Blog
Archives - June 2008
If there are one or two members of your reading group who tend to dominate discussions, contributor Andrew McCullough has a solution...
From time to time I am going to use this space to write about books I have read that I think would make for great discussions. Some of them may not be published yet since I read advance copies of many titles; but because my best thoughts often come as soon as I close a book, I will write as I finish them and if they are not published yet I will include a notation of when the book will be in stores. Thus keep your "Books to Be Read" list handy so you can make notes.
Novelist Chris Bohjalian reminisces about how roles were reversed when he spoke with a book club recently about his new novel, Skeletons at the Feast, which was published in May. Chris is the author of 11 novels, including such book group favorites as Midwives and The Double Bind.
Contributor Esther Bushell offers some food for thought in this post about whether or not you should keep reading a book if it just isn't grabbing you, along with some of the titles on her summer reading list.
Today's guest blogger is Catherine O'Flynn, the author of What Was Lost, the story of a young girl's disappearance in Birmingham, England, and how the unsolved mystery still reverberates two decades later. Catherine talks about how she was almost a member of a reading group and reveals the 10 things she has learned from speaking with book clubs about her debut novel.
I picked up The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein back in March. I read it quickly, and I've been savoring it since then. When I closed it I immediately thought --- this is the perfect book club discussion book. Here, in her own inimitable style, blog contributor Debra Linn shares why this book will work for groups. Reader response to it has been amazing.
Looking for a way to spice up your summer book club gatherings? Jamie Layton offers an appetizing alternative to the usual discussion fare...
Today, guest blogger Meg Waite Clayton recalls some of her experiences as both an author and a book club member --- and why her reading group shares a name with her new novel, The Wednesday Sisters, which was published yesterday. Meg is also the author of The Language of Light.
Today's guest blogger is Masha Hamilton, the author of Staircase of a Thousand Steps, The Distance Between Us and, most recently, The Camel Bookmobile, which centers on a traveling library that delivers books in a remote section of Africa. Fact and fiction merge in the story, and Masha talks about the real-life inspiration for the novel and how book groups in the U.S. have given people in Kenya the gift of the written word.
What happens when a movie isn't as discussion-worthy as the book it's based on? Contributor Heather Johnson's group recently found out...