Princess suggested books for “book-club”

[cruisenfreak]

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/activities/book-club/

 

I just posted this on my rollcall and thought it might be of interest here also.

 

Who else has or will be reading the Princess suggested books?  I have read Where the Crawdads Sing and The Silent Patient and am currently reading Island of Sea Women.  

 

Do you participate in their book club get-togethers?

 

Mary Jane 

[denmarks]

They never have the books I am interested in. Patterson, Cussler. Evanovich, McDermott, Preston & Child, and other adventure or crime mysteries.

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, denmarks said:

They never have the books I am interested in. Patterson, Cussler. Evanovich, McDermott, Preston & Child, and other adventure or crime mysteries.

👍

[geoherb]

6 hours ago, denmarks said:

They never have the books I am interested in. Patterson, Cussler. Evanovich, McDermott, Preston & Child, and other adventure or crime mysteries.

 

Where the Crawdads Sing is a crime mystery. It's been on the New York Times bestseller list for a year. 

 

On the Crown's transatlantic cruise, someone on our rollcall suggested books to read and meet to discuss. They chose Origin by Dan Brown and Crawdads. I enjoyed both books and the discussion of them. About two dozen people from our rollcall showed up for them. It helped to have a cruise with a lot of sea days and a very active roll call thread. (We had as many pages of posts on that rollcall as we've had posts on the one for my cruise next month.)

[cruisenfreak]

Where the Crawdads Sing is a real psge turner, kinda not my sort of book, but really captivating.  The ending was a definite surprise!

 

The Silent Patient also kept my attention and really surprised me at the end.

 

i’m having trouble geting into The Island of Sea Women but just started it,

 

I’d recommend both the ones I finished, although not my usual read.

 

I think you will be pleased with both.

 

Geoherb/fellow NCarolinian,  yes, lots of sea days will make us seek some stimulation!  Haha.  We’re circling S America in Jan, Feb, Mar with lots of sea days.

[riffatsea]

Interesting selections. I've read both Where the Crawdads Sing and The Silent Patient on my own.

I would not have suggested either of them for my own book club here at home although I found both of them interesting/decent reads.

I have not read the Island of Sea Women but that sounds more like a book that could lead to a good discussion.

On our Panama Canal cruise I thought we'd have a book discussion but it never worked out.

[flag fan]

I did not know there was a book club.  I will definitely read the book for my cruise, which is in March.  I always read a book for each location I visit but I like the idea of reading one of the Princess selections because it is likely a book I would not have chosen for myself so it is a way to broaden my reading.  

[teachtocruis]

I’ve participated in the past and am happy to each time. But they don’t seem to do them on the 7 day cruises. At least I’ve only seen them on the longer cruises. I have not read Crawdad, yet. 

[flag fan]

4 hours ago, teachtocruis said:

I’ve participated in the past and am happy to each time. But they don’t seem to do them on the 7 day cruises. At least I’ve only seen them on the longer cruises. I have not read Crawdad, yet. 

That's disappointing as I will be on a 7-day cruise.  Thanks for pointing out that the book club is for longer cruises. 

[geoherb]

4 hours ago, flag fan said:

I did not know there was a book club.  I will definitely read the book for my cruise, which is in March.  I always read a book for each location I visit but I like the idea of reading one of the Princess selections because it is likely a book I would not have chosen for myself so it is a way to broaden my reading.  

 

Our roll call book club was separate from the Princess book club on the Crown's transatlantic. They had three books to choose from for the Princess one, but we did not take part. They were a little late in passing out the books (on day 10 of a 16-day cruise). 

 

The Dan Brown book really made our visit to Bilbao special. I picked up a book by Portuguese author José Saramago at a thrift store and read that on our cruise. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. Although the book (Blindness) does not take place in Lisbon, it was still nice to read something by a Portuguese writer to tie my reading to a place we visited.

[PurpleHays]

I participated in one. I purchased and read the listed book, but it was changed when we got on board. I liked the original much better than the one replacement. It was a popular book made into a move (that I didn't see). I went to the discussion, but it was pretty much dominated by one woman. I might read the suggested books in the future, but not go to the discussions.

[Tucker in Texas]

On 11/3/2019 at 2:37 PM, JF - retired RRT said:

👍

Those are the type I read.  So many of them, I keep a list in my purse so I don't double buy any (lol).  If I can put some in my suitcase and beat the weight limit, I will donate some.  

 

Owen (Tucker in Texas)

[Coral]

On 11/3/2019 at 1:16 PM, denmarks said:

They never have the books I am interested in. Patterson, Cussler. Evanovich, McDermott, Preston & Child, and other adventure or crime mysteries.

The book clubs I have been a part of don't include these books. Maybe there are mystery book clubs that I am not aware of. The ones Princess lists are ones that our local book clubs also choose.

[LoriPhil]

Yup - love crime and mystery authors (John Sanford - oh that Virgil Flowers!) I’ll snap those up in a heartbeat!  Don't think I’m conventional book club material.  

[Gwendy]

On a 52 night cruise only got around to giving out book club books about 20th day.  On discussion day Princess cruise staffer who was there to lead discussion admitted she had not read book but downloaded comments from internet.  Again discussion dominated by 1 or 2 people.

think I will read books in future just for my own enjoyment and not participate in “book club”.

[K.T.B.]

8 hours ago, LoriPhil said:

Yup - love crime and mystery authors (John Sanford - oh that Virgil Flowers!) I’ll snap those up in a heartbeat!  Don't think I’m conventional book club material.  

 

Me either.  My reading is extremely eclectic and I jump from sci-fi to mystery to action adventure.  I'm glad I found Book Bub, tons of freebies and books for $1.99 for your tablet.

[Cafedumonde]

Thanks for this thread.  I did not know that Princess has a book club.

Edited November 8, 2019 by Cafedumonde

[BarbinMich]

On 11/6/2019 at 9:39 PM, Coral said:

The book clubs I have been a part of don't include these books [Patterson, Cussler. Evanovich, McDermott, Preston & Child]. Maybe there are mystery book clubs that I am not aware of. The ones Princess lists are ones that our local book clubs also choose.

I belong to the local branch of Amer Assn of Univ Women and we have many book clubs, one of which reads only mysteries.  When I belonged we read a Preston & Child book, which I enjoyed very much.  The branch also has an annual used book sale and I help sort the donated fiction and mysteries.  Lot of "Where the Crawdads Sing" were donated this year.  Didn't realize it was a mystery!  We also get a lot of Patterson (his stable of ghost writers certainly keep busy!), some Cussler, some Evanovich.  I also have read a number of Sue Grafton's mysteries featuring a female protagonist.  We have had a "book club" only on some of our TAs.  On the last one we did a few years ago, we read "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah.  It's set in France during WW II and features 2 sisters, one who is impregnated by a German soldier who occupied their village and the other who "ferried" Jews across the Pyrenees to safety in Spain.  Quite a good read!

[cruisenfreak]

Does anyone remember the other suggestion for September/October?  I read Where the Crawdads Sing and Silent Patient last month, just finished The Island of Sea Women and was planning to download their fourth suggestion.  It’s no longer listed.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2019 by cruisenfreak

[cruisenfreak]

Moving this up one time, to see if I get an answer.  Mary Jane

[TheRabbit]

On 11/6/2019 at 8:58 PM, LoriPhil said:

Yup - love crime and mystery authors (John Sanford - oh that Virgil Flowers!) I’ll snap those up in a heartbeat!  Don't think I’m conventional book club material.  

Have Boat, Will Fish!

 

My wife and I have participated on several longer cruises. As someone above pointed out, the talks can be one sided with the wrong participants and lack of a good coordinator who has read the book. As for a good mystery, count me in (Where's Jack when you need him! LOL).

[TheRabbit]

2 hours ago, cruisenfreak said:

Does anyone remember the other suggestion for September/October?  I read Where the Crawdads Sing and Silent Patient last month, just finished The Island of Sea Women and was planning to download their fourth suggestion.  It’s no longer listed.

Can anyone help Mary Jane?

Ran this by the DW, but she did not have the answer.

[cruisenfreak]

22 minutes ago, TheRabbit said:

Can anyone help Mary Jane?

Ran this by the DW, but she did not have the answer.

Thx for trying.