In today's post, guest blogger and author Johanna Moran talks about the origins of her new book THE WIVES OF HENRY OADES. Based on a real life legal case, the interest in the story was for all intents and purposes passed down by her parents.
More than a half-century ago, my father, a law professor, came across an abstract on the Oades case, and brought it home to my mother, who was attempting to write short fiction in her nonexistent spare time.

Henry Oades was an Englishman who’d come to California from New Zealand, where his wife and children had been abducted, and in time given up for dead. Many years later, Oades remarried in America. When his first wife showed up, alive, on his doorstep, he was tried not once, but three times for bigamy.

My mother was intrigued and gave thought to fleshing out the principals, but that’s as far as she got. She might have had three kids down with mumps that week or a spectacular birthday party to host. In any event, writing and five children never did mesh. She squirreled the abstract away, perhaps thinking she’d get to it eventually. She gave it to me about ten years ago, saying, “Daddy always thought it would make a good story.”

What I discovered upon reading it was that the abstract did not delve into the interior life of either wife, and I was glad. I had my own vision almost immediately.

To start, I considered my own marriage. It’s my first, but it’s my husband’s second. How outraged would I have been in wife number one’s shoes, how confused in number two’s? I imagined dutifully accompanying my husband halfway around the world, enduring and surviving horrific hardship once there, only to ultimately discover that he had “moved on.” I pictured, too, opening the door to find my husband’s long-thought-dead wife standing there, fully prepared to push me aside and resume her position.

Over the years, my mother, two sisters, and I have hashed out the issues in The Wives of Henry Oades at length, revealing much about ourselves at the same time. Marriage, I found, is a delicious subject to anatomize, particularly aloud with others. I’d love to be a fly on the wall—better yet, a participant in a chair, at every book club discussion—to hear what choices other women would make when faced with the same situation.

book•pick•a•pho•bi•a: - noun
A persistent, irrational fear of making a bad book club selection. This could be a book that everyone in your group hates or one that people like but doesn’t lend itself to conversation, or simply a book that makes even your closest book club ally scratch her head and wonder what the heck is wrong with you.

As someone who is often responsible for making book club selections, I have to admit I am often overwhelmed by bookpickaphobia. I mean it’s hard to please all of the people all of the time, right? Here are some of my concerns:

1. I don’t want to pick a book that everyone else is reading. I guess that’s something left over from my rebellious teenage days.


2. I don’t want to NOT pick something that everyone else is reading. I would hate for my group to be the only people in the world who have not read Water for Elephants or The Help.


3. If I pick something too sweet and innocent – will everyone think I’m a prude?


4. If I pick something too racy – will I offend someone?


5. I don’t always have time to read a book before I suggest it. If I take a chance on something that sounds good or I’ve heard good things about and no one likes it will I have let the group down?


6. What if I did read the book ahead of time and really loved it and everyone else hates it? What does that say about me?

Like any phobia – I recognize that these fears are irrational. And though I do have these thoughts as my hand reaches to take a book off the shelf or write an email with my latest selection, I am comforted by the knowledge that book club members are some of the best people I know. Even if they don’t love my selection, we still manage to have a good conversation in a supportive and positive environment.

But then there is flip side; sometimes a risky pick pays off. Everyone loves it and is glad to have been exposed to something new. So, I’ll put my fears aside and keep on trying. No risk, no reward, right? Take that bookpickaphobia.

My book club met last night at the Whole Foods Market on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta. We're a new group, (only three months old) and open to the public. We met to discuss THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz and we had an interesting discussion about a fascinating book.

I think what made the conversation so interesting is that we all came to the book from such different places. So far we're a small group - but our ages vary as do our places in life (married, single, kids, no kids, etc.). We're from different parts of the country, in different lines of work and have different religious and political views. Of course we also have different experiences reading and some knew more or less about the history and current political situation in the Dominican Republic (which is where a good bit of the book takes place). In fact, the only thing our group has in common is our love of reading and a desire to talk about books. (And okay yes, a love of cheese and crackers too).

Every book group I've been a part of has been open to the public, so I have had the lovely experience of sitting in a room once a month, with women from all walks of life (and even the occasional guy) and seeing the world and the books from so many different perspectives. This is something I treasure and wanted to share with you. I guess what I'm saying is if you're looking for a book group and had rejected the idea of joining a group where you don't know anyone, think again. It's a wonderful experience that will really open your eyes and your heart.

Are you a member of library or bookstore group? Or is your book club full of the wonderful women from your college or neighborhood that you've known for years? Have experiences you want to share? We'd love to hear how your book club experience enriches your life and your reading! Feel free to comment here or email me at dana@bookreporter.com!

And by the way, if you've thought about reading THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO or started it and struggled with it a bit - hang in there. It was slow going at first - but very much worth it by the end.

--Dana

In last month's newsletter we asked how you get your book club discussion started and as always you responded with a wonderful variety of options and suggestions. I published several of your responses earlier this week in the post Starting the Discussion: How do you break the ice? Here are some more of your wonderful ideas.

Nancy Chamberlin says:
We usually start ours book club meeting with the questions/discussion guides on the "Reading Group Guides" website. We don't do all the questions, just ones that would lead to good discussion by us rather than just regurgitating the book. Usually just one or two questions generates lots of discussion and further questions of our own.

Linda Bentzen of the Mountain Mamas Book Club in Sheridan, Wyoming says:
The Mountain Mamas Book Club meets at noon at a local restaurant. We mainly visit until our orders are taken. Then the person who chose the book we read begins the discussion. We discuss throughout our meal and usually for another hour after eating. We have a great time.

Mary Gade of the Cracked Pots Book Club in Bluffton, South Carolina says:
We have a book group of eight that that meet once a month. We usually have a book that is on the reading guide list so it's very easy to start our discussion. Whoever is hosting the meeting that month starts by reading the first question and everyone takes turns answering if they wish. We all take turns then reading the questions. Has worked great for us as we stay focused on the book. We do sometimes get a bit off track as we relate to the question. We usually know a couple months ahead what book we are going to read so the questions for the next book are handed out at the end of the meeting.

As a quick aside...I am loving the names of these book clubs, aren't you? If you have a minute either comment here on the blog or drop me a note (dana@bookreporter.com) and let me know what your group's name is and how you came up with it!

Today's guest blogger, author Dolen Perkins-Valdez talks about how an interest in old stories and a love of history led her to write WENCH. The book is fictional account of a bit of real history. It tells the story of a resort that opened in 1851 in Xenia, Ohio that was frequented by southern slaveholders and their enslaved mistresses. The book takes that real situation and uses fiction to examine what it would have been like for these women.

Once, while giving a presentation to an audience at UCLA that included distinguished history professors, I apologized for not being a "real" historian. At the end of my presentation, one of those historians in the back raised his hand. He told me that I was, indeed, a "real" historian and that the quality of my work proved it.

Over the years I have met many people who, like me, have an interest in historical narrative. Whether it be an interest in the Victorian era or the Middle Ages or the Industrial Revolution, many people who are not formally trained possess an extensive knowledge of another era. I have learned that, often, these "armchair" historians have the most interesting stories to tell. Their passion is not of the professional kind. It is personal, and they make it come alive for me as they share this heartfelt connection. I even love to hear about people's genealogical findings, and their discovery of ancestors who accomplished everyday heroic acts.

Even so, I never set out to write a historical novel. Now I understand that it must have been inevitable given my interest in old stories. My debut novel WENCH began when I stumbled upon a fascinating footnote of history. While reading a biography of W.E.B. DuBois, I learned that during the 1850s, there was a summer resort near Xenia, Ohio notorious for its popularity among slaveholders and their enslaved mistresses. I was stunned to learn this little-known historical fact. I decided to do a bit of excavation and learn more. At the time, it was very popular among the country's elite to visit natural springs. This particular resort opened in 1852, and its owner did not expect that it would become popular among slaveowners. Advances in transportation, however, allowed southerners to make the trip north each summer. I knew that Ohio was a free state and many of its residents were ardent abolitionists. I was fascinated to learn that because they did not enjoy vacationing with these southerners and their slave entourages, they stopped coming and business declined. The place closed in 1855.

I wanted to know more about these women who visited the resort with their masters. However, most slaves did not leave written historical records. I found myself entering an imaginative territory that would prove to be much more fertile than documents. I began by asking myself the following questions: If the women entered free territory, why wouldn't they attempt to escape? Is it possible that they actually loved the men? As I made my way through draft after draft, I discovered that these were not questions easily answered. Even the answers I thought I would find turned out to be much more complicated than I'd imagined. The attachments these women had to their masters had many layers. As I approached the end of the novel, I myself did not know how my main character Lizzie would end it all. The journey of writing Wench was probably as emotional for me as it has been for the readers who have e-mailed me about their captivating reading experiences of it.

I know that your book club will enjoy discussing this book because it raises so many questions about love and survival, race and gender, motherhood and sisterhood. Although I began with many questions of my own, I ended with even more. Rather than try to answer them, I left them for the reader to decide. I hope you enjoy my heartfelt interest in this historical narrative, one filled with everyday heroic acts.

Does your book club ever struggle to stop the chit chat and begin talking about the book? Or do you resist being the group leader because you're not sure how to get the discussion going?

I have lead many book club meetings over the last several years, and I pretty much always start the same way. I let everyone get situated with their wine or coffee and snacks and a little bit of gossip and then I'll get everyone's attention and ask if they liked the book. I'm pretty casual, so often that's usually all we need to get started.

If that's not enough to get the ball rolling, I'll also ask if everyone finished the book and if they didn't, why not. And if all else fails, I'll jump to a particular character or plot line that I want to discuss and jump right in. The other thing I always do - because the book clubs I have typically led have been open to the public - is to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves and maybe say one little extra thing besides their name. Like where they live or what they do or how long they've been coming to the book club. Of course if you already know each other well, that would just be silly. Though you never know - you could go around the room and have people say what their favorite book club book has been - or their favorite author - and you might learn something about each other that you never knew.

In last month's newsletter we asked how your group starts the meeting and here's what you had to say:

Mary Healey of The Farmington Woods Book Group in Avon, CT says:
We open every meeting with the facilitator of the month giving us a brief biography of the author. Very often this gives us insight into the views expressed in the book. We just had a good example of this at this month's meeting. We were told of the many pets Sara Gruen has in her home and her extraordinary love for animals. That certainly explained the empathy shown for the circus animals in Water For Elephants. It also led to the opening discussion question where this fact becomes an important fact in the story.

Ellie Simon from Boquete, Panama says:
Our club has been operating for almost three years. We are all American ex-patriots who live in a small mountain town in Panama. Our group usually distributes, in advance of our meeting, a list of questions for discussion. Frequently we use the questions that are bound within the book or made available at the publisher's website. Occasionally, we have to make up our own questions by following the general template of other books we've read. So we begin our discussion by starting with the first question. That is, we do that after we finish with updates and gossip!

Ruth Schroeder of the Oshkosh Public Library Morning Book Club says:
We begin our book club meetings by relating some detail of the book to our personal lives. The leader reads each book a month ahead of time so that she can assign us our "homework" question. For example, when we discussed Come and Get It by Edna Ferber, we each recalled the means by which we were called home for meals as a child. This has been a great way for us to get to know each other. We then proceed to rate the book on a scale from one to five. We seem to have the best discussions when the ratings include both high and low scores. Someone has usually researched background on the author which they present before we start to actually discuss the book.

Look for more great tips from readers coming later this week!

Today's guest blogger, Denise Neary, an avid reader and the leader of a mother/daughter book club talks about figuring out what to read when there is so much to choose from.

As I would guess is true for everyone who reads Reading Group Guides, selecting books to read is a tough business for me. Trite but true-- so many books, so little time.

The holidays present the delightful dilemma of lots of new books. Do I read the ones I requested, or the ones that people gave me, first? It is a lot of pressure!

Sometimes I like a book so much that I read it too fast---I am so busy finishing it that I don’t take the time to enjoy it. And when someone gives me a book, I want to be able to tell them something specific that I enjoyed in reading it.

Unlike many avid readers, I can only read one book at a time. I read (and enjoy) a variety of books, some widely accepted as literature and some decidedly not considered literature.

As is also true for most people reading Reading Group Guides, I have considerable assigned reading during the year---my book club books. I love it when I am “assigned” something wonderful to read. And even if the selection is less than my dream come true, I am happy to step into another world.

Each year, I try to reread a classic. This year, it was Pride and Prejudice. Now that was lovely holiday reading---and if you go too fast with that book, you are really missing the wonder of Jane Austen.

There are some authors I just have to read---Margaret Atwood, Pat Conroy, Roddy Doyle, John Irving, Alice McDermott, Anne Tyler, Jennifer Weiner.

I made a promise to myself when I was about 16 that I would always read at least one book on the New York Times bestseller list per year---although a complete misuse of the spirit of that promise, as well as the creation of an expanded bestseller list, let me coast on What to Expect When You are Expecting for a few critical years.

I am jealous when people tell me about books they are reading that I haven’t yet read. I am actively aware that I will never catch up----books are being written faster than I can read them----so I aim for reading as many wonderful things as I can.

If I am between books, I have a highly scientific way of selecting my next read. I use public transportation as a guide----which books are grabbing the attention of my fellow commuters? I look for rapt attention; I especially listen for sighs and laughs. If I see a tear roll or hear an actual laugh, it is all I can do not to grab the book out of the hands of its reader.

Reread a classic? Visit with a favorite author? Try a new author, or someone who “everyone” is reading? Everyone should have such dilemmas.