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Life in North Korea may be more unusual than that in any country in the world. That’s the conclusion I can’t help but draw while reading Barbara Demick’s extraordinary book Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. Demick interviewed six defectors to get a look at a country to which few outsiders have access. The result [...]

Last week I listed the top ten other narrative nonfiction titles in my 2010 Megalist. Today, let’s take a look at the biographies and memoirs that have received the most mentions in best-of-the-year lists and awards. 1. Just Kids, by Patti Smith (34 votes to date) We know them as a rock goddess and a [...]

The fourth, and near final update of the 2010 Megalist, my compiled spreadsheet of all the major best-of-the-year lists and awards nominees, was posted for download today. The Megalist now includes 121 different sources and 1,925 different books. Download a copy (in Excel) to see which sources voted for each of these titles. Today, I’d [...]

The Millions has a great preview of books due out in 2011 that describes 76 different forthcoming titles. There’s plenty to look forward to: Alexander Theroux’s biography of Edward Gorey, a writer and illustrator whose twisted Victorian stories helped me develop my taste for the tartness of black humor, is out for the first time [...]

(Note: I usually gravitate toward puns in the titles of my posts. There were so many to use here with Mary Roach, but they would all just be wrong.I’m just sayin’… We now return to our regularly scheduled post.) Mary Roach is an author I turn to when I want to be both educated and [...]

My favorite English professor is back. Thomas C. Foster is also admired by blogger Misha Stone. We’re both big fans of two of his other books, How to Read Literature Like a Professor and How to Read Novels Like a Professor. We like his breezy, accessible writing-style and his keen intellect in analyzing literature for [...]

The Guardian online has a book club, facilitated by John Mullan. I look at the Guardian site frequently, but somehow didn’t stumble across the book club page until recently. The Guardian’s Book Club has been going for some time, and because of that, there is a wealth of resources available on the titles they have [...]

I’ve continued to update my 2010 Megalist, my annual compilation of best-of-the-year lists. This week’s additions included some big players, such as the New York Times and The New Yorker. The 2010 Megalist is up to 60 sources, with more to come, and can be downloaded from my other blogging home, Blogging for a Good [...]

I’m always looking for something fun to share with my book groups and Literary Hoaxes: An Eye-Opening History of Famous Frauds by Melissa Katsoulis is the latest. Katsoulis takes this subject seriously as she examines the financial, cultural, and professional effects literary fraud can have on an author and the publishing industry. The James Frey [...]

The National Book Critics Circle announced their nominations for the 2010 Award finalists in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction last night. Four of the five fiction titles should look familiar for turning up on other Best of/award lists. Comedy in a Minor Key is the dark horse title. Written in 1947 by Hans Keilson, it was [...]

This year I will be sitting in for one of KCPL’s favorite book group leaders of one of KCPL’s most lively book groups. Gayla wanted to take a little break and I was happy to step up and handle biblio-chat duties for her. Our Tuesday night group is Women Who Dare and these readers like [...]

You don’t have to consult more than one source to get the results of all of the best-books-of-the-year lists in one spreadsheet. For the third consecutive year, I’ve been compiling all of the results, counting up all the votes, from all of the major review sources into one “megalist.” So far, I’ve compiled about 50 [...]

Either I’m getting to know the right publishing reps, they’re getting to know my reading tastes, or it’s just going to be a bumper crop of good stuff for reading groups in 2011, take your pick. But I violated my cardinal rule of “thou shalt not cart home conference swag cause it hurts your back [...]

I facilitate three book groups and guest facilitate at many others in the library’s community. This means I have to plan my reading carefully. I’m on a boot camp reading schedule that rivals that of any drill sergeant. Here’s the new discussion list for The Kansas City Public Library‘s Downtowners reading group. We meet at [...]

While I’m compiling the lists of discussion titles for the three book groups I work with, I’m recalling those titles that gave us the best discussions of the past year. Before I post our forthcoming reading, I’m going to take one look back at 2010 and the conversations that brought some new faces into my [...]

I say this every year, but I mean it. I love Top Ten lists–books, movies, music, theatre, television, fashion don’ts, food, you name it, I’ll read the Top Ten list devoted to it. My favorite Top Ten lists (after Top of the List) come from those culture mavens over at Entertainment Weekly. This year, quite [...]

The staff book group at Williamsburg Regional Library met for our annual Christmas meeting, with the theme of books where a cold or icy setting played an important role. The resulting choices will induce shivers in more ways than one! Other book groups might experiment with some of the following titles of their own wintry [...]

What makes us a reader? How do we raise a reader? How do we destroy a love of reading? If it is lost, how is it regained? I recently read Daniel Pennac’s Better Than Life. I bought it years ago and then was reminded again by David Wright about it and picked it up. It’s [...]

By this time, many Book Group Buzz readers have probably already read and discussed Jeannette Walls’ best-selling memoir, The Glass Castle.  But my library book group only recently tackled this well-written and extremely disturbing tale of a woman who miraculously survived terrifying childhood abuse; and we found plenty to talk about. Several participants wondered if Walls’ [...]

Julia Phillips’ book James Tiptree, Jr.: the Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon is a biography of a writer with a man’s name and man’s persona, who unbeknownst to her science fiction readers and editors, was actually a woman. Many readers will pass this book by because they assume it’s only of interest to fans of classic [...]