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Carol thinks she and her book group would pick LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly to be their favorite book of the year. Their January selection will be BECOMING by Michelle Obama.
The first official trailer for the "Downton Abbey" movie (in theaters next September) has been released.
Here’s to Looking Back on a Great Year of Reading!
This is the time of year when “Best Books of the Year” lists are popping up everywhere. You can see a number of them here, including ones from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, People, Time, Huffington Post, Publishers Weekly, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Goodreads.
Now it’s YOUR turn! Once again, we would like you and your book group to help us compile ReadingGroupGuides.com’s “Best of 2018” list. Click here to share both your favorite book that you read with your group this year and your favorite book that you read outside your group. One Grand Prize winner will receive a collection of six outstanding book group titles releasing in 2019: THE AGE OF LIGHT by Whitney Scharer, THE GIRLS AT 17 SWANN STREET by Yara Zgheib, THE HUNTRESS by Kate Quinn, THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN by Lisa See, LOST ROSES by Martha Hall Kelly, and THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM by Marie Benedict. I promise that each of these is discussion worthy!
The deadline for your entries is Thursday, January 31st at noon ET. We plan to share our reader-compiled "Best Of" list with you in February.
Please note: Your favorite book that you discussed with your group CAN be the same as your favorite book of the year. And they don't have to have been published in 2018.
Next month, we also will share our list of the “Most Requested Guides of 2018” --- the guides that were accessed most frequently by you this year. I always love seeing which books resonated the most with you and your group!
I think my nascent book group would vote LILAC GIRLS as our favorite book of the year! At our meeting on Monday night, I was excited to share that I was able to arrange for them to receive advance reading copies of the aforementioned LOST ROSES, Martha Hall Kelly’s upcoming book, which will be our discussion book for February. I wonder if we can arrange to speak with Martha during our meeting. For January, we are reading BECOMING by Michelle Obama, for which we featured the guide in the last newsletter. Note: We chatted for a moment about whether it would be political, and decided we would put all politics aside and read it as it's a book people are talking about. Some will listen on audio. On Monday night, we watched Crazy Rich Asians and ate Chinese food and holiday cookies. There was way too much food, and many, many, many laughs. I have thoroughly enjoyed our discussions and the warm camaraderie; we laugh a lot!
This month’s update features two books that you may want to consider discussing with your group. First up is Diane Setterfield’s new novel, ONCE UPON A RIVER. On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. While the regulars tell stories to pass the time away, a seriously wounded stranger bursts through the door. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of which are quite dark. Be sure to check out these links: the discussion guide, our review on Bookreporter.com, and our interview with the author.
Now available in paperback is Marisa de los Santos’ latest novel, I’LL BE YOUR BLUE SKY. On the weekend of her wedding, Clare Hobbes meets an elderly woman named Edith Herron. During the course of a single conversation, Edith gives Clare the courage to break off her engagement to her overly possessive fiancé. Three weeks later, Clare learns that Edith has died and has given her another gift: Blue Sky House. Though the former guest house has been empty for years, Clare feels a deep connection to Edith inside its walls. As she peels back the layers of Edith’s life, Clare discovers a story of dark secrets, passionate love, heartbreaking sacrifice and incredible courage --- while also making startling discoveries about herself. Click here for the discussion guide and here for our Bookreporter.com review.
Continuing through early January is our two-month-long “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest, where the prize book is THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL by Robert Dugoni, which is a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Three groups will 12 copies of the novel, a coming-of-age story about a boy who was born with red pupils. Be sure to enter by filling out the form on this page by Wednesday, January 9th at noon ET. Click here for the discussion guide, and don’t miss our review on Bookreporter.com and my Bets On commentary.
Wednesday, January 9th at noon ET is also the deadline to answer our current poll. We’ve listed 20 book group-favorite authors, and we’re asking you if you’ve read any of their books with your group. Click here to cast your votes!
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL is one of the 45(!) books we’re awarding to the Grand Prize winner of Bookreporter.com’s End-of-the-Year contest, featuring all of my Bets On picks from this year. Nine other winners will receive a selection of five of these titles. Be sure to enter here by Monday, January 7th at noon ET.
If you haven’t taken a look at this year’s Holiday Author Blog series on Bookreporter.com, I highly recommend that you do. We have some lovely pieces from authors reminiscing about the books they’ve given or received during the holidays; I love reading these essays each year. Thus far we’ve heard from Fiona Davis, T. Greenwood, Bonnie Kistler, John Lescroart, Lynda Cohen Loigman, Alex Michaelides, James Rollins, Whitney Scharer and Lisa Wingate. Don’t miss our final holiday author blog on Saturday, December 22nd, when Kate Morton will talk about the very special Christmas Eve she spent in Australia with her grandmother in 2002.
The first trailer for the film adaptation of “Downton Abbey,” which will hit theaters next September, has been made available. Click here to take a look.
We have a number of plans that we are hatching for the new year…so stay tuned. If you see friends over the holidays, be sure to tell them about ReadingGroupGuides.com. We love it when you share our website and newsletter with your friends --- it is the best gift we can receive.
Here’s wishing you a brilliant holiday season and all good things for 2019! We will be back with our next update the second week in January. Happy New Year!
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping (including your holiday shopping), if you use the store links below, ReadingGroupGuides.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
New Special Contest: Share Your Favorite Books of 2018 and Enter to Win Six Great Book Group Titles
Coming Out in 2019!
This is the time of year when everyone is posting “Best Books of the Year” lists. We would like you and your book group to help us compile ours! Click here to share both your favorite book that you read with your group this year and your favorite book that you read outside your group by Thursday, January 31st at noon ET. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded six great book group titles releasing in 2019.
Please note: Your favorite book that you discussed with your group CAN be the same as your favorite book of the year. And they don't need to have been published in 2018. Also, please be careful with the spelling of book titles and authors’ first and last names to save us editing time.
We will have our reader-compiled "Best Of" list to share with you in early February. We cannot wait to see what you select!
Click here to share your favorite books of 2018 and enter the contest.
New Guide: ONCE UPON A RIVER by Diane Setterfield
ONCE UPON A RIVER by Diane Setterfield (Historical Mystery)
On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed.
Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child herself is mute and unable to answer the essential questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless.
Three families are keen to claim her. A wealthy young mother knows the girl is her kidnapped daughter, missing for two years. A farming family reeling from the discovery of their son’s secret liaison stand ready to welcome their granddaughter. The parson’s housekeeper, humble and isolated, sees in the child the image of her younger sister. But the return of a lost child is not without complications, and no matter how heartbreaking the past losses, no matter how precious the child herself, this girl cannot be everyone’s. Each family has mysteries of its own, and many secrets must be revealed before the girl’s identity can be known.
ONCE UPON A RIVER is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth. Suspenseful, romantic and richly atmospheric, the beginning of this novel will sweep you away on a powerful current of storytelling, transporting you through worlds both real and imagined, to the triumphant conclusion whose depths will continue to give up their treasures long after the last page is turned.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read our interview with Diane Setterfield.
Click here for the discussion guide.
New Guide: I’LL BE YOUR BLUE SKY
by Marisa de los Santos
Now Available in Paperback
I'LL BE YOUR BLUE SKY by Marisa de los Santos (Fiction)
On the weekend of her wedding, Clare Hobbes meets an elderly woman named Edith Herron. During the course of a single conversation, Edith gives Clare the courage to do what she should have done months earlier: break off her engagement to her charming --- yet overly possessive --- fiancé.
Three weeks later, Clare learns that Edith has died --- and has given her another gift. Nestled in crepe myrtle and hydrangea and perched at the marshy edge of a bay in a small seaside town in Delaware, Blue Sky House now belongs to Clare. Though the former guest house has been empty for years, Clare feels a deep connection to Edith inside its walls, which are decorated with old photographs taken by Edith and her beloved husband, Joseph.
Exploring the house, Clare finds two mysterious ledgers hidden beneath the kitchen sink. Edith, it seems, was no ordinary woman --- and Blue Sky House no ordinary place. With the help of her mother, Viviana, her surrogate mother, Cornelia Brown, and her former boyfriend and best friend, Dev Tremain, Clare begins to piece together the story of Blue Sky House --- a decades-old mystery more complex and tangled than she could have imagined. As she peels back the layers of Edith’s life, Clare discovers a story of dark secrets, passionate love, heartbreaking sacrifice and incredible courage. She also makes startling discoveries about herself: where she’s come from, where she’s going, and what --- and who --- she loves.
Shifting between the 1950s and the present, and told in the alternating voices of Edith and Clare, I’LL BE YOUR BLUE SKY is vintage Marisa de los Santos --- an emotionally evocative novel that probes the deepest recesses of the human heart and illuminates the tender connections that bind our lives.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here for the discussion guide.
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest: Enter to Win 12 Copies of THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE
OF SAM HELL by Robert Dugoni 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.
Our latest prize book is THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL by Robert Dugoni, a coming-of-age story about a boy who was born with red pupils and endured bullying by his classmates. Years later, Sam looks back on his life and embarks on a journey that will bring into clear view what changed him, defined him and made him so afraid --- until he finally sees what truly matters. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, January 9th at noon ET.
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL by Robert Dugoni (Fiction)
Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s coming-of-age story is, according to Booklist, “a novel that, if it doesn’t cross entirely over into John Irving territory, certainly nestles in close to the border.”
Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called “Devil Boy” or Sam “Hell” by his classmates; “God’s will” is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Her words were of little comfort, but Sam persevered, buoyed by his mother’s devout faith, his father’s practical wisdom and his two other misfit friends.
Sam believed it was God who sent Ernie Cantwell, the only African American kid in his class, to be the friend he so desperately needed. And that it was God’s idea for Mickie Kennedy to storm into Our Lady of Mercy like a tornado, uprooting every rule Sam had been taught about boys and girls.
Forty years later, Sam, a small-town eye doctor, is no longer certain anything was by design --- especially not the tragedy that caused him to turn his back on his friends, his hometown and the life he’d always known. Running from the pain, eyes closed, served little purpose. Now, as he looks back on his life, Sam embarks on a journey that will take him halfway around the world. This time, his eyes are wide open --- bringing into clear view what changed him, defined him and made him so afraid, until he can finally see what truly matters.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here to enter the contest.
Special Bookreporter.com Contest:
Enter to Win Our End-of-the-Year Celebration,
Featuring All 45 "Bets On" Titles from 2018
We are thrilled to announce a very special contest featuring Carol Fitzgerald’s Bookreporter.com Bets On picks from 2018. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded all 45 books, while nine other winners will receive a selection of five of these titles. To enter, please fill out this form by Monday, January 7th at noon ET.
Here are this year's Bookreporter.com Bets On titles:
Click here to enter the contest.
Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks
Each month, we share top book picks from Indie Next and LibraryReads, as well as the Target Book Club title and Pennie's Pick for Costco.
This month's Indie Next titles include Tom Barbash’s THE DAKOTA WINTERS, an evocative work of fiction about the Winters, a family living in New York City’s famed Dakota apartment building in the year leading up to John Lennon’s assassination; COME WITH ME by Helen Schulman, a mind-bending novel set in Silicon Valley that challenges our modern constructs of attachment and love, purpose and fate; and THE WESTERN WIND, Samantha Harvey’s riveting story of faith, guilt and the freedom of confession.
LibraryReads is spotlighting their top books of 2018, which include THE GREAT ALONE, a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story from Kristin Hannah about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature; Tara Westover’s EDUCATED, an unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University; and AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward --- with hope and pain --- into the future.
December’s Target Book Club title is BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE by Ruth Emmie Lang, and Pennie's Pick for Costco is THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS by Natasha Lester.
Click here for the complete roundup.
New December Releases of Interest to Book Groups
Below are a number of books releasing in December for the first time (which we aren't currently featuring on the site) that we think will be of interest to book groups.
THE DAY THE SUN DIED written by Yan Lianke, translated by Carlos Rojas (Fiction)
In a little village nestled in the Balou mountains, 14-year-old Li Niannian and his parents run a funeral parlor. One evening, he notices a strange occurrence. Instead of preparing for bed, more and more neighbors appear in the streets and fields, carrying on with their daily business as if the sun hadn’t already set. Before long, the community devolves into chaos, and it’s up to Li Niannian and his parents to save the town before sunrise.
JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Fiction)
No longer tolerating her husband’s borderline abuse, Faith escapes to her parents’ California beach house to plan her next move. She never dreamed her new chapter would involve befriending Sarah, a 14-year-old on the run from her father and reeling from her mother’s sudden and suspicious death.
KITCHEN YARNS: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood (Essays)
From her Italian-American childhood through raising and feeding a growing family and cooking with her new husband, food writer Michael Ruhlman, Ann Hood has long appreciated the power of a good meal. In this warm collection of personal essays and recipes, she nourishes both our bodies and our souls.
THE SONGBIRD by Marcia Willett (Fiction)
When Tim confides in Mattie that he needs a sabbatical from work and a fresh place to live, she suggests he move into one of the cottages at her family's home in the beautiful English countryside. As he gets to know the warm jumble of family who share their lives, Tim discovers that everyone there has their secrets.
WATCHING YOU by Lisa Jewell (Psychological Thriller)
The instant New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of THEN SHE WAS GONE delivers another suspenseful page-turner about a shocking murder in a picturesque and well-to-do English town.
Bookreporter.com Bets On:
THE LIBRARY BOOK Audiobook
and THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL
THE LIBRARY BOOK (Audiobook) written and read by Susan Orlean (Social History)
THE LIBRARY BOOK by Susan Orlean is a perfect gift for any booklover, perhaps even a “to me, from me” gift. I have spent a lot of time in libraries, remember the sheer joy of seeing the bookmobile on the corner when I was a child, have a number of librarians and library directors as friends, and have been to library conferences and programs, yet I still found myself learning so much as I listened to the audiobook. It is narrated by Susan, who not only writes a good book, but also knows how to tell a good story.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read a review of the hardcover on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read an interview with Susan Orlean.
Click here to read more of Carol’s commentary on THE LIBRARY BOOK.
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL by Robert Dugoni (Fiction)
I have been a longtime reader of Robert Dugoni’s thrillers; I still remember when the first one, THE JURY MASTER, hit the New York Times bestseller list back in 2006. Somehow I missed his stand-alone title, THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL, when it came out in April. I was happy to catch up on what he has called his “opus.” Just as William Kent Krueger deviated from his Cork O’Connor series with ORDINARY GRACE, here Dugoni takes his writing in a new direction with a beautifully crafted story of a life well-lived.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here to read more of Carol’s commentary on
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL.
December’s New in Paperback Roundups
on Bookreporter.com
December's roundup of New in Paperback fiction titles on Bookreporter.com includes THE BISHOP'S PAWN by Steve Berry, in which a young Cotton Malone happens upon an explosive secret about what really took place in Memphis the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated; Robert Crais’ THE WANTED, which finds investigator Elvis Cole and his partner, Joe Pike, taking on the deadliest case of their lives; ACCIDENTAL HEROES, a heart-stopping thriller from Danielle Steel that engages ordinary men and women in the fight of their lives during a flight from New York to San Francisco; and ONE STATION AWAY, Olaf Olafsson's intimate yet sweeping story of a New York neurologist and the three women who change his life.
Among our nonfiction highlights are THE NINE OF US by Jean Kennedy Smith, in which the last surviving child of Joe and Rose Kennedy offers an intimate and illuminating look at a time long ago when she and her siblings, guided by their parents, laughed and learned a great deal under one roof; WALLIS IN LOVE, Andrew Morton's captivating biography of Wallis Simpson, the notorious woman for whom Edward VIII gave up the throne; and Sam Wasson's IMPROV NATION, a richly reported, scene-driven narrative that charts the meteoric rise of improv from its unlikely beginnings in McCarthy-era Chicago.
Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of
December 3rd, December 10th, December 17th,
December 24th and December 31st.
Bookreporter.com's Holiday Author Blogs:
Authors Write About Their Favorite Holiday Memories
of Giving or Receiving Books
2018 "Best Of" Lists from Around the Web
Compiled by Bookreporter.com
This is the time of year when “Best Of” lists are everywhere. These annual roundups always seem to spark lively discussions among readers as they reflect on their favorite books of the year. Although we at Bookreporter.com don’t have a “Best Of” list of our own, we’ve compiled a number of them for you here. See which of your top picks appear on these lists and which titles you feel should've been included but weren't. Perhaps you’ll even find some books to add to your reading list as we head into the new year!
Enter Our Ongoing Bookreporter.com Contests:
"Word of Mouth" and "Sounding Off on Audio"
We currently are featuring the following guides on ReadingGroupGuides.com:
BECOMING by Michelle Obama (Memoir)
An Oprah's Book Club pick, BECOMING is an intimate, powerful and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States, who invites readers into her world as she chronicles the experiences that have shaped her.
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL by Robert Dugoni (Fiction)
Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s coming-of-age story is, according to Booklist, “a novel that, if it doesn’t cross entirely over into John Irving territory, certainly nestles in close to the border.”
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles (Historical Fiction)
From the New York Times bestselling author of RULES OF CIVILITY comes a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.
I'LL BE YOUR BLUE SKY by Marisa de los Santos (Fiction)
New York Times bestselling author Marisa de los Santos revisits the characters from her beloved novels LOVE WALKED IN and BELONG TO ME in this captivating, beautifully written drama involving family, friendship, secrets, sacrifice, courage and true love for fans of Jojo Moyes, Elin Hilderbrand and Nancy Thayer.
ONCE UPON A RIVER by Diane Setterfield (Historical Mystery)
From the instant #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE THIRTEENTH TALE comes a richly imagined, powerful new novel about how we explain the world to ourselves, ourselves to others, and the meaning of our lives in a universe that remains impenetrably mysterious.
THE SPLENDOR BEFORE THE DARK: A Novel of the Emperor Nero by Margaret George (Historical Fiction)
Ascending to the throne was only the beginning. Now Margaret George, the author of THE CONFESSIONS OF YOUNG NERO, weaves a web of politics and passion, as ancient Rome’s most infamous emperor cements his place in history.
WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens (Fiction)
Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING --- a Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick --- is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder.
Our Latest Poll: Which Book-Group Favorite Authors
Have You Read with Your Group?
We have listed a number of authors who have been favorites among book groups. Have you read any of their books with your group? Let us know by checking all that apply.
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Mitch Albom
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Fredrik Backman
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Chris Bohjalian
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Anthony Doerr
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Jennifer Egan
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Louise Erdrich
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Jamie Ford
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Kristin Hannah
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Ann Hood
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Christina Baker Kline
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Min Jin Lee
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Debbie Macomber
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Paula McLain
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Celeste Ng
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Jodi Picoult
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Lisa See
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Elizabeth Strout
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Amor Towles
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Adriana Trigiani
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Lisa Wingate
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None of these
Click here to vote in the poll by Wednesday, January 9th at noon ET.
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