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This is the final post in a five part series about how to write your own discussion questions instead of depending on those provided by the publisher or other sources. The first four posts provided general advice and questions for dealing with characters, plot and story, and settings and other frames. I’ll finish the series with ten [...]

It’s my turn to pick a book for the next local discussion group I’m in, and I’ll admit to taking the lazy way out – I’ve picked a book that not only have I read already… but I’ve also already led  discussions of it  – at three different libraries.  But in my defense, since I [...]

It is that melancholy time of year where my crime fiction book discussion group is winding down another year together.  We have had a lot of fun this year with our theme, Around the World in 8 Book Discussions. Tonight’s book is no exception.  We are in Istanbul, Turkey, tonight discussing the first book in [...]

The Internet is a fickle place, with this month’s regular stop often succumbing to a new favorite. Sites find a sweet spot and then fade away, capture our attention and then wither as we work through their best content or become tired of the format. As a writer on two blogs, I’ve come to appreciate [...]

Recently, a “Lost Booker” award was announced. J. G. Farrell’s Troubles won the Lost Booker prize from 1970. Here is a link to the Guardian article about J. G. Farrell’s posthumous win. Here is a link to why 1970 was considered a “lost” year. How are the holds lists in your libraries for this newly [...]

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell is one of those surprisingly riveting literary novels that will have you in tatters when you turn its final pages. It’s a novel about motherhood and madness and, not surprisingly, family secrets. O’Farrell’s novel has two storylines, one in the past and one in the present. [...]

This week I led a discussion of Sara Gruen’s Depression era circus novel, Water for Elephants, for the second time.  Approximately two years had elapsed since my first encounter with this involving story, which became a book club favorite after its publication in 2006.  As I prepared for this week’s session, I was surprised by what [...]

In book groups, discussion of settings and other frames can go many ways. A book’s various framing devices can be fascinating sources of information and pathways that connect with other works and other subjects of discussion. If the talk strays too far down those pathways, however, the group may never return to the original book. Even worse, discussion of settings may be fatally attractive [...]

I’ve just finished listening to the audiobook of The Cruelest Month, the third of Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache mysteries (she has published five to date). As cozy mysteries often are, they’re stuffed with nonsense: sensitive, poetry-quoting police; a village without any visible industry, populated by quirky characters, blissfully happy despite the regular murders that occur there; wacky complicated crimes committed through [...]

I was so pleased to see Kaite talk about Bloodroot last week – because it’s the book my group is set to discuss next week. (I felt we were so ahead of the curve!) It brings up a question though – what else can you provide to your group beyond the typical discussion questions?  When [...]

I haven’t read the book yet. But I have seen the movie. And I am afraid.  Terribly, terribly afraid. The book I’m talking about is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson’s bestselling mystery thriller, and the reason I’m scared is — I’ve committed to leading a discussion about it a few months from [...]

When I was a young person transitioning from the youth area in my branch library to something a little more challenging, I ventured into the young adult area.  At that time (don’t ask), it consisted of many books with uniform bindings and illustrations by N. C. Wyeth.  My favorite of the bunch were the Leatherstocking Tales [...]

During a recent visit to the Berwyn (IL) Public Library, I paused to look at the staff’s current display of favorite book discussion titles and picked up a handy-dandy list of the library’s favorite book discussion resources.  In addition to noting Book Group Buzz as a helpful choice, the list encourages prospective book discussion participants to check [...]

I just read two of my favorite books of 2010 so far. I will write about the novel next time, but first let me tell you about the memoir. Just Kids by Patti Smith is nothing short of extraordinary. Not being that familiar with her music, I was unprepared for the poetic precision of Smith’s [...]

Last week in this series, I suggested questions to ask about characters in the fiction that your book group reads. This week, I turn to a tricky element for discussion: the plot. There are several reasons why discussion of plot is tricky. First, you must be careful that it doesn’t turn into dreary description of scenes. [...]

One of Neil’s recent posts about keeping book groups independent and choosing more than branded “book group” books has gotten me thinking. Thinking about my own snobbish assumptions. Thinking about how I don’t read enough of what would be considered genre fiction. Thinking about how I haven’t thought to schedule my book group to read [...]

As I launch into a month-long run in Sondheim’s Company at the local community theater, I’m afraid reading has taken a back seat. About all I’m good for is a few distracted pages as I try to key down before a late bedtime. So I’m especially glad that one of my book groups decided to devote [...]

I don’t really have one, but I’ll put ducats on the following three books to become book group favorites in 2011. Bloodroot, a first novel by Amy Greene, is a lyrical tale of an Appalachian family both cursed and blessed with soaring passions. Starting with grandmother, Byrdie, and neighbor boy, Douglas, readers come to know [...]

Mystery fiction characters are not a happy lot.  Other than Punchbowl Hill’s Charlie Chan or some of the personality-less Golden Age protagonists, most heroes are punished for living in the vicinity of a crime. Hazel Micallef is no exception.  Hazel is a police detective in the under funded and under staffed district of Port Dundas, [...]

I’ve  recently been following the blog Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations, and noticed that they have a great page full of lists geared towards book discussion groups.  They do an awful lot of book lists on a variety of topics, but they’ve pulled out their book lists specific to book discussion here.