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania to be with the trees.

There he meets Oriana, a young girl who has suffered a significant loss of her own. She spends most of her time in the forest with her book in the treehouse her father bought for her. They bond over their love of the forest and the trees.

The octogenarian librarian in town gives Oriana a strange, handwritten book called The Grum’s Ledger. With this book as their guide, Oriana helps Harry believe in the magic, if only he can open his eyes and see it.

The Book Girls Say… Because of its thread of magical realism, some describe this book as a fairy tale for adults. But it’s more than that. It’s a story of grief, sadness, and the uplifting power of friendship and connection. This story is told from many points of view, including Harry and Oriana’s, as well as numerous others - but it’s written in a way that it’s easy to follow and understand.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
100% Would Recommend to a Friend

by Annie Lyons

Eudora has lived a long, full life, but at the age of 85 she’s decided that she’s done with it all. She’s already witnessed the indignities and suffering of old age, and she wants the end - her end - to be on her own terms. She’s called a clinic in Switzerland to set her plan into motion. But then she meets 10-year-old Rose.

Rose is rainbows and sparkles and cheer. And as much as Eudora just wants to be left alone, she can’t help but be drawn into her young neighbor’s world of adventure. Along with her affable and recently widowed neighbor Stanley, they join Rose for afternoon teas, shopping sprees, trips to the beach, and birthday celebrations. As they all await the arrival of Rose’s new baby sister, Eudora is secretly waiting for approval to go ahead with her plan.

As this unlikely trio grows closer, the joy that her new friends bring to her life forces Eudora to reconsider whether she’s really ready to say goodbye.

The Book Girls Say... The author did a beautiful job relaying what it’s like to be alone in your 80s with no family, but also the uplifting power of found family. While both Rose and Eudora pull at your heartstrings in different ways, the novel addresses the topic of medically-assisted suicide, so could make for a fabulous book club discussion.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
100% Would Recommend to a Friend

by Jim DeFede

While this non-fiction book takes place on and after 9/11, it's not the devastating story you would expect. The book walks through the experiences of countless passengers from some of the 38 planes unexpectedly diverted to Gander, Newfoundland when US airspace was closed on 9/11.

The small town of only 10,000 received 6,600 passengers from 92 countries with open arms and generous hearts.

The Book Girls Say... We've both seen and love the musical Come From Away, so we knew the story of Gander. But when Melissa started this book to read a chapter before bed, she ended up awake until 4 AM because she could not put it down. The residents of Gander and the surrounding towns will warm your heart page after page and remind you how selfless and kind humans can be.

by Lynda Rutledge

West with Giraffes is a charming tale of adventure that takes you on the ride of a lifetime from the east coast of the US to the west, alongside a rowdy 17-year-old, a grumpy older man, and two giraffes.

The year is 1938 and no American zoo has successfully housed giraffes before, but the female zoo director of San Diego Zoo believes she can do it. The giraffes have just survived a hurricane en route to the east coast, and Riley Jones, the zoo’s curmudgeonly head keeper has been charged with safely transporting the giraffes from New York to San Diego.

America is still in the throes of the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl conditions continue to ravage the drought-stricken Southern Plains states. A coast to coast trek with giant animals is no easy feat. Jones begrudgingly teams up with a starving teenager named Woody to help him make the journey. The adventures along the way include run-ins with circus con artists, being tailed by a female photographer looking for a big scoop, an emotional visit to Woody’s hometown, and so much more.

At its heart (and this book is filled with LOTS of heart) this is a coming of age story. Now, at the age of 105, Woody recounts his 12-day cross-country trip with Jones and the giraffes and how it shaped his life.

The Book Girls Say... We adored everything about this story and both rated it 5 stars! From the insights it gives to life across America in the late 30s to the growing relationships between characters, including the humans and the giraffes, we can’t recommend this book highly enough! It even made our list of favorite books of 2021.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
100% Would Recommend to a Friend

The ebook and audio versions of this novel are included with Kindle Unlimited as of 2/7/23.

by Shelby Van Pelt

Widower Tova began working at the Sowell Bay Aquarium to occupy her mind and time. She took pride in cleaning perfectly each night, even though she didn’t need the money. She loved all the aquarium life but formed a special bond with the intelligent but curmudgeonly octopus named Marcellus.

He’s just as surprised to feel friendly toward this human who visits him nightly. Soon, he connects the sadness he sees in her with something he saw in the ocean long ago. Can he help her solve the mystery of her son’s disappearance 30 years ago?

The Book Girls Say... Neither of us expected to have a book partially narrated by a giant Pacific octopus on our best books of 2022 list, but Marcellus stole our hearts. Beyond that, we loved each of the human characters and their struggles in different phases of life. Young or older, so many people deal with loneliness and loss. Watching characters process and evolve through that was a heart-warming treat.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
97% Would Recommend to a Friend

by Jessica Anya Blau

Mary Jane tells the story of two very different family lifestyles and a 14-year-old girl trying to decide who she really is. Mary Jane is a quiet, book-loving girl from a traditional, conservative family in 1970s Baltimore. When she is offered a job nannying for a local doctor, her mom assumes their home is equally tidy and respectable.

However, the house is a huge mess and it's about to get crazier. The doctor has welcomed a rock star and his wife to stay at the house while he tries to get sober. Mary Jane has a lot to teach them about tidiness and schedules, and all the while they are opening her eyes to the world outside her bubble. By the end of the summer, she'll have a much better understanding of who she wants to be.

The Book Girls Say… This was one of our favorite books of the last few years, and one that really stuck with both of us! It's a beautiful and entertaining story of a 14-year-old girl seeing herself as a separate person for the first time.

Although the main character is a teenager, this is an adult novel, not a YA title. It makes an excellent read for book clubs because of the perspective that comes from looking back at the years between innocence and maturity.

Melissa adored the book in print, and Angela really enjoyed listening to the audiobook because it incorporates music.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐
93% Would Recommend to a Friend

This book is included with Kindle Unlimited as of 2/7/23.

by Wade Rouse

In this moving memoir, author Wade Rouse, who writes fiction under the pen name Viola Shipman, shares the story of his complicated relationship with his father. Growing up as a queer kid in a conservative Ozarks community, Wade and his father, Ted, had little in common. Wade was never the athlete his father hoped for, but his desire to connect with his father and gain his approval led Wade to learn the vocabulary of baseball and to watch the game with his dad season after season.

As an adult, he and his father rarely saw eye-to-eye, but it was always baseball that brought them back together. When his father’s health declines, Wade returns home to southwest Missouri to spend one final season with his father. Inning by inning, they move closer toward forgiveness, reconciliation, and closure.

The Book Girls Say...Over the past year, Wade Rouse / Viola Shipman become one of Angela and Melissa’s favorite authors. We don’t know how we hadn’t discovered his work sooner, but we’re very glad we have now! This memoir is a poignant look at a son who refused to give up on his father, no matter how many times and how many ways his dad pushed him away. It’s filled with the same heart and soul that comes through so clearly in his fiction writing.

by Viola Shipman

After losing her husband in WWII and her daughter to illness, Iris walled herself off from the world. She’s spent many decades hiding behind the tall fence around her home. In place of human connection, Iris has surrounded herself with a family of flowers - propagating her daylilies and roses and tending to a garden that helps her hold onto the memories of those she loved.

In the early 2000s, Abby is a young mother whose husband has recently returned from military service in Iraq. When Abby’s family rents a cottage along Lake Michigan, next door to Iris’ property, the older woman can’t help but view the young family as a window to the life she once had.

As Iris and Abby are drawn together by their shared love of flowers, the friendship that blossoms between them is a testament to the healing power of both gardening and human connection.

The Book Girls Say... This book is an interesting look at PTSD for soldiers returning from war, and its effect on the soldier's family. The comparisons between the 1940s & 2000s add an additional discussion point.

Readers particularly enjoy the audio version of this heartwarming book because of the two different narrators who read for Iris and Abby. Keep the tissues nearby as you read because you’re sure to shed a few cathartic tears.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐
93% Would Recommend to a Friend

by TJ Klune

While this book is technically a YA Fantasy, it receives high ratings across the board, including from book clubs that don't typically choose either genre.

Linus is a 40-year-old case worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, and spends his days overseeing children in orphanages and his nights in a tiny house with his devious cat.

When Linus is called to a classified assignment to visit 6 children deemed dangerous, he also meets their caretaker, Arthur Parnassus, who is dedicated to the children's safety. However, as Linus and Arthur connect, secrets are exposed and Linus must choose between destroying the home of the children or risking them destroying the world.

The Book Girls Say… The central theme of the book is kindness and many reviews describe it as a book that's great for your heart and soul.

by Matt Cain

Albert Entwistle is a 64-year postal worker in the UK. He has no plans of retiring but receives a letter informing him that his mandatory retirement is just around the corner on his 65th birthday.

Albert's only friend is his cat, and although he isn't chatty with others at work or on his routes, he still dreads being home alone without a job. When he's reminded of his only romantic relationship, which happened 50 years prior, something begins to stir in Albert. Perhaps it's not too late to find happiness after all?

With the help of some unexpected new friends, Albert sets off to find George, the man he hasn't seen since they were teenagers.

The Book Girls Say… The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is also a feel-good heartwarming read that will pull at your heartstrings while providing plenty of room for discussion. For club members that enjoy audiobooks, the narrator does a perfect job capturing Albert’s conflicted feelings as he begins to open up to new friends. Although the storyline includes searching for a lost love, the book is not a romance - it’s really a 65-year-old coming-of-age tale.

This book was published in the UK in 2021 prior to the 2022 US release.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
100% Would Recommend to a Friend

by Sara Nisha Adams

When teenage library worker Aleisha finds a list of little-known novels in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird, she decides to read every book on the list. Each story is magical to her for different reasons.

Widower Mukesh worries about his bookworm granddaughter, Priya. To connect with her, he visits the library and meets Aleisha. When she shares the found list with him, they begin to form an unexpected friendship and discover the healing that is desperately needed for each of them.

The Book Girls Say... This novel was voted one of our readers' favorite books of 2022. Cindy H. says, "I loved the way the library became a community and how the reading list brought people together."

by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle

This non-fiction book is part family memoir and part travelog. Norma had recently lost her husband of nearly seven decades when she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. The medical advice included surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But she had a different vision for her waning days. Rather than spending them in a hospital bed, Norma wants an adventure.

Together with her retired son, Tim, his wife, Ramie, and their Poodle named Ringo, Norma hits the road in a motor home, determined to see as much as possible. A once timid woman, Norma says “yes” to living. State by state, she tries regional foods for the first time, goes whale watching and hot air ballooning, and mounts up for a horseback ride. With each passing mile (and thanks in part to a stop at a cannabis dispensary), Norma’s health improves, and she and her family form a tighter bond.

The Book Girls Say… Ramie created a Facebook page called “Driving Miss Norma” to document the family’s journey. As their following grew, strangers all around the country began recommending places to stop and things to do, which helped to guide their 32-state journey.

This book is described as an uplifting, inspirational, and moving story! It can lead to fabulous discussions about what you would like to say yes to on your journey. `

by Kevin Wilson

Lillian and Madison were boarding school roommates from very different backgrounds. They've barely spoken since a scandal forced Lillian to leave school.

A decade later, Lillian's life is not on the track she'd imagined for herself, so when she receives a call from Madison asking her to help with Madison's twin step-children who are moving in, Lillian figures she has nothing to lose.

But there is a catch: both kids spontaneously burst into flames when they are agitated. Madison needs to keep this fact somehow a secret while her husband runs for public office. Despite knowing nothing about raising kids, Lillian agrees to take on the role, and throughout the summer, she and the kids learn together how to keep their cool – literally.

The Book Girls Say... We were both very skeptical about the premise of this book, but it’s an excellent and worthwhile read with plenty of metaphors to discuss.

by Fredrick Backman

Fredrik Backman has a rare talent for creating lovable, realistically human characters who learn and grow with the help of their community. Britt-Marie is no exception.

She's a socially awkward, 63-year-old perfectionist who comes across as constantly critical of others despite her best intentions.

But inside, she has big dreams and a warm heart. After leaving her cheating husband, Britt-Marie begins a new season of life as the caretaker of a rec center and inherits a variety of odd regular visitors, including kids desperate for a football (soccer) coach.

Can she get past her fussy nature and turn the town into a place she finally feels like she belongs?

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐
90% Would Recommend to a Friend

by R. J. Palacio

Ten-year-old Auggie's facial deformity previously prevented him from attending a traditional school. In his own words,"I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse".

Wonder begins from Auggie's point of view as he starts 5th grade, but the narration soon switches to include his classmates. While there are also chapters told from the perspective of his teenage sister, her boyfriend, and others, Auggie remains the story's focus throughout.

The multiple perspectives create a beautiful portrait of Auggie's community as they struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.

The Book Girls Say... Although this book is middle-grade fiction, we feel like it should be required reading for everyone. In a time when the world could use more kindness, this book that inspired the Choose Kind movement is the ultimate uplifting read that still offers plenty of depth for an excellent book club discussion.

We highly recommend that you pick up Auggie & Me after finishing Wonder. This collection of three additional stories allows you to see the world through the points of view of Julian, Charlotte, and Auggie's oldest friend Christopher.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
100% Would Recommend to a Friend

by Helen Thorpe

The Newcomers follows the lives of twenty-two immigrant teenagers throughout the course of the 2015-2016 school year as they land at South High School in Denver, Colorado. Ranging in age from fourteen to nineteen, most of these students came directly from refugee camps in countries plagued by war, famine, or drought.

The non-fiction read follows the student's English language education with their dedicated and creative teacher Mr. Williams. As they grasp the language, their individual histories unfold and add faces, names, and stories to those seeking asylum. At the same time that these teenagers are trying to adapt to an unfamiliar way of life in a new country, they are also balancing the more typical teenage challenge of fitting in and making friends.

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
100% Would Recommend to a Friend

by Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman is a charming, but awkward, genetics professor at a university in Melbourne, on the southeast coast of Australia. He is trying to find love, and true to his academic roots, he approaches the challenge scientifically. He creates a 16-page survey designed to find his perfect match called "The Wife Project." Will anyone be his perfect match?

Enter Rosie. Although Don quickly disqualifies her as a candidate for the Wife Project, he's intrigued by her own quest to identify her biological father and he's eager to help. He terms their collaboration The Father Project. As they work together, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie―and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you.

The Book Girls Say… The premise sounds like a romantic comedy, and it does have plenty of both, but this book is also so much more than that. It’s a novel about the power of human connection that will restore your faith in humanity.

While it is never explicitly stated whether Don is on the autism spectrum, many readers interpret him as an example of one of the many undiagnosed adults. The Chicago Tribune sums this book up perfectly: "Filled with humor and plenty of heart, The Rosie Project is a delightful reminder that all of us, no matter how we're wired, just want to fit in."

Book Girls' Readers Rate This Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐
93% Would Recommend to a Friend