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March 2008

ReadingGroupGuides.com Newsletter

March 2008

This Month on ReadingGroupGuides.com

Special Contest: Win WIT'S END by Karen Joy Fowler for Your Group

Now Available in Paperback: PEONY IN LOVE by Lisa See

KILLER HEAT by Linda Fairstein

Now Available in Paperback: THE BOOK OF AIR AND SHADOWS by Michael Gruber

Now Available in Paperback: THE POST-BIRTHDAY WORLD by Lionel Shriver

THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

RESISTANCE by Owen Sheers

THE FICTION CLASS by Susan Breen

Now Available in Paperback: THE YEAR OF FOG by Michelle Richmond 

Now Available in Paperback: LOST MEN by Brian Leung

CROSSED: A Tale of the Fourth Crusade, by Nicole Galland

Christian Guide Now Available: TALK OF THE TOWN by Lisa Wingate

New Guides Now Available

This Month's Poll and Tip

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Jetlag Without Leaving Home!
Moving the clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time has given me personal jetlag. I am not kidding. Tuesday morning my son yelled "goodbye" as he walked out the door at 7:15 and I responded with a hearty "bye," but then I wondered how that was part of my dream. I then realized he was up and at 'em and I was still clocking pillow time. At night I am wide awake and thus getting an extra hour of reading done. I somehow need to shift this pattern, but since I am a natural night owl I see myself moving the hour in five-minute increments.

I am having so much fun with the new blog that we added on ReadingGroupGuides.com. It's become a great way to share topics between our monthly newsletters. I confess that the reason this newsletter is coming to you a bit later than planned this month is because I have gotten so absorbed in coordinating and publishing these blogs. The latest blog can be found here, and here are quick links to some recent posts:

-Not Your High School Classics Discussion
-Taking a Book Club on the Road
-From English Teacher to Book Group Facilitator
-Book Discussion Groups at the Office: If You Start One, They Will Come
-View from a Small (AKA Tiny) Resort Bookstore
-Men and Books: Who Doesn't Read?
-Today's Librarian: Concierge to Readers

I look forward to reading --- and sharing --- more of these posts in the days and weeks to come!

MANY of you have written over the years telling us how you loved the book John Adams by David McCullough. I am happy to share that HBO will begin airing a two-part series based on the book on Sunday, March 16th. Check your local listings or this website for more details. Hmmmm...maybe watching can be "homework" for your book club!

Last Saturday night we watched a DVD of Into the Wild, which is based on the Jon Krakauer book of the same name. It's a wonderful film. What was interesting was that as we watched, both of my sons were on their laptops reading more about the movie. I had remembered it was based on the book but had not known any further details about the story. Thus, as it unfolded, I was not referencing the action against any preconceived notions. This is quite a contrast for me as I usually pride myself on reading a book first. As soon as it was over, my older son said he wanted to read the book. He picked it up Tuesday and told me last night he already had finished it! It prompted more discussion, and he handed the book to me and said, "Read this and then let's talk about how it and the movie are different." I love this. It's a chance for us to have a book discussion right at our own kitchen table!

Lisa See is one of my favorite authors. I have had the pleasure of hearing her speak on more than one occasion, and she is just a terrific presenter. I find myself falling in love with her work all over again when I hear her. Peony in Love is just out in paperback, and readers who loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan will want to explore this other view of life in Ancient China. Read on for more details. Also, for those of you who enjoy exploring thrillers with your groups --- and there are many of you --- there is lots to discuss in Killer Heat, Linda Fairstein's latest. I had the pleasure of hearing her speak on Tuesday night and, as always, enjoyed her plugging in the details of her research behind the book.  This thriller continues the story of Alexandra Cooper, a
Manhattan D.A., as she hunts for a serial killer.

Our contest book this month is The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. For your group to win 20 free copies of this book, all you have to do is sign up for the ReadingGroupGuides.com newsletter by April 1, 2008. If you are receiving this newsletter in your mailbox, you already are signed up! You can find more information about this contest here. Read on to find out more about The Post-Birthday World.

We are pleased to share interviews with seven book clubs (the most we ever have shared in a month!): Book Buds, First Wednesday Book Group, Friday Friends Club, Novel Seeker’s Book Club, Pages & Sages, Page Turners Book Club and the Round the World Book Group. We also have an interview with the library director of The Douglas Library in North Canaan, CT. If you would like to be featured with an interview, click here if you are a book group, click here if you are a librarian and click here if you are a bookseller. There are terrific nuggets of information in each of these interviews, which are sure to get you thinking about how your own book club manages their discussions!

Here's to March leaving like a lamb. I am sooooo ready for spring to have sprung. Maybe THAT'S the real reason I am having this personal jetlag! And Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. Think green!

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

 

Click here for the ReadingGroupGuides.com Blog.

 

Special Contest: Win WIT'S END by Karen Joy Fowler for Your Group

We are celebrating the release of Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler --- a clever novel of mystery, intrigue and virtual reality --- with a special contest. 100 readers will have the opportunity to each win one advance reading copy of Wit's End, which will be in stores on April 1st, for their group. Enter between now and Wednesday, March 19th by filling out the form found here.

More About Wit's End:

From the author of The Jane Austen Book Club comes a clever new tale. Set in contemporary Santa Cruz, Rima Lanisell arrives at her godmother’s old Victorian mansion, weary from her recent losses --- an inventive if at times irritating father, a beloved brother. She soon finds herself enmeshed in a household of eccentrics: a formerly alcoholic cook and her irksome son, two quirky dog-walkers, a mysterious stalker, and of course, godmother Addison Early, a secretive and feisty bestselling mystery writer who once knew Rima’s father well --- perhaps too well. Rima is on a mission to discover just what their relationship was all about.

-Click here to read the guide for Wit's End.

 

Click here to read all the contest details.

 

Now Available in Paperback: PEONY IN LOVE by Lisa See

Lisa See brings to life another time and place --- where three generations of women become enmeshed in a dramatic story, uncover past secrets and tragedies, and learn that love can transcend death. Peony in Love will make readers ache in heart and mind for young Peony and all the women of the world who want to be heard.

“A complex period tapestry inscribed with the age-old tragedy of love and death.”
--- New York Times Book Review


-Click here to read the guide for Peony in Love.
 
Click here to read more about Peony in Love.

 

KILLER HEAT by Linda Fairstein

When the body of a young woman has been found in an abandoned building, Manhattan D.A. Alex Cooper is called into action. The brutality of the murder is disturbing enough, but when a second body, beaten and disposed of in exactly the same manner, is found off the Belt Parkway, the city’s top brass want the killer found fast, before the tabloids can start churning out ghoulish serial killer headlines.

-Click here to see our Suspense/Thriller feature for Linda Fairstein and Killer Heat on Bookreporter.com.

 

Click here to read the guide for Killer Heat.


 

Now Available in Paperback: THE BOOK OF AIR AND SHADOWS by Michael Gruber

From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Tropic of Night comes a breathtaking thriller that twists, shocks and surprises at every turn. A fire destroys a New York City rare bookstore --- and reveals clues to a treasure worth killing for... A disgraced scholar is found tortured to death... And those pursuing the most valuable literary find in history are about to cross from the harmless mundane into inescapable nightmare.


 
Click here to read the guide for The Book of Air and Shadows.

 

Now Available in Paperback: THE POST-BIRTHDAY WORLD by Lionel Shriver

American children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a secure, settled life in London with her partner Lawrence --- until the night she finds herself inexplicably drawn to kissing another man. Two competing alternate futures hinge on this single kiss, as Irina's decision will have momentous consequences for her career, her friendships and familial relationships, and the texture of her daily life.
 

Click here to read the guide for The Post-Birthday World.


 
THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat, The Palace of Illusions takes readers back to a time that is half history, half myth and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale.

Click here to read the guide for The Palace of Illusions.


 

RESISTANCE by Owen Sheers

In this speculative take on World War II, Owen Sheers takes the reader to a German-occupied England in which a rural community wakes to find that all the town's men have vanished. When a severe winter forces the town’s women and the recently arrived German patrol together, a fragile mutual dependency develops. But as the pressure of the war beyond presses in on this isolated community, this fragile state of harmony is increasingly threatened.

Click here to read the guide for Resistance.


 

THE FICTION CLASS by Susan Breen

As a writer, Arabella Hicks feels more than qualified to teach a fiction class --- but she has a lot on her mind. After class each week, she visits her mother in a nursing home --- and they constantly argue. But when her class takes a surprising turn and her lessons start to spill over into her weekly visits, she suddenly realizes she might be holding the key to her mother’s love and, dare she say it, her own inspiration.
Click here to read the guide for The Fiction Class.

 

Now Available in Paperback: THE YEAR OF FOG by Michelle Richmond 

When six-year-old Emma vanishes into the thick San Francisco fog, soon-to-be-stepmother Abby refuses to believe that she is dead. And so she searches for clues about what happened the morning Emma disappeared. Heartbreaking, uplifting and beautifully told, here is the riveting tale of a family torn apart, of the search for the truth behind a child’s disappearance, and of one woman’s unwavering faith in the redemptive power of love.

Click here to read the guide for The Year of Fog.


 

Now Available in Paperback: LOST MEN by Brian Leung

Westen Gray was just eight years old when his Caucasian mother died and his Chinese father, Xin, sent him away to be raised by her relatives. After a lifetime of estrangement, Westen receives an invitation from his father to travel with him to China. The future of their relationship hinges on the trip and on the contents of a sealed letter written by Westen’s mother before her death --- a letter that threatens to answer the lifelong question neither of them has dared to ask.
 
Click here to read the guide for Lost Men.

 

CROSSED: A Tale of the Fourth Crusade, by Nicole Galland

Impeccably researched and beautifully told, Nicole Galland's Crossed is a stunning tale of the disastrous Fourth Crusade --- and of the hopeful, brave and driven who were caught up in and irrevocably changed by a corrupted cause and a furious battle beyond their comprehension or control.
Click here to read the guide for Crossed.

 

Christian Guide Now Available: TALK OF THE TOWN by Lisa Wingate

Best known for her blockbuster novel Tending Roses, bestselling author Lisa Wingate pens another fresh, charming and playful work of fiction. In Talk of the Town, Wingate contrasts small-town Texas life with the fast-paced Hollywood existence in an entertaining book sure to make readers laugh out loud.

When her glamorous job lands her in tiny Daily, Texas, Mandalay Florentino finds she needs more than just Hollywood charm to survive. Can anything go right in this tumbleweed town?


 
Click here to read the guide for Talk of the Town.

 

New Guides Now Available

The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

The Bestiary by Nicholas Christopher
Betrayal by John Lescroart
The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber
Carpool Diem by Nancy Star
Crossed: A Tale of the Fourth Crusade by Nicole Galland
The Fiction Class by Susan Breen
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Keeper and Kid by Edward Hardy
Killer Heat by Linda Fairstein
Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
Logan's Hill: The Blood Brothers of the Night by John M. Scanlan
A Long Retreat: In Search of a Religious Life by Andrew Krivak
Lost Men by Brian Leung
Memory by Philippe Grimbert
Miscarriage of Justice by Kip Gayden
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver
Regina's Closet: Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal by Diana M. Raab
Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella
Resistance by Owen Sheers
Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor
Theft: Stories by N.S. Koenings
The Things We Do For Love by Xavier Knight
Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles, 1910-1939 by Katie Roiphe
Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler
The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond


Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:

Acceptance by Susan Coll
Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone
In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland
The Other Side of You by Salley Vickers
Peony in Love by Lisa See
The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris



 

Click here


 

This Month's Poll and Tip

Poll:

Does your group talk about books with controversial topics in them?

Yes, we will do this.
Yes, but with huge trepidation.
No, we will not do this.
I am not sure how we feel about this.


What "controversial" topics would your group talk about? Check as many as apply.

Environment
Parenting
Politics
Religion
Social Issues
World Affairs
Other Issues
None of these


Tip for March:


As this is Women's History Month, think about reading a biography that celebrates a famous female.

 

Click here to answer the poll.


 

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