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No, not Harry Potter, although one of the most entertaining book discussions I ever led was for the Harry Potter books. I didn’t really need to do anything more than advertise it. Parents brought children, teens brought friends, staff shirked the desk, and all I did was ask, “What do you think?” This time the [...]

Sometimes the questions created by publishers for book discussion are a bit odd. They can read too much like essay questions from college literature classes. Often, they are so specific that they fail to inspire interest. Individual readers might well consider such questions to help clarify their thoughts before they attend book group, but for [...]

Not long ago I was invited to lead discussion on a classic in the mystery genre, Chester Himes’ A Rage in Harlem. We had what I call “an elite group” (read small turnout ). This is a great book for groups that clamor for mysteries and also want something short. It was a good choice [...]

A couple of interesting articles this week share a common theme. At the Huffington Post, Jason Pinter argues that publishers shouldn’t create a self-fulfilling prophecy by refusing to publish and market books for men because the common wisdom is that “men don’t read.” Meanwhile, at the online magazine Guernica, Jay Baron Nicorvo argues that publishers [...]

Here’s a story about a different kind of book group. If you watched the NBC Nightly News last night, you probably saw the Making a Difference segment about Miss Kookyi’s Book Club. Miss Kookyi is a Florida school bus driver who has come up with an interesting solution to the problem of kids acting up on her [...]

The Crestwood Reading and Handcrafts Circle memorializes longtime member and facilitator Hortense Pageworthy with a sculpture of all the books Hortense read.

Similar in style to my last Women’s Fic Picks author, Allison Winn Scotch, Katherine Center writes lighthearted women’s fiction that packs an emotional punch while making you laugh out loud. Center’s first novel, The Bright Side of Disaster, was one of those books that made me think, “OK, I need to follow this new author [...]

The members of the Adult Reading Round Table’s literary fiction discussion group met recently to examine the multiple award winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and like the book, the talk was lively and provocative. “This guy is a pathetic wuss,” one reader opined.  “All he cares about is getting laid.”  Another [...]

I met with the staff book group at Williamsburg Regional Library yesterday. Our theme was new writers: authors on their first or second book. Melissa started with a couple of young adult novels. Her favorite was Fairy Tale, by Cyn Balog. It’s a story of young lovers, a changeling past, psychics, secrets, and the pending [...]

A few years ago I picked up a gig reviewing fiction for one of the journals. They were looking for male reviewers to look at books likely to appeal to men. In practice, this means that I’m a go-to guy for books that are violent, sexed up, or barbed with dark humor. It’s an adventure when I [...]

Any of Allison Winn Scotch’s novels would be a great choice for a lighter women’s fiction book discussion.  She has an easygoing writing style, a fabulous sense of humor, and writes about very realistic characters going through some very unrealistic challenges. For example, in my personal favorite,  Time of My Life, Jillian is tired.  Tired [...]

I just finished Edwidge Danticat‘s Brother, I’m Dying, her memoir about her father, the uncle who raised her and her homeland, Haiti, and I am literally breathless. This is one powerful story, told with a level-headed elegance that belies the heartbreak it must have been for Danticat to experience and write. From the very first [...]

The Tower Mews Literary, Reading and Discourse Society is a tad particular regarding whom they allow to enter their hallowed halls of biblio-discussery. Unworthy novices may be crushed upon entry by the amount of reading expected.

One of my regular stops for useful book news is RA for All. Becky at Berwyn Library in Illinois puts together one of the finest one-person reading blogs I’ve seen, with regular updates, diverse content, and a nose for information that’s both timely and practical. Today she pointed to another site–Entertainment Weekly‘ s list of [...]

I’d really like to thank folks for the comments on my post about the mom’s book group. Most of you agreed that I needed to poll the group, and not just assume that they wouldn’t want to read literary fiction. Well, the results are in!  The members actually want a good mix of books – [...]

If I appear to write on this topic with some frequency it’s because I always need help selecting good memoirs and biographies for my book groups. I don’t naturally gravitate towards that genre and rely heavily on suggestions from fellow facilitators, book group members, and reading pals. Rich Roche’s book couldn’t come at a better [...]

A critic for Newsweek, Malcolm Jones, recently published an online piece suggesting that recent writers and subjects selected for inclusion in Library of America are not worthy of the honor. To some degree, Jones is guilty of garden variety snobbery–biases at least as old as those held by 1890s librarians who wanted to keep the [...]

 After watching the Beatles’ 1964 appearance on the Ed Sullivan show last year on a PBS pledge-drive, I found myself bitten with the Beatlemania bug. Since I wasn’t alive in the ’60s, I didn’t simply know by osmosis that the Beatles made their amazing cultural impact and extraordinary musical strides in just 7 years. Not [...]

Maude was fired as facilitator from her book group after one too many poor selections.

When a group of library science students at Dominican University recently discussed Jamie Ford’s The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, the reactions were split.  Some of them liked the book, and some of them didn’t.  Pretty typical, as far as I’m concerned, although it’s always interesting to see where the differences lie. [...]