October 2009

For October we have FIVE very special opportunities for Registered Book Groups. Our featured titles this month are The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan, Oxygen by Carol Cassella, Windfall by Penny Vincenzi, Thirsty by Tracey Bateman and Where Grace Abides by BJ Hoff. Groups who have registered with us by Thursday, October 15th have the chance to win author chats and/or free books. If your group is not registered, click here to register.

The Longest Trip Home: A Memoir by John Grogan --- Author Chat and Book Giveaway: One Grand Prize-winning group will have the opportunity to chat with John Grogan and receive up to 12 copies of the book. Additionally, one first prize runner-up group will receive up to 12 signed copies of The Longest Trip Home for their book club, and a second prize runner-up group will receive up to 12 copies of the book.

More About The Longest Trip Home:
Enter your book club for a chance to speak with John Grogan, the internationally bestselling author who brought you Marley & Me and his most recent nationally bestselling memoir, The Longest Trip Home. Before there was Marley, there was a gleefully mischievous boy navigating his way through the social upheavals of the 1960s, flanked by his loving but traditional Christian parents, and his alternatively minded, persuasive peers. The Longest Trip Home tells the story of Grogan’s coming of age with his trademark humor and affection, offering readers a chance to discuss their own upbringings, whether happy, broken or humorous, and what it means to return back to your parents and family after breaking away and claiming your place in the world.

Oxygen by Carol Cassella --- Author Chat and Book Giveaway: Two groups will have the opportunity to chat with Carol Cassella and receive up to 12 copies of the book.

More About Oxygen:
Now available in paperback is Carol Cassella’s riveting national bestseller --- an “involving debut that’s just what the doctor ordered” (People). This gripping novel follows anesthesiologist Dr. Marie Heaton, who seeks to understand the death of a child patient during surgery, while also coping with her own aging father and confronting questions of love and betrayal, family bonds and the price of her own choices. With a final twist as heartrending as it is redeeming, Oxygen is an incredible story. Perfect for book clubs, there are many issues to discuss: family; relationships; trust between patients and doctors, parents and children, siblings, and romantic partners; coping with loss; and betrayal.

Windfall by Penny Vincenzi --- Book Giveaway: 10 groups will have the opportunity to receive up to 10 copies of the book.

More About Windfall:
Cassia Tallow, a dutiful doctor’s wife, inherits a fortune from her godmother whom she thought had died penniless. Gaining confidence and independence from her newfound wealth, Cassia sheds her domestic burdens as her husband can only look on with resentment. Soon she is seduced by the glamour and passion among a certain jet-set elite, and reforming old relationships --- one of them of the most dangerous kind. The mystery of her inheritance eventually catches up with Cassia, presenting even more questions about her family and the rest of her life. Too soon the windfall, part benign influence, part brutal force, is an absolutely powerful entity all of its own --- one that Cassia cannot resist...

-Click here to see our Women’s Fiction feature for Penny Vincenzi and Windfall on Bookreporter.com.

Thirsty by Tracey Bateman --- Author Chat and Book Giveaway: Six groups will have the opportunity to chat with Tracey Bateman and receive up to 10 copies of the book.

More About Thirsty:
In Thirsty by award-winning author Tracey Bateman, recovering alcoholic Nina Parker wants to start fresh in her Ozark hometown. A gruesome murder, her shattered family, and a 250-year-old stranger’s obsession have her torn between surrendering to darkness --- and salvation.

Thirsty offers a multi-dimensional plot that examines the plight of human frailty in stark contrast to the strength and power of the supernatural. It provides book groups with an opportunity to discuss robust themes, including addictive behaviors, intergenerational relations, the role of free will, confronting past events and decisions, and finally, the price of redemption.

Where Grace Abides: The Riverhaven Years by BJ Hoff --- Book Giveaway: 15 groups will have the opportunity to receive up to 10 copies of the book.

More About Where Grace Abides:
Where Grace Abides is a story that includes many challenging topics for discussion, including slavery and abolition, faith and organized religion, personal liberties, issues of discrimination, and more. This book will especially appeal to reading groups who are looking for a thought-provoking read that asks challenging questions in the context of a faith perspective.

In Where Grace Abides, the compelling second book in the Riverhaven Years series, Hoff offers her readers an even closer look at the Amish community of Riverhaven and the people who live and love and work there. Secrets, treachery and persecution are only a few of the challenges that test Rachel’s faith and her love for the forbidden “outsider,” while Gant’s own hopes and dreams are dealt a life-changing blow, rendering the vow he made to Rachel seemingly impossible to honor.

The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

According to Jane by Marilyn Brant: Jane Austen fans will relish According to Jane, as the ghost of Jane Austen takes up residence in brainy Ellie Barnett’s mind. Follow Ellie’s adventures in pride, prejudice and the pursuit of the perfect guy.
Angel Lane by Sheila Roberts: With irresistible humor, warmth, affection --- and recipes --- author Sheila Roberts serves up a generous, open-hearted story about the friendships we make, the chances we take, and the lives we touch every day.
Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell: With the mob, the government and death itself descending on the hospital, Dr. Peter Brown has to buy time and do whatever it takes to keep his patients, himself, and his last shot at redemption alive. To get through the next eight hours --- and somehow beat the reaper.
Better Because of You by Ginny Hutchinson and Cathy Haffner: Authors Ginny Hutchinson and Cathy Haffner share true-to-life stories that can help you do small things each day to make a big difference in your life.
The Book of Fathers by Miklós Vámos: For 300 years, a battered journal is passed down the Csillag family line, in which each generation’s firstborn son records his life. Known as The Book of Fathers, the journal bears witness to holocaust and wedding feast alike.
Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem: The acclaimed author of The Fortress of Solitude returns with a roar with this gorgeous, searing portrayal of Manhattanites wrapped in their own delusions, desires and lies.
The Concubine’s Daughter by Pai Kit Fai: An epic, heartwrenching story of a mother and daughter’s journey to their destiny.
Dutch by Teri Woods: James Bernard Jr., a.k.a. Dutch, has become the most dangerous criminal in New Jersey. Feared by all, and completely fearless, Dutch and his dangerous clique take over the lucrative heroin business of a local African drug lord.
Evenings at the Argentine Club by Julia Amante: Victor and Jaqueline Torres imagined moving to the U.S. would bring happiness and prosperity --- instead they found a world of frustration.
Feelin' the Vibe by Candice Dow: Clark Winston now has to make the most important decision of her life --- choose the man who broke her heart or the one who fixed it.
Generosity: An Enchantment by Richard Powers: From the National Book Award–winning author of The Echo Maker, a playful and provocative novel about the discovery of the happiness gene.
The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir by Katrina Kenison: An intimate memoir of a family in transition --- boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, an attempt to find a deeper sense of place, and a slower pace, in a small New England town.
Have a Little Faith: A True Story by Mitch Albom: A book about a life’s purpose; about losing belief and finding it again; about the divine spark inside us all. It is one man’s journey, but it is everyone’s story.
Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict by Irene Vilar: A courageous and extraordinary memoir of one woman’s journey through family trauma and self-mutilation, and her determined struggle to prevail into motherhood.
The Ladies' Gallery: A Memoir of Family Secrets by Irene Vilar: A razor-sharp memoir about the allure of suicide for three generations of women in one Puerto Rican family and the frightening family secrets that have haunted a grandmother, mother and daughter in their search for self.
The Longest Trip Home: A Memoir by John Grogan: The funny and poignant memoir of faith, family and identity from John Grogan --- the #1 international bestselling author of the beloved Marley & Me.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown: In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world's most popular thriller writer.
Lying with the Dead by Michael Mewshaw: Narrated by three very different siblings --- dutiful but tough Candy, sweet but disturbed Maury, and successful but despondent Quinn --- Lying with the Dead is a moving and darkly humorous story of three adult children and their aging, embittered mother.
Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato: A fiercely funny and touching debut novel about a young girl trying to find out the truth behind her sister’s death.
The Palace of Strange Girls by Sallie Day: Over a holiday week, the Singletons must struggle to find their place in the shifting world of promenade amusements, illicit sex and stilted afternoon teas in this touching and evocative novel.
The Return by Victoria Hislop: Family betrayals, forbidden love and historical turmoil converge between a family's heartwrenching struggle during the Spanish Civil War and a young woman traveling in present-day Granada.
Shadow Baby by Alison McGhee: In Alison McGhee's stunning novel Shadow Baby, 11-year-old Clara struggles to piece together her family history, while her mother refuses to talk about those people lost to her daughter.
Sunflowers by Sheramy Bundrick: A hauntingly beautiful novel about Vincent van Gogh and his relationship with a mysterious young woman named Rachel and the passion they shared, in a debut novel from art historian Sheramy Bundrick.
Thin is the New Happy by Valerie Frankel: The true story of one woman’s quest to exorcise her bad body-image demons, to uncover the truths behind what put them there and to learn how to truly love herself.
Transgression: A Novel of Love and War by James W. Nichol: A beautifully written World War II romance and mystery that follows Adele, a young French woman who falls in love with a German soldier and is cast out of her village as a “horizontal traitor” at the end of the war.
Where Grace Abides: The Riverhaven Years by BJ Hoff: Readers loved Rachel’s Secret, the first book in The Riverhaven Years, and are eagerly awaiting the continuing story of Rachel and Jeremiah Gant.
Windfall by Penny Vincenzi: Windfall is full of the signatures that make Vincenzi’s novels irresistible to devoted fans and newcomers alike: a sharp eye for detail, an assortment of loveable and despicable characters, and a titillating, suspenseful plot.

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

The Bible Salesman by Clyde Edgerton
The Black Tower by Louis Bayard
A Country Called Home by Kim Barnes
The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Lulu in Marrakech by Diane Johnson
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

We have the following new guides for Christian book groups:

Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World by Suzanne Woods Fisher: Organized around five central themes in Amish life, Amish Peace shows you how you can cultivate a simple life of love, gratitude and faith in the midst of a very complicated world.
Divine Inspirations: Words of God’s Love and Grace by Cindy A. Warren: This book is a series of love letters spoken from God that expresses the inseparable love that God truly has for all of His creation.
The Jewel of His Heart: Heart of the West, Book 2 by Maggie Brendan: Juliana Brady is alone in an 1890s Montana mining town, with few prospects for making a living. But she is determined not to be dependent on the charity of others.
Leaving Carolina by Tamara Leigh: Piper Wick left her hometown of Pickwick, North Carolina, 12 years ago, and did not look back. Now all of Piper’s hard-won happiness is threatened by a reclusive uncle’s bout of conscience.
The Swiss Courier by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey: 1944: When a young woman is asked to "courier" a German scientist who is working on the atomic bomb out of enemy territory, the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
Thirsty by Tracey Bateman: Recovering alcoholic Nina Parker wants to start fresh in her Ozark hometown, but a gruesome murder, her shattered family and a 250-year-old stranger’s obsession have her torn between surrendering to darkness --- and salvation.
White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner: “White Picket Fences is a beautiful yet haunting portrayal of what lies beneath a seemingly perfect suburban family.” --Mary E. DeMuth, author of Daisy Chain and A Slow Burn