Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

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 [...]

Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife has been a popular choice for book groups, and the release of the movie should create even more book group buzz. 
On Shelf Awareness, I found this idea for a TTW event from Magers and Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis:
During our book club discussion of Time Traveler’s Wife, we’re having our attendees (circa 100 [...]

Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel Admission begins with a wonderful first sentence: “The flight from Newark to Hartford took no more than fifty-eight minutes, but she still managed to get her heart broken three times.”
She is Portia Nathan, an admissions officer for Princeton University. Portia is dedicated to her work, and throws herself headlong into her charge [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

For readers attending ALA in Chicago, please join me on Sunday, July 12th for the program “Things that Go Bump in the Stacks: Whole Collection Advisory for Paranormal Fiction.” I’m moderating a panel with Charlaine Harris, Charlie Huston, and Marjorie Liu. The event will be in McCormick Place West, room 190-A from 10:30-12.
Whether you are [...]

Back on August 22nd last year I suggested the title Peace by Richard Bausch for a book discussion. I even included some suggested book discussion questions for you to use. I am happy to see that the book has just won the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction for 2009. The [...]

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law sent me a copy of the newsletter from the library where she works (The Urbana Free Library in Urbana, IL).  In it there was an article about the library’s recent Big Read event, with information about a series of programs which I’d like to share with Book Group Buzz [...]

Deadly Pleasures magazine and Mystery News magazine just announced the 2009 nominations for the annual Barry Award for various “bests” in crime and mystery fiction. To see the complete list, go to http://www.blackravenpress.com/BarryAwards2009.htm.

Contrary to my initial fears, Alan Bennett’s delightful novella, The Uncommon Reader, provided plenty for my book group to talk about.
The Uncommon Reader is an homage to reading which starts out with the Queen of England stumbling upon a bookmobile on the Palace grounds while walking her Corgis. The Queen decides to check out a [...]

Last week my book group discussed The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards.  This is a book that has been extremely popular with discussion groups from the moment it was published, and I started off the discussion by asking our members why they thought it had such a strong appeal.  Their answer:  because the characters [...]

It only took 45 minutes, but I’ve found half a year’s worth of material for my book groups next year. This is just from one panel, mind you. I ran across plenty of other titles in my many laps around the Javits Center for BookExpo America. These were the highlights from the Library Journal Day [...]

Next week my book group will be meeting to discuss The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. After reading Bennett’s delightful, enchanting novella, I cannot help but wonder if such an entertaining confection of a story will be discussable.
What makes a book discussable has been pondered on this blog before. Often groups bemoan having to read [...]

For our monthly staff book discussion and reader’s advisory training we read Jodi Picoult’s Change of Heart.
Picoult has been incredibly popular recently in our library to the point where we made a special effort to get two fresh copies of all of her titles. I went out to the shelves just now and there is [...]

The lunchtime book group, Downtowners, at The Kansas City Public Library, met recently to discuss Hellfire Canyon by Max McCoy. While the Spur Award-winning paperback prompted plenty of conversation, no six-guns were drawn between conversatin’ readers.
 
I started the discussion by asking attendees what they thought was meant by ‘western novel’ since none of them had [...]

Laila Lalami’s Secret Son is destined to become a book group mainstay.
It’s elegantly written, complex, told from multiple perspectives and captures the political corruption and the gulf between the haves and have-nots in contemporary Morocco.
Youssef El Mekki has lived with his mother in a one-room house in the slums of Casablanca all of his life. [...]

The latest endeavor of the Adult Reading Round Table (ARRT) here in Illinois is a quarterly literary fiction book discussion organized by two members of the Steering Committee for the enjoyment and enlightenment of any of ARRT’s 100+ members who may care to participate.  You guessed it   – I’m one of the two organizers, and I actually [...]