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As Neil mentioned, it’s that time of year when lists of the best books of the year start to crop up everywhere. The New York Times has 100 Notable Books of 2010 and their reviewers have named their top 10. The Guardian has a list of writer’s favorites from 2010, most of which I haven’t [...]

On this weekend of frenzied shopping, all eyes are on goods that will purportedly come from the North Pole. I recommend Black Friday counterprogramming for readers, who will find much more pleasure going the other direction, tracing the adventures of the Antarctic explorers. The key event is the race to be the first team to reach the [...]

Had your fill of holiday turkey? How about a little more from the Austen cookpot? Perennial book group darling, Jane Austen, just can’t seem to stop churning out the books. It’s like she never died. Which is what the publishers would have us believe. I have a couple of book groups members who are die-hard [...]

As I’ve done for three years now, I’ve begun to compile all of those Best Books of the Year choices into one spreadsheet. When I’m done, you’ll be able to see how many awards and best of the year votes all of your 2010 favorites have received. This year, I’m adding a note after each [...]

One of the things I like best about reading this blog is the different perspectives our book groups will have when discussing the same books.   Last August, Misha’s group gathered to chat about The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the French bestseller from Muriel Barbery. Recently, one of my groups did the same and as [...]

The Ten-Year Nap, by Meg Wolitzer, gives a glimpse into the lives of different mothers who gave up their careers to have children. Amy’s feminist mother is constantly nagging her to go back to being a lawyer; reserved and wealthy Karen goes on multiple interviews every month but can’t see the need to work; while [...]

It has become a Holiday tradition in my Crime Fiction Book Discussion Group that I lighten up for the month of November.  This might be even more important this year as our overall theme is Youth is Wasted on the Young which might bring up images of the tortured deaths of young children being read [...]

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of attending the Second Annual Book Lovers and Book Clubs Conference in Kansas City. In its inaugural year, conference founder and organizer, Kim Riley, brought the gathering to a small community center and was overwhelmed with the positive response and number of attendees. This year, Kim looked [...]

I am so excited that Patti Smith’s Just Kids won the National Book Award. For one, it will get the recognition and the readership that it deserves. It can be hard to tell people who only see Patti Smith as a rock musician to take her seriously as writer as well. But Just Kids is [...]

It’s the time of year when many book groups set the calendar for the upcoming year. I’ve had good luck with balloting as a means for selecting themes or titles. Ballots give democratic input to the selection process while still allowing group leaders to retain some measure of control. Here’s how: First, filter which books or [...]

The National Book Award winners were announced last night and facilitators and book group suppliers can expect high demand for these titles. I’ve been reserving a space in three different book groups for the winner and other finalists and I think I’m going with these three. Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon for Downtowners, my [...]

Rebecca has been exploring genre groups in her recent posts and I wanted to add my two cents. When first starting as a librarian, I had the windfall of encountering a group of science fiction and fantasy fans–some members of a previously failed book group and others among the organizers of the annual local SF/fantasy [...]

Last week, I wondered about paranormal book discussions.  Now I’m thinking about the multitude of other possibilities. This library in Wisconsin has a military/political group, as well as a spiritual group. Naturally, starting a themed group depends on whether or not you have the community of readers interested in such a group.  But how do [...]

Book groups with members who are holding out as listeners might convert once they listen to NPR’s Lynn Neary interview award-winning narrator, George Guidall, and best-selling author, Wally Lamb. Lamb admired Guidall’s vocal talents so much after hearing I Know This Much is True, that he requested Guidall for the recording of his latest novel, [...]

In Jason Lutes’ Berlin: City of Stones Marthe Muller travels to Berlin to study art and meets journalist Kurt Severing on the train into the city. It’s 1928 and this chance meeting comes just before Germany finds itself on the brink of violent change. Set in Berlin in 1928 and 1929, this graphic novel  is [...]

Recently, my library book group met to discuss The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, and as you might expect, there was no lack of participation.  Here (especially for those of you who have already read the book) are some of the comments made by the group members. “I loved the character of Miss Celia.  I wondered [...]

Next Friday I’ll be taking members from the numerous books groups I frequent to an exhibit that uses the book in various artistic and thought-provoking ways. I’m hoping to generate as much conversation about the artworks as we do about what’s between the covers. I’ve blogged before about books as works of art and books [...]

Time for a little rant. Janet Evanovich is looking for writers to publish under her name in the same way that Clive Cussler and James Patterson have done in recent years. Are you excited, readers? Will you be selecting these books for your next book group? Those who tout this kind of arrangement argue that it [...]

I’m wondering if this is a passing fad or not.  I know lots of libraries are now branching out from the traditional literary book club and going into genres.  (Many libraries have been doing mystery-themed or science fiction for years, kudos to them!) What about paranormal?  Here’s an article on a library in Virginia that [...]

This is the second entry about a meeting of the Williamsburg Regional Library’s Staff Book Group that highlighted so many good nonfiction book club choices that I couldn’t fit them in one post: Barbara’s stack included Making Toast, a slim but potent memoir by Roger Rosenblatt about what happened when their treasured daughter Amy died from an [...]