September 2009

Last week I did something that I have not done in 13 years: I pretty much unplugged. I went on vacation to the Outer Banks, and while I checked email occasionally, I vowed to myself that I really was going to get away without my laptop connected to me like the mouse was a version of an umbilical cord. Now for humor, if you saw the car you would not have believed this. We had four laptops, a desktop and a printer for three people. I kid you not. Let's just say that having those with me was like dragging a security blanket, and for the record, I only take credit for one desktop and one laptop!

Before I left I was caught up in a total work frenzy to make this away time happen. And as I write this note it's the wee hours of Friday morning as I am in serious catchup mode, but it was worth it for those blissful days when I was less connected than usual. It was like driving the wagon train instead of a racecar.

I read...a lot. I blogged about the books I read here on Bookreporter.com. I knitted...a lot... including two shawls for me, two baby blankets for our tech guys whose wives both are having boys this month, and most of a tank top. I watched some movies, played games with my younger son and floated in the pool. And I walked on the beach, biked and swam. I came home with all those vacation vows that we all are so good at. I will walk a couple of miles a day, the way I did on the beach, or I will bike in the evening.

Then reality kicked in. I am NOT a morning person. If I swim in the morning too early I will drown when my arms and legs do not move since I am not awake; swimming at the beach happened late in the day. While there are a parade of people who walk in our quiet rural town, the bucolic scenery is not the same as the beach for me. Our office is a few blocks from Central Park; I think I have been there on a work day twice. Biking at night would work in June or July; by September it's dark way too early. Thus here I am, back just a few days keeping just two of my vacation escapes --- reading and knitting. I say again...if reading was a sport I would be in great shape. And I think knitting is arm exercise!

As you know, I enjoy getting out on the road to meet authors and readers. So I am very happy to share that on the weekend of October 2-4 I will be at the Fairmont Scottsdale Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona, for what promises to be a terrific weekend for book lovers, especially those of you who are in book groups.

The Fairmont has put together a group of six weekends of author events running from October through early December that they are calling "Season of Personal Discovery" Weekend Getaways. Each themed weekend includes a three-day/two-night stay at the resort, exclusive admission to the Friday "Meet the Authors" welcome cocktail reception, Saturday book readings, reminiscences, demonstrations, "Q&A" sessions, a Saturday evening "Mix & Mingle" cocktail reception and gala dinner, a farewell breakfast Sunday morning and a keepsake "Season" gift.

The weekend that I will be part of will have Lisa See (author of On Gold Mountain, Peony in Love, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and the current New York Times bestseller, Shanghai Girls), Anita Diamant (author of The Red Tent and Day After Night) and Debra Dean (author of The Madonnas of Leningrad and Confessions of a Falling Woman) as the author guests.

While many of you have met authors at book signings or other readings, these opportunities will be quite different as you will get to spend time speaking with them in a less formal setting than what you typically experience. And you will have the opportunity to reach out to other book lovers as well. We think there will be one terrific book conversation over the course of these weekends. I look forward to hearing ideas from the attendees on this weekend, as much as I am excited about sharing mine. I hope you can join me there. For more details about this weekend, as well as the other five events, click here.

And more reading group events to mark on your calendars! The third annual National Reading Group Month is taking place in October. Sponsored by the Women's National Book Association (WNBA), events will take place across the country in association with the organization's 10 chapters --- including one in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a chapter was launched earlier this year.

The National Reading Group Month signature event is being held at the Nashville Public Library Downtown on Saturday, October 10th, as part of the Southern Festival of Books. Featured authors at the breakfast and book signing are Marie Brenner (Apples and Oranges: My Brother and Me, Lost and Found), Holly Goddard Jones (Girl Trouble: Stories), Perri Klass (The Mercy Rule), Inman Majors (The Millionaires) and Kathryn Stockett (The Help). You can read more about all 10 of these events here.

On the ReadingGroupGuides.com blog, there are many standout pieces this month, including the following:

-An interview with Masha Hamilton, whose new novel, 31 Hours, is now available in stores. I read this on vacation and found it to be one of the best books that I have read this year.

-Sofie Laguna shares her thoughts on her novel One Foot Wrong and why she wrote the book 15 minutes at a time.

-Holly Goddard Jones talks about a way in which being a reader is different from being a writer --- and reveals real-life details she drew on for Girl Trouble.

-Denise Neary, who began a mother/daughter book club, shares what has kept the Washington, D.C.-area group going strong for five years...and counting.

And those are only a sampling of this month's outstanding posts. Read more here now. I also am thrilled to see how many of you have been reading the blog posts out on our Reading Group Guides page on Facebook and commenting. If you have not "fanned" us yet, get over there now!

We are featuring a new book club interview with "The Women of Literature" in Austin, TX, as well as an interview with a librarian and book club chair from the Island Park Public Library in Island Park, NY. It's always a lot of fun reading these and learning about reading groups across the country. In this month's poll question, we ask if you finish reading a book even if you do not like it. I am looking forward to seeing your responses. This month's contest book is A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve. To be a group to win 20 free copies of this book, all you have to do is sign up for the ReadingGroupGuides.com newsletter by October 1, 2009. If you are receiving this newsletter in your mailbox, you already are signed up! You may find more details on how to be eligible here.

Speaking of newsletter signups, September really is a time to get back to books. Those of you whose groups were on hiatus all summer are now back. It's a great time for us to do a newsletter subscription drive, thus may we ask that you forward this newsletter to friends who you think might enjoy it or send them this link to sign up?

We also have an opportunity for some interns here in the office. It's a terrific opportunity for someone who is in school looking for some practical experience, or someone who is between jobs and looking for some outside stimulation. These positions are unpaid, but we have more than a few books around here to share and we've been told we are a lot of fun to spend the day with. If you, or someone you know, is interested, click here to fill out the application form.

And for those of you with kids in your households or who have grandchildren, library patrons or friends, we have a survey running right now on Kidsreads.com. It's now open until September 30th, and 1,000 readers will have the chance to read one of 24 titles being given away. If you know other readers who may be interested in responding to these surveys, may we ask you to forward these links to them? The more voices that are heard for this, the better!

One final note: Oprah's new Book Club pick will be announced on September 18th. As soon as we know what her latest selection is, we will announce it on the ReadingGroupGuides.com homepage.

Read on for some great selections this month...we've added 50 new guides and I dare you to not find a book for your group --- or for some pleasure reading. Have a great September.

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
 

The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence -- and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene M. Pepperberg: Irene was 28 when she bought Alex, a one-year-old African gray parrot. Little did she know that 30 years later Alex would pass away as the smartest --- and most famous --- parrot to ever live.
Alexander and Alestria by Shan Sa: The imaginative tale of the dramatic love affair between Alexander the Great and Alestria, queen of the Amazons, when both are at the height of their powers.
America Libre by Raul Ramos y Sanchez: When undercover detectives in San Antonio accidentally kill a young Latina bystander during a botched drug bust, riots erupt across the Southwest.
Blame by Michelle Huneven: Blame is a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.
The Blue Star by Tony Earley: This is a timeless and moving story of discovery, loss and growing up, proving why Tony Earley's writing "radiates with a largeness of heart" (Esquire).
The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini: The Way We Were set in Zimbabwe after independence, a moving and powerful love story set against the backdrop of political upheaval.
By the Time You Read This by Lola Jaye: Already a national bestseller in the U.K., Lola Jaye’s By the Time You Read This is a profoundly beautiful story of a father’s abiding love for the daughter he will never see grow up.
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve: The new novel about the fragility of a young marriage from one of our greatest chroniclers of the mysteries of the human heart.
Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz: A Quinceañera Club Novel by Belinda Acosta: “...a book about damas of all ages, from teenage girls to the struggling mothers of those teenage girls...” --Julia Alvarez, author of Return to Sender
The Fire by Katherine Neville: The spectacular chess game in The Eight --- which captivated readers with exotic locales, fascinating historic figures and a labyrinthine plot --- returns in force in the dazzling sequel: The Fire!
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore: A dazzling new novel by the author of Birds of America --- an ambitious book about post-9/11 anxiety, race, war and love.
Girl Trouble: Stories by Holly Goddard Jones: Rona Jaffe Award winner Holly Goddard Jones’s debut short story collection, set around small-town Southerners caught in moral and sometimes mortal quandaries.
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb: A profound and heart-rending work of fiction. Wally Lamb proves himself a virtuoso storyteller, assembling a variety of voices and an ensemble of characters rich enough to evoke all of humanity.
I'm So Happy for You: A Novel About Best Friends by Lucinda Rosenfeld: A smart, darkly humorous and uncannily dead-on novel about female friendship.
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea: Filled with unforgettable characters and prose as radiant as the Sinaloan sun, Into the Beautiful North is the story of an irresistible young woman's quest to find herself on both sides of the fence.
The King's Daughter: A Novel of the First Tudor Queen by Sandra Worth: In this groundbreaking novel, award-winning author Sandra Worth vividly brings to life the people’s queen, “Elizabeth the Good.”
The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser: Tom Loxley, an Indian-Australian professor, is less concerned with finishing his book on Henry James than with finding his dog, who is lost in the Australian bush.
A Mercy by Toni Morrison: An ambivalent, disturbing story of a mother and a daughter --- a mother who casts off her daughter in order to save her, and a daughter who may never exorcise that abandonment.
Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini: The Secret Female Pope by Eleanor Herman: A scintillating biography of a powerful yet little-known woman whose remarkable story is ripe with secrets, sex, passion and ambition.
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi: In the tradition of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, Douglas Preston weaves a captivating account of crime and punishment in the lush hills of Florence, Italy.
My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare by Jess Winfield: In this retelling of William Shakespeare's youth, his story is paired with that of another Shakespeare: a struggling graduate student in Reagan-era California.
The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos: George Pelecanos achieves in The Night Gardener what his brilliant career has been building toward: a novel that is a perfect union of suspense, character and unstoppable fate.
No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process by Colin Beavan: What would your life be like if you had zero impact on the environment? Colin Beavan tackled this question, embarking on a yearlong experiment with his wife and their toddler.
Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie: From the author of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, a haunting tale of love and the beguiling power of a lost language.
One Foot Wrong by Sofie Laguna: For Hester, the only child of religiously reclusive parents, the outside world is forbidden. But once she catches a glimpse of what she’s been missing, escaping her sheltered life becomes something worth fighting for.
The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley: An electrifying epic page-turner, based on the incredible true story of a princess turned spy.
A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison by R. Dwayne Betts: A beautifully, brutally honest memoir about one imprisoned boy’s harrowing journey towards freedom and manhood.
A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory: A thrilling --- and often chilling --- tale that not only evokes strong emotions but asks important questions about our own morality.
Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing: Stories by Lydia Peelle: Lydia Peelle brings together eight brilliant stories --- two of which won Pushcart Prizes and one of which won an O. Henry Prize --- that peer straight into the human heart.
Requiem of the Human Soul by Jeremy R. Lent: The human race is on trial at the U.N. in the late 22nd century. At stake... its continued existence.
The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal: Shobhan Bantwal’s compelling new novel is set on the streets of Edison, New Jersey’s Little India, where a young businesswoman rediscovers the magic of love and family.
Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan: Each story in this collection is a testament to the wisdom and resilience of children, even in the face of the most agonizing situations our planet can offer.
A Separate Country by Robert Hicks: Set in New Orleans in the years after the Civil War, A Separate Country is based on the incredible life of John Bell Hood, arguably one of the most controversial generals of the Confederate Army --- and one of its most tragic figures.
Serena by Ron Rash: A gothic tale of greed, corruption and revenge set against the backdrop of the 1930s wilderness and America’s burgeoning environmental movement.
Sisters & Husbands by Connie Briscoe: Ten years have passed since Sisters & Lovers, and Beverly, now 39, is engaged to Julian, a man her family and friends agree is the epitome of a great catch.
Skunk: A Love Story by Justin Courter: This darkly hilarious novel follows a social outcast who develops a bizarre addiction that he eventually overcomes when he discovers love.
Slumberland by Paul Beatty: Critical darling Paul Beatty's highly original, widely praised novel of race, identity and underground music.
Stand the Storm by Breena Clarke: Even though Sewing Annie Coats and her son, Gabriel, have managed to buy their freedom, their lives are still marked by constant struggle and sacrifice.
A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand: Hearts break and emotions are pushed to the limit in this riveting story of one woman's attempt to deal with loves past and present, family, business and high-powered social pressures.
Time of My Life by Allison Winn Scotch: One morning Jillian wakes up seven years in the past, and armed with 20-20 hindsight, she’s free to choose all over again.
To Love What Is: A Marriage Transformed by Alix Kates Shulman: In this elegant memoir, Alix Kates Shulman describes the ongoing anxieties and risks --- and surprising rewards --- she experiences as she reorganizes her world to care for her husband.
The Truth About Love by Josephine Hart: From the author of Damage, a novel that opens with the accidental death of a teenage boy who commits one final, heartrending act of love.
The Twelve by William Gladstone: What will happen in 2012? The Mayans predicted the end of the world. In his novel The Twelve, William Gladstone forecasts a new beginning as the fate of all humanity rests in the balance.

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

The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
Goldengrove by Francine Prose
Home by Marilynne Robinson
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
The Various Flavors of Coffee by Anthony Capella

We have the following new guides for Christian book groups:

An Eye for an Eye: Heroes of Quantico Series, Book 2 by Irene Hannon: A fast-paced tale of romance, suspense and intrigue, An Eye for an Eye is the exciting second book in the Heroes of Quantico series.
Fools Rush In: Weddings by Bella, Book 1 by Janice Thompson: Fun, fresh and full of surprises, this flavorful combination of Italian and Tex-Mex highlights the hilarity that ensues when cultures clash.
Sweetwater Run by Jan Watson: In 1891 in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, two young women stand at a crossroads. As they struggle with the realities of life, both learn to rely on their faith above all else.
A Taste of Fame: The Potluck Catering Club by Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson: A Taste of Fame serves up the perfect blend of humor, misadventure and mouthwatering recipes. Fans new and old will love this exciting trip into the wild world of competitive cooking!
Under the Cajun Moon by Mindy Starns Clark: Mindy Starns Clark offers an exciting stand-alone novel, one full of Cajun mystery, hidden dangers and the glow of God’s unending grace.
Whatsoever Things are Lovely: Must-Have Accessories for God's Perfect Peace by Rhonda Rhea: Using Philippians 4:8-9 as a springboard, Rhonda Rhea takes you on a fun adventure that can help you lead a more fruitful, blessed and peace-filled life.