Booklist Online: More than 130,000 book reviews for librarians, book groups, and book lovers - from the trusted experts at the American Library Association

Jump in the way-back machine and read Misha’s discussion of When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead from August 13, 2009. Besides giving you the basic plot and appeal, Misha and co-worker Linda proved to be great prognosticators regarding its chances of winning the Newbery Award (which it did).  Misha was spot on in saying, [...]

Do you have the urge to gossip? If you could have the power of mental telepathy, would you take it? What if you heard not just select voices at select times, but everybody’s thoughts, all the time? And what if everyone else could hear your thoughts, too?  As superpowers go, this sounds pretty miserable, but [...]

I just finished True Confections by Katharine Weber, the thoroughly enjoyable story of a fictional family-run candy company.  There is plenty of “history”, family secrets, and intrigue, which would make for an enjoyable book discussion (it’s also a short, quick read).  For some reason when I finished it, it made me think of a nonfiction [...]

Ten libraries in the western suburbs of Chicago are currently sponsoring a “Big Read” program focusing on Kathryn Stockett’s deeply involving bestseller about life in the South in 1962, The Help.  They are urging community members to read and discuss the book together with family and friends by checking out “Book Club in a Bag” kits.  [...]

Books adapted into films are always a great choice for book groups, but three recent films are good reminders of how difficult it is to adapt great books to another media form. As I watched Shutter Island, The Lovely Bones, and The Blind Side, I couldn’t help but think that I would be enjoying myself more if [...]

I continue to tally votes from as many authoritative sources as I can find to build my spreadsheet of the Best Books of 2009. So far, I’ve counted votes for 1,880 books published in the U.S. during 2009, as named by 112 sources. There are still a few important sources to add to the list, but I’m [...]

The announcement has been made about this year”s nominees for the Agatha Award given out at the Malice Domestic mystery convention.  The Agatha Awards honor the “traditional mystery.” Here are the nominees: Best Novel: Swan for the Money by Donna Andrews (St. Martin’s Minotaur) Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrett (Berkley Prime Crime) Royal Flush by [...]

A “One Book” program is an excellent way to get people reading and talking about books. Here’s a rundown of some 2010 “one book” programs. One Book, One Philadelphia: The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. One Book South Dakota: What Is the What by Dave Eggers. One Book One Marin: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by [...]

Here are ten themes that would serve your book group well for spirited discussion at a February meeting: 1. VALENTINE’S DAY Have your readers bring their favorite love stories to the group. This doesn’t need to be confined to conventional romances or even to fiction. 2. LOVE STINKS For a little counterprogramming fun, bring books [...]

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the value and uses of book reviews for book groups. I’m happy to report breaking news today that Kirkus Reviews, one of the four major review journals used by libraries, which had been slated to cease publication, has been saved at the last minute. The buyer is [...]

It’s my ongoing quest to get book groups to give more attention to speculative fiction: fantasy, science fiction and horror. These genres are not just guilty pleasures or greasy kid stuff. Yes, there are plenty of escapist works in the speculative genres, but there are also books filled with the interesting characters, issues, and conflicts [...]

Regular users of Booklist Online know that, in addition to writing and editing reviews, our editors recommend similar titles for many reviewed works. In 2010, we’d like to hear from you, too, for a new feature on our REaD ALERT newsletter called Booklist Readers Recommend. In every issue of REaD ALERT, Booklist Online senior editor [...]

The International Association of Crime Writers (IACW) has announced the 2010 Hammett Prize Nominations: Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott(Simon & Schuster) Devil’s Garden by Ace Atkins (Putnam) The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Penguin) The Long Fall by Walter Mosley (Riverhead) The Way Home by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown) IACW/NA awards The Hammett [...]

When I finished reading Michelle Huneven’s Blame, the first thing I said to myself was, “This would make an excellent discussion title”.  Why? It’s got characters that are unlikeable, yet totally unsavory.  It’s got secrets hidden in the past.  It’s got contemporary, provocative  issues to discuss.  Huneven’s writing is intelligent and elegant. Blame is the [...]

Young adult novels are underutilized by book groups and that’s a shame. They aren’t just for kids and they have several characteristics that make them outstanding book group choices: they tend to be quick reading, they’re loaded with issues, and they feature strong emotions and relationships in transition. As an added bonus, many book group members love [...]

A reader of this blog queried some time back about the additional resources that were shared at a discussion of Mary Doria Russell’s Dreamers of the Day, which I had talked about in one of my posts.  I had mentioned how book discussions can be enhanced when the leader brings additional resources to the meeting, [...]

At a recent meeting of the Adult Reading Round Table Quarterly Literary Fiction Book Discussion group, the talk turned to the problems some discussion leaders have been experiencing when they try to attract readers in the ever elusive 20-30 age group.  Others in the group shared their success stories in persuading the “twentysomethings” to participate, mentioning two key [...]

The big news at my library is a once-in-a-lifetime donation of around 8000 music CDs from a local collector. Despite all the press about people switching to digital music, our CD collection is circulating faster than ever, with longer hold lists and more patron requests, so this donation is a timely boon. But what, you might be [...]

In my continuing effort to understand the photography of Dorothea Lange (see my comments on January 4th about her biography), I was led to a book from 1938 called Land of the Free by poet Archibald MacLeish. Published in the middle of The Great Depression, this book is illustrated with photographs mostly from the Resettlement [...]

All of my acquaintances who are retired love the fact that they have so much more time for activities that used to be just shoehorned into a work week. One of the things I plan to do when I retire–besides volunteering, adding a  second weekly yoga class, learning to knit, and writing that novel I’ve been creating in [...]