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January 2013

ReadingGroupGuides.com Newsletter January 2013

Quick Links to Features on ReadingGroupGuides.com
 
Happy New Year!

We hope that this year is off to a good start for all of you. I keep joking that people normally fear Friday the 13th, but this year we have 13 in EVERY date!

We know that many book groups make their selections for the entire year in January, and thus we want to be sure you take a look at the site this month for ideas of what to select!

We're kicking off 2013 in a big way here at ReadingGroupGuides.com, as we have two contests to tell you about. First, we’re giving 50 readers the opportunity to win an advance copy of The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh for their group. (This book will be published on April 4th.) In it, Frances Irvine, left destitute in the wake of her father’s sudden death, has been forced to abandon her life of wealth and privilege in London and emigrate to the Southern Cape of Africa. 1880 South Africa is a country torn apart by greed. In this remote and inhospitable land she becomes entangled with two very different men --- one driven by ambition, the other by his ideals. Only when the rumor of a smallpox epidemic takes her into the dark heart of the diamond mines does she see her path to happiness. I am reading and really enjoying The Fever Tree. It's richly atmospheric, and Frances is a very strong protagonist. To enter, please fill out this form by Monday, February 4th at noon ET.

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan is this month’s featured title in our “What Are You Reading?” contest. In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying Grace Winter and her husband Henry across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize has exceeded capacity. For any to live, some must die. As the castaways battle the elements and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she'd found. Will she pay any price to keep it? I read The Lifeboat last year and could just picture the book group discussions about it! I found myself seeking out people who had read it to ask them to talk to me about it. And I had the pleasure of seeing Charlotte interviewed about it at the Hachette Book Group Day in late September. We’re giving away 12 copies of the paperback, which is now in stores, to three groups each. To enter, please fill out this form by Monday, February 4th at noon ET.

We’ve talked a lot in recent months about Home Front by Kristin Hannah and even gave 500 groups the chance to read the book and share their feedback on it. Today Home Front is available in paperback and is one of our featured guides. For those of you not familiar with the story, Michael and Jolene Zarkades must face the pressures of day-to-day life while their 12-year marriage crumbles around them. This isn’t helped when Jolene is deployed into a dangerous war zone. She hates being away from her family, but understands the responsibilities she has toward her country. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his worst fear and fight for what is important to his family. Click here for the guide.

Our second featured title is Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick, which will be available in paperback on January 15th and was a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection when it released in hardcover last year. Here we meet Charlie Beale, who is recently back from the war in Europe. He shows up in the quiet town of Brownsburg, Virginia. His job at the local butcher shop gives him the opportunity to meet all the townsfolk, including a beautiful teenage bride. Ultimately, Charlie’s obsession with this young woman, Sylvan Glass, threatens to destroy everything and everyone in its path. I loved Goolrick’s A Reliable Wife, which also was a Bets On selection, and there are many parallels between the books with obsessive behaviors, characters you want to throttle, and lots of introspection and darkness. Click here for the guide.

We’re also spotlighting Mistress of My Fate by Hallie Rubenhold, the first book in a trilogy about Henrietta Lightfoot, a young woman who was abandoned as a baby and raised alongside her cousins, noble children of a lord and lady. At just 16 years old, circumstance and a passionate love affair tear Henrietta away from everything she knows, leading to a new life fending for herself on the streets of 18th-century London as a courtesan, gambler, and spirited intellect of the city. Click here for the guide.

Towards the end of last year, we gave 500 book clubs the chance to win a copy of Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green --- which releases in paperback on February 12th --- for each member of their group, provided that they agree to discuss the book at their February or March meeting; email friends and tell them about the book; and post comments or feedback about the book and/or their discussion on Jane Green’s Facebook page, their personal Facebook pages, Twitter accounts or blogs. The contest ended yesterday, and we will be alerting the lucky winners later this week!

As we ring in 2013, we’re asking you to reflect on your reading from last year. What were the favorite books that your group read in 2012? We know it’s difficult for many of you to pick just one title, so feel free to select up to three. All you have to do is fill out the form on this page by Thursday, January 31st, and we’ll share the results in February. Please spread the word about this special opportunity to the members of your group as we want as many people to weigh in as possible.

While you’re thinking of the titles you’d like to submit, we encourage you to take a look at our annual lists of our 25 New Favorite, 15 Ongoing Favorite and 25 Enduring Favorite book titles for book club discussions in 2012. See if your group agrees with any of our choices, and perhaps consider recommending some of these titles for future book club discussions.

For this month’s poll, we’d like to know if you belong to Goodreads. Last month, we asked if your group does anything special to celebrate the holidays. Almost 72% of you answered yes, while 18% said no. We also gave you the opportunity to let us know exactly how you celebrate, and we compiled some of those responses in a blog post on the ReadingGroupGuides.com Blog. Although the holidays are over, may we suggest that you take a look and see if you might want to coordinate similar celebrations for your group during the 2013 holiday season?

In November, we started an ongoing Facebook Chat about Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, run by Alina Berganovsky on our staff. The book was recently adapted for the stage in Seattle, so we thought this would be the perfect time to revisit this outstanding debut novel. We also posted on our Facebook page Jamie’s replies to questions we asked him about the theatrical production. For those of you who aren’t on Facebook, we’re happy to share highlights of all our coverage on our blog, which you can read here. And we look forward to hearing your comments as well!

My final Bookreporter.com Bets On selection for 2012 was Margaret from Maine by Joseph Monninger, which is now in stores. Margaret Kennedy lives on a dairy farm in rural Maine. Her husband Thomas, injured in a war overseas, will never be the man he was. When the President signs a bill in support of wounded veterans, Margaret is invited to the nation’s capital. Charlie King, a handsome Foreign Service officer, volunteers to escort her. As the rhododendron blossoms along the Blue Ridge Highway, the unlikely pair fall in love --- but Margaret cannot ignore the tug of her marriage vows. When I read it a couple of months ago, the story just struck a chord with me. I think readers who enjoyed Home Front will enjoy it as well.

We’d like to fill you in on the details of World Book Night U.S., a celebration of books and reading held on April 23rd. On this night, 25,000 volunteers across America will be giving away 20 paperback books each from a select list within their communities to those who don’t regularly read. Last year, World Book Night was celebrated in the U.S., the UK, Ireland and Germany, and saw over 80,000 people gift more than 2.5 million books. You can see the complete list of this year’s titles, which were selected by a committee, here.

If you’re interested in becoming a World Book Night U.S. book giver, all you have to do is fill out the online application. Click here for all the details. You will be asked what your first, second and third book choices are, why you wish to share these books, and where you will go to personally hand out the books. The deadline for all applications is Wednesday, January 23rd. My application is in!

Heads up for those of you with teenagers! Let them know about the opportunity to nominate winners for the Children’s Book Council’s Teen Choice Book of the Year. Right now on Teenreads.com, we are asking teens to list their favorite books of 2012. All their responses will be compiled, and the five most popular books will be entered into a second round of voting for a finalist. They have until Thursday, January 31st to vote.

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

PS. When you use the links below to purchase books, you also support ReadingGroupGuides.com as we have affiliate arrangements with each of them. Please consider this when shopping for books online!


Special Contest: Win an Advance Copy of THE FEVER TREE by Jennifer McVeigh for Your Group
We are celebrating the forthcoming release of The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh --- a compelling portrait of colonial South Africa and a love story about how fear can blind us to the truth --- with a special contest. 50 readers will have the opportunity to each win an advance copy of the book, which will be in stores on April 4th, for their group. The deadline for entries is Monday, February 4th at noon ET.

More about The Fever Tree:
Frances Irvine, left destitute in the wake of her father’s sudden death, has been forced to abandon her life of wealth and privilege in London and emigrate to the Southern Cape of Africa. 1880 South Africa is a country torn apart by greed. In this remote and inhospitable land she becomes entangled with two very different men --- one driven by ambition, the other by his ideals. Only when the rumor of a smallpox epidemic takes her into the dark heart of the diamond mines does she see her path to happiness.

But this is a ruthless world of avarice and exploitation, where the spoils of the rich come at a terrible human cost and powerful men will go to any lengths to keep the mines in operation. Removed from civilization and disillusioned by her isolation, Frances must choose between passion and integrity, a decision that has devastating consequences.

-Click here for the reading group guide.

 
Click here to read all the contest details.

 
ReadingGroupGuides.com’s “What Are You Reading?” Monthly Contest Feature: Win 12 Copies of THE LIFEBOAT by Charlotte Rogan for Your Group
Let us know what your group is reading in January, and you will be entered in a giveaway to win multiple copies of a book for your group! Our latest prize book is The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan, a page-turning novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes. We have 12 copies of the book, which is now available in paperback, to give away to three groups. The deadline for entries is Monday, February 4th at noon ET.

More about The Lifeboat:
Twenty-two-year-old Grace Winter is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life.

In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying Grace and her husband Henry across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize has exceeded capacity. For any to live, some must die.

As the castaways battle the elements and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she'd found. Will she pay any price to keep it?

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.

 
Click here to read all the contest details.

 
Now Available in Paperback: HOME FRONT by Kristin Hannah
Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life --- children, careers, bills, chores --- even as their 12-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own --- for everything that matters to his family.
 
Click here for the reading group guide.

 
Available in Paperback January 15th: HEADING OUT TO WONDERFUL by Robert Goolrick
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 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. Heading Out to Wonderful is a haunting, heart-stopping novel of love gone terribly wrong in a place where once upon a time such things could happen.
 
Click here for the reading group guide.

 
MISTRESS OF MY FATE: Book One of the Confessions of Henrietta Lightfoot, by Hallie Rubenhold
Set during a period of revolution and turmoil, Mistress of My Fate is the first book in a trilogy about Henrietta Lightfoot, a young woman who was abandoned as a baby and raised alongside her cousins, noble children of a lord and lady. At just 16 years old, circumstance and a passionate love affair tear Henrietta away from everything she knows, leading to a new life fending for herself on the streets of 18th-century London as a courtesan, gambler, and spirited intellect of the city.
 
Click here for the reading group guide.

 
Share Your Group's Favorite Books of 2012
As we ring in 2013, we’re asking you to reflect on your reading from last year. What was your favorite book that your group read in 2012? We know it’s difficult for many of you to pick just one title, so feel free to select up to three. All you have to do is fill out the form on this page by Thursday, January 31st, and we’ll share the results in February. Please spread the word about this special opportunity to the members of your group as we want as many people to weigh in as possible.
 
Click here to share your group’s 2012 picks.

 
ReadingGroupGuides.com’s Best Guides of 2012
Here are our annual lists of our 25 New Favorite, 15 Ongoing Favorite and 25 Enduring Favorite book titles for book club discussions in 2012, gathered by the editors of ReadingGroupGuides.com. See if your group agrees with any of our choices, and perhaps consider recommending some of these titles for future book club discussions.

-Click here for our New Favorites.
-Click here for our Ongoing Favorites.
-Click here for our Enduring Favorites.


 
January’s New in Paperback Roundups on Bookreporter.com
January’s New in Paperback roundups include the following highlights for book groups:

Crossing the Borders of Time: A True Love Story of War, Exile, and Love Reclaimed by Leslie Maitland
Leslie Maitland’s mother and grandparents fled Germany in 1938 for France, where, as Jews, they spent four years as refugees, the last two under risk of Nazi deportation. This sweeping account of one family’s escape from the turmoil of war-torn Europe hangs upon the intimate and deeply personal story of Maitland’s mother’s passionate romance with a Catholic Frenchman.

Home by Toni Morrison
Frank Money is an angry, self-loathing veteran of the Korean War who finds himself back in racist America with more than just physical scars. His home may seem alien to him, but he is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town that he’s hated all his life.

More Than You Know by Penny Vincenzi
Eliza has a dazzling career in the magazine world of the 1960s. But then she falls deeply in love with Matt, an edgy working-class boy, and gives up her ritzy, fast-paced lifestyle to get married. By the end of the decade, their marriage has suffered a harrowing breakdown, culminating in divorce and a dramatic courtroom custody battle over their little girl.

The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont
Set against the backdrop of the 1987 stock market collapse, The Starboard Sea is an examination of the abuses of class privilege, the mutability of sexual desire, the thrill and risk of competitive sailing, and the adult cost of teenage recklessness.

The Woman Who Wasn't There: The True Story of an Incredible Deception by Robin Gaby Fisher and Angelo J. Guglielmo, Jr.
Tania Head’s astonishing account of her experience on September 11, 2001 transformed her into one of the great victims and heroes of that tragic day. But there was something very wrong with Tania’s story --- a terrible secret that would break the hearts and challenge the faith of all those she claimed to champion.

-Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of December 31st, January 7th, January 14th, January 21st and January 28th.


 
Bookreporter.com Bets On: MARGARET FROM MAINE by Joseph Monninger
Margaret from Maine by Joseph Monninger
Margaret from Maine by Joseph Monninger has at its heart a young mother who is raising her young son as her husband, who was gravely injured in war, lies in a coma at a local veterans hospital. Margaret visits her husband regularly where life is at a standstill and then goes back to their dairy farm to keep that going with her father-in-law. Her life is sedate, measured and full of responsibility. As she heads to Washington, D.C. for a ceremony honoring wounded soldiers, she is escorted by Charlie King. In Charlie she finds a new love, but is torn between these feelings and her commitment to her marriage vows. It’s both a wonderful love story and an impassioned look at the toll of war, the world of soldiers, and those who love them.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to see all the books we're betting you'll love.

 
Click here to read more of Carol's thoughts about the book.

 
Bookreporter.com’s “Downton Abbey” Bookshelf
The highly anticipated third season of “Downton Abbey” is finally here! To celebrate, we’ve assembled a bookshelf for all you die-hard fans: an assortment of 20 items related to the series, including DVD sets of all three seasons (the third season has already aired in the UK, and the DVD will be available on January 29th here), soundtracks of the show’s original music, and a number of books about the real-life people and places that inspired one of Masterpiece Classic’s most critically acclaimed features.
 
Click here to see our “Downton Abbey” bookshelf.

 
Celebrate World Book Night on April 23rd!
World Book Night U.S. is a celebration of books and reading held on April 23rd. On this night, 25,000 volunteers across America will be giving away 20 paperback books each from a select list within their communities to those who don’t regularly read. Last year, World Book Night was celebrated in the U.S., the UK, Ireland and Germany, and saw over 80,000 people gift more than 2.5 million books. You can see the complete list of this year’s titles, which were selected by a committee, here. They include books from authors like Margaret Atwood, Ray Bradbury, John Green, John Grisham, Hillary Jordan, Lisa Scottoline, David Sedaris, and many more.

If you’re interested in becoming a World Book Night U.S. book giver, all you have to do is fill out the online application. Click here for all the details. You will be asked what your first, second and third book choices are, why you wish to share these books, and where you will go to personally hand out the books. The deadline for all applications is Wednesday, January 23rd.

Click here to read more about World Book Night and to sign up to be a "book giver."

 
Contests Running on Other Sites in TheBookReportNetwork.com
Bookreporter.com

The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin
We have 25 copies of The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin, which will be in stores January 15th, to give away to readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. The deadline for entries is Thursday, January 17th at noon ET.

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Our latest Sneak Peek Feature spotlights Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, a brilliant new novel about a young man, a small town, and murder in the summer of 1961. We have 50 advance copies to give away to readers who would like to preview the book, which releases on March 26th, and share their comments about it. The deadline for entries is Thursday, January 17th at noon ET.

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
We are celebrating the March 26th release of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler with a special contest that will give 50 readers the opportunity to win a copy of the book. The deadline for entries is Thursday, January 17th at noon ET.

Word of Mouth
Send us your current reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from January 4th to January 18th, FIVE lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide, Chanel Bonfire: A Memoir by Wendy Lawless, and The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer.

Teenreads.com


Word of Mouth
Send us your current reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. This contest period, one teen reader will be randomly chosen to win a copy of Janie Face to Face by Caroline B. Cooney and Victoria Rebels by Carolyn Meyer. The deadline for entries is Thursday, January 31st at noon ET.

FaithfulReader.com

Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young
We are celebrating the release of Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young (author of the mega-bestseller The Shack) with a special contest that will give 100 readers the opportunity to win a copy of the book. The deadline for entries is Monday, January 14th at noon ET.

FaithfulReader.com’s Monthly Contest

In our latest monthly contest, five readers will receive a copy of Vanished, the first installment in Irene Hannon’s romantic suspense series, Private Justice. The deadline for entries is Monday, January 14th at noon ET.


New Guides Now Available
The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

The Fever Tree
by Jennifer McVeigh: The Fever Tree is a compelling portrait of colonial South Africa, its raw beauty and deprivation alive in equal measure.
Love Is a Canoe by Ben Schrank: Love Is a Canoe explores the fragile nature of love and marriage through the eyes of an aging author whose 1971 book on relationships made him a beloved guru to thousands of readers.
Mistress of My Fate: Book One of the Confessions of Henrietta Lightfoot by Hallie Rubenhold: Mistress of My Fate is the first book in a trilogy about Henrietta Lightfoot, a young woman who was abandoned as a baby and raised alongside her cousins, noble children of a lord and lady.

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


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.
Home by Toni Morrison: Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison extends her profound take on our history with this 20th-century tale of redemption: a taut and tortured story about one man’s desperate search for himself in a world disfigured by war.
Home Front by Kristin Hannah: From a distance, Michael and Joleen Zarkades seem to have it all. But after 12 years together, the couple has lost their way. Then the Iraq war starts, and an unexpected deployment will tear their already fragile family apart.


The following new guides are now available for Christian book groups:

Choices of the Heart: The Midwives, Book 3
by Laurie Alice Eakes: A young midwife in the Virginia mountains is pursued by two unlikely suitors and caught between feuding families until she discovers that her past is the key to unlock hearts.
The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow: Avenue of Dreams, Book 2 by Olivia Newport: During the exciting days of the 1893 Chicago Exposition, a young woman’s social position forces her to make difficult choices.
Vanished: A Private Justice Novel by Irene Hannon: A tenacious reporter. A skeptical PI. And a secret that will shatter lives.
Waiting for Spring: Westward Winds, Book 2 by Amanda Cabot: A new identity may protect her family --- but can it protect her heart?


 
This Month’s Poll: Goodreads
Do you belong to Goodreads?

Yes
No, but I am thinking of joining.
I was a member, but I no longer am.
I am a member, but I do not keep up with it.
No, I am not interested in this.
I do not know what Goodreads is.

 
Click here to answer our poll.
 

Do you like what you see here, and want to forward it to a friend? Then click our link on the bottom of the page to do just that!

Happy reading. We'll see you next month.

Don't forget to visit our other websites from TheBookReportNetwork.com:


www.Bookreporter.com, www.20SomethingReads.com, www.Teenreads.com, www.Kidsreads.com, www.GraphicNovelReporter.com, www.FaithfulReader.com and www.AuthorsOnTheWeb.com.

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

The Book Report Network
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