March 2009

Happy March --- the month that roared in like a lion with snow and wind. I am ticking off the days until spring and hoping that it arrives right on time. I would like another color besides gray looking in at me from my window, and the trees can use some color, too. I like my world colorful!

The BIG news this month is that we are asking you all to participate in our 2009 Reader Survey. And there is a nice reward for completing it. Through the generosity of our publishing colleagues, each of the first 2,500 survey respondents will receive a book. The 28 titles that have been selected each are worthy of a terrific book group discussion, besides providing some wonderful reading enjoyment. Titles will be selected at random. The survey is open until we have awarded all the prizes or April 30th, whichever comes first. It should take you about 12-15 minutes to complete it.

One quick note: Given customs and mailing restrictions, the prize offerings are only available to residents of the United States and Canada. To our international readers, we welcome your participation and regret we cannot send prizes overseas.

The last time we did a survey was in 2001, and we know that a lot has changed since then. You can read more about this later in our newsletter, and may we ask that you share it with other friends who are in book groups, your local librarian and your local bookseller? We are trying to gather responses from as many different groups and people as possible. We know our goal of 2,500 respondents is ambitious, but we also know we have readers who can help us reach it. And hey, I LOVE to give books away!

On the site this month our featured titles will make you think, laugh and discuss. Browse through them for ideas on what your group might enjoy --- and also use this as a way to add to your own personal reading list. We know that if you enjoy a book, it just might end up on your book group’s list at a future date. May we also suggest that you set aside a portion of your book group meeting time to talk about what you are now reading? Any of you can make a book a bestseller!

We invite you to take part in this month’s poll, which touches on this experience and asks you how many books you have recommended to people in the past year by saying, “You HAVE to read this book.” As someone who does this on a daily basis, I am looking forward to seeing your responses.

We love to hear when a book suddenly is being talked about by a number of groups so often that the title feels like it has a drumbeat behind it. This month that’s been happening with The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Shannon McKenna Schmidt, our Contributing Editor, told me that “she considered it a privilege to have read this book,” which is a lovely way to have a book described. The book was originally published as a young adult title, but the crossover to the adult world was organic as parents started reading it and the word spread. I know I read it after my son had finished it --- and shortly afterwards we toured the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC and the story took on even more meaning.

Speaking of The Book Thief, Random House Children's Books is sponsoring a book club contest in which one group will win a Skype call with Markus Zusak. I have heard Markus speak on more than one occasion. He’s Australian, and not in the States much, so a chance to chat with him like this would be quite a treat. Click here to read all the contest details.

We hope that you enjoy reading the ReadingGroupGuides.com Blog as much as we do. Today’s post is about a book that I am just CRAZY about, A Reliable Wife, which will be published on April 7th. Read what three librarians --- Robin Beerbower, Sonja Somerville and Elizabeth Hughes --- have to say about this book here! Their comments are dead on and they join me with their rave.

As you may know, ReadingGroupGuides.com now has a fan page on Facebook. Since January, we have been joined by almost 600 fans. Here we feature our daily blogs and will put out questions for discussion. We’d love you to share pictures of your groups as well as comments on the books that we suggest. We look forward to seeing you as fans.

Our contest book this month is Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn. 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, 2009. If you are receiving this newsletter in your mailbox, you already are signed up! You can find more information about this contest here. Click here to read the guide for Silent on the Moor.

We have two new interviews this month, including one with the “Mandeville Hot Mamas” book club in Mandeville, LA. We also are sharing an interview with Lora A. Glass, a librarian at the Niceville Public Library in Niceville, FL. Interested in having us feature an interview with your book club, library or bookstore? Click on the appropriate link in the previous sentence to find out how.

Whew...lots of news...now read on...and don’t forget to answer the survey so you can get a bookish prize. Thanks for reading….

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

ReadingGroupGuides.com is conducting a survey of book groups. Our goal is to identify trends and topics that are of interest to book groups that we can share with publishers and authors, so they can provide the information and resources to enhance your meetings and discussions. We have not done a survey since 2001, and we know that a lot has changed in the last eight years! Thus, we would love to hear from you.

We estimate it will take 12-15 minutes to complete the survey. As your time is valuable to us, as a token of our appreciation for completing the survey, EACH survey participant will receive ONE of 28 books that appear at the bottom of this page.

We thank our publishing colleagues who graciously provided these incentives for you to share your thoughts with us. Please note that each of these titles would be worthy of a book club discussion! Prize titles will be selected at random and sent to you from the participating publisher. Your name will not be used for any other mailing. If you know people in other book clubs, may we suggest that you forward this link to them? The more voices that are heard for this, the more we will be able to have your comments shared with publishers and authors.

The survey will close on April 30th, or as soon as we have 2,500 prizes awarded, so click here to answer the survey NOW.

One quick note: Given customs and mailing restrictions, the prize offerings are only available to residents of the United States and Canada. To our international readers, we welcome your participation and regret we cannot send prizes overseas.

-Click here for more information about the survey and the 28 prize books.