June 2012

As we were pulling together our lineup for June, I found myself getting more and more excited about sharing this update with you. One of the reasons this update is coming to you a tad later than usual is that last week we were all out at BookExpo America (BEA), the annual trade show. During this whirlwind four days of racing around the Jacob Javits Convention Center to see all the new fall/winter titles, we also hosted a Book Group Speed Dating Session where 12 publishers presented their “Hot Book Club Titles for the Season.” We saw some of our readers there, which is always such fun, but we know that many of you were not able to join us in New York.

We have the titles that were shared by these publishers, as well as a few more that you can view, here in a Fall Preview. There are more than 80 titles, so take your time perusing them. We also have linked from this page an Excel spreadsheet that you can download so you can check off the titles that you would like to share with your group as possible discussion titles. While you will not be able to feel the infectious energy that was in the room that morning, we hope you will enjoy viewing the titles and reading the descriptions of them that we have for you.

This month, we have some exciting new contests for you! A few months ago, I read two books that I immediately earmarked as Bookreporter.com Bets On selections --- The Innocents by Francesca Segal and Gilded Age by Claire McMillan. While I enjoyed both books for their stories, I learned later that they were both based on Edith Wharton novels, which got my head spinning. The publishers of both titles were excited about a special promotion, and so was the publisher of Edith Wharton’s books.

Soooo drumroll, we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Edith Wharton’s birthday and the release of those two new novels with a special contest. 20 readers each will receive a copy of The Innocents and Wharton's The Age of Innocence, while 20 other readers each will be awarded a copy of Gilded Age and Wharton's The House of Mirth. The deadline for entries is Thursday, June 28th at 11:59PM ET. Note: To win, entrants must agree to share their feedback on the two novels between now and August 10th! Click here to read all the contest details. And for the record, I cannot ever remember reading either Edith Wharton book, and thus my “homework” will be to do just that. Looking forward to this summer-long readathon --- and looking forward to you and your book groups joining in as well. For many of you, summertime means fewer meetings, so this can be a way to explore an author’s work in a new way and report back to your group --- or all do this together.

We’ve already heard from MANY of you about our first-ever Dedicated Newsletter that went out yesterday for Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick, which was just released on Tuesday. (This too will be a Bookreporter.com Bets on selection just as his New York Times bestseller, A Reliable Wife, was.) To celebrate the release of the book, we have two special opportunities available for book groups. First, ReadingGroupGuides.com book groups in six select cities are invited to attend a special reception with Robert Goolrick before his author events. And all groups are eligible to win one of 10 special samplers of six galleys from Goolrick’s publisher, Algonquin Books, of their upcoming fall/winter titles, a set of which will be awarded to 10 ReadingGroupGuides.com book groups. You can see all details about these special offers here. Please note that the RSVPs for reception events are time sensitive, while the offer for the samplers is open until Tuesday, July 10th at noon ET.

And that’s not all. We are also celebrating the forthcoming release of City of Women by David R. Gillham, which will be in stores on August 7th, with a special contest. I read this book a few weeks ago and felt myself dashing through the streets of Berlin and hiding in the bomb shelters and walking up the stairs with Sigrid to her apartment building where much of the story is set. I cannot imagine a world where you have no idea who to trust and who will betray you. Sigrid is a woman trapped in so many ways...looking for a few moments of joy and happiness. In the end, she is in control of her life as the world continues to spin around her. It’s a story of courage as much as it is of love and longing. It definitely will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. 50 readers have the opportunity to each win an advance copy of the book. The deadline for entries is Monday, July 9th at noon ET. Click here to enter.

And we are celebrating the release of The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall --- the story of a woman who is forced to confront the betrayal that destroyed her years earlier --- with a special contest. We featured this book in a Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight on Bookreporter.com, where our reviewer Melanie Smith said, "In every page of this breathtaking novel is a strong sense of place and humanity. Readers will really appreciate the solid, artistic, beautifully descriptive quality of Emylia Hall’s writing.... Those who enjoy fiction and family dramas should love The Book of Summers, a touching, emotive read about love and the value of family." 25 readers will have the opportunity to each win a copy of the book. The deadline for entries is Monday, July 9th at noon ET. Click here to enter.

We also have a very special opportunity for Registered Book Groups. Groups that have registered with us by Tuesday, June 19th will have the chance to win one of 25 paperback copies of Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister. In this book, on a rare gloriously sunny day in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them: to celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her --- white-water rafting. But if she goes, each of them will also do one thing they always swore they'd never do --- and Kate is going to choose their adventure, from getting a tattoo to learning to bake bread to reconciling with a former friend. Can’t you see the discussion brewing over this? I would pick sky diving as something that terrifies me. If your group is not registered with ReadingGroupGuides.com, click here to register.

We have some new featured guides this month as well. Be sure not to miss the reading group guides for the following new titles:

Richard, a wealthy doctor, invites his estranged sister Angela and her family to join his for a week at a vacation home in the English countryside. Richard has just re-married and inherited a willful stepdaughter in the process; Angela has a feckless husband and three children who sometimes seem alien to her. The stage is set for seven days of resentment and guilt, a staple of family gatherings the world over. Told through the alternating viewpoints of each character, The Red House by Mark Haddon becomes a symphony of long-held grudges, fading dreams and rising hopes, tightly-guarded secrets and illicit desires, all adding up to a portrait of contemporary family life that is bittersweet, comic and deeply felt. I read this over spring break, and it reminded me why I love Mark’s work so much. Quick pop quiz: What was his bestselling debut novel? Why it was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Click here for the reading group guide. Please note that this is also our Newsletter Contest Book for this month. Just for being a subscriber, you are entered to win!

We are crazy about The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty around the office, which I picked as a Bets On selection last week. Only a few years before becoming a famous actress and an icon for her generation, a 15-year-old Louise Brooks leaves Wichita to make it big in New York. Much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by a 36-year-old chaperone who is neither mother nor friend. Cora Carlisle is a complicated but traditional woman with her own reasons for making the trip. She has no idea what she’s in for: Young Louise, already stunningly beautiful and sporting her famous blunt bangs and black bob, is known for her arrogance and her lack of respect for convention. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together will change their lives forever. Click here for the reading group guide.

In Trapeze by Simon Mawer, Marian Sutro is barely out of school and doing her bit for the war effort. She has one quality that marks her out --- she is a native French speaker. It is this that attracts the attention of the SOE, the Special Operations Executive, which trains agents to operate in occupied Europe. Drawn into this strange, secret world at the age of 19, she finds herself undergoing commando training, attending a “school for spies,” and ultimately, one autumn night, parachuting into France from an RAF bomber to join the WORDSMITH resistance network. But there’s more to Marian’s mission than meets the eye of her SOE controllers, for her mission has been hijacked by another secret organization that wants her to go to Paris and persuade a friend from before the war --- a research physicist --- to join the Allied war effort. Click here for the reading group guide.

In To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal, the veneer of Judith Whitman's happy life in California is beginning to crack, and she recalls the serenity she felt decades earlier, when she was 17 and living in her father’s house in Nebraska. There --- before her marriage to a banker, before the birth of her daughter, before her career as a film editor --- Judith met Willy Blunt, a carpenter whose pale blue eyes and easy smile awakened in her the reckless girl he alone imagined her to be. If she were to encounter Willy again, could Judith reconnect with her purer, better self? McNeal points us toward the answer in this heartwrenching, captivating story about who we are with the ones we love, and who we are without them. Click here for the reading group guide.

Terrorists in Love: True Life Stories of Islamic Radicals by Ken Ballen, a nonfiction title, imagines a world where a boy’s dreams dictate the behavior of warriors in battle; where a young couple’s only release from forbidden love is death; where a suicide bomber survives only to become fiercely pro-American. This is the world of Terrorists in Love. Click here for the reading group guide.

Meanwhile, if you are stuck on what to buy dad for Father’s Day, race on over to Bookreporter.com and check out our Father’s Day feature! We are spotlighting ten "Dad-worthy" books that are perfect gift-giving suggestions: The Coldest Night by Robert Olmstead, Damage Control by John Gilstrap, The Family Corleone by Ed Falco, In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, Lehrter Station by David Downing, Man Made by Joel Stein, On Par by Bill Pennington, One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard, Operation Napoleon by Arnaldur Indridason, and To the Last Breath by Francis Slakey.

And speaking of Father’s Day, we’re also continuing our Father's Day blog series with some of our favorite author friends. We’re sharing a variety of pieces --- both entertaining and emotional ---- from a diverse list of authors through Father’s Day. So far, we’ve featured Dan Zevin on making his kids proud; Francis Slakey on sharing stories with his dad; Lisa Brackmann on the inspiration her father gave her; Anthony Swofford on how to "make a short story long" with his dad; Chris Cleave on the "perks of fatherhood" (you MUST see the drawing that accompanies this piece); Anita Amirrezvani on her father’s love of poetry; C.W. Gortner on how his father has supported his writing throughout his life; Joshua Henkin on his father’s love of words; and J. R. Angelella, who talks to his dad about all things zombie. Still to come are Claire McMillan and Alma Katsu, so be sure to check back through the weekend!

On Bookreporter.com, we have a month-long Audiobook blog series running this month that includes pieces from authors who recorded their own audiobooks in celebration of Audiobook Month. So far, we have featured Richard Miniter, Anna Quindlen, Jack Gantos, Janis Ian, David Maraniss, Jim Bouton, Jenny Lawson, Meg Jay, AJ Jacobs, Rachel Simon, Ayad Akhtar, RoseMarie Terenzio, Shorty Rossi and Mary Pope Osborne. This weekend, we will “hear” from Tupelo Hassman, Anthony Swofford and Lesley Kagen.

Last month’s poll continues this month, so be sure to weigh in! We want to know which of the adjectives listed best describes the ambience of your group. We are having fun with this. Vote here.

I promised you an AMAZING lineup….I hope you agree we have shared one with you! Happy Reading!

Win THE INNOCENTS by Francesca Segal and GILDED AGE by Claire McMillan, Along with Classic Edith Wharton Titles

We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Edith Wharton’s birthday and the release of two new novels inspired by her writing with a special contest. 20 readers each will receive a copy of The Innocents by Francesca Segal and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, while 20 other readers each will be awarded a copy of Gilded Age by Claire McMillan and The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.

The deadline for entries is Thursday, June 28th at 11:59PM ET. Note: To win, entrants must agree to share their feedback on the two novels between now and August 10th!

-See the reading group guides for The Innocents, Gilded Age, The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth.
 

We have a special opportunity for book groups to attend a special reception to meet Robert Goolrick, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Reliable Wife, whose latest book Heading Out to Wonderful is on sale now. This opportunity is available to book groups in select cities, but all readers are invited to enter to win additional prizes.

More about Heading Out to Wonderful:
It is the summer of 1948 when a handsome, charismatic stranger, Charlie Beale, recently back from the war in Europe, shows up in the town of Brownsburg, a sleepy village of a few hundred people, nestled in the Valley of Virginia. All he has with him are two suitcases: one contains his few possessions, including a fine set of butcher knives; the other is full of money. A lot of money.

Finding work at the local butcher shop, Charlie befriends the owner and his family, including the owner’s son, Sam, who he is soon treating as though he were his own flesh and blood. And it is through the shop that Charlie gradually meets all the townsfolk, including Boaty Glass, Brownsburg’s wealthiest citizen, and most significantly, Boaty’s beautiful teenage bride, Sylvan.

-Click here to read more about the book.
 

We are celebrating the forthcoming release of City of Women by David R. Gillham --- a steamy page-turner about a seemingly perfect Nazi soldier’s wife and her clandestine life --- with a special contest. 50 readers will have the opportunity to each win an advance copy of the book, which will be in stores August 7th, for their group. The deadline for entries is Friday, July 6th at noon ET.

More about City of Women:
It is 1943 --- the height of the Second World War. With the men taken by the army, Berlin has become a city of women. And while her husband fights on the Eastern Front, Sigrid Schröder is, for all intents and purposes, the model soldier’s wife: She goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law, all the while ignoring the horrific immoralities of the regime. But behind this façade is an entirely different Sigrid, a woman who dreams of her former Jewish lover, who is now lost in the chaos of the war. Sigrid’s tedious existence is turned upside down when she finds herself hiding a mother and her two young daughters --- whom she believes might be her lover’s family --- and she must make terrifying choices that could cost her everything.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
 

We are celebrating the release of The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall --- the story of a woman who is forced to confront the betrayal that destroyed her years earlier --- with a special contest. 25 readers will have the opportunity to each win a copy of the book, which is now in stores, for their group. The deadline for entries is Friday, July 6th at noon ET.

More about The Book of Summers:
For nine-year-old Beth Lowe, it should have been a magical summer. But what begins as an innocent vacation to Hungary ends with the devastating separation of her parents. Beth and her father return home alone, leaving her mother, Marika, behind. Over the next seven summers, Beth walks a tightrope between worlds, fleeing her quiet home and distant father to bask in the intoxicating Hungarian countryside with Marika. But at 16, she uncovers a life-shattering secret, bringing her sacred summers with Marika abruptly to an end. Now, years later, Beth receives a package containing a scrapbook. Suddenly she is swept back to the world she left behind, forced to confront the betrayal that destroyed her --- and to search her heart for forgiveness.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read more in Bookreporter.com's Women's Fiction Author Spotlight.
 

Curious about what fall/winter 2012 books are perfect for book group discussions? Click here to find suggestions from more than 20 publishers as presented at BookExpo America (BEA), the industry’s leading trade show. See what will be of interest to your group! To give you an easy way to mark what you want to suggest at your future meetings, we also are providing a spreadsheet with all the featured titles here.

 

We have a number of contests currently running on our other sites in TheBookReportNetwork.com. Please take a look at them below, and enter for your chance to win some fabulous books!

Bookreporter.com

Summer Reading Contest and Feature
Summer is just around the corner! At Bookreporter.com, this means it's time for us to share some great summer book picks with our Summer Reading Contest and Feature. We will be spotlighting a different title on select days through July, so you will have to check the site each day to see the featured prize book and enter. We also will be sending a special daily newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.

Teenreads.com

Beach Bag of Books
In our Sixth Annual Beach Bag of Books contest, five winners each will receive a beach bag filled with a number of outstanding books. We'll be adding more titles in the days to come, so please be on the lookout for that! Along with the books, winners will find their striped beach bag stocked with a polka-dot beach towel, Coppertone Sport Sunblock, and a plastic sports bottle. The deadline for entries is Monday, July 16th at noon ET.

Fierce Reads
To celebrate the release of four books that are being featured in Macmillan's Fierce Reads campaign, we're giving five readers the opportunity to win them all! Enter by Tuesday, August 7th at noon ET for your chance to be awarded Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne, Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, and Struck by Jennifer Bosworth.

Kidsreads.com

Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom written by Rachel Vail, illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Justin is going to start fourth grade --- but first, he has to survive the summer. We are giving 5 readers the chance to win a copy of Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom. The deadline for entries is Monday, June 18th at noon ET.

Alex and the Amazing Time Machine written by Rich Cohen, illustrated by Kelly Murphy
Alex Trumble is a pretty ordinary kid --- except for the fact that his IQ borders on genius, and he loves to read books on vortexes and time travel. But when two angry hit men kidnap his big brother, Alex’s life changes fast. We are giving 5 readers the chance to win a copy of Alex and the Amazing Time Machine. The deadline for entries is Monday, June 18th at noon ET.

 

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: The return of the beautiful Countess Olenska into the rigidly conventional society of New York sends reverberations throughout the upper reaches of society.
The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall: At 16, Beth Lowe uncovers a life-shattering secret, bringing her sacred summers with her mother abruptly to an end. Now, years later, Beth receives a package containing a scrapbook and is swept back to the world she left behind, forced to confront the betrayal that destroyed her.
City of Women by David R. Gillham: City of Women is a steamy page-turner about a seemingly perfect Nazi soldier’s wife and her clandestine life.
Gilded Age by Claire McMillan: In this modern retelling of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, feminism, friendship and the unwritten laws of society are braided together and showcased in this beautifully descriptive, inquisitive novel about a woman trying to change her fate.
A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver by Mark K. Shriver: In this intimate portrait of an extraordinary father-son relationship, Mark K. Shriver discovers the moral principles that guided his legendary father and applies them to his own life.
Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick: The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller A Reliable Wife returns with a new novel about the dark side of passion set in mid-century America in a small Virginia town.
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: In The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton honed her devastating acerbic style, created one of her most memorable heroines in Lily Bart, and discovered her defining theme: the vulgarity, greed, human frailty, and false social values that form the true foundation of New York society.
The Innocents by Francesca Segal: A small suburb in North West London is the setting for Francesca Segal’s debut novel --- a smart and slyly funny tale of love, temptation, confusion and commitment; a triumphant and beautifully executed recasting of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence.
Little Century by Anna Keesey: This is a charged and eloquent debut novel of the range wars in the American West at the turn of the century that maps our country’s cutthroat legacy of dispossession and greed, as well as celebrates the ecstatic visions of what America could become.
Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff: Award-winning former Boston Globe reporter Mitchell Zuckoff unleashes the exhilarating, untold story of an extraordinary World War II rescue mission, where a plane crash in the South Pacific plunged a trio of U.S. military personnel into a land that time forgot.
Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms by Carmela Ciuraru: In a captivating series of biographical snapshots exploring the lives of famous authors and their pen names, author Carmela Ciuraru delivers a unique literary history and a penetrating examination of identity, creativity and self-creation, revisiting the enduring question: What’s in a name?
The Reason is You by Sharla Lovelace: Dani Shane just wants her daughter to have what she never did --- a normal life. But “normal” leaves the equation when 16-year-old Riley is found talking to Dani’s only friend, Alex --- who’s been dead for 40 years.
The Red House by Mark Haddon: The Red House is a literary tour-de-force that illuminates the puzzle of family in a profoundly empathetic manner --- a novel sure to entrance the millions of readers of Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
The Seventh Etching by Judith K. White: In Golden-Age Amsterdam, a beguiling orphan, who unknowingly holds the clue to a missing etching, encounters Rembrandt and later appears in his most famous work.
The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani: The Shoemaker’s Wife is a breathtaking, multi-generational love story that spans two continents, two World Wars, and two oceans, replete with all the drama, sumptuous detail and heart-stopping romance.
Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals by Ken Ballen: Imagine a world where a boy’s dreams dictate the behavior of warriors in battle; where a young couple’s only release from forbidden love is death; where a suicide bomber survives only to become fiercely pro-American. This is the world of Terrorists in Love.
To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal: Named The Best Book of 2011 by The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the Seattle Times, Tom McNeal’s “hypnotic” (Washington Post) love story is now in paperback!
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch: Catalyzed by the loss of her sister, a mother of four spends one year savoring a great book every day, from Thomas Pynchon to Nora Ephron and beyond.
Trapeze by Simon Mawer: When 19-year-old Marian Sutro joins the British forces during World War II, her directive is hijacked by another secret organization that wants her to go to Paris to persuade a friend --- a research physicist --- to join the Allied war effort, a mission that could change the course of the war.
When We Argued All Night by Alice Mattison: From bestselling and award-winning author Alice Mattison comes a breathtaking new novel following two best friends from Brooklyn, exploring the way in which the world and their lives change over the course of the 20th century.
Widow's Might: A Liv Bergen Mystery by Sandra Brannan: With a mind for crime solving, headstrong about protecting her family, Liv Bergen finds herself trailing a vengeful killer with a crooked sense of justice.

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

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje: By turns poignant and electrifying, The Cat’s Table is a spellbinding story about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood, and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage.
Daughters of the Revolution by Carolyn Cooke: The headmaster of a prestigious New England prep school vows never to desegregate his campus, until the school accidentally admits a 15-year-old black girl.
Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister: Shimmering with warmth, wit and insight, Joy for Beginners is a celebration of life; unexpected, lyrical, and deeply satisfying.
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan: Three generations of women share their hopes, dreams and fears at the family’s summer retreat along coastal Maine.
My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young: A young couple wonders if their love and relationship can survive through the horrors of World War I.

 

Poll:

Which of the following adjectives best describes the ambience of your group? Please check as many as apply.

Fun-loving
Serious
Intellectual
Pseudo-intellectual
Lighthearted
Adventuresome
Predictable
Spontaneous
Organized
Disorganized
Chatty
Reserved
Boisterous
Subdued
I am not in a book group.
Other (Please specify)

-Click here to answer our poll.


Newsletter Contest Book:

Win copies of The Red House by Mark Haddon for your group!

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 July 1st. If you are receiving this newsletter in your mailbox, you already are signed up!

More about The Red House:
The set-up of Mark Haddon's brilliant new novel is simple: Richard, a wealthy doctor, invites his estranged sister Angela and her family to join his for a week at a vacation home in the English countryside. Richard has just re-married and inherited a willful stepdaughter in the process; Angela has a feckless husband and three children who sometimes seem alien to her. The stage is set for seven days of resentment and guilt, a staple of family gatherings the world over.

But because of Haddon's extraordinary narrative technique, the stories of these eight people are anything but simple. Told through the alternating viewpoints of each character, The Red House becomes a symphony of long-held grudges, fading dreams and rising hopes, tightly-guarded secrets and illicit desires, all adding up to a portrait of contemporary family life that is bittersweet, comic, and deeply felt. As we come to know each character they become profoundly real to us. We understand them, even as we come to realize they will never fully understand each other, which is the tragicomedy of every family.

-Click here to read all the contest details.
-Click here for the reading group guide.