“On the same page” is a series featuring Utah book clubs and will run every other week.
If you have a book club and you are interested in being featured, please contact us at features@deseretnews.com. Please include your name, your contact information and one or two sentences describing your book club.
The Split Mountain Book Club in Vernal knows no limits when it comes to book genres. Amanda Van Wagoner, the group's founder, said her book club reads everything.
What kind of books do you read?
Amanda Van Wagoner: We do all different genres; we do self-help, we do fiction and historical fiction, World War II books, love stories — just anything. And we like mixing it up too, like, “Oh, we just read a romance, let’s do a sci-fi next month.” So it’s just whatever we want to read, and sometimes they’re great, and sometimes they’re not so great.
What are you reading right now?
AVW: We’re reading “The Book Thief.” I’m actually hosting this next one, so it’s my book.
Which author, dead or alive, would you most want to attend your group?
AVW: C.S. Lewis. I just love his books. I love his imagination, and I love his writing style, so I would love to just have a regular conversation with him and have him jump in and give his two cents on the different things we discuss. I think that would be awesome.
What have you learned or gained from being involved in this book group?
AVW: The most amazing friendships. … We just love our little group so much now, and we’re all so close. … We really try and delve into the books, and it’s just awesome having an adult conversation — thinking about things — because we’re stay-at-home moms and just love getting together. ... I loved to read before — that was nothing new — but it’s awesome because people will come with books that you would never have picked up, and then it ends up being your favorite one, so that’s always fun. It’s been awesome.
If you’re standing in the middle of a bookstore, how do you choose which book to pick up?
AVW: I browse around and I’m drawn to the books that feel right. That sounds weird, but I’ve had a lot of luck with that actually. I just look around and I’ll pick them up, and I’ll kind of read the back. And if it appeals to me, great; if not, I put it back. It’s just got to feel right. And because I read so many different genres too, it’s kind of what I’m feeling at that moment. It’s got to be right for the mood I’m in for what I want to read.
The Split Mountain Book Club recommends:
“Code Name Verity” by Elizabeth Wein, Disney-Hyperion, 368 pages (f)
“The Forgotten Garden” by Kate Morton, Washington Square Press, 560 pages (f)
“Longing For Home: A Proper Romance” by Sarah M. Eden, Shadow Mountain, 432 pages (f)
“The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah, St. Martin's Press, 608 pages (f)
“Edenbrooke” by Julianne Donaldson, Shadow Mountain, 264 pages (f)
“The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman, William Morrow, 192 pages (f)
“The Rent Collector” by Camron Wright, Shadow Mountain, 288 pages (f)
“The Dance of Anger” by Harriet Lerner, William Morrow Paperbacks, 256 pages (nf)
“Cinder” by Marissa Meyer, Square Fish, 448 pages (f)
The “Maisie Dobbs” series by Jacqueline Winspear, Soho Crime/Picador/Harper Perennial/Harper (f)
“A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness, Candlewick, 240 pages (f)
“The Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollan, Random House Trade Paperbacks, 304 pages (nf)
The “Mistborn” series by Brandon Sanderson, Tor Books/Dragonsteel Entertainment (f)