A few months ago I realized that while we update ReadingGroupGuides.com monthly, there always is news or interesting tidbits and ramblings that I want to share with our readers throughout the month. I also recognized that, over the last eight years since we launched this website, we have come to know a very interesting group of readers, authors, book club facilitators, librarians, booksellers and publishing contacts who have shared their own ideas for what make a reading group something that gives people both joy and satisfaction.

I love that "great" and "eight" rhyme; anyone else noticed that? It makes for such a nice greeting. I am poised for the start of the year with a calendar where the spine has not yet been cracked. For all my electronic devices --- cell phone, BlackBerry, iPod, laptop, desktop, swim headphones --- I still carry a paper calendar and scrawl notes in it for advance planning. By the end of the year it's stuffed with notes, receipts and papers. I keep the old calendars in a stack at the house; they tell their own story of me and where I was these past years.

For some reason I am not swept up completely in holiday madness this year. To be honest, it may just be because I am not focusing on what needs to be accomplished. Thus, when I see holiday lights and falling snow this afternoon, I think the scene is lovely and I am not seeing signs that "gee, Carol, you should be attacking your holiday list."