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On Saturday, October 20th, Hachette Book Group held their seventh annual Book Club Brunch, a day for readers and book clubs to hear about new books directly from the authors. This year's event boasted readers from all over the tri-state area...and a bit beyond as well. I attended for the fourth year in a row, and I can honestly say that this program has gotten better and better each year.

On Wednesday, October 17th, Book Club Girl hosted its second Girls’ Night Out at William Morrow’s New York City office. For this event, the featured authors were New York Times bestselling authors Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White --- or "Team W," as they are adoringly known. Their feisty, funny and wine-fueled conversation was moderated by Carol Fitzgerald from The Book Report Network. At only $40, the tickets were a steal, and included a tote bag of books, wine, hors d'oeuvres and, of course, a scintillating night of conversation about Team W's latest book, THE GLASS OCEAN.

A publishing colleague recently told Carol Fitzgerald that her dad is in a men’s book group. They are trying to decide what to read next and can use suggestions. They read books like Amor Towles' A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW and are looking for that kind of accessible fiction. Carol recommended BENEATH A SCARLET SKY by Mark Sullivan, but we wanted readers to weigh in with their own suggestions --- and you responded in a big way! Many thanks to all of you who shared your ideas.

For years, I have heard about Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella’s Big Book Club Party and had wanted to experience it to share more about it with our readers. Last weekend, they hosted their 13th annual event. On Saturday, my son Greg and I were invited to Lisa’s 44-acre farm in Pennsylvania to attend the first day of what is a two-day celebration of book groups. One hundred groups attended each day on Saturday and Sunday, bringing somewhere between 500 and 600 people each day to Willow Farm, which is the name of Lisa’s farm. It was everything I hoped it would be --- and more.