Be forewarned there is drug use, promiscuity, and adultery. There are other interesting characters, but I don’t want to give too much away. Ava thinks Maggie is in Italy, and only finds out about Paris when she gets a phone call saying Maggie’s missing.

As Ava sorts through her life, we are introduced to Maggie, her 20 something rebellious daughter, who is in Paris and continuing to make a mess out of her life with drugs and bad choices in men. At the first meeting of the book club everyone picks a book that had the most influence on them, Ava picks the one she read as a child that spoke to her after her mother’s death. Her mother owned a bookstore, but she died after Ava’s little sister died. When Ava was a child, books were a source of comfort for her. She is lonely and seeks company in a book club that her closest friend leads. The main character Ava is reeling from her husband leaving her for another woman. I’m glad I didn’t and the ending was worth all the emotional ups and downs. Here are the 24 books that mattered most in my informal survey.This was the type of novel I almost stopped reading because I was getting too depressed about what was happening in the characters lives. The next question every book club ask to me, was what were the other books that mattered most to people, the ones I didn't include in The Book That Matters Most. The number one book selected by the people I asked was To Kill a Mockingbird. And it became clear very quickly that the same 24 books were far and away The books that mattered most to so many people.Īs you know, if you read The Book That Matters Most, Ava's book club read:Īnd Ava's choice, From Clare to Here (total disclosure: I invented this book!) December 6th, 2016 to discuss her career. I asked everybody I ran across for about a year what book mattered the most to them. Author Ann Hood came to the Uxbridge Senior Center on Tuesday, December 6th, 2016 to discuss her career and her new book 'The Book That Matters Most'. One question I got over and over again was how I chose the books that Ava's bookclub reads in The Book That Matters Most. I have met so many great people, had so much good food, drank lots of good wine, and enjoyed wonderful conversations about my novel. Since August, when The Book That Matters Most was published, I have visited over 60 book clubs.

The book that matters most by ann hood