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In All Gone, a reflection on her mother’s dementia, Alex Witchel attempts to give voice to the complicated feelings we have for our dying parents.  The book has been getting a lot of attention lately, perhaps in part because one in eight older Americans is dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease and their adult children are wrestling with a tangle of conflicted love, [...]

Short story collections can work well for book groups. They’re rich in content, but most often quick to read. Even if participants don’t finish the entire book, they can still talk about the stories they did complete. There are plenty of good options for approaching discussion: assign each reader to introduce a different story in [...]

I’ve released the first edition of my All-the-Best-Books Compilation (ABBC) for 2012. It compiles mentions of books in best-of-the-year lists and awards from 66 different sources into one spreadsheet with 12 different fiction and nonfiction categories, showing how many times each book was mentioned and which sources mentioned each. You can learn more about the [...]

Loaded words, I know. The greatest challenge I hear from book group leaders is getting more male readers to attend. Aside from snatching dudes wandering the DIY section of the stacks and plopping them in the middle of a book chat, facilitators consider the reading selections to entice men to the book group. If historical [...]

I was trying to figure out an appropriate book group for Kate Braestrup’s memoir, Marriage and other Acts of Charity.  You don’t need to be married to read this book, though I do think it might feel more relevant to a person who is, if not married, then contemplating the married state.  Still, her meditations [...]

I’ll share two posts this week about the books that the librarians at Williamsburg Regional Library selected for a staff book group themed around the best books of 2012. Then I’ll be back early next week with the first installment of my annual All-the-Best-Books Compilation (ABBC), my annual spreadsheet that tabulates the votes from dozens [...]

One of the most successful reading programs at The Kansas City Public Library is Read It/Watch It. This program is designed to encourage thoughtful reading as well as thoughtful viewing. KCPL includes Read It/Watch Its in many of the larger reading initiatives and adds this special program to regular book group schedules. KCPL has done [...]

Can you read a musical? Obviously a line-by-line account of the big tap number in 42nd Street isn’t going to give you much insight into why that show works, and the lyrics of most shows just aren’t as profound when they aren’t being interpreted by a skilled performer or accompanied by rousing music. Sometimes reading [...]

Jodi Picoult will be coming to my library again in March. She came through Seattle last year with the release of Lone Wolf and was warm and generous with her fans. While I have enjoyed much of Picoult’s work over the years and appreciate her as a writer and a person, I was unprepared by [...]

The Virginia Commonwealth University’s MFA program in Creative Writing is using the classroom setting to create young writers who then turn into first novelists. The VCU Cabell First Novelist Award is a competitive program that puts its student writers through competitive paces. The program is only open to ten students. In addition to working on [...]

This is the sort of book non-readers (who are secretly jealous) give to readers. The non-readers may think they’re nudging their reader-friends, but really, we readers are just a teensy bit smug because we get all the in-jokes. Judging a Book by its Lover by Lauren Leto is a snarky fun look at the reading [...]

Before I let the first month of the new year get past me, I want to list the ten books that provided the best book group discussions last year. This is not as easy as it sounds since I facilitate three regular book groups and then work with book groups connected to The KCPL’s special [...]

With a cover as incendiary as its subject matter, Map of Ireland by Stephanie Grant is a novel that brings an historical event of national significance to the insular world of 1974 South Boston. High school junior Ann Ahearn can’t find a comfortable place to fit in at her school, in her family, on the [...]

I’ve just finished Steven Pressfield’s The Gates of Fire, and I’m torn about whether or not to recommend it to book groups. Pressfield is one of the best writers of military historical fiction working today. There’s no denying the author’s skill in presenting a well researched look at the Battle of Thermopylae, in which 300 [...]

Some book group leaders I chat with are little apprehensive about including romance among the selections. There’s still some stigma about including this genre in those groups; the number one concern I hear is “there’s not very many discussable romance novels out there.” I beg to differ. At least, now I can and do. Kristin [...]

Of all the book groups I facilitate I have the most fun scheduling the reading for the Downtowners. I have seen this book group grow into more than readers who gather to chat about the current selection. They have become friends who care for one another and more than a few have become good friends [...]

Isn’t it time your book club planned a restorative get-a-way?  As you know, that wine won’t drink itself.  If you live in Western Washington I have got just the cozy and scenic spot for you, complete with a bibliophile who is eager to make your acquaintance. Historically I am not a fan of the Washington [...]

Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.  —C.S. Lewis People give us stuff mind you.  People can be very generous to witches.  On bakin’ days in our village sometimes I can’t move for cake. —Spoken by well-fed veteran witch, Mrs. Ogg   Picture this:  a book group.  Be patient now, it [...]

Stephen Fry is one of those ubiquitous characters of popular culture who never becomes the main event, but pops up in all kinds of contexts. A Cambridge grad, he first came to broad public light in his writing and comedy work teamed with Hugh Laurie. He became famous in Black Adder II and Jeeves and [...]

My daughter performed a number with her choir called “Why We Sing,” a stirring song in praise of song. At times it brings pleasure to recall why we do what we do: why we sing or draw or sew or climb trees or do whatever it is we live for and love. This week my [...]