Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

I’ve been thinking about memoirs again while reading Rosalind Reisner’s new book, Read On… Life Stories. It’s a superb addition to the Read On… series, providing annotated lists of books selected from the best of memoir and biography, with each list focusing on a particular storyline, character type, setting, writing and language style, or mood. Reisner’s book [...]

True life adventure stories are popular selections for book groups and usually get selected as “guy reader” bait. These adrenaline-rush narrative quests appeal to some male readers for the action and to some women readers for the soul-searching introspection.
Last week I led a book group for Kansas City’s Junior League. They had chosen A Pearl [...]

Over at Points of Reference, Jessica is getting ready to start a mystery book group at her public library in January. She’s going to be using Read ‘em Their Writes as a source and is wondering if there are any other good selections tools out there.
Funny you should ask, Jess. I recently put together a [...]

Even if you haven’t read books by Cory Doctorow, you probably know the name. His blogs, essays, and opinions seem to be everywhere, particularly in regards to digital culture, intellectual property, or technology. Doctorow almost always has an opinion, and whether or not one agrees with him, (like me, you’ll probably find yourself siding with him on [...]

My wife and I have been reading Shadowlands aloud the last few nights. Many of you know this work from the film featuring Anthony Hopkins and Deborah Winger, but William Nicholson’s play is about events late in the life of C. S. Lewis.
Lewis never liked “Clive Staples.” When he lost a beloved dog as a boy, he declared [...]

A few days ago, I put forth my miserly opinion that Christmas literature, for the most part, is ho, ho, horrible. I even asked you to convince me otherwise, and in response, fair readers, not one of you was stirring, not even a mouse.
But I know book groups, and you will not yield to my [...]

I know I’ve been on a kick lately pairing books for discussions. I  like having all the related reading in one place. Also, I want to give readers a choice in titles if the topic is going to be difficult for some to handle.
Possibly no subject is more harrowing than the tragedy at Columbine High [...]

If asked to name authors who more people should be reading, Adam Langer would be one of the first names from my mouth. He’s a Chicago-born author and playwright, now living in New York City, a marvelous choice for book groups.
Books with interesting characters in varied relationships are the easiest for groups to discuss, [...]

Dreamers of the Day, by Mary Doria Russell, was chosen as the book to be explored at the most recent meeting of the Adult Reading Round Table Quarterly Literary Fiction Book Discussion Group.  I didn’t lead the discussion this time, but enjoyed sitting on the other side of the table as a participant.
Russell’s novel is [...]

I love adding to my shelf of book group resources. My latest addition is The Book Club Bible, a book that offers over 200 titles for book group facilitators to choose from.
The subtitle is “The Definitive Guide That Every Book Club Member Needs.” That may be pushing it a tad. The BCB is a balanced [...]

It’s safe to say that Oprah’s already gone global, but she’s taking on the webiverse with the upcoming discussion of Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan.
On Monday, November 9, a live discussion will be simulcast from Oprah.com, CNN.com, and Facebook. Anderson Cooper will also participate in the conversation with Oprah and Uwem Akpan [...]

Why offer a short story reading/discussion group?  A number of reasons come to mind
There have been great short story collections published recently: Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser, Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Boat by Nam Le, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower, Fine Just The Way It Is, by Annie Proulx, All Aunt [...]

It didn’t even occur to me that these two books I’m about to mention are very well suited for the month of October. I was only thinking about what a great duo they’d make for a discussion.
I just finished Audrey Niffenegger’s sophomore effort, Her Fearful Symmetry and thought what a great pairing it would be [...]

It’s not easy to find the “perfect” book for a book discussion group, but Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout may be the gold standard. It’s short, only 270 pages. It’s written in a style that makes it easy to pick up and put down. It has enough characters to keep readers interested and plenty of [...]

I haven’t yet come across anyone who hasn’t enjoyed reading Three Cups of Tea (TCOT) or who thinks this book, a nonfiction account of an adventurer’s decision to build schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan after an ill-fated mountain climbing expedition in which he almost perished, doesn’t  provide surefire discussion material.  A few [...]

Recently I was asked to guest facilitate at a workplace book group. Now, these book groups are not unusual in and of themselves. There are many coworkers who like to gather over lunch and discuss books. Sometimes they even all discuss the same book.
But the folks in the Social Workers Department of a local hospital [...]

Like most book group facilitators, I’m always looking for ways to enhance the discussion. At the last meeting of the Kansas City Public Library’s lunch time biblio-chatters, Downtowners, I barely had to list a finger. That day’s selection was National Book Award Winner, The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. In addition to bringing in [...]

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist  is one of the titles that has been selected by the Women’s National Book Association as a National Reading Group Month Great Group Read. It’s a dystopian tale about a society in which some people are considered dispensable–in this case, older men and women who are childless. At age 50 for women and age 60 [...]

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from book group members and facilitators is, “Can you suggest some good nonfiction for our discussions?” Invariably, this question is followed up with the caveat, “no biographies or memoirs, please.”
This query used to send me into a quandary and I’d need a couple of days to [...]

I’m always looking for another group to partner with for a book discussion. I have found that groups associated with local arts organizations are one of the best and most receptive groups to approach. The arts organization gets to offer a new activity for members and the library gets to promote programs and services to [...]