|
Discussing Books at Libraries, a Park and an Airport
I spent two great evenings with readers this week, both return engagements to locations where I had been last year. I presented 55+ titles that are perfect for summer reading while also giving readers a peek ahead to some great books for fall/winter. I have read many of these books, and it was fun to share my anecdotes about them, as well as information on the authors.
My first stop was Tuesday night at the kickoff event for the Rockville Centre Public Library in New York, where more than half the attendees had been at last year’s program. Then it was on to the Avalon Free Public Library. While both of these events had very avid readers in attendance, it was fun to share many books that they were not aware of. Throughout both evenings, at times I asked for a show of hands of who had read select books already. It was interesting to see what already had resonated with the group, and then hear their thoughts on the books they most were looking forward to reading after attending the presentation. On Tuesday night, more than half the audience was in a book group. Thanks to Sarah Siegel and Eileen McCarthy in Rockville Centre, and Erin Brown and Nina Ranalli in Avalon, for hosting these events.
While I love writing our newsletter and answering reader emails, there is something VERY special about talking to readers in person. After both events, I enjoyed conversing with audience members and hearing their own stories about books and authors. It harkened me back to the early days of Bookreporter.com when we had chat rooms where readers would talk about books --- 24/7.
For my favorite impromptu book group idea: Mark Sullivan told me that he heard from a reader of BENEATH A SCARLET SKY that she ran into four people at a gate at Newark Airport and they all had the book in hand. They went on to have an impromptu book group discussion right there in the waiting area!
In our reader mail, I heard from Terri, who shared a photo of the coffee mug above and this note: “Thought you would enjoy this email from one of my non-book club friends. I enjoy reading your newsletter each week. Thank you so much for recommending new and different genres and authors.”
Elaine wrote with this question. I thought you might have suggestions: “My book group and our Red Hats Ladies group would like to combine the two groups for a bus trip. I would like to perhaps find a book about a bus trip to have my book group read. When my ladies pick a book to facilitate, they usually find a theme, whether it be a luncheon or some kind of theme that corresponds with the book. For instance, we read ALL THE STARS IN THE HEAVENS, so we had a Hollywood Cocktail Party Luncheon. So if you can help with finding the right type of book, I would appreciate it. Thank you very much for your very prompt response.” Ideas for Elaine, let me know by writing me at [email protected]!
I was so happy to learn this week that BEHOLD THE DREAMERS, which won the 2017 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick when it released last August, is Oprah’s latest Book Club Pick. Now available in paperback, Imbolo Mbue’s debut novel explores the pitfalls and promises of the American Dream through an immigration narrative as it intersects with the recession. According to Oprah, the book is "about race and class, the economy, culture, immigration and the danger of the Us vs. Them mentality. And underneath it all comes the heart and soul of family love, the pursuit of happiness and what home really means."
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant, has worked tirelessly to come to the United States, bring over his wife Neni and their six-year-old son Liomi, and make a life for them in a small Harlem apartment. It’s 2007, and Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive. But the company Clark works for is Lehman Brothers. Jende begins to overhear some unnerving conversations while Neni uncovers a side to Clark’s wife that she intended to keep secret. As the carefully constructed façades fall, neither family will remain the same. We have a discussion guide for the book here, along with a review on Bookreporter.com and my Bets On commentary.
In other news this week, the American Library Association (ALA) officially launched Book Club Central with Honorary Chair Sarah Jessica Parker’s inaugural book selection, NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US by Stephanie Powell Watts. Billed by the publisher as “THE GREAT GATSBY brilliantly recast in the contemporary South,” NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US introduces readers to JJ Ferguson, who has come back home to Pinewood, North Carolina, to build his dream house and pursue his high school sweetheart. But as he reenters his former world, where factories are in decline and the legacy of Jim Crow is still felt, he’s surprised to find that the people he once knew and loved have changed just as much as he has. Click here for the discussion guide and here for our review on Bookreporter.com.
There’s still time to enter this month’s “What’s Your Book Group Reading?” contest, where three groups will win 12 copies of THE HAMILTON AFFAIR by Elizabeth Cobbs, which is now in paperback and tells the sweeping, tumultuous, true love story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler. All you have to do is fill out the form on this page by Monday, July 10th at noon ET.
Also continuing is our contest for the Pulitzer Prize-winning ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr, another Bets On pick. We’re giving three groups the chance to win 12 paperback copies of this New York Times bestseller 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. To enter, please fill out this form by Monday, July 10th at noon ET. You can read our Bookreporter.com review here and my Bets On commentary here.
Be sure to vote in our latest poll if you haven’t done so already. We’re asking: “In what year was the book that you most recently read with your book group published?” Let us know by Monday, July 10th at noon ET. Thus far, your answers to this question have been very interesting, so please weigh in!
For months now, I’ve been raving about Mary Kay Andrews’ THE BEACH HOUSE COOKBOOK (her first cookbook) and all the fabulous dishes I’ve made from it, including scalloped potatoes, romaine grapefruit avocado salad, cherry-cola marinated ribs and carrot cake. What I love is that MKA (as we call her around the office) has organized menus, as well as prose that shares her personal relationships with these recipes. So I am thrilled to announce a special contest that we launched yesterday on Bookreporter.com that will give five readers the chance to win their very own copy of THE BEACH HOUSE COOKBOOK. To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, July 5th at noon ET. Your mouths are guaranteed to water as you come across recipes for cherry balsamic-glazed lamb chops, charcoal-grilled oysters, lemon bar trifle, and so much more. The other night, my friend Beverley also noted to me that each of the recipes are all on one page, which makes for easy reading as you prepare them.
Don’t miss the other contests we have running on Bookreporter.com, which include our Summer Reading giveaways, and our ongoing Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio contests. And while you’re there, do consider taking our Thriller Book Cover Survey. We’re looking for your thoughts on two potential book covers for a thriller coming out next February. Once you’ve completed the survey, you’ll be eligible to enter to win one of 15 copies of a book and a tote bag. Check further down this newsletter for details on all of these features!
In 2008, we all fell in love with NOVEL DESTINATIONS: A Travel Guide to Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West, written by Shannon McKenna Schmidt (a former staffer here who worked on the initial launch of ReadingGroupGuides.com) and Joni Rendon (who was a contributing writer at Bookreporter.com). It’s a guide for bibliophiles to more than 500 literary sites across the United States and Europe. We are happy to share that a fully revised second edition is now available, and includes all of the previous sites --- with updated locations --- plus color images and an expanded section on all things Brontë.
The book begins with thematic chapters covering author houses and museums, literary festivals and walking tours. This is followed by in-depth explorations of authors and places that take readers roaming Franz Kafka's Prague, James Joyce's Dublin, Louisa May Alcott's New England, and numerous other locales. We covered NOVEL DESTINATIONS on Bookreporter.com when it first released nine years ago; you can check out our review here.
Shannon is in a book group, and recently they did their book group meeting in Central Park where they listened to the New York Philharmonic while talking about THE BOOK THAT MATTERS MOST by Ann Hood. One of their members brought her infant daughter, who was dubbed a junior guest member.
Here’s wishing you a brilliant 4th of July! Read on, and have a great week.
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 HAMILTON AFFAIR by Elizabeth Cobbs
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 HAMILTON AFFAIR by Elizabeth Cobbs, which is now available in paperback and tells the sweeping, tumultuous, true story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler --- from passionate and tender beginnings to his fateful duel on the banks of the Hudson River. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Monday, July 10th at noon ET.
THE HAMILTON AFFAIR by Elizabeth Cobbs (Historical Fiction)
Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Revolution, and featuring a cast of legendary characters, THE HAMILTON AFFAIR tells the sweeping, tumultuous, true story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler, from passionate and tender beginnings to his fateful duel on the banks of the Hudson River.
Hamilton was a bastard and orphan, raised in the Caribbean and desperate for legitimacy, who became one of the American Revolution’s most dashing --- and improbable --- heroes. Admired by George Washington, scorned by Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton was a lightning rod: the most controversial leader of the new nation. Elizabeth was the wealthy, beautiful, adventurous daughter of the respectable Schuyler clan --- and a pioneering advocate for women. Together, the unlikely couple braved the dangers of war, the perils of seduction, the anguish of infidelity and the scourge of partisanship that menaced their family and the country itself.
With brilliantly drawn characters and an epic scope, THE HAMILTON AFFAIR tells a story of love forged in revolution and tested by the bitter strife of young America.
- Click here for the reading group guide.
Click here to enter the contest.
Special Contest: Enter to Win 12 Copies of the
Paperback Edition of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
by Anthony Doerr for Your Group
We are celebrating the recent paperback release of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE --- Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 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 --- 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 Monday, July 10th at noon ET.
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr (Historical Fiction)
Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure’s agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.
In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.
Doerr’s gorgeous combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is his most ambitious and dazzling work.
- 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.
Featured Guide: BEHOLD THE DREAMERS
by Imbolo Mbue
Oprah’s Latest Book Club Pick
BEHOLD THE DREAMERS by Imbolo Mbue (Fiction)
A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream, BEHOLD THE DREAMERS is the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy.
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion and loyalty --- and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.
However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades.
When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job --- even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
- Click here to watch a video of Oprah explaining her latest Book Club selection.
Click here for the featured guide.
Featured Guide: NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US
by Stephanie Powell Watts
Sarah Jessica Parker's First ALA Book Club Central Pick
NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US by Stephanie Powell Watts (Fiction)
JJ Ferguson has returned home to Pinewood, North Carolina, to build his dream house and to pursue his high school sweetheart, Ava. But as he reenters his former world, where factories are in decline and the legacy of Jim Crow is still felt, he’s startled to find that the people he once knew and loved have changed just as much as he has. Ava is now married and desperate for a baby, though she can’t seem to carry one to term. Her husband, Henry, has grown distant, frustrated by the demise of the furniture industry, which has outsourced to China and stripped the area of jobs. Ava’s mother, Sylvia, caters to and meddles with the lives of those around her, trying to fill the void left by her absent son. And Don, Sylvia’s unworthy but charming husband, just won’t stop hanging around.
JJ’s return --- and his plans to build a huge mansion overlooking Pinewood and woo Ava --- not only unsettles their family, but stirs up the entire town. The ostentatious wealth that JJ has attained forces everyone to consider the cards they’ve been dealt, what more they want and deserve, and how they might go about getting it. Can they reorient their lives to align with their wishes rather than their current realities? Or are they all already resigned to the rhythms of the particular lives they lead?
NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US is a revelatory debut from an insightful voice; with echoes of THE GREAT GATSBY, it is an arresting and powerful novel about an extended African American family and their colliding visions of the American Dream. In evocative prose, Stephanie Powell Watts has crafted a full and stunning portrait that combines a universally resonant story with an intimate glimpse into the hearts of one family.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to visit the ALA Book Club Central website and see why Sarah Jessica Parker chose this book as its inaugural pick.
Click here for the featured guide.
June Releases of Interest to Book Groups
THE BRIGHT HOUR: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs (Memoir)
Nina Riggs was just 37 years old when initially diagnosed with breast cancer. Within a year, the mother of two sons received the devastating news that her cancer was terminal. What makes a meaningful life when one has limited time?
THE CHILD by Fiona Barton (Psychological Thriller)
As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby?
COCOA BEACH by Beatriz Williams (Historical Fiction)
Burdened by a dark family secret, Virginia Fortescue flees her oppressive home in New York City for the battlefields of World War I France. As the war rages, Virginia falls into a passionate affair with the dashing Captain Simon Fitzwilliam, only to discover that his past has its own dark secrets --- secrets that will damage their eventual marriage.
EVERY LAST LIE by Mary Kubica (Psychological Thriller)
Clara Solberg's world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident…until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon.
EVERYBODY'S SON by Thrity Umrigar (Fiction)
Thrity Umrigar explores issues of race, class, privilege and power, and asks us to consider uncomfortable moral questions in this emotionally wrenching novel of two families --- one black, one white.
HUNGER: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay (Memoir)
As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,” Roxane Gay understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In HUNGER, she casts an insightful and critical eye on her childhood, teens and 20s, and brings readers into the present and the realities, pains and joys of her daily life.
THE IDENTICALS by Elin Hilderbrand (Fiction)
Harper Frost, laid-back and easygoing, has inherited her father’s rundown house on Martha’s Vineyard. Tabitha Frost, dignified and refined, has inherited a flailing fashion boutique on Nantucket. After more than a decade apart, Harper and Tabitha switch islands --- and lives --- to save what's left of their splintered family.
KISS CARLO by Adriana Trigiani (Historical Fiction)
It’s 1949, and South Philadelphia bursts with opportunity during the post-war boom. The Palazzini Cab Company & Western Union Telegraph Office, owned and operated by Dominic Palazzini and his three sons, is flourishing. But a decades-long feud that split Dominic and his brother, Mike, and their once-close families sets the stage for a re-match.
LOVE STORY: The Baxter Family, Book 1 by Karen Kingsbury (Romance)
John and Elizabeth's whirlwind romance started when they were young college students and lasted nearly 30 years --- until Elizabeth died of cancer. When John is asked to relive his long-ago love story with Elizabeth for his grandson Cole’s heritage project, he reluctantly agrees and allows his heart and soul to go places they haven’t gone in decades.
THE SUNSHINE SISTERS by Jane Green (Fiction)
Ronni Sunshine left London for Hollywood to become a beautiful, charismatic star of the silver screen. But at home, she was a narcissistic, disinterested mother who alienated her three daughters. Still, when Ronni discovers she has a serious illness, she calls her now-adult girls home to fulfill her final wishes.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME: A Memoir by Sherman Alexie (Memoir)
Family relationships are never simple. But Sherman Alexie's bond with his mother Lillian was more complex than most. When she passed away, the incongruities that defined his mother shook Sherman and his remembrance of her. Grappling with the haunting ghosts of the past in the wake of loss, he responded the only way he knew how: he wrote.
New Guide: THE ANSWERS by Catherine Lacey
THE ANSWERS by Catherine Lacey (Fiction)
In Catherine Lacey’s ambitious second novel, we are introduced to Mary, a young woman living in New York City and struggling to cope with a body that has betrayed her. All but paralyzed with pain, Mary seeks relief from a New Agey treatment called Pneuma Adaptive Kinesthesia, PAKing for short. And, remarkably, it works. But PAKing is prohibitively expensive and Mary is dead broke. So she scours Craigslist for fast-cash jobs and finds herself applying for the “Girlfriend Experiment,” the brainchild of an eccentric actor, Kurt Sky, who is determined to find the perfect relationship --- even if that means paying different women to fulfill distinctive roles. Mary is hired as the “Emotional Girlfriend” --- certainly better than the “Anger Girlfriend” or the “Maternal Girlfriend” --- and is pulled into Kurt’s ego-driven and messy attempt at human connection.
Told in her signature spiraling prose, THE ANSWERS is full of the singular yet universal insights readers have come to expect from Lacey. It is a gorgeous hybrid of the plot- and the idea-driven novel that will leave you reeling.
Click here for the reading group guide.
New Guide: LOVE AND OTHER HAZARDS
by Claudia Riess
LOVE AND OTHER HAZARDS by Claudia Riess (Fiction)
Glenda Fieldston is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her seven-year-old daughter, Astrid, who is inspecting the anatomically correct parts of a male statue. Glenda considers this an appropriate learning experience since Astrid, whose father is an anonymous sperm donor, has never seen a nude male. Eugene Lerman is walking by at a distance with his eight-year-old daughter, Meredith, a schoolmate of Astrid’s. Meredith spots Astrid and is grossed out. Eugene has a prudish twinge. Glenda and Eugene, who have never met, engage in long-range cursory assessments, and the families go their separate ways.
But not for long. Glenda, a consultant at a computer firm, is scheduled to upgrade the computer system of a medical publishing company, where Eugene, she discovers, is an editor. In the course of analyzing the system, Glenda uncovers signs of fraudulent activity and is charged with the task of finding its source. The process takes an extended period of time and brings Glenda and Eugene into close association.
So begins a friendship fraught with complications. Glenda’s independence is self-imposed and fierce. Eugene’s was foisted on him by a wife who left him. Although Glenda’s and Eugene’s personal demons are incompatible, their longings are, confoundedly, in harmony. Their cautious friendship is further inhibited by past and present relationships, and it remains to be seen if they can break out of their set ways --- and mindsets --- to make a break for uncharted love.
Click here for the reading group guide.
New Guide: HIS FROZEN FINGERTIPS
by Charlotte Bowyer
HIS FROZEN FINGERTIPS by Charlotte Bowyer (Fantasy)
When he is diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition at the age of 17, Asa is certain that his adventures have come to an end. He is alone, having been abandoned by parents who never wanted him and a village that couldn’t raise him. However, as the bells start to ring, those are the least of his problems. The evil sorcerer Erebus has the land of Eodem under his control. Thrust into a world of distrust and aggression, Asa can rely on just one person: his friend Averett. The wall that divides Eodem seems to be an unobtainable goal, and danger is always one step ahead.
Click here for the reading group guide.
Bookreporter.com Bets On:
THE BRIGHT HOUR by Nina Riggs
and BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate
THE BRIGHT HOUR: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs (Memoir)
We all have a list of books that we have read and know we will reflect on long afterwards. For me, THE BRIGHT HOUR, a memoir by Nina Riggs, sits firmly on that list.
While she was 37 and still undergoing a first treatment round for her breast cancer, Nina learned that her cancer already had metastasized and her prognosis sharply dimmed. After reading a “Modern Love” column that Nina wrote for The New York Times on September 23, 2016 about looking for the perfect couch for her family, it was clear that there was a bigger story there to be told. The clock was ticking…loudly. Nina wrote this book between October 2016 and January 2017 (yes, in three months), and it was published last week. Sadly Nina passed away before the book released; she did get to see the cover and the bound manuscript, which she even edited. She leaves behind a beautiful book about how you live when you are dealt a bad hand.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read a review.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary.
BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate (Fiction)
Lisa Wingate’s BEFORE WE WERE YOURS is historical fiction based on a real-life scandal. Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country. Lisa tells their story writing parallel tales --- one set in 1939 and one in the present day.
In Memphis in 1939, Rill Foss and her family are living on a Mississippi River shantyboat. To them, this home is filled with love and joy. They do not know that they are living lives in abject poverty; they know the love of family. One night their father races to get their mother to a hospital, leaving Rill in charge of her four younger siblings. She’s holding it together until strangers arrive to take the children away from the world they know, noting that this is for their own good.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read a review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary.
Take a Quick Thriller Book Cover Survey
and Enter to Win a Prize!
In Bookreporter.com's first Thriller Book Club Survey, we are looking for your thoughts on two potential book covers for MISTER TENDER'S GIRL by Carter Wilson, a psychological thriller that will be released in February 2018. Once you’ve completed the survey, you’ll be eligible to enter to win one of 15 copies of a book and a tote bag from the survey's sponsor. Please note that only U.S. residents are eligible to win. The survey is quick --- it should take you only 10 minutes, and your feedback would be greatly appreciated. We love offering opportunities like this to our readers to actively participate in getting books you want to read in your hands. The survey is open until Friday, July 14th at noon ET.
MISTER TENDER'S GIRL by Carter Wilson (Psychological Thriller)
At 14, Alice Hill was viciously attacked by two of her classmates and left to die. The teens claim she was a sacrifice for a man called Mister Tender, but that could never be true: Mister Tender doesn't exist. His sinister character is pop-culture fiction, nothing more.
Over a decade later, Alice has changed her name and is trying to heal. But someone is watching her. They know more about Alice than any stranger: her scars, her fears and the secrets she keeps locked away. She can try to escape her past, but he is never far behind.
Addictive and chillingly surprising, this ripped-from-the-headlines thriller will have you transfixed until the very last page.
Click here to take the survey.
Bookreporter.com's Summer Reading
Contests and Feature
Summer is here! At Bookreporter.com, this means it's time for us to share some great summer book picks with our Summer Reading Contests and Feature. We are hosting a series of 24-hour contests for these titles on select days through August 24th, so you will have to check the site each day to see the featured prize book and enter to win. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.
Click here to read all the contest details
and see the prize books being awarded in May, June, July and August.
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 June 23rd to July 7th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of THE CHILD by Fiona Barton and COCOA BEACH by Beatriz Williams.
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 June 1st to July 5th at noon ET, two lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win the audio versions of Fiona Barton's THE CHILD, read by Mandy Williams and Rosalyn Landor with a full cast, and THE SUNSHINE SISTERS written and read by Jane Green.
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:
THE ANSWERS by Catherine Lacey (Fiction)
In Catherine Lacey’s THE ANSWERS, an eccentric actor, Kurt Sky, is determined to find the perfect relationship --- even if it means paying women to fulfill distinctive roles in his Girlfriend Experiment. Mary is hired as the “Emotional Girlfriend,” which is certainly better than the “Anger Girlfriend” or the “Maternal Girlfriend,” and is pulled into Kurt’s ego-driven and messy attempt at human connection.
THE HAMILTON AFFAIR by Elizabeth Cobbs (Historical Fiction)
THE HAMILTON AFFAIR tells the sweeping, tumultuous, true story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler --- from passionate and tender beginnings to his fateful duel on the banks of the Hudson River.
HIS FROZEN FINGERTIPS by Charlotte Bowyer (Fantasy)
Thrust into a world of evil sorcerers and a magical quest, Asa can rely only on his friend Averett to survive and reach the land of Eodem.
LOVE AND OTHER HAZARDS by Claudia Riess (Fiction)
LOVE AND OTHER HAZARDS is a novel about urban singles stumbling toward fulfillment in an odyssey of sex, love and parenting. Each accompanied by their young daughters who are schoolmates, Glenda Fieldston and Eugene Lerman assess each other for the first time while Glenda’s daughter is studying the details of a statue at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Then the families go their separate ways, but not for long.
MISSISSIPPI BLOOD by Greg Iles (Thriller)
MISSISSIPPI BLOOD is the enthralling conclusion to a breathtaking trilogy seven years in the making --- one that has kept readers on the edge of their seats. Greg Iles illuminates the brutal history of the American South in a highly atmospheric and suspenseful novel that delivers the shocking resolution his fans have eagerly awaited.
NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US by Stephanie Powell Watts (Fiction)
NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US is a revelatory debut from an insightful voice; with echoes of THE GREAT GATSBY, it is an arresting and powerful novel about an extended African American family and their colliding visions of the American Dream.
SAME BEACH, NEXT YEAR by Dorothea Benton Frank (Fiction)
New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank returns to her magical Lowcountry of South Carolina in this bewitching story of marriage, love, family and friendship that is infused with her warm and engaging earthy humor and generous heart.
Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they released in hardcover, are now available in paperback:
BEHOLD THE DREAMERS by Imbolo Mbue (Fiction)
A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream, BEHOLD THE DREAMERS is the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy.
NEWS OF THE WORLD by Paulette Jiles (Historical Fiction)
In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people.
This Month's Poll: Publication Year of
Your Most Recent Book Group Read
In what year was the book that you most recently read with your book group published?
-
2017
-
2016
-
2015
-
2014
-
2013
-
2012
-
Earlier than 2012
Click here to vote in the poll by Monday, July 10th at noon ET.
|
