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Last week I had a conversation with a colleague about discussing poetry and short stories in groups.  We talked about how these discussions differ from the so-called “regular” book discussion, and afterwards I thought about how little I’ve seen in books and articles about literary discussions that touch on preparing prospective leaders for developing poetry [...]

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater in their fall offerings produced a play called My Name Is Asher Lev (adaption written and directed by Aaron Posner) based on the novel by Chaim Potok.  The premise of this play so intrigued me that I placed the novel on my TBR pile. The Picasso quote which opens the novel [...]

I loved this recent post on SF Signal, “10 Literary Novels for Genre Readers”,  regarding the age-old Literary vs. Genre fiction debate:  “There need not be a chasm between movements, however, as genre and literary fiction can be quite complementary to one another. Certainly no one aspect of literature can lay claim to a higher [...]

I just had to share this link: http://www.unshelved.com/2011-3-4 Viva la print books! If you don’t read Unshelved, check it out, it’s a great comic for fans of libraries and books everywhere.

Anyone who is in a book group and who hasn’t yet read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, should not delay another day.  This book, about a book group during the Second World War on the isle of Guernsey, is a natural choice for a discussion [...]

Check out this article from today’s New York Times about speed-dating at San Francisco Public Library. It’s a new twist on the romance book club.

In previous posts, I’ve highlighted the most lauded books (as compiled from my best-of-2010 Megalist) from general fiction, narrative nonfiction, and biographies and memoirs. Today, let’s look at the 2010 works of historical fiction that have received the most praise. I have a broad interpretation of most genres, but the historical era in all of [...]

In a rut?  Looking for something new for your group to read?  Head over to BookClubClassics.com for book lists, kits to purchase, question suggestions, and reading round-ups.  Literature teacher Kristin Galles offers all kinds of great information geared to book discussion groups.

There’s a new prize in town: The Independent Booksellers Choice Awards. It’s debuting in 2011 and the first winners will be named during Book Expo America in May. Only independent bookstore staff are eligible to vote/nominate in the three rounds of voting. The first round is the Long List with voting through the month of [...]