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Along with all the great new fall fiction, book group facilitators can look forward to fascinating nonfiction that will please devotees of “the real story.” Steve Paul, senior writer and arts editor at the Kansas City Star, added his two cents to the crop of autumn reads with a round-up of the most intriguing nonfiction. [...]

Wendy McClure’s memoir of her love and search for the reality behind the fiction of an American classic of childhood is a great idea for a one-time theme for a book group. McClure chronicled her Little House quest in The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of ‘Little House on the Prairie‘. Readers [...]

The Daily Beast just created a list of what President Obama has read since the campaign trail in 2008. It’s an interesting list and might be a good trajectory for a book group to take. Do click on the link as the book stack graphic is quite nice!

Back in February I mentioned some Twitter feeds I follow for book news and possible selections for book groups. Here’s another small batch of book tweeters who post pithy tweets about book groups, reading, book news, and other items of interest to readers. EarlyWord @earlyword– is the twitter handle for the favorite website of many [...]

Many book groups have discovered the special qualities of Rebecca Skloot’s prize-winning book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It has a riveting story, complex and realistic characters (including the author), and a lively pace in spite of all the science. Not to mention numerous angles that make the book a great fit for most [...]

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about men and reading – Ted’s post asking why so few men join book groups dovetailed with a lively discussion about boys/men and reading at an author interview last month, so it’s been on my mind. To that end, I’m skipping my usual “Women’s Fic Pick” this month and [...]

Every librarian must know their own weaknesses, blind spots and areas for improvement. This summer, I am making a concerted effort to read more science fiction and fantasy, which I have always enjoyed but have crowded out in recent years in my penchant for reading too much ‘literary’ fiction (a term I am feeling increasingly [...]

Last week my book group discussed Mary Karr’s third memoir, Lit. For all but one of us, Lit was our introduction to Karr. It was interesting to note that we were meeting to discuss a memoir for which most of us had not read the ones leading up to it. But we agreed that no [...]

For book groups with an interest in exploring a particular subject, give some thought to mixing in fiction, memoir, and genre fiction. Ernest Hemingway has long been a favorite of reading groups and the recent anniversary of his death may prompt conversation about his life and his life’s work. It wasn’t enough for Papa to [...]

This summer, you can battle for time in your reader’s busy vacation schedules, or you can try to find ways to fit into the season. Since summer is the time for road trips and vacation, why not try a meeting devoted to audiobooks? Long stretches in a car or lounging in a chair with a [...]

The 800s are a great place to look for little known resources for selecting books for reading groups. My most recent discovery is The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time by Daniel S. Burt. Of course, it’s a gargantuan task whittling such a list down to 100 titles. Burt points [...]

Just when I thought I’d run into all the best book group picks for the fall, I found five more while I was attending ALA in New Orleans. Here’s a short list of titles that I’ll be suggesting for the Kansas City Public Library book groups. These were the titles that offered the most intriguing [...]

I recently read Tina Fey’s memoir, Bossypants, and I found it a fantastically funny, entertaining read. Told in episodic essays, Fey relays her unexpected rise in the ranks of theater to improv to “Saturday Night Live” to her show “30 Rock.” But what has stayed with me the most, and what has been much discussed [...]

My apologies for being so late to get this up. I’ve been sucked into a stack of books from which I thought I might not emerge. This year’s Book Expo America in New York City convinced me I don’t ever want to miss it again. Two years ago, I felt overwhelmed and, frankly, kinda ignored [...]

Last week my colleague David Wright and I presented for our library’s Volunteer Appreciation event. We decided to frame our presentation around the “treasures” of the library–those books that librarians love to tell patrons about, the ones that they send to the volunteers to tape and glue and keep limping along year after year. David [...]

This is the second post about the books selected by readers for a recent meeting of the Williamsburg Regional Library’s staff book group. The theme for the meeting was books set in the Middle East or South Asia. Connie and Melissa read two of the works of Jean Sasson, which claim to be autobiographies “by [...]

I’ve mentioned the wonderful nonfiction blog Citizen Reader here before, but I wanted to point out that she has a new post up specifically for book club possibilities.  Here in this recent post, she gives a list of memoirs and biographies that would make great discussion picks. I read much more fiction that nonfiction, so [...]

I finally found time for Dave Cullen’s work of investigative reporting, Columbine, and it’s even better than I expected. Like many, I became fascinated by the terrible events as they unfurled on television and in the newspapers. What would make two young people execute such a horrific plan? Was anyone else involved? How did they get [...]

Recently the Downtowners Book Group at The Kansas City Public Library discussed one of my favorite book group titles, Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. This book has a compelling plot, realistic characters, and a solid pace. It would be a good choice for mystery book groups looking for something different. I’ve used this book in discussion [...]

I wrote last week about three new chef memoirs that have caught my attention. Today, I stumbled into this article at the San Jose Mercury News about a new development: culinary book groups. Often sponsored by food boutiques or chef’s kitchens, these groups read and discuss culinary books, but also add demonstrations, potlucks from a particular cook [...]