February 17, 2016

Some 125 book lovers, representing 33 book clubs from Oak Harbor to Clinton, participated in the annual “All-Island Book Clubs Event” last Thursday at the Holmes Harbor Rod and Gun Club. Sue Taves, event host and publisher of Whidbey Life Magazine, presented a sneak preview of the upcoming Spring/Summer issue and reminded everyone that good writing and great stories can be found in the Weekly Flash every Thursday online at www.whidbeylifemagazine.org.

Book Lovers from 33 of the Island’s more than 50 book clubs shared a meal and their Best Reads at the annual All Island Book Clubs Event (photo by Louie Shellenberger)

The annual event has been held at different locations on the island since 2005 and produces a much-sought-after list of book clubs’ favorite books (see list below). The books that were most mentioned this year were “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown and “All the Light We Cannot See“ by Anthony Doerr.

Image at top: (left to right) Louie Shellenberger, Sarah Birger and Cathi Bower of the Book Women Book Club capture the moment at the All-Island Book Clubs Event (photo by Maury Hood)

Whidbey Island Book Clubs
‘Best Reads’ for 2015

•  “Boys in the Boat”” by Daniel James Brown

•  “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr

•  “Return of the Dancing Master” by Henning Mankell

•  “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman

•  “Soldier Girls” by Helen Thorpe

•  “Gone With the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell

•  “Holdfast” by Kathleen Dean Moore

•  “Two Old Women” by Velma Wallis

•  “And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran Blind Hero of the French Resistance” by Jacques Lusseyran

•  “Signature of All Things” by Elizabeth Gilbert

•  “Seraphina” by Rachel Hartman

•  “Sea of Poppies” by Amitav Ghosh

•  “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

•  “Dead Wake” by Eric Larson

•  “House of Rules: A Novel” by Jodi Picoult

•  “Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie

•  “The Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki

•  “The End of Life Book Club” by Will Schwalbe

•  “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande

•  “Ordinary Grace” by William Kent Krueger

•  “Liar, Temptress, Solider, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War” by Karen Abbott

•  “One Summer America 1927” by Bill Bryson

•  “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” by Gabrielle Zevin

•  “The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild” by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence

•  “Vanessa and her Sister” by Priya Parmar

•  “Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genuis Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time” by Dava Sobel