Archives - Reading Group Guides Newsletter

Last weekend, I floated in the pool and read THE FIVE-STAR WEEKEND by Elin Hilderbrand to prep for my book group meeting. Yes, we went for a beach read this month, and I was hosting with a plan to spend the meeting discussing the book IN the pool. That was before the rainstorm that caused the trees --- the full-grown ones with lots of leaves on them --- to sway in the breeze, and the rain came down sideways. Luckily, there were covers on the couches on the deck so I could tug them off right before the meeting.

We love hearing from our readers. One of them, Cindy, wrote with this question: “We are celebrating our 100th book club meeting in August. Any suggestions on gifts for this?” I asked her for a few more details, and she shared this:

“We sure have kept a list. One of our members keeps a notebook --- actually two notebooks now --- and writes a small summary of each book. She reads it at our meeting to refresh our memories since we only meet every other month. There are only six in our group, but we have developed great friendships through the years. Some of us have raised children, been blessed with grandchildren, lost loved ones and shared our grief, met Debbie Macomber, laughed and ate enjoyable meals. We’ve read all types of books that really have opened our eyes. So I’m trying to come up with an idea of a gift for each of them at our next meeting in August. I thought of an eyeglass case (since, yes, we are now of that age) and personalizing them. Our ages vary from 50-74. My creativity only goes so far, so I was looking for suggestions.”