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ReadingGroupGuides.com Newsletter |
August 2006
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August Reading: Time to Relax
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I am looking forward to going to the Outer Banks later this month for our annual summer beach trip. While I have traveled to Toronto, Phoenix, Denver (and most of the rest of Colorado) and Atlanta this summer, all of those trips have been for business, for visiting or for looking at scenery. Trust me that when you are in Colorado where the palette is so spectacular, it's hard to concentrate on reading. So, I did knitting as we drove. Lots of knitting. But very little reading.
Beach vacations mean reading for me. The sound of the ocean provides the right backdrop music, the haze on the beach the right lighting and the waves going in and out are the right rhythm to just turn pages. I can drop into a zone there and read for hours.
While August typically is a quiet month with many people away, we have not altered the number of titles that we are sharing with you this month. Included is a title for our Registered Book Clubs in the mystery category, No Nest for the Wicket by Donna Andrews. Surprisingly, the mystery genre is one of the most actively searched categories on our guides page, so I really am pleased we have this offer to share with you.
We have a new book club interview with Karen Johnson of The Readers Journey Network of Atlantic County in Mays Landing, NJ. Click here to read what they had to say.
Also, this month we are sharing news with you about some features on Bookreporter.com that include prizes and advance reader opportunities.
Just out in paperback is a book called Cursed By a Happy Childhood by my publishing friend, Carl Lennertz. I spent a very happy Sunday afternoon reading this memoir last summer and thought about my own childhood and that which I am giving my own sons. Since we know that sometimes a paperback by an "unknown author" inspires folks to read something that they might have skipped in hardcover, I wanted this one on your radar.
September promises to be very busy as we look ahead to the titles being published. Right now I am reading Mitch Albom's For One More Day, which is in bookstores on September 26th. I read this morning that Starbucks has selected it as the first title in their new program to sell books into their stores. It will be for sale there on October 3rd for those of you who like books with your java. The theme of Mitch's book is all about having one more day with someone you love. In this case, it's the main character's mother.
I lost a really good friend about 12 years ago who taught me a lot about the importance of living every day with no regrets. In fact, her death inspired me to leave my corporate job and start The Book Report Network, the parent company of ReadingGroupGuides.com, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. I have never looked back, but only forward, and it's been one exciting ride. This month we are pausing to look back and we've been sharing what readers have to say here. If you have something you'd like to share, drop us a note at [email protected].
Here's wishing you an August filled with making some good reading memories.
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
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Click here to see our 10th Anniversary Page.
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Coming August 22nd in Paperback: THE CONJURER'S BIRD by Martin Davies
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The Conjurer's Bird is a beautiful story in the spirit of Possession that is as exciting as The Club Dumas, inspired by one of the great puzzles of natural history: that of the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta. Seen only once, in 1774, by Captain Cook's second expedition to the South Seas, a single specimen was captured, preserved, and brought back to England. The bird was given to famed naturalist Joseph Banks, who displayed it proudly in his collection until its sudden, unexplained disappearance.
Seamlessly spanning two time periods, The Conjurer's Bird is at once the story of this romance and of a present-day conservationist named Fitz, who is drawn into a thrilling and near-impossible race to find the elusive bird's only known remains.
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Click here to read our guide for The Conjurer's Bird.
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THE NIGHT LISTENER by Armistead Maupin --- Special Movie Tie-in Edition
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"I'm a fabulist by trade," warns Gabriel Noone, a late-night radio storyteller, as he begins to untangle the skeins of his tumultuous life: his crumbling ten-year love affair, his disaffection from his Southern father, his longtime weakness for ignoring reality. Gabriel's most sympathetic listener is Pete Lomax, a thirteen-year-old fan in Wisconsin whose own horrific past has left him wise and generous beyond his years. But when this virtual father-son relationship is rocked by doubt, a desperate search for the truth ensues.
The Night Listener is now a major motion picture from Miramax Films starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette and based on Armistead Maupin's bestselling psychological thriller. In theaters everywhere August 4th. Read the book, then catch the movie for your next book club meeting.
-Click here to read more about the movie version of The Night Listener in our Bookreporter.com Books into Movies feature.
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Click here to read our guide for The Night Listener.
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Coming August 17th: A TALE OF TWO SISTERS by Anna Maxted --- A Featured Beach Bag Book
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Lizbet and Cassie are sisters and, though as different as two women can be from each other, best friends as well.
Despite Cassie being the favored child, she and Lizbet have managed to stay friends. Perhaps because --- as Cassie says --- they've always wanted different things. But that's about to change. Confronted by challenges that they never asked for, enticed by new loves, and forced apart by mistakes not their own, Cassie and Lizbet struggle to figure out how to get back to the simple goodness of their sisterhood, as their lives take them on a collision course of heartache and new beginnings.
A Tale of Two Sisters will be the Beach Bag Prize Book for one week beginning August 18th. Click here to read our Beach Bag Feature for A Tale of Two Sisters.
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Click here to read our guide for A Tale of Two Sisters.
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FRANCA'S STORY by Diane Kinman
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An inspiring tale of quiet heroism during wartime.
--- Kirkus
This memoir of life in wartime Italy is based on the true story of a young girl, Franca Mercati Martin, as told by Diane Kinman. It provides a window into a fascinating time and an intriguing family determined to survive amidst increasing devastation and loss. Rich, compelling details of the story are told through the eyes of a teenager and accompanied by warmhearted, powerful sepia images of Franca's art, which introduce each chapter.
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Click here to read our guide for Franca's Story.
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Special Opportunities for Registered Book Groups: A Very Special Offer
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This month we are running the following contests for Book Groups that have registered with us by August 15th.
Book Giveaway and Author Chat --- No Nest for the Wicket by Donna Andrews: Five groups will win 10 copies of No Nest for the Wicket and the opportunity to chat with Donna Andrews.
More about No Nest for the Wicket:
Meg Langslow would rather be overseeing the drastic work on the house she and her fiancé Michael have bought, but she has been shanghaied by her relatives into joining a croquet tournament. While looking for a lost ball in a briarpatch, she finds a woman's body. Who is she? And who gave her those lethal blows on the head that could have been made by a sledgehammer? Or a croquet mallet. There are several suspects, most of them a bit bizarre.
If anyone can make a delightful romp out of a murder case, it's Donna Andrews, as the myriad admirers (and bookbuyers) have proven.
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Click here to read our guide for No Nest for the Wicket.
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ReadingGroupGuides.com Message Board --- Join the Conversation
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Our discussion question is about summer meeting habits for groups. How does your group handle summer? Do you meet less often? Are your reading choices different? Weigh in here.
In the interest of reading together, we have selected some titles that we will be discussing on our ReadingGroupGuides.com message board through August. We know that some groups may not meet during the summer months and for others of you an online book discussion may be a nice way to supplement your regular group reading. Our selections are below, along with brief descriptions of them and links to where you can log on and talk about them:
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: You can weigh in here.
Big Stone Gap, Big Cherry Holler and Milk Glass Moon known as the Stone Gap Trilogy by Adriana Trigiani: You can weigh in here.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen: You can weigh in here.
More Message Board News:
We wanted to create an option for readers to be able to post their own threads and host their own discussions on the ReadingGroupGuides.com Message Board. We had heard from a number of readers asking about this and we are happy to offer this opportunity. This is a place where you can start a discussion topic for your own book groups. Or, you can utilize our boards to start and host an ongoing discussion among members of your group for any reason. With summer, we are thinking about members who perhaps are traveling and still would like to weigh in.
Whether you need to work on scheduling, want to choose a new book, or just chat, the ReadingGroupGuides.com Message Board has a lot to offer. Please remember that no topic is private; you may have new friends joining your group when you start posting!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email our Moderator Anne --- you can send her a note at [email protected].
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Click here to visit the ReadingGroupGuides.com Message Board.
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Cool Summer Happenings on Teenreads.com and Kidsreads.com for Reading and Writing
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Got any book-loving kids and teens in your life? Be sure they log on to Kidsreads.com and Teenreads.com this summer as we have two very special features running.
On Teenreads.com we are working with Young Adult readers to create the Ultimate Summer Reading List. We give Teens the chance to weigh in on what THEY would put on their school's summer reading list. We will compile their entries and from them create the Teenreads.com Ultimate Summer Reading List. Know a teen who you think would want to weigh in? They can drop us a note at [email protected].
On Kidsreads.com we are teaming up with NASTYbooks series author Barry Yourgrau to create a wild, wacky and kinda nasty Summer Story String Contest. Barry will write a wacky, nasty and funny opening scene for a different story each month of summer --- there will be three stories altogether --- and kids will have the chance to continue the story, week by week.
Readers can send their submissions to [email protected] and Barry will choose his favorite, weekly. Click here to learn more about this exciting contest.
-Click here to visit Teenreads.com.
-Click here to visit Kidsreads.com.
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How to Register Your Group With ReadingGroupGuides.com
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Each month book clubs that are registered with ReadingGroupGuides.com are offered exciting opportunities that include chats with authors, book giveaways and more.
ReadingGroupGuides.com offers registered groups the chance to enhance the experience of being part of a book club with these kinds of exclusive offers. Also, since Spring 2006 Registered Groups have received additional exclusive content each month in their Registered Book Club newsletters.
More than 4,400 groups already are registered with us. Registration is free and easy. Along with the regular ReadingGroupGuides.com newsletter, registered readers receive an exclusive monthly mailing with descriptions for all the giveaways going on that month and details on how to enter.
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Click here to register your group.
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The Results Are In --- You Want to Read it Before Anyone Else Does!
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More than 850 group leaders entered our contest for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas for the chance to win either 12 copies of the book when it comes out in September or to preview an Advance Reader Copy with their group.
We are so pleased that the book has this kind of buzz among you --- it's an amazing novel for readers of all ages and backgrounds. Also, we were excited by the number of you who requested the preview copy as opposed to the 12 finished copies --- you obviously like to read something before everyone else gets the chance to.
On Bookreporter.com we have a couple of features where readers have the chance to win Advance Reader Copies of exciting new books weeks before they hit the shelves and the opportunity to weigh in and tell us what you think of them.
With that in mind we are giving Advance Reader Copy Winners the chance to tell us what they think of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Write to [email protected] with you and your group's comments, questions and thoughts on the book. And be sure to watch for our One to Watch Featured Promotion for John Boyne and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on Bookreporter.com, which we are launching on this Friday, August 11th.
The three groups that each won Finished Copies were:
Jennifer from Avon, IN; Deanna from Zeeland, MI; and Tara from Briarcliff Manor, NY.
The 35 Advance Copy Winners were:
Joanne from Des Moines, IA; Sharon from La Jolla, CA; Ginny from Saginaw, MI; Laura from Biloxi, MS; Barbara from Fairfax, VA; Louise from Garden City, NY; Katharine from Long Beach, CA; Nancy from Broomfield, CO; Judeee from Sacramento, CA; Cara from Paxton, IL; Elizabeth from Mount Laurel, NJ; Andrea from St. Augustine, FL; Karen from Delmar, MD; Karen from Lees Summit, MO; Terry from Philadelphia, PA; Ellie from Lexington, VA; Kellylyn from Amboy, IL; Mary from Avon, CT; Ann from Maryland Heights, MS, Stephanie from Butler, PA; Pam from Waukesha, WI; Margaret from Richmond, IL; Delora from Clayton, MO; Doris from Huntington Beach, CA; Kathy from Birmingham, AL; Shari from Plainview, NY; Carla from St. Louis, MO; Mary from Lansing, MI, Kay from Gardner, MA; Marcia from Waterford, MI; Ina from Long Beach, CA; Beth from Huntingdon Valley, PA; Liz from Grand Island, NY; Suzanne from Shenorock, NY; and Karen from Troy, IL.
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Click here to read more about The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
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Poll |
Does your group read hardcovers or paperbacks?
Our group only reads hardcovers.
Our group only reads paperbacks.
Our group reads both hardcovers and paperbacks.
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Click here to answer the poll.
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This Month's Contest: Win 20 Copies of LILY'S GHOST by Cheryl Drake Harris |
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A subscription to our newsletter is all you need to be entered in our monthly contest. This month, one lucky reader will win up to 20 copies of Lily's Ghost for his or her entire reading group.
-Click here to read more about Lily's Ghost.
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Read contest details here.
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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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