Reading Group Guides Blog

Best Discussion Books: The Great Apes' Picks

2009-11-06T11:36:00.000-05:00

Today Jeff Potter, a member of The Great Apes Reading Group of Fort Collins, Colorado, shares the three books that sparked their best discussions. The group's name comes from their 10th reading selection, Tarzan of the Apes. The main character in the book is "an avid reader, even teaching himself to read by reading Paradise Lost, if you can believe that," says Jeff. The Great Apes, an all-guy book club with members ranging in age from 37 to 64, has been going strong for 15 years.

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West may be the best non-fiction book most of us have ever read; I personally would call it such. We still refer to parts of it even twelve years later, especially the sad ending after the trip to the Pacific was completed. Stephen Ambrose has the ability to put us right on the trail with Lewis and Clark and we see the country, or what became part of the country, unfold right before our eyes. We couldn't believe that only one Corps of Discovery soldier died over the course of the two year trip. Ambrose captures the personal and personality struggles of each soldier, too. Leadership is a big theme and I'm not sure anyone today could complete the task Jefferson charged Lewis and Clark with without lots of infighting and egos getting in the way. The psychology behind the choosing of the Corps is fascinating. If history was always taught in such a readable fashion, it would be much more popular!

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing is similar to Ambrose's book: adventure, leadership, personalities, psychology, devotion to a crew and a cause. The world was a different place when Shackleton ran his ad soliciting men for a mission to the South Pole that you "probably wouldn't return from," but the men that signed up were very recognizable to us all. We contrasted Shackleton's leadership style and motives with that of the Everest guides in Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Very well researched and readable about an expedition that many people have forgotten about or never even knew about. We can all learn something about committment to a cause and to a crew as Shackleton goes for help...and returns with help months and months later. It's an unforgettable expedition and an unforgettable read, simply an unbelievable story.

The Master and Margarita is an incredibly inventive novel that crosses all genre boundaries. It's historical, religious/spiritual, satiric, full of magic realism (see the "cat"!), political and more all at once. We talked about this over two meetings and on occasion still return to plumb its depths and keep trying to wrap our minds around what Bulgakov has created. A background in basic Russian political history and early Christianity is helpful, but probably not necesary as long as one reads with an open mind. It's also a psychological and philosophical study too, so there is no limit to the discussion subjects. I don't think any of us had ever read any Bulgakov before we happened on this novel, but we are all glad we read it even if we can't neatly tie it all together! This was one of our first foreign novels that offered a variety of translations, so we received an education of how the translation can influence the reading or the meaning. Fascinating and rewarding but definitely not for everyone.

Best Discussion Books: Oryx & Crake, On Her Own Ground and More

2009-11-05T09:47:00.000-05:00

Continuing with best discussion books, as submitted by readers of the ReadingGroupGuides.com newsletter (sign up here), below are some of the comments that were shared. And find out what book club members had to say about why My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and Alan Brennert's Moloka'i make for great conversations.

"I laughed, cried, and was challenged by The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I sometimes shy away from "translated" books; at times they do not capture the style of the author, but this book is wonderful. It's the story of a concierge at an upscale apartment building in Paris. Her relationship (and lack of) with the characters who live there is very telling." --Rosemary Hood

"One of the best discussions we have had was about the book The Invisible Wall: A Love Story that Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein. We also read the sequel, The Dream: A Memoir, shortly after that. The ladies in the group come from a wide variety of backgrounds but all have experienced prejudice in one form or another. Prejudice from socio-economic status, religion, or simply working and stay at home have given rise to damaged egos and hurt feelings. We all related to Harry's experience and admired the courage of both mother and son." --Susie Schachte, Greenwood Public Library

"Recently, my book group read two older books: The Far Family by Wilma Dykeman and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Book books stimulated two of the best discussions we have had. Everyone had something to say, and we all agreed we would like to read more older novels." --Anna Robinson

"I think the first pick would be One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus, as the members were still bringing it up a year after we read it. The next would be Jackdaws by Ken Follett. We hesitated about picking this book, but everyone ended up loving it. Also Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Each book picked generated not only a good book discussion but many referrals to the book months down the road." --Lana Mason

"Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood was our best discussion. Often during other book club meetings, the book would resurface in our discussion. The ending was never clear and brought many ideas and much philosophical discussion on the subject." --Micheline Heckler

"Choosing three favorites is quite a task, but if I must pick three that stand out, these would be: On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker. The author, A'Lelia Bundles, phone conferenced with us for our discussion. Our group was estatic that an author would take time to discuss her work with us. Ms. Bundles gave us special insights to her book; she is also the great-grandaughter of C.J. Walker, so this made the connection more special.

Our very first book and the namesake of our group is special to us. In March 1998, our first discussion was Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith, thus our group name is FTL Book Club. As women, we connected with the protagonist of Smith's novel and enjoyed reading about the changes this Applachian woman saw in herself and in her surroundings.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks was a good and enjoyable piece of fiction. Brooks cleverly entwined religion and mystery in the storyline to keep interest for a good book club discussion." --Pat Neidhard

Susan Meissner: Books that Speak Beyond Their Pages

2009-11-03T09:19:00.010-05:00

Susan Meissner, today's guest blogger, talks about being both a reading group member and a writer whose works are read by book clubs. She offers her thoughts on why books can make strangers the best of friends...and what she thinks readers deserve when they journey through one of her novels.

Susan is the author of White Picket Fences and The Shape of Mercy, named by Publishers Weekly as one of 2008's one hundred best novels. You can learn more about her at SusanMeissner.com.

I was sitting in a cozy fire-lit room a few weeks ago with a dozen other women. Chocolate, mugs of coffee and glasses of merlot were scattered about our copies of The Help, and the book's mellow, butterscotch cover blended in nicely with the room's fall colors. There was laughter, tender moments, tense moments, and more laughter. A casual observer might have thought, "Look at those women over there, talking and laughing and listening to each other. They're probably at this bed and breakfast for a reunion of some kind. Probably classmates who've known each other thirty years."

Truth is, my book club is comprised of women who collectively have known each other less than three years. Some of the women are so new to the group, we don't yet recognize their cars when they arrive for book club.

But when we gather to discuss, dissect, digest a book, we come across as old friends who seem to have known each other since kindergarten. A good book can do that --- bring together the people who've read it into an immediate fraternity of souls, like survivors of the same hostage situation. I would venture a good book, read by a dozen strangers, could have those strangers exchanging email addresses one hour after being placed in a room with Starbucks, comfy chairs and discussion questions.

Consider this. A book like The Help, which is a fabulous book club read, is not just a book about a twenty-something aspiring writer in the early '60s penning the stories of Mississippi maids. It's a story about servitude, prejudice, ambivalence, ingratitude, injustice, grace, resilience, choices, desperation and dignity. A book that rises above its own storyline and makes us itch to talk to someone about it is why book clubs have made best friends of ordinary booklovers.

I admit, when I write a novel, I think about the book club readers who will read it, internalize it and then relive it in someone's living room or patio. Will they want to talk about this book when they are done? Will I be able to put enough flesh on this imaginary person that she seems real? Will these readers laugh with her, cry for her, shake an angry fist at her? Will her journey --- and every protagonist is on one --- matter to these readers?

When I was piecing together The Shape of Mercy, and more recently White Picket Fences, these were the questions that haunted me as I wrote. I am highly aware of the promise I make when I begin on page 1. You, dear reader, deserve a story that will touch you at a level that the morning newspaper does not. You deserve a story that somehow leaves you different than before you read it. I write to entertain, of course. But that which is merely entertainment is often quickly forgotten. I don't want you to forget what I write. And that means I have to create a story peopled by unforgettable characters. It is a tall order. But I love every minute of the labor to give you what you deserve.

An author friend of mine recently finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I loved, loved, loved. She posted how much she enjoyed the book on an online writers group, and I couldn't help but comment on her post. I told her those characters are so beautifully real to me, I want to get on a plane and go to Guernsey right now and meet them --- 70 years after the war --- as if they are still living there. As if they were living there. As if they were living.

This is what I want to do for you. I want to give you characters who seem real to you, characters whose choices you pick apart while you sip spiced cider in a room full of people you may have only just met. Characters who make you think about things that matter. That keep you thinking long after you've turned the last page...

---Susan Meissner

Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP

2009-11-03T08:48:00.015-05:00

Katherine Stockett's debut novel, The Help, has been generating interest since its publication earlier this year. Set in 1963, it's the story of three women --- two African American maids in Mississippi and a young white woman who sees a story in the world that they live in.

An article in today's New York Times, "A Southern Mirrored Window," takes an in-depth look at The Help --- how Stockett came up with the idea, her not-so-easy path to publication, the novel's extraordinary success (it has stayed in the top 5 on the NYT hardcover fiction bestseller list since August), and the praise as well as the controversy it has garnered.

More on The Help:
Discussion Guide
RGG.com Blog Post
Bookreporter.com Review
Bookreporter.com Author Profile
Kathryn Stockett's Website
Podcast of Stockett Talking about The Help

Good Book Club, Bad Book Club

2009-11-02T08:10:00.014-05:00

Sometimes it happens --- a book club meeting just doesn't go well. And sometimes they're among the most memorable discussions. RGG.com contributor Heather Johnson's group, Storie delle Sorelle, recently experienced this in back-to-back meetings, and today she talks about these two extremes.

Most months my book club meetings are fantastic --- great friends, great conversation, everything goes smoothly --- but from time to time we have duds. Our August and September meetings are perfect examples of those two extremes.

Near the end of August we met to discuss The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Most of our members attended this meeting so we had a great crowd. The weather was gorgeous and we all enjoyed sitting around the pool. We even had three guests attend, all of whom fit in quite well.

The discussion couldn't have been better. We talked about the epistolary form of the novel --- who liked it, who didn't, and why. We discussed the characters --- were they fully developed, and who were our favorites? We talked about the history of Guernsey, an island in the English Channel --- what we'd known before versus what we learned from the novel. Near the end of the meeting I was able to share insight from an interview I conducted with co-author Annie Barrows that shed some light on our discussions. All in all, an excellent day.

In September we met to discuss C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold, the story of two princesses and the struggle between sacred and profane love. We were all looking forward to an outdoor Happy Hour complete with margaritas to help us celebrate the official end of summer. In reality, however, the weather was rather cool and so windy our napkins kept blowing away. Only five people made it to the meeting; of that number, one didn't finish reading and one didn't read at all. This has happened before, but it isn't common...and it is usually a sign that the book wasn't a hit.

Those of us who did read the book disliked it to varying degrees. We tried to discuss the plot, the characters and our reactions to it all, but every topic fell flat until we finally realized that we'd rather talk about anything else but this book. In part that was due to having too few fully engaged participants (more people who had read the book would definitely have led to a better discussion), but it was also due to the book itself; we were simply ready to be done with it.

So instead of book talk we sipped our drinks, chatted about our lives, got pulled into yet another conversation about whether Twilight is worth reading, and simply enjoying being together...until the black clouds rolled in about 15 minutes later. At that point we realized we hadn't gotten to the administrative issues were had planned to discuss at this meeting. It was too late to fix that, though; in the end we barely made it to our cars before the skies opened up on us.

I think every club has these kinds of meetings from time to time, meetings where all your careful preparation amounts to nothing in the end. Hopefully you also have great meetings where everything falls into place perfectly. My suggestion for the bad times is to make the best of the time you have together with your club and simply realize that your next meeting is bound to be better. Of course, if EVERY meeting is like this then you've got a real problem...

My club's next meeting is coming up soon and we'll be discussing Kevin Roose's The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University. Will this meeting be a success? We'll just have to wait and see...but I'm pretty confident it will be great.

---Heather Johnson

Best Discussion Books: MOLOKA'I

2009-10-30T13:54:00.001-04:00

Continuing with best discussion books, as submitted by readers of the ReadingGroupGuides.com newsletter, here is what Becky Haase of the LaSalle Book Group in Chicago had to say about Moloka'i by Alan Brennert.

Our best discussion was for Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, the story of a leper colony on one of Hawaii's islands. The main character, a young girl condemned to the colony from age six in the late 1800's to her old age when the colony was disbanded after World War II, is a fascinating tale of the island and many of the "real" people who lived and worked there, including Father Damian. It was obvious by the loving and accurate detail that a great deal of research had gone into the writing of the book.

Our discussion ranged from removing children from their homes to the impact of disease on the ill and their families to love and marriage to the internment of the Japanese during WWII to reuniting birth and adoptive families --- just to mention a few of the topics we covered. We usually meet for one hour, but this discussion lasted for two full hours. It is often referred to as "the best book we've read" by members when choosing our next book.

When, soon after our meeting, the book became a bestseller, we joked that our discussion must have led to its popularity. Now we are looking forward to reading Alan Brennert's new novel, Honolulu.

---Becky Haase
The LaSalle Book Group

Best Discussion Books: MY SISTER'S KEEPER

2009-10-29T10:06:00.002-04:00

Recently we asked book club members to share the book that resulted in their group's best discussion. The nearly 40 titles we received run the gamut from biographies to thrillers. Surprisingly, only one was mentioned more than once: Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. Today Denise Neary offers her thoughts on the novel and why it sparked a great discussion among the mother-daughter members of her book club. Has your group read My Sister's Keeper? Tell us about your discussion in the Comments section.

We'll be sharing more "Best Discussion Books" in future posts.

Click here to read Denise's RGG.com guest blog post about The Red Balloons, the book club she founded with her daughter, and here for her recollections of the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

My Sister's Keeper provided a great discussion for our daughter/mother book club. That is, if you count talking all over one another, laughing, arguing, never letting the discussion leader get a word in (much less getting her questions out) as a great discussion, as our group does.

Picoult is such a master at presenting complicated questions in concrete yet head-spinning packages --- so here is the situation, and your response is.... What? Given the choices these characters had to confront, what would you do?

For some inexplicable reason, the strong-willed daugher and the strong-willed mother in the book both resonated with our group of teens and moms. It was interesting to hear the teens' take on Sara, and the moms' take on her daughters, Anna and Kate. The book made us think hard, both daughers and mothers, about what it is to be an individual in a family, not just in extraordinary circumstances but day to day. That is a complicated issue at any time in life, and especially tricky for a teen coming to terms with a sense of who they are in the world. Several of them have probably considered legal emancipation since reading the book.

The ending (the book's ending, not the movie version) provided such perfect discussion bedlam, especially when one of the moms pointed out that Sara was right (bad words to be uttered in front of a group of teens) --- if Anna had done this one last thing for her sister, she would have saved Kate and no more would have been asked of her.

A rare and telling silence in the discussion --- everyone, daughters and moms, strongly believed that Anna had been asked too much in her young life. But when the discussion leader asked the moms in the group what we would do if our own child were in that situation, none of us could answer. What did that silence mean, and what did it say to our daughters?

We all make plans, and then fate steps in --- in real life, and in books. My Sister's Keeper gives a beautiful and anguished portrait of the choices we sometimes have to make...and endless opportunity for discussion.

---Denise Neary
The Red Balloons

Emilie Richards: A Writers' Book Club

2009-10-28T07:16:00.000-04:00

Emilie Richards, today's guest blogger, talks about her love of reading and why her discussions with her online book club have been the most important educational experiences she has had as a writer.

Emilie's most recent novel is Happiness Key, the story of four women who have nothing in common...or so it seems. She is also the author of the Ministry is Murder series and the Shenandoah Album series.

Who are the most prolific readers you've encountered? Would authors qualify? Guess what? Not so much.

In conversations with my author friends, I'm always surprised at how rarely many of them read. One friend has a paralyzing sense of doom when she reads work she perceives to be better than her own. Another is fulfilled at day's end by her own stories, and feels little need for more. Most of us are somewhere in the middle. We're not tired of sentences and paragraphs. If asked, we blame a lack of free time, often coupled with a fear we might subconsciously borrow from another writer's work.

Because I once read voraciously, I understand the problem too well. By the time I was in kindergarten, I began reading my way around the children's room in our small local library. I survived adolescence and family crises by escaping into somebody else's world. Later, as a young mother, I nursed my sons with a book nearby so that when they finally drifted off to sleep, I could rock them and read, both of us supremely contented.

Then I began to write. Worse yet, I began to write for a living. Suddenly I had to fight insurmountable obstacles to open a novel. There had never been enough hours in the day, and suddenly there weren't any. At night if I made it through three paragraphs before falling asleep, I was lucky.

More than ten years ago, a group of mystified writer friends tried to come up with a way we could change this. We decided to discuss books together. Since we rarely had time to meet in person, we quickly took those discussions online. Other writers joined us. Members dropped in and out, and now, although we're larger than ever, I'm the only original member. But what a group we are.

In many ways we're a typical book club. With a few guidelines we take turns choosing books. Since we write fiction, we read fiction. We agree to participate as often as we can. Having an assignment and others counting on us makes a difference. Used to fulfilling commitments, we step on board and do just that.

In other ways, we're not typical at all. We're never face to face, no shared meals or book swaps. Because all of us have many writer friends, we make certain that nobody in the group has a personal problem critiquing a particular author's work. Our discussions are confidential and often intimate. We're interested in the reasons authors do what they do, and just as interested in the reasons their editors bought the manuscripts and readers put them on bestseller lists --- or didn't.

Not only do I now make certain I have time to read each month, our discussions have been the single most important educational experience I've had as a writer. They've also been the most freeing. I've learned a hundred important things, but one stands out. Ten years later, I have finally internalized the primary message I've heard book after book, discussion after discussion. It's this simple. The best books have their detractors. The worst books have their fans. Nothing we write will please everybody.

In the immortal words of Ricky Nelson: "If you can't please everyone, then you have to please yourself."

These days I do please myself, both as a writer and a reader. When I fell in love with cozy mysteries, I began the Ministry is Murder cozy mystery series about a free-spirited minister's wife in a small Ohio town. When I realized I missed having more time to quilt, I wrote the Shenandoah Album series about quilters in the Shenandoah Valley. When I wanted to write about women's friendships, Happiness Key, my latest novel, was the result, to be followed by two more.

Hearing so many different opinions from writers I deeply respect has freed me to stop worrying about the way my books will be received. Now I know I write for readers like me. I please myself and hopefully them.

Just as important, ten years later, because of the book club, I've read more than a hundred novels I might never have picked up. I've been introduced to new authors who are now among my favorites. I've made good friends with women I can count on to tell me the truth as they see it.

If you're reading this blog because you're in a book club, I bet you have, too. Aren't we lucky?

---Emilie Richards

Celebrating National Reading Group Month

2009-10-26T09:56:00.000-04:00

Five authors were in the spotlight last Wednesday evening at the Mint Theater in New York City, where book club members and other bibliophiles gathered to celebrate National Reading Group Month. Sponsored by the local chapter of the Women's National Book Association, the lively panel discussion was moderated by Rosalind Reisner, the author of Read On...Life Stories: Reading Lists for Every Taste and Jewish American Literature: A Guide to Reading Interests, and Miriam Tuliao of the New York Public Library.

The authors and their books:

Eva Hoffman, Appassionata
Eva Hoffman studied music while growing up in Poland and was groomed to be a pianist, the profession of the main character in Appassionata. "My first impetus was to write about music," Hoffman said of her motivation for crafting the novel, which takes its name from a Beethoven sonata. A renowned American concert pianist, Isabel Merton is torn between a love for what she does and the lonely, nomadic lifestyle it requires. When she meets a Chechen political exile while on tour in Europe, their relationship leads to a frightening incident that leads her to question her motives...and tests her faith in the power of music.

Christina Baker Kline, Bird in Hand
The idea for Bird in Hand first came to Christina Baker Kline a decade ago as she, like one of the novel's characters, was moving from New York City to the suburbs. But the story took a back seat as she wrote and published her third novel, The Way Life Should Be. "I didn't know how to tell it for a while," she said of Bird in Hand, the story of two couples --- their long friendship, divergent lifestyles, secrets and crumbling marriages. Kline eventually decided to structure the narrative in a reverse timeline and with shifting points of view. She said, "It was like a puzzle that fell into place."

C.M. Mayo, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire
C.M. Mayo's novel The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire is based on a true, little-known story about the short, turbulent reign of the archduke of Austria, Maximilian von Hapsburg, who was made emperor of Mexico in 1864. "It was a glamorous period we know very little about in the U.S.," commented Mayo. The childless emperor adopted a half-Mexican child, Augustin, whose American socialite mother later changed her mind about giving up her son and sparked an international incident. Said Mayo, "Therein lies the story and the scandal." Click here to read her RGG.com guest blog post.

Julie Metz, Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal
"I felt like I was in a bad novel I wanted to get out of," Julie Metz told the audience about the period following the sudden death of her husband six years ago and her discovery that he had been unfaithful throughout much of their marriage. In her memoir, Perfection, "I wanted to take readers on the same journey I went through," she said. She wanted the narrative "to read like a novel," and she had in mind a classic tale --- Jane Eyre, which, she noted, "became the inspiration for the structure of my book." Click here to read the RGG.com Q&A with Julie.

Roxana Robinson, Cost
Roxana Robinson began writing Cost because she wanted to explore the issue of "how difficult it is to be a good adult child." In the novel, artist Julia Lambert is anticipating a low-key summer in Maine with her elderly parents: her father, a domineering, retired neurosurgeon, and her mother, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's. "I thought it was going to be a quiet, domestic story," said Robinson --- until Julia's son Jack, a heroine addict, emerged on the scene and "blew quiet, domestic out of the water."

---Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Talking with Matthew Pearl

2009-10-23T08:50:00.003-04:00

Earlier this month Matthew Pearl offered insight on a fascinating aspect of his latest historical novel, The Last Dickens --- the sometimes dangerous world of 19th-century book publishing. Today we talk with him about why classic literary figures are so intriguing to modern readers, why he enjoys meeting with book clubs and more.

Click here to read Matthew's guest post, The Last Dickens and the Exciting History (Really!) of the Publishing Industry.

ReadingGroupGuides.com: You've met with many reading groups to talk about your three novels --- The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow and The Last Dickens. What do you enjoy most about interacting with book clubs?

Matthew Pearl: Book club conversations are such treats. I've always believed in books as means to a community, as played out in the stories of my novels, too. The Dante Club, my first novel, was in a way actually about a nineteenth century book club. The Last Dickens, too, is about the passion that books inspire and the way books can empower or endanger readers.

RGG: Why do you think classic literary figures have such continuing appeal for modern readers? What about Charles Dickens in particular?

MP: So many of us grew up reading about classic literary figures without knowing much about them. Historical fiction allows us to explore classic authors beyond their famous names. Dickens is a great example of this. His identity as a writer is very different from his personal identity, and this is something I have the chance to explore in The Last Dickens.

RGG: What research did you do for The Last Dickens?

MP: There were many different areas of research, from the very large --- Charles Dickens as a person --- to the very small --- what clothing the character of Rebecca would wear. I actually love the research, which is important, because it can get very tedious. This was the first novel where I hired a research assistant, who was a wonderful help.

RGG: You've taken on two of literary history’s most tantalizing mysteries --- whether or not Dickens completed his final novel and, in The Poe Shadow, what led to Edgar Allan Poe's unexplained death. How much of your talks with reading groups center on the mystery aspect of the plots? What other themes and topics do they particularly like to discuss from your novels?

MP: Reading groups often enjoy speaking about what parts of the novels are fact and what are fiction. That's especially the case with Poe's death and Dickens' final plot. With The Last Dickens, some reading groups also read The Mystery of Edwin Drood in conjunction with the novel. The character of Rebecca and the particular challenges for a young woman working in an office in the 19th century also seems to be an interesting topic.

RGG: What one or two memorable book club moments can you share with us?

MP: Well, I've had some questions about setting me up with some book club members' daughters or grandaughters, which I appreciate, though probably my wife doesn't! The book club meetings I've attended in person instead of on the phone clue me in to the real secret of the book club: great food. For my book party for The Last Dickens, the restaurant recreated a dish called Timbales a la Dickens and a drink called Dickens punch. I'm happy to share the recipes if any book clubs want to combine that with discussing the novel.

Book Clubs in the News

2009-10-21T08:18:00.011-04:00

Today's round-up of book club news spans the country from California to New Jersey --- thoughts on Olive Kitteridge and The Help, why a thriller by Daniel Silva was selected by members of the intelligence community for a university book club, suggestions for uplifting reads, and more.

The Book Bench: Literate Lads of La-La Land
The New Yorker's blog introduces an L.A. men's reading group, started by a member who "was jealous of his wife's book club and was determined to start his own." It was "an excuse for a guys' night out," but there is serious reading going on. Selections have included Bel Canto by Ann Patchet and Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, paired with food fitting each book's theme (Peruvian for the former and Latin American for the latter).

CentralJersey.com: This Club's Members are Hungry for More
Members of the Hungry Readers, who meet at the Manville Public Library in New Jersey, offer some food for thought about book clubs. We were pleased to note one of the resources they use: ReadingGroupGuides.com.

ChicagoNow.com: Book Club
Janet Dahl shares what she and the members of her reading group, the Bookbags, thought of Katherine Stockett's novel The Help, which "gives a voice to a group of Mississippi maids, laboring for Junior League-ish women of the early '60s."

The Daily Aztec: Book Club Promotes Conversation
San Diego State University has started an intriguing reading group, using a federal government book list from the intelligence community for their selections. The goal is to "inform the SDSU community about various global matters." One of the books on the list is Daniel Silva's Moscow Rules for its portrayal of Russian arms deals.

The Kansas City Star: Heroine in Olive Kitteridge Leaves Lasting Impression on FYI Book Club
Find out what the FYI Book Club had to say about Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge. Katie Mediatore Stover, head of reader services at the Kansas City Public Library and RGG.com guest blogger, moderated the discussion.

Sioux City Journal: Long Before Oprah, There was the Bard of Avon Club
The Bard of Avon Club in Sioux City, Iowa, recently celebrated 100 years of reading. The group reads a wide array of books, but once a year they devote a meeting to its namesake: William Shakespeare.

The Wall Street Journal: Uplifting Reading
In her "Book Lover" column, Cynthia Crossen answers a reader's request for some book club suggestions "that are uplifting and joyful to read, yet also stimulating --- something that would satisfy our intellectual needs but also make us feel good about the world."

Penguin Classics: A Literary Makeover

2009-10-20T08:40:00.001-04:00

Employees at the Penguin Group USA made it their 2008 New Year's resolution to each read one Penguin Classics title. Alan Walker, the company's Senior Director of Academic Marketing & Sales, took it further...much further. He began an ambitious "literary makeover," reading a Penguin Classics title for each letter of the alphabet.

Today we talk with Alan about why he decided to read the classics A-Z (not once, but twice) and what tips he has for book clubs who might like to embark on their own literary marathon.

Click here for a re-cap of Alan's first foray into the Classics and here to follow along on his latest reading adventure.

ReadingGroupGuides.com: What inspired you to undertake the reading marathon? And then to embark on a second one?

Alan Walker: We have a bookroom at the Penguin offices filled with Penguin Classics, and just being in a room with that many great books is at once frustrating and inspiring. Where to start? How will I ever read them all? I figured I'd attach some semblance of order to that all-important question of what to read next just to make that decision a simpler one, and I selected an author for each letter of the alphabet. Having made it through one round of authors alphabetically, I was motivated to start again mainly by all the books I had to leave behind the first time around. What can I say? I'm an addict!

RGG: What advice do you have for book clubs that would like to do something similar?

AW: I guess my best advice would be not to be intimidated by the Classics. Even if you just throw in a Classic into your regular book club choices, I think you'll find that reading classic literature will add new light onto contemporary works, and you'll just want to read more of them.

RGG: One book in particular piqued our interest while looking over the list of titles you read the first time around --- My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin (born Stella Maria Miles Franklin), a semi-autobiographical novel about her life in the Australian outback. "Jane Eyre and Lucy Honeychurch have nothing on this feminist heroine," you remarked about the book. What makes Franklin's novel so compelling?

AW: I'm glad you mentioned this one; this book was a real find and definitely hard to put down. Just a great read; a great story and I'd say one of the best heroines I've ever come across ! I think this was the best part of doing this reading marathon, discovering must-read books like this. I've recommended My Brilliant Career to many friends and all have been as satisfied as I was.

RGG: What are some of the other classics you read during the marathon that would make particularly good selections for reading groups?

AW: Some of my favorite finds were Nella Larsen's Passing, Barbara Pym's Excellent Women, Turgenev's First Love, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, and The American by Henry James. All of these stories were extremely compelling. Reading groups will find lots to talk about with these books: issues of race, class, a variety of historical background, writing styles. Mostly, though, I am a glutton for plot and character and you'll find that and much more. I can't help but want to read more of these authors' works.

RGG: The company has launched the online radio show Penguin Classics On Air. Why might book clubs want to tune in?

AW: These shows provide book clubs with ideas on Penguin Classics to choose, as well as starting points for discussions from academics, editors and other writers. Right now, there is a show about a new Classic by Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton called Who Would Have Thought It? Ruiz de Burton was the first Mexican American novelist, and apparently this book reads like Henry James meets Uncle Tom's Cabin. I'm already looking forward to my next "R."

Book Clubs: Making a Difference

2009-10-19T09:26:00.010-04:00

Book club members are a generous group and are often inspired to take action to help others in various ways, as we've noted in previous posts. Bookseller Debra Linn's group made a donation to the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center after reading Edwidge Danticat's memoir Brother, I'm Dying, and author Ann Hood talked about how even hobbies like knitting can be used to make a difference. In last year's round-up of holiday activities and traditions submitted by ReadingGroupGuides.com readers, many noted that they seek out ways to help in their communities and beyond.

In a piece on the HuffingtonPost.com, Linda Mason, Chair of the Board for the aid organization Mercy Corps, highlights businesswoman Rufi Natarajan and her Houston reading group, who selected and discussed Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Pulitzer Prize-winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. "This book club was incensed and compelled to action," writes Mason. They have raised $700 so far for Mercy Corps, which works on behalf of women in developing countries, and Rufi is speaking out to alert more American women about the cause.

Rufi's book club, notes Mason, is one of more than 400 around the world participating in an initiative to have groups read Half the Sky and spread the word about Mercy Corps' cause. Authors Kristof and WuDunn plan to visit the book club that compiles the most impressive record of activism by June 15, 2010. Click here for information and to sign up your group for the contest.

Meet Betsy, Tacy and Tib

2009-10-15T09:01:00.001-04:00

Are there books that captured your imagination when you were a child and that you still re-read from time to time? For RGG.com contributor Jennifer Hart it's the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. Today she shares what drew her to the books, why she still has such an affinity for them --- and the part she played in giving some of the stories a second life.

Click here for a discussion guide to the Betsy-Tacy series.

If you're at all familiar with my blog, twitter or Facebook life as Book Club Girl, or if you've ever met me, you know that there is a series of books about which I am beyond passionate. Some people (my family among them) might even call me obsessed. But if you're in publishing and there isn't a series of books or an author that you don't lovingly follow, read and reread, then perhaps you are in the wrong industry.

The literary object of my affection is the Betsy-Tacy series of children's books by Maud Hart Lovelace. Now probably 90% of you reading this are thinking, "Hmm, well ok Jennifer, but I've never heard of this Betsy-Tacy. I was a well-read child, how could I have missed these? Surely, they can't be that good, or I'd know about them already." In the words of another fan, all I can say is: "I pity you, but envy you that the pleasure of reading these books still lies ahead." And you are not alone --- many people haven't heard of Betsy-Tacy. In fact, among those of us who love these books, the running mantra when we meet another one of us is "I thought I was the only one!" Because my sister was as equally obsessed as me, I never thought I was the only one, but we definitely thought we were the only two keeping the copies in the Nashua, NH Public Library in circulation.

But fans there are, not only on a vibrant list serv dedicated to Maud Hart Lovelace called Maud L, in four Facebook groups and in the national Maud Hart Lovelace and Betsy-Tacy Societies (not to mention many regional chapters), but also among acclaimed and bestselling writers including Meg Cabot (see her wonderful essay on the series in a recent issue of The Wall Street Journal) Anna Quindlen, Laura Lippman, Nora Ephron, Mary Kay Andrews, Judy Blume, Joyce Maynard and Nancy Pearl.

The Betsy-Tacy books were written in the 1940s and '50s and chronicle the life of one Betsy Warrington Ray, from the age of five, when she meets the girl across the street who will become her lifelong best friend, Tacy, all the way through her growing up, through four years of high school, on to a solo year of travel in Europe just prior to the outbreak of World War I and back home to Minnesota where she marries her high school sweetheart and embarks upon her career as a writer. The books are highly autobiographical and were based very much on Lovelace's growing up in Mankato, MN, the model for the town of Deep Valley in the books.

The first four books: Betsy-Tacy, Betsy, Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown are illustrated by the wonderful children's illustrator (and author) Lois Lenski and are very much written for younger readers (I recommend starting with Betsy-Tacy when your daughter is five and you can read it aloud, or listen to the audio read by Sutton Foster), but the books progress in complexity and themes as the series goes on. Indeed, in the first four books, the subjects range from illness, death of a sibling, racism and family alienation and strife. They are lighthearted in tone and in the adventures that Betsy and Tacy embark on, but they also address more serious issues in a way that children can understand. In each book Betsy's world gets larger as she ventures further out into her neighborhood and town.

I read and reread those first four books over and over again when I was young. And I didn't know, at the time, that the series continued. I remember so distinctly the day that I opened up Heaven to Betsy, the first of the "high school books" and the one that chronicles Betsy's freshman year. As an awkward 12-year-old sitting with my legs flung over the living room chair, I was delighted to see that Betsy had suddenly blossomed from the cute but stocky Lenksi illustration and was now romantically drawn by the inimitable illustrator Vera Neville. Betsy's transformation mirrored the one I was longing for at that age. Betsy was setting off for high school --- there were boys, dances, drives in autos and high school hijinx, and I devoured every single high school book (Heaven to Betsy, Betsy in Spite of Herself, Betsy Was a Junior and Betsy and Joe) and the two that followed (Betsy and the Great World and Betsy's Wedding) and reread them to this day.

As a young girl I had always loved reading about "olden times," but I think what drew me most to the books was that, while they are definitely set in the past, so much about Betsy's life seems modern --- she has friends who are boys (as opposed to other books set in the past where boys and girls never mix and mingle); she longs ---not to be married (at least not immediately) - --but to become a famous writer and travel the world; she gets into trouble (nothing too extreme, but still, trouble) at school; and she is constantly struggling to figure out who she wants to be and what she wants people to think of her. All of this spoke to me as a young girl growing up. As I got older, rereading a Betsy book was the literary equivalent of comfort food. I turn to them when life is difficult, and they soothe my soul.

When I realized that the older books in the series were in need of reissue, we thought immediately of publishing them as Harper Perennial Modern Classics --- a line that includes classics such as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, two books that are also loved by readers young and old.

Heaven to Betsy and Betsy in Spite of Herself, Betsy Was a Junior and Betsy and Joe and Betsy and the Great World and Betsy's Wedding are now available in three 2-book volumes with Forewords by Laura Lippman, Meg Cabot and Anna Quindlen, respectively, and cover illustrations from the books' original publications by Vera Neville.

Working on these reissues has been one of the highlights of my career. I traveled this summer to the Betsy-Tacy Convention in Mankato, MN , met descendants of various characters in the books and toured Betsy's and Tacy's childhood homes and the town of Deep Valley. I spent a delightful afternoon poring through Maud's photo albums for photographs for the back matter in the reissues. Betsy-Tacy Convert Week is in full swing at Book Club Girl, in which hundreds of fans who were sent a Betsy book are giving them away to new fans of the series and reporting in on their results. Best of all, I have met smart, funny and interesting women from around the country who also count Betsy as one of their best friends, and I have, I hope, introduced Betsy to countless more.

---Jennifer Hart

Shelley Frisch: A Story Stranger than Fiction

2009-10-14T08:41:00.000-04:00

Shelley Frisch has translated books on a wide array of topics into English. But one in particular, she reveals in today's post, is a true-life tale stranger than fiction. Fromms: How Julius Fromm's Condom Empire Fell to the Nazis, written by Gotz Aly and Michael Sontheimer, unfolds the story of a Jewish entrepreneur who made a fortune manufacturing condoms for nearly two decades --- until, during World War II, he was forced to sell the business for a fraction of its worth and flee Germany.

"Waaait a minute.... Are you saying this book isn't fiction?"

The question came from a novelist at a recent writers' reception in Manhattan, as I recounted the story of Julius Fromm, the subject of my latest translation project from the German. And could I really blame him? Here I was discussing a non-fiction book titled Fromms: How Julius Fromm's Condom Empire Fell to the Nazis, the strange-but-true story of Germany's most prominent manufacturer of condoms and the state-fueled greed and pernicious ideology that unraveled his life's work and the moral fiber of an entire society.

Right from my first published translation --- a piece in Simon Wiesenthal's now-classic volume The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness --- I have, for some reason, gravitated to subjects whose societies push them to the margins. The themes in these books span history to histrionics, psychology to physics, pre-Socratic philosophy to pilgrimages, marooned refugees from Hitler's Germany to Maroon colonies in Jamaica, castrati to concentration camps to Communism and now --- to round out an alliterative set, I suppose --- condoms. I've "worked on" atomic clocks and atomic bombs, and when I translated a biography of Einstein in 2007, I learned that after Einstein's brain had been stolen from his corpse during his autopsy at our local hospital --- two blocks from my house, as eerie luck would have it --- it was stored on the street where I live, then zigzagged across the country in a beer cooler by its abductor. His eyes, similarly plucked from his head, wound up in a safe deposit box.

A translator becomes a quasi-expert, however superficially and temporarily, on the subject of the translation-in-progress. From the Fromms manuscript --- now relegated by several more recent projects to the deep crevices of my memory, even though it is appearing just this month in print --- I recall especially the intriguing information about the emerging field of "sexology" in Weimar Germany, the global history of condoms (I now know that Casanova's were made of sheep intestine and fish bladder, and that he referred to them as "English riding coats"), the condom manufacturing process, brothel etiquette and aesthetics and, so poignantly, the agony of expropriation and exile from Hitler's Germany.

There are moments of levity, such as Peter Lorre's first encounter with Alfred Hitchcock (Peter Lorre was a friend of Julius Fromm's son Max), interspersed with harrowing stories, notably the scandalous journey of the Dunera, a British ship that imprisoned Jewish and other refugees as "enemy aliens" --- among them Julius Fromm's son Edgar --- and brought them to Australia under concentration camp-like conditions. Most memorable of all to me was Hermann Goering's seizure of Fromm's condom factory so he could swap it for two castles his godmother owned, while the Fromms fled to England, stripped of their possessions, their company, their adopted homeland, and even the right to continue using the family name when they rebuilt the business in London.

In the early days, though, when business boomed and a future under Hitler was still unthinkable, Fromms Act took the country by storm, and entered the popular imagination well beyond the bedroom or bordello. Here's a peek into the text:

By the end of the 1920s, Fromm's products were so popular that beer hall cabarettists and piano-bar comedians in Berlin were incorporating Fromms Act condoms into their routines, singing lines like "Fromms with your girl --- give it a whirl," "When the urge grabs you, grab Fromms Act," and "Just like a Fromm --- I'm ready to come." Fromm had made it. He did not have to pitch his condoms. Customers read the name and got the picture.

---Shelley Frisch

Miklos Vamos: Kisses to the American Readers

2009-10-13T09:07:00.001-04:00

Today's guest blogger, Miklós Vámos, talks about his winding road to publication in the United States --- and how some cultural differences between the U.S. and his native Hungary might not be as disparate as they seem. His novel The Book of Fathers is both a family saga, chronicling twelve generations, and a 400-year history of Hungary. Kirkus Reviews declared it a "beautifully crafted novel of connection and continuity," while Publishers Weekly wrote, "The book has many sublime moments, from meditations on the nature of time to a sly investigation of how words accumulate to form books."

In a happy period of my mid-life I happened to live more than two years in the USA, to be precise, in Connecticut. That was in the late '80s. I was a Fulbright fellow, but actually, I was a prince in the clothes of a beggar. At the time I was thirty-nine, the author of three novels and twelve other books. All of them written and published in Hungarian. I tried everything to make my name well-known in the USA. I published a story in The New York Times. They misspelled my name (Milos Vamos). I fought even harder. I wanted to find a big publisher for my novels. I had three agents, one after the other, including one of the nicest men in New York City, Robert Lantz. Unfortunately, he was also one of the busiest men in the City, and he devoted most of his time to his more famous clients like Peter Shaffer and Miloš Forman. I happened to be one of the most impatient men --- and I dumped all my U.S. agents by and by.

One of my novels was almost accepted by Scribner. Then, they dumped me. I had to realize that the U.S. world of publishing would not wait for me, and my works. I came home to my native Hungary. Wrote some more novels and other books, including The Book of Fathers, which is probably the best I have ever done. It came out in Hungary in 2000, and I considered it as my farewell to the twentieth century.

And what happened? A German publisher (Random House btb) brought it out. It became a bestseller. Afterward, Susanna Lea, one of the nicest women in Paris and New York City, decided to represent me throughout the world. Ever since then, every year I receive three to four contacts from different publishers of different countries. Now the time has come, and one of my books appears in the USA from Other Press. Every novel has its fate, and in each story of publishing there are also happy endings. Now all I need is some good luck from the readers. Do I deserve it? That has no importance in matters of luck.

I need some love from those readers for whom "Europe" sounds like the name of the weird banknotes used on the other side of the ocean, and who cannot tell the name of the Hungarian capital (Bucharest? Budapest? Budabest?).

When Europeans --- especially East Europeans, more especially Hungarians --- give each other a friendly kiss, they always kiss both cheeks. Americans only one. When a Hungarian (let's say, a male) comes to the United States, he kisses somebody's, anybody's, left cheek, then he moves to the right cheek. The American woman doesn't know what the hell is going on. She draws back. Then she understands that this was a second kiss, and she wants to return it. But it's already too late. Sometimes the heads bump against each other, and the whole scene becomes somewhat embarrassing. Americans tend to misunderstand this second kiss, believing it is something more than just a friendly gesture. They are surprised or puzzled.

Hungarians are willing to adopt the American traditions. When in Philadelphia, do as the Phillies do. Sooner or later they adjust to the single kiss. But, again, it's too late. Almost every American friend has already accepted the habit of the double kiss. He or she waits patiently for the second kiss, but it isn't offered. Sometimes the American moves toward the Hungarian's other cheek, but now it's the Hungarian's turn to be late. By the time he goes for the second kiss, the American has already retreated. More accidents are possible --- bumped noses, tangled hair, etc. The embarrassment is still there.

Everyone knows that in any exchange of kisses there is always the potential for misunderstanding. So when Hungarians and Americans kiss --- a greeting that stretches across oceans and cultures and language and time --- it comes as no surprise that such kisses can be an awkward reach across a junk pile of differences.

I would be so satisfied if my book could give an occasion to celebrate those clumsy yet warm meetings between Americans and Hungarians. The history of these two nations and its peoples is totally different. Still, both are crammed with the vagaries of political leadership, the irreversible pomposities of awful translations and, of course, the usual absurdities of life itself. But, there are also the common experiences of literature, of everyday laughter and tears made real by language and story and the fire of imagination. If occasionally we bump noses in the exchange of greetings and understanding, let us still enjoy our closeness and let us blame any embarrassment on history. Language, after all, has its limitations. Kisses, on the other hand, well ... kisses are kisses, they need no translation.

---Miklós Vámos

The Story Behind BO'S CAFE

2009-10-12T08:38:00.012-04:00

Bruce McNicol, Bill Thrall and John Lynch teamed up to write the novel Bo's Café about a high-powered executive whose life comes unraveled. Through grace, love and the friendship of an eccentric mystery man, he ultimately discovers a fuller, more authentic life. In today's guest blog post, the trio of authors tell us about Bo's Café and how they came to write the inspirational story. Click here to learn more about the authors.

All of us long to be known, and we are afraid we will be. The three of us who wrote Bo's Café live in the awareness of this mysterious sensation --- both a longing and a fearing to be known. Sometimes, we've let fear overwhelm us. This has created unwelcome drama, twisted conflicts and tragic losses in our journeys. Conversely, listening to "the longing" has fostered intense trepidation, messy relationships and unimaginable freedoms. Now that we've tasted astonishing authenticity, we're never going back to the standard fare. Truth is, Bo's Café got its start here.

We grew up in three different states in the USA with vastly divergent backgrounds. But, eventually, all three of us stumbled into the same trap. We got tricked into the snare that says, "If you are ever going to keep from getting hurt in this life, and if you you're ever going to reach your dreams, you've got to protect yourself, because no one else will or can." This is a crock of con.

By the time John was 25 years old, he was an acid-dropping, wandering hippie-type, selling his plasma for dope, and living alone in an idyllic southern California beach town. In high school, he had been an all-state high school baseball pitcher and student body president, even securing the homecoming queen as his girl. But, the wheels came off in college and in his embarrassment John thought he had to protect himself by leaving for another state and then lying to all his friends back home that he had become a stand-up comedian. In reality, John might have done standup comedy once or twice, with humor only a mother could love.

Bill grew up a very bright son of two alcoholic parents, abandoned to an orphanage for part of his childhood years. Anyone who has a similar story implicitly knows the insecurity and the weird coping mechanisms that such early experiences nurture. By the time Bill reached high school he was already a card shark, making money all weekend long for the local mafia.

Bruce became the middle child in a high-octane, performance-driven, over-achieving home where early on he figured out that he had to live up to the family name, at all costs. Problem was, he kept coming in third, out of three siblings, in academics, sports, music, and other areas --- a classic formula for custom-made masks.

Imagine the lies we told ourselves, let alone other people! Lies picked up when we're young can stay with us for a lifetime. Our common lie was that we had to buck up, shape up and move up --- and most importantly, that we had to make all this happen on our own. That is a recipe for toxic hiddenness, self-deception, and power-driven manipulation. So, at Bo's Café, you’ll recognize a familiar face (or mask) in the main character, Steven.

Toss another ingredient into the story, and you’ll catch a whiff of the spice that flavors Bo's Café. Ever since we were young, each of the three of us had something nagging that said, "There's more to me, to the reason I've been put on this earth, and I don't know what it is. I know I have talents. I know I have stuff to offer. But I keep shooting myself in the foot. From the earliest time I can remember I thought I was here to do something a whole lot more significant than what it seems I'm doing right now. It just seemed life would be more fulfilling than it is right now." We kept scratching for that "something nagging" in us, but we did so in some of the most destructive and strangest ways. So does Steven. So do a lot people we meet.

Beyond our journeys, Bo's Café is based on the secrecy and courage of real people with whom we co-authors have walked. One haunting question best captures the suspense behind their stories, "What if there was a place where the worst of me could be known, and I would discover in the telling of it that I would be loved more, not less?"

Steven desperately needs an answer to that question. He's a fast-rising, 34-year-old rainmaker at a kicking-it Southern California company, and he's losing it. Up to this point he's been successful, satisfied, medicated, and isolated. In charge, in control, in command. But, when his life starts "backfiring like any old engine," (a la thereviewbroads.com) Steven starts doing abnormal things to his beautiful wife, Lindsay, and everyone else within reach.

Enter loud Hawaiian-shirted, 1970 Buick Electra-driving, cigar-smoking, former-business-mogul, now-marina-boat-operator, Andy Monroe. Throw in Cynthia, Carlos, and Hank from the Marina del Rey boardwalk cafe, and the dance begins.

As we've had opportunity to encourage thousands of people from all walks of life, we've observed that there are no together people, just those who dress better. So, as you read, you may think of people in media, politics, sports, the professions and other disciplines. People who tried to tackle the tiger of "this longing and this fearing" by themselves. Those who went with their fears and paid for their decision with high stakes "consequences."

You may think of your family, your friends, your neighbors. Or you may even think of your own desire to find a safe place where the worst of you could be known and yet you would discover that you were loved more, not less. If this is you, we hope you'll jump in the Electra and take off for Bo's Café. The story of Steven and Lindsey Kerner and the folks at Bo's Café is really not about celebrities. Bo's Café could be about any of us. And, it has been about at least three of us.

Have a great ride!

---John Lynch, Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol

Matthew Pearl: THE LAST DICKENS and the Exciting History (Really!) of the Publishing Industry

2009-10-09T07:11:00.003-04:00

Matthew Pearl's latest historical novel, The Last Dickens, delves into the mystery surrounding Charles Dickens' final, unfinished work. Did the writer, in fact, complete the ending of The Mystery of Edwin Drood? In today's guest post, Matthew talks about a fascinating aspect of the story --- the sometimes-dangerous world of 19th-century book publishing.

Matthew is also the author of The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow.

Today book publishing is tagged as "old media." It sticks to tradition. The industry, like most, has had its financial setbacks, including the dominant bookstore chains, and may be contracting. It has struggled to find a way to profitably interface with digital and download technologies.

I was excited that in my latest novel, The Last Dickens, I was able to return to a time when book publishing was not just cutting edge. It was an adventure. In my story, the hero is a young publisher named James Osgood. When he finds out that Dickens has died without turning in the second half of his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Osgood sets off on a dangerous quest to discover the missing pages. Osgood was an actual person, and we've even had him "interview" me for a special feature in the paperback of The Last Dickens.

In the nineteenth century, the industry was still young. Trade journals and magazines were just beginning and were allowing industry insiders learn about each other. It had not been very long that the bookstores and publishers had split into separate entities. The professionalization of authors was also recent, so that by the mid century distinct interests had emerged: publishers, booksellers and authors.

Books were as powerful as ever. Along with the growth in newspapers, they constituted the primary form of spreading information and entertainment.

In the 1830s, a fictional manuscript circulated before its publication detailing how a Catholic convent kidnapped and held Protestant girls against their wills. A riot occurred at a convent outside of Boston, where fires were set and lives threatened.

Meanwhile, copyright law at the time did not protect any foreign authors. That meant American publishers could print and reprint foreign authors like Charles Dickens without paying them a dime.

This created a volatile situation. Sort of a literary black hole, where priceless properties were up for grabs. Since you could not purchase reliable rights to publish a foreign author, the value was not in who could secure rights (as it is today), but in who could get a hold of a book and publish it *first*.

It was all about timing, and the black market could yield a fortune.

There are moments when doing research when finding a small detail fires your imagination and opens an unexpected window into the past. This time, it was the discovery that the publishing firms would hire covert agents who waited at the ports and harbors of the major American cities waiting for valuable manuscripts to come in. Particularly Dickens. There was at least one specific report of a manuscript successfully pilfered.

I couldn't stop imagining who these literary bounty hunters might be. What were their backgrounds? What techniques did they employ? Were there rivalries?

I wanted to find more. But like much of history, nothing more than a few lines-worth of material had been documented. This isn't surprising, as these were sketchy tactics being used by self-consciously sketchy publishers.

That's where historical fiction can expand on a world that locks out nonfiction. For The Last Dickens, I created a world and avocation for these Bookaneers (as they're known in my book). They were daring literary pirates willing to use almost any tactic to obtain their treasures. These Bookaneers get tangled in the same adventure that Osgood finds himself, battling secret forces to find the ending of Dickens's final novel. I hope I'll have the chance to use the characters of the Bookaneers in future books, too.

Who would have thought publishing history could be so fun?

---Matthew Pearl

Jamie Ford's Top 10 Most Memorable Book Group Moments

2009-10-08T08:30:00.001-04:00

Jamie Ford's debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, is a story about Japanese interment in Seattle during World War II, seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old Chinese boy searching for his first love forty years after they met during that tumultuous time. Jamie has spoken with many book clubs over the last year, and today he shares his top 10 memorable moments.

Click here to read Jamie's previous post, "Bleeding on the Page," in which he talks about how he drew on his own experiences and those of his family for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

Book groups are as unique as their members. Some read fiction, others non-fiction. Some are wild and some are more subdued. It's been an adventure meeting so many groups along the way --- I thought I'd share a few thoughts from the road.

10) A Shot in the Dark. I'm always happy to do telephone call-ins. I can be there via phone line, I don't get patted down at the airport, and no one loses my luggage. The bad part is (confession time), sometimes I don't know where I'm calling to --- occasionally I just get a number and a time zone. I recall greeting a lovely group with, "I only have two questions: who's on the phone, and how much wine have you had?" The call was to a group in Salt Lake City. Yeah, that joke went over like a keg-stand at a green Jell-O picnic.

9) The Party Line. Then there's the flipside, calling a group that's already into an hour of margaritas. Enthusiastic questions, plenty of interaction, and everyone is usually speaking at once.

8) Tickets? Please. I've done several ticketed book group events --- which always amaze me. A) Because it's weird when someone is actually paying to hear me speak, and B), because...nah...A) is weird enough all on its own. If a bookstore can sell a chicken dinner and put a mic in my hand, I'm happy to oblige. Though usually when I have a mic that long it's because I'm singing, in which case people would probably pay to shut me up.

7) The Lifestylists. One particular group truly lives the books they read. When they chose a memoir by a certain Irish writer, they went to Ireland. When they read Ambrose's book about D-Day, they went to Normandy. I keep waiting for them to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, followed by a jaunt on the space shuttle.

6) Cinematic Auteurs. Another group was so enthusiastic about a particular novel that they pooled their resources and actually bought the film-rights. I marveled at their enthusiasm. I applauded their effort. But a part of me kept thinking, "The book's always better than the movie..."

5) Food Networking. It's always a special treat to visit with a group that has enthusiastically embraced the gastronomical aspects of my book, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. (Plug, plug). Some bring sushi; others make Chinese food (I put recipes on my website). One group even made delicious bittersweet chocolate-chip cookies. As a writer, I try to involve all the senses in my narratives, especially the ones that melt in your mouth.

4) United Nations. I met with one group in Seattle comprised entirely of ESL students. I went expecting Japanese and Chinese undergrads, but they were from everywhere --- Thailand, Bahrain, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ballard (Sorry, Seattle joke --- couldn't resist). The students made special thank-you notes sharing their own journeys of self-identity and discovery. I was touched, humbled and inspired.

3) Live Nude Authors. Okay, not the nude part. But live is always an exciting thing. Some book groups throw in a classic now and then --- which is always a great idea. But it's awfully hard to get the author to participate and answer questions when they passed away in the great Flu Epidemic of 1918. I relish the opportunity to answer questions in person, because once I'm gone, the rest is just conjecture. (And if you're wondering, no, Ethel didn't know. At least, I don't think she knew...)

2) My Exorbitant Fee. While visiting the Tattered Cover in Denver, a woman asked if I'd consider visiting her book group in Colorado Springs the next time I'm in the area. I said, "Sure, I'd love to!" Then she asked, "How much do you charge?" Um, how about a brownie? A cup of tea? Then she told me that another author had asked for...wait for it...$12,000. I'll pause to let that sink in. $12k? That's a used Honda. That's a year of community college. That's liposuction and Botox. I guess I'm just a cheap date.

1) I Get to Ask Questions Too. I'm a writer, but I'm also a reader --- and I love to talk books --- mine and everyone else's. Book groups are never a one-way affair. And I think we all have a lot more fun when it's a dialog and not just a monolog. Want to talk about it? You'll find me at JamieFord.com

Kathleen Kent: Book Clubs, a Seat of Womanly Wisdom

2009-10-06T15:46:00.009-04:00

Kathleen Kent's debut novel, The Heretic's Daughter, takes places during the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in the late 1600s. The story is narrated by Sarah Carrier, whose mother, Martha, was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch. As Kathleen shares in today's guest blog post, many of the reading group members with whom she has discussed the book have been surprised by how recognizable, even more than 300 years later, many of the characters' challenges were.

Click here for information on the book and the town of Salem, and to invite Kathleen Kent to join your book club discussion. You can also share your comments about the novel on The Heretic's Daughter Facebook page.

My perception as a teenager growing up in Texas, typical of the young and the arrogant, was that it had little to offer in the way of home-grown literary expression other than the true grit Westerns by novelists like Zane Grey. And the book clubs of my mother's era, attended by the neighborhood moms, appeared to be little more than opportunities to swap recipes and report on either the over-sentimentalized novels of Eudora Welty, or the guilty pleasures of the "bodice rippers"; romance paperbacks the ladies could sneak from the shelves of the local Piggly Wiggly. What I didn’t understand then, but what I understand more fully now, is that the neighborhood book clubs are, and have always been, proving grounds for women's wisdom.

Since publishing The Heretic's Daughter, a novel based on the events of the Salem witch trials and of Martha Carrier, my grandmother back nine generations, I've had the opportunity to speak in person to dozens of book clubs in Texas, and by phone to gatherings across the country. I've been enlivened and constantly surprised by the diversity of the membership and structure of the groups. What is consistent is the emotional resonance in response to the fortitude, courage and resourcefulness of the women who settled the American wilderness. In fact, many of the readers were surprised at how recognizable the characters' challenges were; the conflict between a mother and her daughter, adolescent peer pressure, the damage done to a community through gossip and rumor-mongering.

Some of the most interesting, and emotionally charged, discussions though have included Martha Carrier's decision to continue to proclaim to her innocence, even when she knew that the consequences would be imprisonment and death by hanging. By the time of her trial, other accused women in Salem had been sentenced to hang for not admitting to witchcraft. Traditional womanly wisdom, something that is deeply felt, and at times unreasoning, will often tell us to do what ever is necessary to stay with, and protect, our children. But Martha chose to honor the truth, trusting that her husband would continue to raise their five children if she should be executed. An important and timely question for readers that can be discussed in a book group is, though we may be sisters, daughter, wives and mothers, where do we each draw the line for our own individual truths and say to the powers that be, "Past this point you shall not go"?

---Kathleen Kent

Michael Mewshaw: Revisiting the Past

2009-10-06T09:16:00.001-04:00

Michael Mewshaw, today's guest blogger, reveals the unusul circumstances that led him to write his eleventh novel, Lying with the Dead. The story is narrated in turns by Quinn, Maury, and Candy, who are asked by their mother to return to their childhood home in Maryland, where the pieces of a dark puzzle finally come together.

Having published ten previous novels, I know that the genesis of most novels is as opaque as the human psyche and as elusive as dream logic. Much as a writer may draw on past experience, the process defies easy explanation. But with Lying with the Dead I feel comfortable in saying that it had its origin in specific childhood events that shaped the man I became, and that have now been reshaped by the imagination.

In 1961, a friend of mine, Wayne Dresbach, age 15, murdered his parents and was sentenced to life in prison. If the trauma was devastating for the Dresbach family, it was only a little less so for me. While a tragedy of this type leaves a mark on the whole community, it had deeper, long lasting implications for me and my family. It changed the already precarious emotional equation of our lives, as Wayne's younger brother, Lee, moved into our home, and as my mother, a woman who combined emotional fragility with physical strength, became increasingly obsessed with the case. For more than a decade, while raising four children of her own and running a day nursery for other kids, my mother served as a surrogate parent for both Dresbach boys. She raised Lee to adulthood and worked tirelessly to overturn Wayne's conviction and get him released. The cost to her health, the cost to the rest of the family, was inestimable.

Like Maury in Lying with the Dead, Wayne did 12 years at Patuxent Institute for Defective Delinquents. And like Maury's siblings, I passed my adolescence in the shadow of the US penal system. There was a trial, a failed appeal, then the long dreary calvary of "doing time." Sunday was visiting day. Christmas brought the annual convict party celebrated in a cellblock with pretzels and Kool-Aid. Summers meant picnics on a lawn surrounded by fences and armed guards. Each New Year commenced with another parole hearing, an emotional mixture of hope and dread, then the letdown.

As Wayne remained behind bars, I went on to college, then graduate school, always hoping to write a novel about murder and its ongoing effects on a family. It seemed to me like Greek tragedy, a cycle of hubris, nemesis and catharsis, an ongoing generational saga. But when Wayne was paroled and moved in for a time with me and my wife and son, I became persuaded that at least at first I owed it to him to tell the story from his point of view as non-fiction. I did this in 1980, with the publication of Life for Death.

But inevitably the story and its aftermath stayed lodged like a stinger in my brain, and so now I have circled back to it, not just revisiting the past but reimagining events, reconstituting a family forever teetering on the brink of discovery and dissolution, and re-examining elements of personal biography and reframing everything as fiction. The result is Lying with the Dead, my eleventh novel, a tragic-comedy almost fifty years in gestation. To me the story, despite its sorry, and sometimes sordid, aspects, is instructive and ultimately redemptive. I hope readers will come away from it convinced of the human capacity to survive and prevail in inhuman circumstances.

---Michael Mewshaw

Baltimore, Book Clubs and Best Discussion Picks

2009-10-05T17:35:00.003-04:00

RGG.com contributor Heather Johnson recently moderated a panel, "The Book Club Tool Kit," at the Baltimore Book Festival. Click here to read her re-cap and to view video of the event. A highlight: panelists shared their picks for best book to generate a good discussion. Heather's was The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and Trish Collins --- who has been a guest blogger here at RGG.com --- selected Ursula Hegi's Stones from the River.

What book has inspired your group's best discussion? We'd love to know --- and we're betting other club members do, too --- so please share your suggestions in the comments section.

Julia Amante: Creating Worlds

2009-10-02T09:25:00.000-04:00

Julia Amante's Evenings at the Argentine Club is the story of two couples, and their children, who face the challenges of building a life in a new country. In today's guest post, she talks about how she found inspiration for her first novel close to home.

Click here to read an interview with Julia.

For the longest time, I was convinced that my father's sole goal in life was to make my life miserable. Starting with when I was born. Most immigrants are happy to have their children born in America, right? Well my father was the exception. Living in New York at the time I was due, my father decided that my very pregnant mother should fly to Argentina to give birth --- because he was sure I was going to be a boy and he wanted an Argentine son.

Surprise, he got me!

Not that being born in Argentina is bad --- it's a fabulous country. The problem was that I lived here in the U.S. and being an Argentine citizen was about as useful as the snow boots I keep in my closet in Southern California for the few times we visit my husband's family in Maine. Although, it did give me the amazingly joyous pleasure of dealing with U.S. immigration once I became an adult and decided I should become a U.S. citizen.

My father made these kinds of wacky decisions throughout my life --- all to inconvenience me, of course.

On the more serious side, I didn't understand what motivated this man. He was perpetually unhappy with his life in America and spoke constantly of returning to Argentina. Yet, he never did.

Then a few years back, my grandmother gave me a notebook that contained letters that my father and grandfather wrote to each other when my father first moved to America. I couldn't believe the man who wrote those letters was the same guy I knew as my dad. He LOVED America. He was so excited about moving here, and he had so many dreams of what his life would become. He was positive and enthusiastic and had a boyish love of life. Every goal was possible. Reading the letters was eye-opening for me, and in the back of my mind I knew I would someday write a story based on these letters.

Evenings at the Argentine Club became that story. The book is about the hard choices immigrants have to make when they come to this country, and suggests that the "American Dream" isn't always the magic of the movies. It shows that those who do make it have to sacrifice a lot. I also explore the relationship between second generation Americans and their immigrant parents.

Sadly, my dad's American dream never worked out. He died rather tragically in a traffic accident where he drove his vehicle off a cliff rather than hit a woman who ran into his path on a dark highway. In Evenings at the Argentine Club, I decided to write a story where dreams do come true.

Today, I know that my father would read my book with a smile, knowing that I finally understood exactly what he'd been after. He would tell me that I created the world he would have loved to live.

---Julia Amante

Book Clubs in the News

2009-10-01T12:25:00.006-04:00

Read on about these varied reading groups in the spotlight: moms bonding over books, dining divas, a gentlemen's club, and more.

Craig Daily Press: Craig Book Club Celebrates 30th Anniversary
This reading group in Craig, Colorado, has been meeting for an impressive 30 years. In this interview, members talk about the favorite books they've read.

Gainesville Times: Club Members Bound By a Love of Books
From libraries to law offices, book clubs abound in the Gainesville, Florida, area.

Modesto Bee: Every Monday Matters: Read a Book!
When a California mom started a book club, she thought that the only common bond among members was their children...but found out otherwise.

The New York Times: Lit Life: A Gentleman's (Book) Club
New Jersey dad Marc Aronson reveals why he enjoys getting together with his guys-only book club.

Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier: Dining Divas: Book Club Combines Caribbean Story, Food
In Cedar Valley, Iowa, the Dining Divas Book Club aims to combine "a well-written plot, the mystique of foreign culture and a palate-pleasing menu." Find out some of their tantalizing pairings.

Elizabeth Berg: My Itty Bitty Book Club

2009-09-29T09:10:00.001-04:00

How many people does it take for a reading group? Elizabeth Berg, today's guest blogger, proves that sometimes two is the magic number as she recalls weekly phone conversations she had with a long-distance friend about books.

Elizabeth is the author of two nonfiction works and several novels, the most recent of which is Home Safe, the story of a mother and daughter forced to reassess their lives after a disturbing secret comes to light.

Back in the Pleistocene age, before I was a published writer, I was a member of a book club. It consisted of me and my best friend, Phyllis. At the time, I was living in Boston and married to a man who took justifiable pride in his ability to cook dinner one night a week, even if what he made each time was the exact same thing. He cooked on Sunday nights, and on those nights I was the happy beneficiary of Caesar salad complete with homemade croutons, lamb chops cooked perfectly on the grill, a baked potato, and tomatoes topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and then broiled.

While my husband cooked, I would go up to the bedroom, stretch out on the bed, and call Phyllis. She lived in California and I didn't get to see her very often, so these weekly phone calls were very important to us. We talked about a lot of things, but we almost always spent a good part of the conversation talking about books, because we both loved them and needed them as much as we needed oxygen and Caesar salad.

Phyllis is a very sensitive person. I'll tell you how sensitive. One time we were having a little tiff because I thought she was being insensitive at a time when my skin was feeling particularly thin. I told her, "I mean I'm feeling really fragile, right now." And she stared at me with her big blue eyes and said, "I feel fragile ALL the time." I thought about getting mad, but then I just said, "Yeah, well, okay, you win, then." I tell you this because Phyllis, being the number one most sensitive person in the country, is also my number one favorite person with whom to share things that are close to my heart. Such as certain passages in a book. Because she gives you the response el grande. Where I might be moved by a passage, she will be brought to tears by it. Where humorous writing might make me giggle, it makes her laugh out loud --- long and hard.

So. Imagine the scene: me, full of lovely anticipation, stretched out on my bed. From the kitchen below are coming the glorious smells of garlic sizzling in olive oil and potatoes baking in the oven. The bedroom door is closed. My daughters know if they need anything, they can ask their capable Dad, and he'll deliver. I have a block of time to have a good conversation, and I will not be interrupted. For a young mother, this is about as close to Nirvana as it gets.

I dial Phyllis' number, and she knows it's me before she answers, and this is in the days before call waiting. She gets ready to talk, which means she stretches out, too. And we're off. At some point, I am likely to say to Phyllis, "Listen to this," and then read a section of book that I love. And we will sigh and carry on and cluck in admiration of the author like a couple of literary hens. And then she will tell me about what she's reading that she loves. It's rarely the same book that we're reading --- I tend to focus on contemporary fiction; her choices are more eclectic. But I look upon these phone calls as book clubs all the same. Because they are a sanctioned time and place for the review and appreciation for an art form that really rings our chimes. An art form that gets us where we live, one that informs and inspires and cheers us and often consoles us in a way that nothing else can. Books make us feel more awake, more alive. And we use books not only for our own pleasure and edification, but to make the bonds between us as friends even tighter.

I think that's the value of good book clubs, no matter their size. I think what I've just described is what they do. They bring people together for an exchange of worthwhile ideas and the particular kind of relief that comes from having someone else see and appreciate the kind of things you do, i.e., books and reading. This makes you feel not so alone in a lonely universe. Many book clubs also provide good food and drink so that while the soul is nourished the body can be, too, and let me tell you, that is my kind of book club. Most book clubs allow for dissent, even welcome it, because civilized dissent can lead to learning things you didn't know before; and it can lead to appreciation of another's point of view, even if it's radically different from your own.

It's no secret that publishing houses are ecstatic about the fact that there are so many book clubs. Authors, too, know that when your title is chosen for a book club selection, it's a good thing, not only because it can up your sales numbers, but because it increases awareness of you and your work in general. I cannot tell you how gratified I am when I get a letter from someone saying, "We read one of your titles in my book club and we all really liked it." (My absolute favorite, I must tell you, was a letter that said, "Well, Now I'm going to have to go out and buy every single thing you've ever written." I might enlarge that woman's letter and make it into wallpaper.)

I love being a writer, and I am well aware of my good luck at able to support myself by being one. But I miss those days of being only a reader, oblivious to my own words and instead focused fully on analysis and praise of another's. After all these years, I think it's time to find another book club. The glory of their popularity means I won't have to look hard to find one.

---Elizabeth Berg