Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

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 [...]

Book groups take note: Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall has won the Booker Prize for 2009.
Due out in the United States on October 13th, this is probably the most accessible novel to win the award in many years. Mantel is an experienced English writer whose work has received many awards and covered many subjects. In her early career, [...]

The Millions website asked a panel of 56 authors and critics to name the best fiction published since the year 2000. The compiled results should be interesting fodder for book groups. How many have you read? How many has your book group discussed?
Here’s their list of the top twenty. The top five were Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, Edward [...]

Just in time for National Reading Group Month is one of the favorite tools of facilitators everywhere, Reading Group Choices 2010.
I know I’ve written about these little gems before and they continue to be one of my preferred go-to resources. Using the heading “Conversation Starters” instead of “discussion questions” implies that there is no specified direction [...]

As I’ve said before in this space, I love the thematic format for book groups. It gives every reader room to choose for themselves and makes each meeting an adventure in discovering new titles. I like how I get to know my groupmates’ personalities by the book choices they make.
Our staff group at Williamsburg Regional [...]

When I was young, my favorite book was The Guinness Book of World Records. I looked forward to the new edition every year, but my favorite entries were those that never changed. A look at literature suggests that I’m not the only one whose imagination was captured. We’ve already seen siamese twins Chang and Eng turned into [...]

When I chose Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes for a recent book discussion, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the discussion itself.  As I read the book, I sensed there would be a strong reaction to it — it was so different from any of the other books we”ve discussed in the group.  But [...]

In the late 1950s, Edward Abbey spent summers working in Utah’s Arches National Park, performing a variety of park services and sometimes escaping for backcountry hiking and rafting adventures or side work for local ranchers. The result is his 1968 book Desert Solitaire. Over 40 years later, his book is still relevant, poignant, and laced [...]

With the new Meryl Streep-Amy Adams film, Julie & Julia, lighting up the national box office and Julia Child’s classic cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, back on the bestseller list, I’ve been wondering if book groups won’t take the hint and decide to plan some delicious discussion programs around 1) Julie Powell’s autobiographical [...]

Lately I seem to be on an Edith Wharton kick.  The film made in 2000 from her early novel, The House of Mirth, is one of my very favorites.  It stars Gillian Anderson (yes, she of The X-Files, and she’s sensational!) and Eric Stoltz, and it features a wonderful supporting cast, including Dan Aykroyd, Anthony [...]

I like to flip through reading memoirs, but I don’t really sink my teeth into them. Rather than read about what someone else has been reading, I’d rather be reading something new to me.
Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick is the author’s memoir of the books that teenage girls were truly reading and talking about in the [...]

In July, my library book group discussed Plain Truth, Jodi Picoult’s absorbing novel about an Amish girl accused of murdering her illegitimate child.  As most Book Group Buzz readers already know, Picoult’s books practically guarantee a lively discussion, and this one was no exception.
One of the group members had come across an interview with Picoult [...]

Gwyneth Paltrow’s weekly newsletter, GOOP, this week presents some summer reading lists from a few of her friends.
Paltrow’s pals suggest a wide range of books from Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo to The Almond Picker by Simonetta Agnello Hornby to The Black Echo by Michael Connelly.
Thank you, GOOP, for this week’s installment. Keep [...]

My favorite airport timekiller mags are Real Simple and InStyle. I also justify picking them up when the word ‘books’ appears on the cover, as it did on the June issue of Real Simple. Sara Nelson usually contributes all the book related news, reviews and other tidbits and I will listen to/read anything Sara has [...]

I know every book group in the nation has already discussed Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. One of mine got around to it yesterday and we were all surprised by how much we enjoyed it, including the sole male attendee.

Of course, everyone immediately went off the discussion topic script so handily provided by the [...]

Richard Russo has done it again. In That Old Cape Magic, Russo once again draws three-dimensional, relatable characters whose hopes and flaws draw you into the story.
While much less ambitious than his previous novel, Bridge of Sighs, both in its cast of characters and time span, his latest also explores some similar themes–family, memory and the [...]

I had the pleasure of staying on in Chicago after the ALA convention for a few days of vacationing. What a vibrant city! It’s a city to make one fall in love with architecture with fantastic older buildings standing proudly among the modern skyscrapers and enough room between the buildings to incorporate lovely green spaces [...]

If you’re a fan of the late David Foster Wallace check out InfiniteSummer, an online book club devoted to Infinite Jest.  The idea is for “endurance bibliophiles” ( I love this) to read 75 pages a week between June 21 to September 22. Four writers who haven’t read the novel before are posting weekly, and there [...]

One of the most entertaining topics for discussion in book groups is the title. It’s interesting to consider why and how an author arrives at a work’s title. It’s the most important thing an author will ever do for a completed work, and usually the first thing the editor wants to change.
No one knows this [...]

Recently I led a book discussion with a group of library science students at Dominican University.  The teacher of the class, my good friend Joyce Saricks, asked me if I had a favorite question with which to begin a book discussion.  She said that another friend of ours, well-known reading enthusiast Nancy Pearl, always began [...]