ReadingGroupGuides.com Editor Shannon McKenna and I had a lovely meeting last week with a New York area book group, Zagati Literati (named because they "love great eating and memorable books"), at Trattoria Alaba in the city. What a terrific and welcoming group of women! They discussed Atonement, which had many angles to explore both in the plot and the characters. We were impressed with the way they handled their discussion. There were no "egos" at the table, but rather a terrific conversation in which everyone's voice counted. Our contribution: giving them suggestions for their upcoming discussions, as they said they were tired of reading about "dysfunctional families." Given their love of eating and reading (and probably inspired by the terrific Italian meal), we suggested Lucia Lucia by Adriana Trigiani for their next read. And then, for their following title, we suggested Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which we have been raving about at Bookreporter.com.

I have been getting lots of notes from authors and publishers asking if we know of any Mother/Daughter book clubs. With May being Mother's Day, we were wondering if any of you are in a Mother/Daughter book club, or if you know of anyone else who is. If so, please drop me a note at [email protected] with this information. There are a number of titles that are perfect for this audience!

One of the most interesting things about a book club is that the book can allow a group to look at a topic that they may hear a lot about, but yet know so little about. A fiction title that we are sharing this month does that --- DANIEL ISN'T TALKING by Marti Leimbach, which is the story of an autistic little boy and what his mom goes through in her determination to challenge him and make him normal. We all hear about autism and how many children are being diagnosed with this, but many have no idea how this can impact a family. This book can take readers there --- and through this help them understand it more.

There are books that stay with me long after I have finished them. I am sure that many of you know what I am talking about when I say this. This month we are featuring two books that did this for me. The first is The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. The intensity and depth of Didion's writing of the year after the death of her husband, John Dunne, is inspiring. I have shared this book with so many people for its stark look at grief. It would lend itself to a fabulous discussion. If you would like to read more about my personal thoughts on this book, read the blog that I wrote after seeing Didion last November.

I love this month's lineup of guides and features. So many of our featured titles are books that I have read --- and thoroughly enjoyed. I like when that happens as I feel like I am plucking books from my personal shelves to hand to you.