October 2011

Writing this on a beautiful fall afternoon as we head into a long weekend. Lovely!

I got a note from a reader about her book club this week with a problem that she would like some feedback on. It seems they are bursting at the seams in membership, which is why they now meet at a library instead of people’s homes. They had 26 members as of June, and now members are asking friends to tag along. At this month's meeting, some hadn't even read the book and some never verbally participated. It appeared they enjoyed some refreshments and listened to others discuss a book. The group was so large that little side discussions were going on here and there, and the leader had to use her “schoolteacher voice” to ask them to wait their turn and share what they had to say with everyone. They almost needed a microphone for some of the participants. Do any of you have any suggestions on how the group leader can handle this? All ideas are welcome. Please send them to Katherine Tandler at [email protected].

Also, we have three groups --- Fourth Thursdays Book Club, East Meadow Readers, and Mom's Reading --- who are in need of some suggestions of what to read next. Click here, look at what they are reading, and suggest what you would have them read next. Please also share why you would suggest a particular title based on what they already have read.

One of the perks of my running The Book Report Network is that I get to read books months in advance. We’ve offered the chance to do this before with readers, and I am happy to share that we are doing it again this month with two titles that will not be published until February. The first is A Good American by Alex George. In it, Frederick and Jette Meisenheimer settle in Missouri in 1904 after leaving their home in Germany; Jette is pregnant and the couple is unmarried. Their journey starts with a rushed race from town as their secret has been discovered. Narrated in the voice of their son, James, it moves on through the years as they raise their family. Often stories like this are told through the eyes of women, not men. Loved this voice as a result.

Throughout the book, there is a thread about our families all being immigrants in this country as we all came from other places, and this made me think a lot. It also touches on the theme of families and how they are complicated, but also how they define us. Throughout the book, people start one journey and end up on another, which often springs from casual encounters, like so much of life. Nothing unfolded just the way I would have expected it to, also much like real life. I loved it, and it will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection when it is published. 100 readers have the opportunity to each win an advance copy of the book, which will be in stores on February 7, 2012, for their group. The deadline for entries is Friday, November 4th at noon ET. Click here for details.

We also are previewing the forthcoming release of No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel. Set in a remote Jewish village in Romania in 1939 with war closing in on them, the villagers decide to reinvent the world: deny any relationship with the known and start over from scratch. Again, 100 readers have the opportunity to each win an advance copy of the book, which will be in stores on February 2, 2012, for their group. The deadline for entries is Friday, November 4th at noon ET. Click here for details.

We also are celebrating the release of Everything We Ever Wanted by Sara Shepard, which will be in stores on Tuesday, October 11th, with a giveaway. It’s the story of one family coping with the aftermath of a scandal that dredges up bitter memories. 15 readers have the opportunity to each win a copy of the book. The deadline for entries is Friday, November 4th at noon ET. Click here for details.

As devoted readers of Adriana Trigiani’s New York Times bestselling novels know, she frequently draws inspiration from her own family history, in particular from the lives of her two remarkable grandmothers, Lucia Spada Bonicelli (Lucy) and Yolanda Perin Trigiani (Viola). In Don’t Sing at the Table, a nonfiction book, Adriana reveals how her grandmothers’ simple values have shaped her own life, sharing the experiences, humor and wisdom of her beloved mentors. I thoroughly enjoyed this book when I read it in hardcover last year, and I am delighted more readers will discover it now in paperback. I have found myself reflecting on so many of the ideas that she passes along as they are smart and so applicable even now, but somehow rushing around today, we have lost sight of them. In fact, I liked the book so much that I asked the publisher if we could make it our newsletter subscriber contest book this month, and they kindly agreed. For this contest, you are entered to win already if you are getting this newsletter in your mailbox. Reading online? Then sign up to get the newsletter in your mailbox to be entered to win.

Lauren Manning’s Unmeasured Strength is one of the most inspiring memoirs I have read. It’s about tenacity and courage and sheer will and drive --- as well as a will to live. I thought Lauren’s was a name that everyone knew, but over the past month or so, I have found myself telling her story to people who have no recognition of her. For me, since I heard about her shortly after 9/11, she has become the person with whom I most connected when I think about the events of those tragic days. Maybe I related to her as a mother of a small child, or as a woman who left the house a few minutes late as I am wont to do and, as a result, was lucky that she was not killed at her desk at Cantor Fitzgerald, or because I admired her as someone who was robbed of the life she knew by a fireball --- and, instead of cowering and giving up, found a new inner resolve to create an equally wonderful life for herself.

In Unmeasured Strength, Lauren shares her story of these past 10 years, a story that reminds us that an accident that happens in an instant can take years to overcome, and to get there requires courage and a huge inner strength. What she tells here is a wonderfully honest, inspiring tale of digging deep and fighting hard to become not the person she was, but someone stronger and even wiser. She’s unflinching when she describes what she's been through, and the moments when she looks back now on events in the mid-2000s --- when she thought she had come so far without seeing how much of a journey stood before her --- will have you thinking about what you were doing all those years as she was taking small steps to regain a normal life. And there are lots of lovely surprises, too. While Lauren was injured on 9/11, this book is about much more than that day. I venture to say that reading this, there will be at least one anecdote that will stay with you --- and inspire you --- for a long time after you are finished reading.

America's high divorce rate is well known. But little attention has been paid to the flip side: couples who creatively (sometimes clandestinely) manage to build marriages that are lasting longer than we ever thought possible. What's the secret? To find out, bestselling journalist Iris Krasnow interviewed more than 200 wives whose marriages have survived for 15 to 70 years for The Secret Lives of Wives. They are a diverse cast, yet they share one common and significant trait: They have made bold, sometimes secretive and shocking choices on how to keep their marital vows, "till death do us part," as Krasnow says, "without killing someone first." I see very interesting discussions coming out of this one!

As many of you know, the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) has designated October as National Reading Group Month (NRGM). This is the fifth annual celebration, and thousands of readers are expected to take part in activities through traditional and online book clubs and at neighborhood bookstores and local libraries. Official National Reading Group Month events will be hosted by the nine WNBA chapters --- Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. --- and additional programs will take place throughout the country during the month of October. For more information or to find events near you, go to www.NationalReadingGroupMonth.org.

In honor of this special month, the National Reading Group Month Selection Committee picks a selection of 20 Great Group Reads. Titles are selected on the basis of their appeal to reading groups for whom they are bound to open up lively conversations about a host of timely and provocative topics, from the intimate dynamics of family and personal relationships to major cultural and world issues. The Selection Committee also makes a conscious decision to focus its attention on under-represented gems from small presses and lesser-known mid-list releases from larger houses. We are very pleased to share that we have guides for 13 of these titles available for you: The Buddha in the Attic, Day of Honey, The Good Sister, The Hand That First Held Mine, If You Knew Then What I Know Now, The Memory Palace, The Soldier's Wife, The Summer Without Men, Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away, Under the Mercy Trees, When God Was a Rabbit, The Year We Left Home and You Know When the Men are Gone; for others, none was yet available.

Also, in celebration of National Reading Group Month, HarperCollins is offering 12 great books for book clubs for just $2.99 each for the entire month of October! Which means for just $36 you can fill your eReader with a year’s worth of book club selections. Plus, you can download a Book Club Girl on Air interview with each author about their book that you can listen to before or during your book club gathering! With more and more readers adapting to eReaders, this is a nice opportunity. Click here to learn more.

Our poll question asks how old you were when you FIRST joined a reading group. We look forward to hearing your replies, so please weigh in.

Here’s to a lovely long weekend. I am planning to get some reading done with the extra day…as well as some yard work, as it looks like we will be seeing temperatures going into the 80s!

Here’s to a great month of reading.

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

 

We are previewing the forthcoming release of A Good American by Alex George --- an uplifting novel about the families we create and the places we call home --- with a special contest. 100 readers will have the opportunity to each win an advance copy of the book, which will be in stores on February 7, 2012, for their group. The deadline for entries is Friday, November 4th at noon ET.

More about A Good American:
It is 1904. When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother, where better to go than America, the land of the new? Originally set to board a boat to New York, at the last minute, they take one destined for New Orleans instead (“What’s the difference? They’re both new”), and later find themselves, more by chance than by design, in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
 

As devoted readers of Adriana Trigiani’s New York Times bestselling novels know, this “seemingly effortless storyteller” (Boston Globe) frequently draws inspiration from her own family history, in particular from the lives of her two remarkable grandmothers, Lucia Spada Bonicelli (Lucy) and Yolanda Perin Trigiani (Viola). In Don’t Sing at the Table, she reveals how her grandmothers’ simple values have shaped her own life, sharing the experiences, humor and wisdom of her beloved mentors to delight readers of all ages.
 

She was a hardworking business woman, had a loving husband and an infant son, and a confidence born of intelligence and beauty. But on 9/11, good fortune was no match for catastrophe. When a wall of flame at the World Trade Center burned more than 80 percent of her body, Lauren Manning began a 10-year journey of survival and rebirth that tested her almost beyond human endurance.
 

America's high divorce rate is well known. But little attention has been paid to the flip side: couples who creatively (sometimes clandestinely) manage to build marriages that are lasting longer than we ever thought possible. What's the secret? To find out, bestselling journalist Iris Krasnow interviewed more than 200 wives whose marriages have survived for 15 to 70 years. They are a diverse cast, yet they share one common and significant trait: They have made bold, sometimes secretive and shocking choices on how to keep their marital vows, "till death do us part," as Krasnow says, "without killing someone first."
 

In celebration of National Reading Group Month, HarperCollins is offering 12 great books for book clubs for just $2.99 each for the entire month of October! Which means for just $36 you can fill your eReader with a year’s worth of book club selections. Plus, you can download a Book Club Girl on Air interview with each author about their book that you can listen to before or during your book club gathering!

October's New in Paperback roundups include the following highlights:

Bound by Antonya Nelson (Fiction)
Oliver, an aging entrepreneur, is on his third marriage, and has an even younger mistress. Catherine, his wife, suddenly learns she's been named guardian of a teenage girl she's never met. Meanwhile, a serial killer who haunted Catherine’s adolescence has unexpectedly reemerged.

Compass Rose by John Casey (Fiction)
With Compass Rose, National Book Award winner John Casey returns to the marshes of Rhode Island and the complex women that long ago captured readers’ hearts in his beloved earlier novel, Spartina.

Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg (Fiction)
Even on their wedding day, John and Irene sensed they were about to make a mistake. Years later --- divorced and dating other people --- they are bound only by mutual love for their spirited 18-year-old daughter. When tragedy strikes, they must come together to support their daughter.

Solomon's Oak by Jo-Ann Mapson (Fiction)
Glory Solomon, a young widow, hosts weddings at her Central California farm to make ends meet. When a troubled, homeless 14-year-old girl and a traumatized former police officer arrive at her doorstep, everything changes.

-Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of October 3rd, October 10th, October 17th and October 24th.

 

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (Fiction)
I love when creators, be they authors, musicians or artists, take risks and push themselves. Thus it was with great delight that I read Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. While categorized as a book for ages 9 and up, I, who have many more years than that behind me, was completely captivated by this work. Let me back up a moment. For those who may not be aware, Selznick is the Caldecott Award-winning author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, where he first worked his magic pairing a narrative with detailed illustrations that stand alone to tell some of the story.

In Wonderstruck, Selznick pushes his talent even further, pairing a story told in prose set in 1977 with one told in illustration set in 1927. In the more contemporary story, the young protagonist Ben, who grew up in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota, is struck deaf shortly after he learned some clues to his father’s identity; his mother has already passed away without revealing his father’s identity. Ben weaves his way to the Museum of Natural History, where readers quickly are moved to look at the scenes at the museum in a new way as they hear the story behind the exhibits. The research alone will have you look at this museum in a whole new way, no matter how many times you may have been there. Never been there? You will want to make plans to enjoy it soon.

Woven in here is Rose’s story, told entirely in detailed illustrations; she also has the museum as a key part of her past. The parallels dramatically build, and trust that when you close these more than 600 pages (do not be daunted; you will fly through them), you will realize you have read a story where a creator has completely delivered. Plus, it’s been a true experience. And the nice thing is you can share it with other members of your family of many ages. It’s a book that is destined to draw people together.

-Click here to read more about Wonderstruck.
-Click here to read a review of Wonderstruck.
 

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka: The story of a group of young women brought to San Francisco to Japan as “picture brides,” The Buddha in the Attic details the poignant struggles of arranged marriage and life in a new world.
Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War by Annia Ciezadlo: Day of Honey is a tale of war and intercultural conflict explored through food and friendship.
Don’t Sing at the Table: Life Lessons From My Grandmothers by Adriana Trigiani: Adriana Trigiani draws on family history to explore how we can learn from the elders we admire.
Everything We Ever Wanted by Sara Shepard: Family secrets unfold as the young Bates-McAllisters have trouble in school and begin to question their legacy.
Fathermucker by Greg Olear: A stay-at-home dad finds out through the mommy grapevine that his wife might be having an affair.
A Good American by Alex George: Poignant, funny and heartbreaking, A Good American is a novel about being an outsider --- in your country, in your hometown, and sometimes even in your own family.
The Good Sister by Drusilla Campbell: Drusilla Campbell’s latest novel is an exploration of the hardships of a mother on trial for familial neglect and attempted murder of her children.
If You Knew Then What I Know Now by Ryan Van Meter: Ryan Van Meter explores coming-of-age and coming out in the 14 essays of his memoir.
The Memory Palace: A Memoir by Mira Bartok: After suffering a brain injury in a car accident, Mira must re-learn her life, starting with her mentally-ill mother.
No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel: In 1939, danger and uncertainty surround a Jewish village in a remote area of Romania.
The Secret Lives of Wives: Women Share What it Really Takes to Stay Married by Iris Krasnow: A bestselling, groundbreaking author investigates successful long-term marriages, interviewing wives and their uncensored strategies for staying married.
The Soldier’s Wife by Margaret Leroy: Notions of duty, both public and private, are examined in this story about the wife of a soldier during World War II.
The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt: Mia is in a marriage that is disintegrating, so she heads back to her prairie home to learn new lessons by examining the lives of those around her.
Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away by Christie Watson: Twelve-year-old Blessing must deal with family tension and political conflict when she moves to rural Nigeria.
Unmeasured Strength by Lauren Manning: When a wall of flame at the World Trade Center burned more than 80 percent of her body, Lauren Manning began a 10-year journey of survival and rebirth that tested her almost beyond human endurance.
The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson: The Year We Left Home follows the Erickson siblings as they confront prosperity and heartbreak, setbacks and triumphs, and seek their place in a country whose only constant seems to be breathtaking change.

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

Bound by Antonya Nelson: Critically acclaimed author Antonya Nelson’s much anticipated first novel in over a decade is a story of tangled lives, set in a Wichita riveted by the reemergence of an infamous serial killer.
Compass Rose by John Casey: John Casey returns to the Rhode Island estuary that was the setting for his acclaimed novel, Spartina.
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen: The bestselling National Book Award winner returns with a biting portrait of an American family in today’s society.
Solomon’s Oak by Jo-Ann Mapson: A young widow, rebellious orphan and injured police officer find common ground at a little wedding chapel beneath one of California’s legendary oak trees.
The Weekend by Bernhard Schlink: The acclaimed author of The Reader follows old friends as they plan a party for a friend just out of prison, and plot their next attack.