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Talking Books with Authors
One of the huge perks of my job is spending time with authors. The opportunity to speak with them about their work and get insights into their writing process is something I treasure. I love to hear how they came to a story, their research and their inspiration.
In this month’s poll question, we are asking if your book group is interested in having authors at your book group meetings, either in person, or via phone or Skype. Weigh in on what your group has done, or plans to do, here. If this is not something your group has done to date, I definitely recommend it. I know that many of you do not have easy access to see authors live at store events or book festivals, but the chance to speak with them is something that many authors offer.
I did some quick research, and the following authors who we are sharing with you in this newsletter are available for discussion with your book group: Kristin Hannah, Lisa See, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Amita Trasi.
Next Thursday night, I am planning to attend a Pop Up book group event presented by BookTheWriter.com where Min Jin Lee will be talking about PACHINKO with readers, who pay a fee to join a discussion with an author; we featured this book a few months ago. I do not know the other attendees, but I am very much looking forward to being a part of this discussion. Jean Hanff Korelitz, whose book THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER we are featuring this month, founded BOOKTHEWRITER, a fee-based service where New York City area book groups are available to join your book group in person. Jean is doing a Pop Up book group event in New York on May 30th.
Now to this week’s update, where we feature three new guides...as well as three contests.
BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, which is now available in paperback, explores the relationships between mothers and daughters, and the different kinds of love that bind us across generations, capturing the gorgeous complexity of these multi-generational and transcontinental bonds. You can find the guide here and a review on Bookreporter.com here.
THE COLOR OF OUR SKY by Amita Trasi is a sweeping, emotional journey of two childhood friends in Mumbai, India, whose lives intersect only to change forever one fateful night. Click here for the guide.
Lori Rader-Day, the bestselling author of LITTLE PRETTY THINGS, returns with THE DAY I DIED, a gripping, unforgettable tale of a mother's desperate search for a lost boy. The guide can be found here.
Readers will be happy to hear that the mega bestseller THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah is now available in paperback. To celebrate, it is this month's “What’s Your Book Group Reading?" contest title. We are giving three readers the chance to win 12 copies for their group. Entering is simple: Tell us what your book group is reading this month here by Tuesday, May 9th at noon ET.
Our special contest for the aforementioned THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER by Jean Hanff Korelitz continues! The book is a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection, and now you have the chance to be awarded 12 copies for your group. It’s about a college president, a student protest, and some of the most hot-button issues on today's college campuses. I absolutely loved it. You can read more about it later in this newsletter. Enter here for your chance to win.
Over on Bookreporter.com, we have our 12th annual "Books Mom Will Love" contest, just in time for Mother’s Day! From now through Monday, May 15th at noon ET, readers can enter to win one of our five prize packages of 13 titles, which includes book group favorites like LILAC GIRLS, and the aforementioned THE NIGHTINGALE and BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS, along with some mom-themed treats. See full details below.
I am headed to the Fairfield Public Library in Fairfield, Connecticut, tonight to present titles that I think will be of interest to book groups. All week I have been working on my presentation, pulling together titles that I think will be fun --- and discussable. Full details and registration information is here. Hoping to see some of you there!
We’ll be back with another update in two weeks, and in it will be a book that I cannot stop talking about; it already has an astonishing 1,000 five-star reviews on Amazon. Check back to see what it is. Enjoy your discussion with your group!
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, ReadingGroupGuides.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest:
Enter to Win 12 Copies of the Paperback Edition of
THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah for Your Group
Each month, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. Note: To be eligible to win, let us know the title of the book that YOUR book group is CURRENTLY reading, NOT the title we are giving away.
This month's prize book is THE NIGHTINGALE, Kristin Hannah's longtime bestseller that that is now available in paperback for the first time. The novel tells the stories of two sisters --- separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance --- each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Tuesday, May 9th at noon ET.
THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah (Historical Fiction)
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.
Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious 18-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.
With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. THE NIGHTINGALE tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France --- a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
- Click here for the reading group guide.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
Click here to enter the contest.
Special Contest: Enter to Win 12 Copies of
THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER by Jean Hanff Korelitz
for Your Group
We are celebrating the release of THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER --- Jean Hanff Korelitz's new novel about a college president, a baffling student protest, and some of the most hot-button issues on today's college campuses --- with a special contest that will give three groups the chance to win 12 copies of the book. To enter, please fill out this form by Tuesday, May 9th at noon ET.
THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER by Jean Hanff Korelitz (Fiction)
Naomi Roth is the first female president of Webster College, a once conservative school now known for producing fired-up, progressive graduates. So Naomi isn’t surprised or unduly alarmed when Webster students begin the fall semester with an outdoor encampment around The Stump --- a traditional campus gathering place for generations of student activists --- to protest a popular professor’s denial of tenure. A former student radical herself, Naomi admires the protestors’ passion, especially when her own daughter, Hannah, joins their ranks.
Then Omar Khayal, a charismatic Palestinian student with a devastating personal history, emerges as the group’s leader, and the demonstration begins to consume Naomi’s life, destabilizing Webster College from the inside out. As the crisis slips beyond her control, Naomi must take increasingly desperate measures to protect her friends, colleagues, and family from an unknowable adversary.
Touching on some of the most topical and controversial concerns at the heart of our society, this riveting novel examines the fragility that lies behind who we think we are --- and what we think we believe.
- Click here for the reading group guide.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
Click here to enter the contest.
New Guide: BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS
by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Now Available in Paperback
BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Fiction)
The daughter of a poor sweet-maker in rural Bengal, India, Sabitri yearns to get an education. However, her family’s situation makes college an impossible dream. Then an influential woman from Kolkata takes Sabitri under her wing, but her generosity curdles after a single, unforgivable misstep. Years later, Sabitri’s daughter, Bela, haunted by her mother’s choices, flees to America with her political refugee lover, only to find the country --- and love --- vastly different from her imaginings. Forced to forge her own path, Bela unwittingly imprints her own child, Tara, with dangerous lessons about adulthood that will take a lifetime to unlearn.
In her latest novel, now available in paperback, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores the relationships between mothers and daughters, and the different kinds of love that bind us across generations. BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS captures the gorgeous complexity of these multi-generational and transcontinental bonds, sweeping across the 20th century from the countryside of Bengal, India, to the streets of Houston, Texas --- an extraordinary journey told through a sparkling symphony of male and female voices.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here for the reading group guide.
New Guide: THE COLOR OF OUR SKY by Amita Trasi
THE COLOR OF OUR SKY by Amita Trasi (Fiction)
India, 1986: Mukta, a 10-year-old village girl from the lower caste Yellama cult, has come of age and must fulfill her destiny of becoming a temple prostitute, as her mother and grandmother did before her. In an attempt to escape her fate, Mukta is sent to be a house girl for an upper-middle class family in Mumbai. There she discovers a friend in the daughter of the family, high-spirited eight-year-old Tara, who helps her recover from the wounds of her past. Tara introduces Mukta to an entirely different world --- one of ice cream, reading and a friendship that soon becomes a sisterhood.
But one night in 1993, Mukta is kidnapped from Tara’s family home and disappears. Shortly thereafter, Tara and her father move to America. A new life in Los Angeles awaits them, but Tara never recovers from the loss of her best friend, or stops wondering if she was somehow responsible for Mukta's abduction.
Eleven years later, Tara, now an adult, returns to India determined to find Mukta. As her search takes her into the brutal underground world of human trafficking, Tara begins to uncover long-buried secrets in her own family that might explain what happened to Mukta --- and why she came to live with Tara’s family in the first place.
Moving from a traditional Indian village to the bustling modern metropolis of Mumbai, to Los Angeles and back again, this is a heartbreaking and beautiful portrait of an unlikely friendship --- a story of love, betrayal and, ultimately, redemption.
Click here for the reading group guide.
New Guide: THE DAY I DIED by Lori Rader-Day
THE DAY I DIED by Lori Rader-Day (Psychological Suspense)
Anna Winger can know people better than they know themselves with only a glance --- at their handwriting. Hired out by companies wanting to land trustworthy employees and by the lovelorn hoping to find happiness, Anna likes to keep the real-life mess of other people at arm’s length and on paper. But when she is called to use her expertise on a note left behind at a murder scene in the small town she and her son have recently moved to, the crime gets under Anna’s skin and rips open her narrow life for all to see. To save her son --- and herself --- once and for all, Anna will face her every fear, her every mistake, and the past she thought she'd rewritten.
Click here for the reading group guide.
Featured Guide: THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE by Lisa See
THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE by Lisa See (Fiction)
Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate --- the first automobile any of them have seen --- and a stranger arrives.
In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city.
After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations.
A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture and distance, THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to watch Lisa See talk about the book.
- Click here to visit Lisa See's website, where you can find details about how to have your own tea tasting, as well as background on Lisa's research.
Click here for the featured guide.
Featured Guide: THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN
by Ellen Herrick
THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN by Ellen Herrick (Fiction)
At the nursery she runs with her sisters on the New England coast, Sorrel Sparrow has honed her rare gift for nurturing plants and flowers. Now that reputation, and a stroke of good timing, lands Sorrel an unexpected opportunity: reviving a long-dormant Shakespearean garden on an English country estate.
Arriving at Kirkwood Hall, ancestral home of Sir Graham Kirkwood and his wife Stella, Sorrel is shocked by the desolate state of the walled garden. Generations have tried --- and failed --- to bring it back to glory. Sorrel senses heartbreak and betrayal here, perhaps even enchantment. Intrigued by the house’s history --- especially the haunting tapestries that grace its walls --- and increasingly drawn to Stella’s enigmatic brother, Sorrel sets to work. And though she knows her true home is across the sea with her sisters, instinct tells her that the English garden’s destiny is entwined with her own, if she can only unravel its secrets…
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here for the featured guide.
Now Available: CORK DORK by Bianca Bosker
CORK DORK: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste by Bianca Bosker (Memoir)
Amateur drinker and professional tech reporter Bianca Bosker didn't know much about wine --- until she stumbled on an alternate universe of master sommeliers who could, after a single sip, identify the grape a bottle was made from, in what year, and where it was produced, within acres. Astounded by their fanatical dedication and seemingly superhuman sensory powers, Bosker set out to discover what drove their obsession, and whether she, too, could become a "cork dork."
Thus begins a year-and-a-half-long adventure that takes the reader inside elite tasting groups, exclusive New York City restaurants, a California mass market wine "factory," and even a neuroscientist's fMRI machine as Bosker attempts to answer the most nagging question of all: what's the big deal about wine?
Counterintuitive, compulsively readable and hilarious, CORK DORK illuminates how tasting better can help us live better --- and will change the way you drink wine forever.
Click here to read more about the book.
ReadingGroupGuides.com's 6th Annual
BookExpo Speed Dating Event:
"Great Book Group Titles for Fall/Winter 2017"
On Friday, June 2nd, from 2:00pm to 3:50pm at BookExpo in New York, ReadingGroupGuides.com will host its 6th Annual Book Group Speed Dating Event.
Representatives from 24 publishers will be in attendance to share selections and book group news from their publishing houses in a speed-dating format designed to give booksellers, librarians and book group leaders an inside look at what book groups will want to know for fall and winter. Galley giveaways and ideas for enhancing book group discussions will be part of this event.
Advance signup is required by Monday, May 22nd at noon ET. Seating will be assigned. Fill out this form to sign up.
Please note: You must be registered to attend BookExpo in order to attend this session. If you are not, click here to register.
April Releases of Interest to Book Groups
AMERICAN WAR by Omar El Akkad (Fiction)
Omar El Akkad’s debut novel, which revolves around a second American Civil War, asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself.
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE by Elizabeth Strout (Fiction)
Elizabeth Strout’s new novel explores the whole range of human emotion through the intimate dramas of people struggling to understand themselves and others.
BEARTOWN by Fredrik Backman (Fiction)
BEARTOWN explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain.
THE HORSE DANCER by Jojo Moyes (Fiction)
THE HORSE DANCER is a quintessential Jojo Moyes novel about a lost girl and her horse, the enduring strength of friendship, and how even the smallest choices can change everything.
I FOUND YOU by Lisa Jewell (Psychological Suspense)
Two decades of secrets, a missing husband, and a man with no memory are at the heart of Lisa Jewell’s new novel of psychological suspense.
NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US by Stephanie Powell Watts (Fiction)
With echoes of THE GREAT GATSBY, Stephanie Powell Watts’ debut novel is about an extended African American family and their colliding visions of the American Dream.
THE RADIUM GIRLS: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore (Biography/History)
THE RADIUM GIRLS fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances.
THE STARS ARE FIRE by Anita Shreve (Historical Fiction)
From the bestselling author of THE WEIGHT OF WATER and THE PILOT’S WIFE (an Oprah's Book Club selection) comes a suspenseful new novel about an extraordinary young woman tested by a catastrophic event and its devastating aftermath, based on the true story of the largest fire in Maine's history.
Bookreporter.com's 12th Annual
Mother's Day Contest: Books Mom Will Love
Mother’s Day is a time to recognize the woman who raised and nurtured us. To celebrate, we're giving you the opportunity to win books and goodies for you or the special lady in your life in our 12th annual "Books Mom Will Love" contest. From now through Monday, May 15th at noon ET, readers can enter to win one of our five prize packages, which includes the books listed below, along with some delightful mom-themed treats. With books that are moving, uplifting, humorous and informative, look no further than Bookreporter.com for the perfect gift for Mom.
This year's featured titles are:
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BECOMING BONNIE by Jenni L. Walsh
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BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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THE DISTANCE HOME by Orly Konig
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DRIVING MISS NORMA: One Family's Journey Saying "Yes" to Living by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle
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FOOD, HEALTH, AND HAPPINESS: 115 On-Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life by Oprah Winfrey
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THE HONEYMOON by Dinitia Smith
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INHERITANCE FROM MOTHER by Minae Mizumura
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JACKIE'S GIRL: My Life with the Kennedy Family by Kathy McKeon
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LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly
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THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah
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ON TURPENTINE LANE by Elinor Lipman
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THE THINGS YOU CAN SEE ONLY WHEN YOU SLOW DOWN: How to Be Calm and Mindful in a Fast-Paced World written by Haemin Sunim, illustrated by Youngcheol Lee, translated by Chi-Young Kim and Haemin Sunim
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WHITE SAND, BLUE SEA: A St. Barts Love Story by Anita Hughes
Click here to enter the contest.
Enter Our Ongoing Bookreporter.com Contests:
"Word of Mouth" and "Sounding Off on Audio"
Word of Mouth Contest:
Tell Us What You're Reading --- and You Can Win Two Books!
Tell us about the books you’ve finished reading with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from April 14th to April 28th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of BEARTOWN by Fredrik Backman and I FOUND YOU by Lisa Jewell.
To make sure other readers will be able to find the books you write about, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For rules and guidelines, click here.
Click here to enter the contest.
Sounding Off on Audio Contest:
Tell Us What You're Listening to --- and You Can Win Two Audiobooks!
Tell us about the audiobooks you’ve finished listening to with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for both the performance and the content. During the contest period from April 3rd to May 1st at noon ET, two lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win the audio versions of Steve Berry's THE LOST ORDER, read by Scott Brick, and Lisa Scottoline's ONE PERFECT LIE, read by George Newbern.
To make sure other readers will be able to find the audiobook, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For complete rules and guidelines, click here.
Click here to enter the contest.
The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:
BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Fiction)
In her latest novel, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores the relationships between mothers and daughters, and the different kinds of love that bind us across generations.
THE COLOR OF OUR SKY by Amita Trasi (Fiction)
In the spirit of Khaled Hosseini, Nadia Hashimi and Shilpi Somaya Gowda comes this powerful debut from a talented new voice --- a sweeping, emotional journey of two childhood friends in Mumbai, India, whose lives converge only to change forever one fateful night.
THE DAY I DIED by Lori Rader-Day (Psychological Suspense)
From the award-winning author of LITTLE PRETTY THINGS comes this gripping, unforgettable tale of a mother's desperate search for a lost boy.
THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER by Jean Hanff Korelitz (Fiction)
From the New York Times bestselling author of YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN and ADMISSION comes a twisty new novel about a college president, a baffling student protest and some of the most hot-button issues on today's college campuses.
THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN by Ellen Herrick (Fiction)
Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Sarah Jio, THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN is a lush imaginative novel that takes readers into the heart of a mysterious English country garden, waiting to spring to life.
THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE by Lisa See (Fiction)
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See comes a moving story about tradition, tea farming, and the enduring connection between mothers and daughters.
Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they released in hardcover, are now available in paperback:
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr (Historical Fiction)
Highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr's instant New York Times bestseller is about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
THE NEST by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (Fiction)
THE NEST is a warm, funny and acutely perceptive debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of the shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and their lives.
THE SHATTERED TREE: A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
World War I battlefield nurse Bess Crawford goes to dangerous lengths to investigate a wounded soldier’s background.
THE SOUND OF GRAVEL: A Memoir by Ruth Wariner (Memoir)
THE SOUND OF GRAVEL is a riveting, deeply affecting true story of one girl’s coming-of-age in a polygamist family.
THE VERSIONS OF US by Laura Barnett (Fiction)
A dazzling novel about the ways the smallest decisions give shape to our lives, THE VERSIONS OF US charts a relationship through three possible futures.
This Month's Poll: Authors at Your Meetings?
Are you interested in having authors at your book group meetings? Please check all that apply.
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We’ve had authors attend our meetings.
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Yes, we've had an author call in.
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Yes, we've Skyped with authors.
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No, but we have attended author talks and signings as a book group and used the experience to shape our discussions.
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No, but we've emailed our questions to authors and used their responses during our discussion.
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No, but we would like to Skype or speak by phone with authors during a meeting.
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No, but we would like to have authors attend our meetings.
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No, because the location of our meetings does not permit us to host, call or Skype with an author.
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No, because we do not know how to go about inviting an author to participate in our meetings.
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Other (Please specify)
Click here to vote in the poll by Tuesday, May 9th at noon ET.
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