Book Group Buzz
A Booklist Blog
Book group tips, reading lists, & lively talk of literary news from the experts at Booklist Online
Archive for January, 2008
Thu, January 31st, 2008
Book Group Helpers
Posted by: Admin
Barbara Mead, president of Reading Group Choices, got in touch with us this week to tell us how much she likes Book Group Buzz. If you don’t know Reading Group Choices it’s an organization that develops “resources that enhance the reading group experience.” Their Web site is a great source for recommendations of discussable books and discussion topics. For featured titles, you can [...]
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Thu, January 31st, 2008
The Power of O
Posted by: Admin
There’s no denying the influence Oprah’s Book Club has had on books and reading. Those book groups that make a point of avoiding Oprah selections can now avoid her latest, just-announced pick: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle. In a new Book Club twist, Oprah and Eckhart will be teaching a 10-week [...]
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Wed, January 30th, 2008
A Very, Very Small Book Club Meeting
Posted by: Admin
Thoughts come to a guy sitting alone in a restaurant, knowing no one is going to join him for his book club discussion. Why did I have to choose such a thick, difficult book? Why couldn’t I choose something shorter and more fun? Night Train to Lisbon is rich and toothsome and full of thoughts, [...]
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Wed, January 30th, 2008
A Bibliophile’s Dilemma
Posted by: Misha Stone
Food is a contentious issue in book groups. There are books and chapters of books devoted to enhancing book discussion through food. Dinner parties have, like book groups, become the in thing. But food can really distract from discussion. (Please correct me if I am wrong—I would love to hear stories from groups who have [...]
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| Posted in Adult Books, Good Books for Book Clubs
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Wed, January 30th, 2008
Austentacious
Posted by: Kaite Stover
So you’ve probably been wondering how my 70+ book group turned out? No? Well, let me tell you anyway. Please? Okay, so here’s what happened. First, I shouldn’t have been all up in arms over 70+ RSVPs. Because only 35 people showed up. Which is still about 20 too many for a good book discussion [...]
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Tue, January 29th, 2008
How do you say that?
Posted by: Admin
I am currently reading the teen science fiction book Epic by Conor Kostick and it is filled with Scandinavian names. The characters have names like Injeborg, Svein, and Hleid. I am uncertain how to say these names which would not stop me from using the book for a book discussion but does present a hurdle. [...]
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Sat, January 26th, 2008
Don’t try this at book groups
Posted by: Kaite Stover
Keir’s not going to believe me when I say I’m lousy at cocktail parties. But I mean it. I suk at them. I don’t ever walk into a gathering of any kind without some kind of game or trick to share in order to avoid embarrassing lapses in conversation. At the Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia [...]
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| Posted in Adult Books, Book Club Tips, Good Books for Book Clubs
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Fri, January 25th, 2008
How Far Will Group Members Stretch?
Posted by: Admin
Every group has its comfort zone. The delight of a group after reading a book they truly enjoy is addicting. There’s a temptation to keep choosing those same kinds of books that become easy favorites, the kind you know your book group will thoroughly enjoy. And, of course, that’s basically a good idea. In both [...]
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Thu, January 24th, 2008
You Go, Girl
Posted by: Admin
Two more Web sites that are good book group resources: ”Dedicated to sharing great books, news and tips with book club girls everywhere” is how the year-old Book Club Girl describes its mission. Jennifer Hart (who works at HarperCollins) blogs about discussable books and other book-group matters, and also provides links to reading guides, book club resources, and author sites. At [...]
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| Posted in Adult Books, Book Club Tips, Fiction, Good Books for Book Clubs, In the News
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Wed, January 23rd, 2008
What are the kids reading?
Posted by: Admin
In my library there is a shelf of books reserved for members of book clubs to check out. In years past, it has been all adult titles. Now, nearly half of the books on the shelf are children’s and YA books for parent and PTA led children’s book clubs. I thought I’d tell you what is on the shelf [...]
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| Posted in Books for Youth
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Tue, January 22nd, 2008
Victim of my own success
Posted by: Kaite Stover
According to Ted Balcom, the ideal book group has 8 to 15 participants. As part of my Library’s “Jane-uary” celebration of Jane Austen’s life and works we are, of course, conducting a book discussion. The plan was to have all interested participants read any Austen novel of their choice. A local Austen expert would then [...]
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| Posted in In the News
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Tue, January 22nd, 2008
Bridge of Sighs
Posted by: Misha Stone
Richard Russo is becoming one of my favorite authors. He brings to his writing the kind of compassion and understanding for humanity that I have found in George Eliot, which can be a balm in the thick of the overly cynical, clever books that keep getting churned out to no end. His latest is the [...]
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| Posted in Adult Books, Fiction, Good Books for Book Clubs
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Tue, January 22nd, 2008
DALVA
Posted by: Misha Stone
Recently my book group discussed Jim Harrison’s Dalva. I had selected it because Julia Glass had called it one of her favorite books in an interview I read years ago. Her descriptions of the book made it sound compelling. Plus, I had never read Harrison and thought this might be a good place to start. [...]
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| Posted in Adult Books, Fiction, Good Books for Book Clubs
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Mon, January 21st, 2008
The Story and the Storyteller of Fire in the Blood
Posted by: Admin
I’m still regretting that University Book Store didn’t have a book club meeting in November. Attendance had been low. I lost faith for the first time in five years, and cancelled. Our book that month was Irene Nemirovsky’s Fire in the Blood, and it’s the perfect kind of short, complex, multi-layered book to provide [...]
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Fri, January 18th, 2008
Book Group Links
Posted by: Admin
Here are some links I found today. Read ‘em and Meet: Book Clubs Are Everywhere from The Times-Picayune, January 16, 2008. Book Club Tips for Author Chats from a blog called Books on the Brain. The American Library Association has created a Book Discussion Groups wiki page in response to numerous questions from librarians about starting and [...]
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Thu, January 17th, 2008
Some Things about LibraryThing
Posted by: Admin
For those of you who don’t know about LibraryThing, it’s a site where you create your very own library catalog, with book information from Amazon, the Library of Congress, and other sources. But more than that, “everyone catalogs together,” which sounds like a staff development activity for tech services librarians until you understand LibraryThing’s social side. Every book you add to your [...]
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| Posted in Adult Books, Books for Youth, Fiction, Good Books for Book Clubs, In the News
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Wed, January 16th, 2008
Choosing the Right Book to Discuss, Part 2
Posted by: Admin
It’s personal. It can’t be helped. Ultimately the monthly selection for any reading group boils down to personal choices. The major factor in choosing will always be the interests of the selector and a particular cluster of readers. I’ve been the selector for University Book Store’s book club for five years. I’m no exception. My [...]
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Mon, January 14th, 2008
Reading Like a Writer
Posted by: Misha Stone
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose is a book lover’s dream! In every chapter Prose breaks down the art of literature by its dazzling components–the sentence, the paragraph, characterization, gesture, dialogue—and creates an understanding and appreciation for the masters of the craft. The authors, stories, and scenes she uses to illustrate her point are [...]
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| Posted in Adult Books, Good Books for Book Clubs, Nonfiction
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Mon, January 14th, 2008
To the Lighthouse: Discussion Questions
Posted by: Misha Stone
Many groups start by reading Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, but I think To the Lighthouse is another great one to start with. It focuses on the Ramsey family and their summer guests in the Hebrides. Here are some discussion questions I came up with when I could not find any elsewhere: 1. What distinguishes Woolf [...]
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Mon, January 14th, 2008
Calling all Readers & Leaders
Posted by: Kaite Stover
We need YOU to tell us what you think. Click the link below and please share your thoughts about book groups with the Reference & User Services Association (RUSA) CODES (don’t ask me what those letters stand for) Readers’ Advisory committee. We will be sharing the survey results at a program to be delivered at ALA in Anaheim. Go on. We [...]
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