SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I would absolutely other people's input into this decision. I'm part of a book club that meets twice a month. Next October, I get to suggest 3 books and those in the club vote on what they want to read. I was going with a quasi-Halloween theme in the hopes to introduce some fantasy or different novels than the more serious topics we've had lately.

My main choices thus far:
The Historian (vampire) - I like the idea of a historical fiction, seeking the history of Dracula. Seems intriguing and I'd be more able to nudge people into this read.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - There's some real life historical ties to Deliverance and we've all read (well nearly) Crucible in HS. So I could, again, nudge people into this.

But now the third novel. I'd like to do a fantasy choice. I intially considered Mercedes Lackey but I've read every single one of her novels. So wasn't sure.

What would you recommend?

For third book so far I am considering:
The Graveyard Book (Ghosts) by Neil Gaiman
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (Monsters)
War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Storm Front (Fantasy) by Jim Butcher
Daughter of the Forest (Magic) by Juliet Marillier
The Magicians (Magic) by Lev Grossman
Odd Thomas (Medium) by Dean Koontz
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
The Color of Magic (Magic) by Terry Pratchett
The Eyre Affair (Time Travel) by Jasper Fforde
Good Omens - The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (Apocalypse) by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I'd absolutely had chosen Mists of Avalon by MZB BUUUT it seems unfair to nudge in a 900+ page novel.

I haven't yet read any books by Juliet Marillier even though I'm interested in finding out more about her. But you can't go wrong with reading a classic like The Princess Bride.

Good Omens is a personal favorite and a hell of a lot of fun to read.

The Princess Bride is a perfect book, I've read it several times and always laughed and enjoyed. If you don't read it now, definitely pick it up sometime soon.

I don't know if The Historian is such a good choice for a book group. It's really, really, really slow, it's very dense, and the ending is a real let-down.

I would recommend Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box A Novel. I love ghost stories and it's a really scary one. It's also very well-paced.

You can't go far wrong with War of the Worlds. Most people have seen at least one version of themovie, so you could happily discuss the book and what prompted the differences between that and the film versions. Plus it's a classic and it's short.

Thanks for the suggestions! And eek! That's disappointing about The Historian.

Looks like American Gods pulled ahead on the votes. I settled on this one in the hopes of throwing out other suggestions for personal reads - more Gaiman, Pratchett, etc.

Good Omens is hilarious. Like, literally, hysterically funny. =)

I personally would go with anything by Terry Pratchett :) And Princess Bride, what a wonderful read.

American Gods won for book club! YAY! Now to figure out how I'll conduct the meeting. I'm thinking of doing a Jeopardy like game-show intro having the readers pinpoint which god appeared as what.

Tanja wrote: "American Gods won for book club! YAY! Now to figure out how I'll conduct the meeting. I'm thinking of doing a Jeopardy like game-show intro having the readers pinpoint which god appeared as what.
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So how did your BC meeting go? I have never read American Gods (I'm not a huge Gaiman fan). I was pulling for Agnes Nutter, as the book is very funny and literally laugh out loud in parts (esp. drinking in the bar toward the end of the book)

Even Gaiman says that American Gods stands apart from most of his work.

Neil Gaiman wrote: "it divides people. As far as I can tell, for every five people who read it, one loves it utterly, two or three like it to varying degrees, and one hates it, cannot see the point to it and needs convincing that it's a novel at all. (Quite often the last person really likes some of the other books I've written, if they ever pick up anything else by me ever again.) But that's the fun of democracy, and American Gods has won more awards than any other single thing I've written."

My BC took to the Jeopardy game. They didn't pick up on the many themes or god histories that I presented but they were appreciative of the game. To semiquote one of the readers, they said this would be a twice read novel. Once for an overview then twice to pick out the myths and gods.