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I discovered this treasure of a reprint (New York Review of Books) in one of the best ways possible–serendipity in the stacks. I had seen Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter on display months before at the Elliott Bay Book Company in their Northwest section, and when I came across it this time decided to [...]

Last week, I began this series of posts, looking at qualities in books that are deal breakers for their selection by groups. The first post dealt with general procedures for identifying your group’s deal breakers and factoring them into your selection process. I’d like to continue the series by discussing some of the particular deal [...]

Biographies have always been popular with book groups. Examining the lives of others is a favorite pastime of reading circles as they find experiences with which to identify and re-evaluate facts, history, and beliefs about a famous life. A biography of a book offers even more talking points. Recently one of my book groups, the [...]

Here are ten ideas for your upcoming October book group meetings: 1. GERMANY Deutschland hits the trifecta this month: It’s German-American Heritage month, the 20th anniversary of the reunification of East and West Germany on October 3rd, and the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest. Tell me that doesn’t deserve a little book group love! Break out [...]

The Man Booker Prize shortlist is always eagerly anticipated by some of my book group leaders. This year’s shortlist looks particularly good and we’re all keeping a close eye on Peter Carey. He’s been nominated this year for Parrot and Olivier in America. He’s already won twice, in 1988 for Oscar and Lucinda and in [...]

While neither book is advertised as such, it occurred to me that two novels I read recently had chapters that could be read as self-contained short stories: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. A Visit from the Goon Squad centers on two characters–music producer Bennie and [...]

The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry is the story of Zee, a psychologist, who has just lost a bipolar patient to suicide.  This hits too close to home – Zee’s mother also suffered from bipolar  disorder and committed suicide when Zee was younger.  Needing a break from her life, Zee escapes to Salem, [...]

Forget those swooning vampires and moony werewolves. Here’s a series with real bite and much more to talk about than whose team you’re on. Suzanne Collins wraps up her Hunger Games trilogy with a more than worthy concluding entry, Mockingjay. Readers who have been waiting for the final volume may be shocked at some of [...]

This past summer, the library where my book club regularly meets was undergoing a reorganization, and we were asked to either cancel our meetings for July and August or find another place to meet, outside of the building.  The book group was quite adamant that they wanted to continue meeting, and one member volunteered to check at a [...]

The question of which qualities cause particular readers to avoid a book is important for individuals to ponder and  is magnified when an entire book group makes selections. On one hand, it may be futile to pick books that several members are guaranteed to dislike or avoid reading. On the other, the group shouldn’t be held hostage to the [...]

A recent rediscovery of A Reader’s Delight by Noel Perrin reminds me why I always keep this little out-of-print gem on my Book Group Resource list. Perrin profiles little-known books and captures why they are a ‘delight’ for readers. He points out the imaginative and timeless qualities of these books and writes about them in [...]

I’ve been enjoying Ariana Franklin’s first Adelia Aguilar mystery, Mistress of the Art of Death. Set in Henry II’s twelfth-century Britain, the story concerns a young woman of Jewish descent, Adelia Aguilar, who has trained as a doctor, a kind of early forensic pathologist, in Salerno, Italy. When a series of gruesome child murders in Cambridge is [...]