This newsletter is reaching you later than usual this month as the Labor Day holiday and a week of vacation slowed our world down. Nonetheless it, and the website this month, are filled with a number of features and discussion guides that will grab your attention.

This summer I have vowed to read some books that everyone has been talking about --- and I have missed. Last weekend with this in mind I read THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME. I can see why so many readers are talking about this book in their groups. I loved the strong voice of Christopher John Francis Boone and the way the plot unfolded. This month's ReadingGroupGuides.com poll takes a look at some of the most popular book club selections and asks if your group has read them, or plans to read them. Be sure to weigh in. Next up for me this month --- THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY and THE KITE RUNNER.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Chicago for the American Library Association Conference. It was a terrific opportunity to meet with librarians and think about ways that we can work better with them with ReadingGroupGuides.com. The librarians I met were enthusiastic about their readers and I felt I was talking to kindred spirits when we met in the aisles and on the convention busses. While some were aware of our websites, many were not. May I ask you to print a copy of this newsletter and share it with your local librarians?

Our lineup this month includes book from authors who are book club favorites, namely Adriana Trigiani and Joanne Harris. One of my favorite books from last summer, The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin, is now out in paperback and it's our newsletter contest giveaway book this month. We have added a guide for a book called Sarah by Marek Halter that is getting buzz as a title similar in feeling to The Red Tent. Trust that I only am touching on a very few titles here; there's lots more this month so keep reading.

We celebrate the 5th Anniversary of ReadingGroupGuides.com this month. Thank you for reading and celebrating this milestone with us. We currently have 1,620 guides available and last month nearly 200,000 unique visitors came to the website. Since we know from our research that book clubs have approximately 12 members in them, this site potentially has an impact on more than 2,400,000 readers each month. As we add guides and develop special features to surround them, we always keep our readers --- and their groups --- top of mind.