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The winners of two major literary prizes, the Man Booker and the Nobel, were recently announced.  The Man Booker Prize, awarded each year to  the “very best” full-length novel written by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland, went to Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall , a fictionalized biography of Thomas Cromwell. Wolf [...]

Recently I was asked to guest facilitate at a workplace book group. Now, these book groups are not unusual in and of themselves. There are many coworkers who like to gather over lunch and discuss books. Sometimes they even all discuss the same book. But the folks in the Social Workers Department of a local [...]

The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey is one of the Great Group Reads selected by the Women’s National Book Association Reading Group Month committee. Abigail, an actress, owns the titular London house and lives upstairs with Sean, a struggling Keats scholar.  Abigail’s best friend from college, Dara, is a therapist who who occupies the garden flat. [...]

Like most book group facilitators, I’m always looking for ways to enhance the discussion. At the last meeting of the Kansas City Public Library’s lunch time biblio-chatters, Downtowners, I barely had to list a finger. That day’s selection was National Book Award Winner, The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. In addition to bringing in [...]

Hard boiled detective novels and speculative fiction are not common subject matter for book groups, but that’s a dirty shame. Some of the best fiction being written these days is in the genres. A coincidence in my recent reading schedule has left me thinking about books in which these two genres coincide. I just received [...]

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist  is one of the titles that has been selected by the Women’s National Book Association as a National Reading Group Month Great Group Read. It’s a dystopian tale about a society in which some people are considered dispensable–in this case, older men and women who are childless. At age 50 for women and age 60 [...]

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from book group members and facilitators is, “Can you suggest some good nonfiction for our discussions?” Invariably, this question is followed up with the caveat, “no biographies or memoirs, please.” This query used to send me into a quandary and I’d need a couple of days [...]

Appassionata by Eva Hoffman is one of the titles that has been selected by the Women’s National Book Association as a National Reading Group Month Great Group Read.  Described by the New York Times as “intelligent and affecting”  and by the Washington Post as a “serious pleasure,” this novel about an American concert pianist who becomes involved with [...]

I’m always looking for another group to partner with for a book discussion. I have found that groups associated with local arts organizations are one of the best and most receptive groups to approach. The arts organization gets to offer a new activity for members and the library gets to promote programs and services to [...]

A week ago my crime fiction book discussion group started its new season with an author whose work we have been reading, one book each round. Her name is Minette Walters and we have worked our way up to her 2005 title, The Devil’s Feather. This is a rather challenging story to read as it [...]

Book groups take note: Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall has won the Booker Prize for 2009. Due out in the United States on October 13th, this is probably the most accessible novel to win the award in many years. Mantel is an experienced English writer whose work has received many awards and covered many subjects. In her early [...]

Or maybe not. Possibly this is news to everyone who reads this blog, especially the contributors and facilitators. I found this image worthy of a quirked smile while I was reading PostSecret this morning. I have attended one or two book group gatherings without having read the selected title. I have even facilitated discussion of [...]

Life is short and there are a lot of books to read and to discuss. Novels are the most popular reading group choice and there are lots of novels to choose from. In fact, there are approximately 50,000 fiction titles published every year in the United States and about 10,000 of those are new titles. [...]

The Millions website asked a panel of 56 authors and critics to name the best fiction published since the year 2000. The compiled results should be interesting fodder for book groups. How many have you read? How many has your book group discussed? Here’s their list of the top twenty. The top five were Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, [...]

Just in time for National Reading Group Month is one of the favorite tools of facilitators everywhere, Reading Group Choices 2010. I know I’ve written about these little gems before and they continue to be one of my preferred go-to resources. Using the heading “Conversation Starters” instead of “discussion questions” implies that there is no specified [...]

As I mentioned in a previous post, October is National Reading Group Month, and for the second year in a row, Book Group Buzz has been chosen by the The Women’s National Book Association as the official National Reading Group Month partner blog. Events are planned for the WNBA’s 10 chapter cities. The signature event, a breakfast and book-signing [...]