Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

I just finished a book that would be perfect for any group looking for a short, substantive read.  It’s Dorothy Baker’s lost classic, Cassandra at the Wedding.
Cassandra and Judith Edwards are twins.  They grew up in an eccentric California home where their father, a retired philosophy professor who spends his days filling his glass with [...]

  This autumn all five thousand members of Seattle’s largest reading group will be tucking into a hair-raising true account of illegal Mexican immigration, Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway. If this compelling book doesn’t engage the minds of the University of Washington’s 2008 Freshman Class with its harrowing, heartbreaking picture of our immigration laws, [...]

At a recent discussion of Kurt Vonnegut’s acclaimed novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, I learned a useful lesson.  The group was talking about some of the more controversial aspects of the book that led to its being questioned as an appropriate reading choice for students at the local high school, and this prompted a number of teachers and [...]

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Erda M. Göknar,
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001 [original title: Benim Adim Kirmizi].
While we are supposedly reading crime and mystery fiction at my library’s book discussion once a month, I stray a little out of the box when I help the group select our titles [...]

 I love her writing, she’s perfect for book clubs, and no one knows who she really is.
Elena Ferrante is currently a very popular Italian author whose identity remains unknown. Imagine, in this age of celebrity, an author who actually chooses to avoid the celebrity machine, and succeeds! Ferrante lives in Naples, and that’s all anyone [...]

I now know the depths of my love for a certain novelist.
This morning on the way to work, NPR did an advance promo for today’s Fresh Air. Special guest Helen Hunt, four-time Emmy winner, Oscar winner and recently turned director, will be discussing her new film. It stars Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick and Colin Firth in addition [...]

 
Everybody loves Nancy Pearl.  Okay, well, anyone who loves books loves Nancy Pearl.  If I had my way that would be everyone!
Nancy celebrates books in everything that she does.  And she has a masterful way of describing books that makes you want to run right out and buy, borrow or steal anything she just raved [...]

Libraries need to recognize book group readers as one of their core audiences, a population that deserves “extra-mile” service. Here’s my list of 25 ways that a library can support book groups. How many of these are available at your local library?

Organize groups, provide staff leaders for those groups, or train community volunteers to lead [...]

They are a boisterous and creative lot at the joint Oregon/Washington Library Association conference. Last Thursday I presented a sesssion called “Book Group CPR: Breathe New Life into Your Discussion Group.” I thought I wouldn’t have enough material to give the audience and it turns out, they had plenty of material to share with me! [...]

Arlington Heights, Illinois, the community where I live and lead book discussions, has never conducted a “One Book, One City” reading program.  However, the public library does participate in a regional program organized by The Daily Herald, the newspaper that serves Arlington Heights and the surrounding towns.  It’s called “Suburban Mosaic,” and focuses on books [...]

I have failed to get my whole community behind a book.  Our efforts are definitely more one library, one read than the alternative.  However, knowing that we are too small to pull this off does not keep us from doing one spring and one fall session called Greendale Reads.
Well, this time around we were able [...]

A couple of lists of top books for book discussions have popped up recently.
This list of the top ten book group choices in 2007 was posted on Reading Group Choices. It was selected with the help of book group leaders representing more than 50,000 book group members.
1. Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
2. The Glass Castle by [...]

How do you prepare for your book group discussion? 
I know that everyone has different methods and approaches.  Everyone does different things in order to feel “ready.”  Some of us may take copious notes while others may like the thrill of going by the seat of their pants. 
I guess I come somewhere in between.  When I [...]

This relationship has gone flat. Maybe it’s time to consider some counseling.
Book groups and libraries should be the perfect match. Libraries want to cultivate readers: you bring energy to us. You keep our collections moving. When readers talk to librarians, it makes our work feel worthwhile and informs our decision making. Book groups in turn [...]

I lost all my compassion long before the Dalai Lama stepped on stage. The huge Chinese protest outside the stadium, the assault of posters, banners, leaflets, and even an air message flown overhead, on the mob of thousands waiting to get inside was maddening. They mocked his name with misspellings, and accused the kindly minister [...]

Did it ever occur to you that book discussions generate more book discussions — of the same book, that is, both before and after the “real” discussion?  I’m willing to bet that most discussion leaders have heard members of their group mention having talked about the book being discussed with family members, friends or co-workers [...]

Maybe someday I’ll open the 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, realize I was foolishly blind to its treasures, and see how brilliant it is. Maybe. Unfortunately, right now it seems unnecessarily opaque, bitter, off-putting, filled with show-off writing and a grudging, mean-spirited attitude. It’s told by [...]

When I wrote Read ‘Em Their Writes, I had to think about book discussion questions and the impact of what you say on the overall success of the evening. In reviewing my notes from over the years and all of the workshops that I had attended, I discovered I had these 15 questions that [...]

I’m dipping into my handy bag of book tricks again as I prepare for another workshop on book groups: facilitating, feeding, and tattooing. 
One of the gems I like to draw attention to is A Year of Reading by Elisabeth Ellington and Jane Freimiller.
Published in 2002, this trade paperback-sized treasure is great for folks who are [...]

Millions of readers love Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, but these successes aren’t always enough to get adults to allow themselves the pleasures of other fantasy fiction. That’s too bad: this sophisticated, diverse genre isn’t just fit to enjoy with your children. Here are good bets to try with a book group that usually reads literary fiction:
For readers [...]