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ReadingGroupGuides.com Newsletter |
November 2005
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Soooo Much News....
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You would think after recommending books to the 1.1 million readers in our Network each month I would find suggesting books to friends to be a snap. But, oh no, this is pressure. In the past months I have found myself sweating my role of what I call, "Book Concierge." I wrote a blog about it last month that has been getting some great reader mail. I thought you would enjoy reading it here. Our poll question asks if you find yourself in a role of recommending books to friends since you are in a book club --- and well-read.
We are so excited to have our ReadingGroupGuides.com message board up and running. We hope it will serve as a major conversation starter --- a way for all our book groups, around the country and around the world to connect, swap tips and recipes, favorite titles and authors, give suggestions and find common ground.
Have you registered your book club with us? This month we have an unprecedented FIVE offers for registered book groups. We're offering the opportunity to chat with three authors --- Gregory David Roberts, author of Shantaram; Masha Hamilton, who wrote The Distance Between Us; and Tom Bailey, the author of The Grace That Keeps This World. We will be giving away advance copies of Stephen White's next book, Kill Me, which will be in stores in March 2006. I LOVED this book and look forward to sharing it with you. And --- for something very different --- we will be giving away SENSEO® coffee machines, a product valued at $100. Intrigued? Check out the Contest section of our newsletter to learn more and be sure to register your group by Monday, November 14th.
Are you getting in the mood for the holidays? We sure are. Be sure to pick up the November/December issue of Pages magazine --- the one with Anne Rice on the cover. Inside you'll find holiday celebration ideas from some of our book clubs, as well three recipes developed by our own Sunil Kumar --- Chocolate or Cranberry Martinis and Mini Chocolate Cakes.
The Holiday ideas don't end there. On Bookreporter.com we've just launched our Holiday Basket of Cheer giveaway where we offer you the chance to win two copies of each featured book --- one to give and one to keep --- each week along with a huge basket stocked with Holiday goodies. From Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate and Vanilla Marshmallows to cozy socks and Illuminations cinnamon candles, our Holiday Basket of Cheer is bound to make your holidays a little sweeter. And by providing both a gift and the wrapping supplies to give it away, we hope to make it a little less stressful too. Click here to learn more about our Holiday Basket of Cheer Contest on Bookreporter.com and to see this week's featured title.
We've added a new link on ReadingGroupGuides.com to Booksense.com, which can help you find one of the more than 1,200 independent booksellers around the country. We even created a listing of these booksellers, broken out by city and state, that you can access here. We know that many independent booksellers are supportive of book clubs and they often will help "make" a book with their word of mouth support. If your local bookstore is doing something special for book clubs, please drop me a note at [email protected].
Sarah Smiley, whose guide for Going Overboard is featured on ReadingGroupGuides.com this month, has been getting a lot of press recently, including an extensive profile in this past weekend's New York Times Sunday Magazine. Smiley writes with heart and wit about the ups and downs, the trials and tribulations of being a military wife. Her story and her experience simmer with a kind of immediacy as she tackles issues of politics and marriage with equal vigor, never losing her sense of humor.
November is a time to give thanks for what we have --- for family and community, for good friends, good food and good books. Thanks for reading.
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
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Click here to register your reading group.
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THE MYTH OF YOU & ME by Leah Stewart
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Ten years after the incident that ended their friendship, Cameron receives an unexpected letter from Sonia, but she doesn't reply. When Cameron's boss --- noted historian Oliver Doucet --- passes away, she discovers that he has left her with one final task: to track down Sonia and hand-deliver a mysterious package to her. The Myth of You & Me, the story of Cameron and Sonia's friendship --- as intense as any love affair --- and its dramatic demise, captures the universal sense of loss and nostalgia that often lingers after the end of an important relationship. Searingly honest, beautiful, and full of fragile urgency, this novel is a celebration and portrait of a friendship that will appeal to anyone who still feels the absence of that first true friend.
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Click here to read our guide for THE MYTH OF YOU & ME.
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THE WORLD IS FLAT by Thomas L. Friedman
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Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman delivers a vivid account of the human element behind both the triumphs and the perils of globalization. This timely and essential report from the front lines of offshoring, outsourcing, and other "flattening" factors in our world makes sense of the often bewildering economic, political, and security issues currently at play in the international realm. Friedman examines hundreds of fascinating pieces in this puzzle --- from the intricate systems that produce rich rewards for Wal-Mart to Y2K's role in rocketing the careers of computer scientists in India --- and assembles them with refreshing clarity
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Click here to read our guide for THE WORLD IS FLAT.
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SHANTARAM by Gregory David Roberts
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Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas --- Shantaram has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.
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Click here to read our guide for SHANTARAM.
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THE GRACE THAT KEEPS THIS WORLD by Tom Bailey
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Tom Bailey has written a unique and engrossing first novel, infused with a deep sense of foreboding. Alternately narrated by members of the Hazen family (whose patriarch is a respected forester and hunter) and their neighbors in Lost Lake, this story perfectly captures the enduring rhythms of life in a rural town.
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Click here to read our guide for THE GRACE THAT KEEPS THIS WORLD.
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THE LOVES OF CHARLES II by Jean Plaidy
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From princesses to country girls to actresses...the loves of Charles II come to life. Ten years after Charles I was deposed and executed, his son, Charles II, regains the throne after many years in exile. Charles is determined not only to restore the monarchy but also to revive a society that has suffered under many years of Puritan rule. As king, Charles II throws himself into the gaiety of court life, becoming a patron of the arts and a consummate lover of women. Court intrigue and affairs of the heart weave together in this unforgettable page-turner.
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Click here to read our guide for THE LOVES OF CHARLES II.
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THE MEMOIRS OF HELEN OF TROY by Amanda Elyot
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In this lush, compelling novel of passion and loss, Helen of Troy, a true survivor, tells the truth about her life, her lovers, and the Trojan War. This is the memoir that she has written --- her legendary beauty still undimmed by age.
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Click here to read our guide for THE MEMOIRS OF HELEN OF TROY.
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GOING OVERBOARD by Sarah Smiley
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A former Navy brat and present-day Navy wife, Sarah Smiley knows better than anyone that weddings and funerals --- even childbirth! --- take a backseat to Uncle Sam. Yet when Sarah's husband, Dustin, is sent away for an unexpected deployment, what follows is a true test of strength and wit. Just when Sarah thinks she has it all under control, a charming doctor creates temptation that is hard to resist. Now, with one distant spouse, two children and three best friends, Sarah learns that life sometimes means going a little overboard.
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Click here to read our guide for GOING OVERBOARD.
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Check It Out --- ReadingGroupGuides.com has Launched a Community Message Board
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We have launched a message board on ReadingGroupGuides.com where book club members can post messages for other book club members.
-Looking for new members for your group? Then post a listing.
-Looking for a new group to join? Post a listing.
-Tell us what your group is reading.
-Share how you choose books.
-Give us your tips for leading a discussion.
-Share your book club story.
-Tell us some fun and interesting ideas for book clubs.
-Post recipes and serving ideas.
Please Note: To post on the ReadingGroupGuides.com Message Board you will be asked to register a username and password. Simply follow the directions in the registration window that pops up the first time you post. After that you will be able to create new discussion topics and reply to others' discussions whenever you are logged in.
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Click here to go to the ReadingGroupGuides.com Message Board.
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For Registered Book Clubs: FIVE Special Offers!!!
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This month, ReadingGroupGuides.com is offering the following FIVE special opportunities to book clubs who are registered with us by Monday, November 14th. Registered groups will receive a newsletter on November 16th with complete contest details. Click here to register your group.
This month we have a very special offer for registered book clubs on ReadingGroupGuides.com. Registered book clubs are eligible to receive a free SENSEO® coffee machine while supplies last. Each package will come with one bag of 18 coffee pods, all specially packaged to guarantee maximum freshness. Shipping and handling will also be covered.
Make sure your book club is registered!
The SENSEO® brews one or two cups of coffee via a patented system that uses perfectly balanced proportions of coffee and water. It's a unique coffee machine that makes a superior tasting, perfect cup of fresh coffee. Each group will receive a coffee maker and 16 assorted coffee pods (the pre-packaged brew packs) that will make 20 cups of coffee. The retail value of this package is $100.
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KILL ME by Stephen White: Ten groups will be eligible to win 12 copies of this book for their group
About Kill Me:
We've all been there. A loved one or a dear friend becomes desperately ill or is tragically injured. Someone --- maybe even you --- says, "If that ever happens to me, I wish someone would just kill me."
What if you could choose when to die? But once you decide, you can't change your mind. Ever. No matter what.
This one is different. New York Times bestselling author Stephen White has written a new breed of thriller. Throw out everything you think you know about twists, turns, and surprises.
"Kill Me is that rarest of creations --- a thinking person's thriller. In this age of the same-old, same-old fiction, White's novel stand dizzingly above the pack. The concept is unique (and brilliant), the writing is sharp, observant, and wry (White's trademark), and every page of this compelling tale is filled with perfectly realized human emotion --- about life, death, and family. Superb."
-Jeffery Deaver
"Stephen White has always been a rock-sold writer. But this book should turn heads. Big, provocative, and downright gripping, this is his best yet."
-Michael Connelly
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SHANTARAM by Gregory David Roberts: Ten groups will have the opportunity to win chats with Gregory David Roberts, as well as 12 copies of Shantaram for their groups. Please note this is a very special offer since Roberts lives in India.
About Shantaram:
Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas --- Shantaram has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.
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THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US by Masha Hamilton: Three groups will have the opportunity to win chats with Masha Hamilton, as well as exclusive The Distance Between Us CDs with bonus materials and 12 copies of The Distance Between Us for their groups.
About The Distance Between Us:
An exclusive interview with an elusive Lebanese crime king and thug --- the kind of opportunity that every journalist lives for in the war-torn Middle East. But for Caddie Blair and her colleagues en route to just such an assignment, things are off-balance from the start. Not long into the trip, their Land Rover is ambushed by a band of radical militiamen, and photojournalist Marcus Lancour --- Caddie's colleague, friend, and lover --- is shot and killed in an assignment gone awry.
In her latest novel, Masha Hamilton, a seasoned journalist herself, gives readers an insider's perspective about the decisions that war correspondents sometimes face and the impact these decisions have on their lives. The Distance Between Us allows readers to reconsider their own judgments and views about reporting, knowing that objectivity and detachment often come at a substantial cost.
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THE GRACE THAT KEEPS THIS WORLD by Tom Bailey: Ten groups will have the opportunity to win chats with Tom Bailey, as well as 12 copies of The Grace That Keeps This World for their groups.
About The Grace That Keeps This World:
Tom Bailey has written a unique and engrossing first novel, infused with a deep sense of foreboding. Alternately narrated by members of the Hazen family (whose patriarch is a respected forester and hunter) and their neighbors in Lost Lake, this story perfectly captures the enduring rhythms of life in a rural town.
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Click here to register your group.
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This Month's Poll: Suggested Reading
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Because you are in a book group, do your friends and family look to you for reading suggestions?
Yes, all the time
Yes, this sometimes happens
No, this does not happen
I am not sure what happens.
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Answer our poll here.
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Tip of the Month for December
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Surprise someone outside your book club with a gift of a book that you and your group read over the past year and really loved.
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Do you like what you see here, and want to forward it to a friend? Then click our link on the bottom of the page to do just that!
Happy reading. We'll see you next month.
Don't forget to visit our other websites from TheBookReportNetwork.com: Bookreporter.com, AuthorsOnTheWeb.com, FaithfulReader.com, AuthorYellowPages.com, Teenreads.com, and Kidsreads.com.
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
The Book Report Network
250 W. 57th Street - Suite 1228
New York, New York 10107 |
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