Get a Book Club Makeover

Whether your book club is just a few months old or has been around for a while, you might be in need of a Book Club Makeover from ReadingGroupGuides.com. After reading your emails --- and talking to book clubs across the country --- we see that book groups often can fall into a routine and need a bit of livening up. It's ReadingGroupGuides.com to the rescue! We'll select groups each month for makeovers, review the problems, and make suggestions. Interested in a Book Club Makeover for your group? Click here for details.


Special Features and Contests

Win a Copy of THE SECRET BETWEEN US by Barbara Delinsky for Your Group We celebrated the paperback release of The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky --- an unforgettable story about making bad choices for the right reasons and the bond between a mother and daughter --- with a special contest. 200 readers had the opportunity to each win one finished copy of The Secret Between Us, which is now available in stores, for their group. Click here to see our winners. More About The Secret Between Us: Deborah Monroe and her daughter, Grace, are driving home from a party when their car hits a man running in the dark. Grace was at the wheel, but Deborah sends her home before the police arrive, determined to shoulder the blame for the accident. Her decision then turns into a deception that takes on a life of its own and threatens the special bond between mother and daughter. Click here to read all the contest details. Click here for the reading group guide.

Win a Book Club T-Shirt from Unshelved Declare your book club pride! We're celebrating National Reading Group Month with a special contest. We're giving away five witty Book Club T-Shirts from Unshelved designed for the book club enthusiast. In pink print on black cotton, the front of the t-shirt says "Book Club" while the back lists "The Rules of Book Club," which is a humorous take on Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk's novel that was later adapted into a major motion picture. Click here to see our winners. Click here to read all the contest details.

New and Recommended Fiction

Goldengrove by Francine Prose At the center of Francine Prose's profoundly moving new novel is a young girl facing the consequences of sudden loss after the death of her sister. As her parents drift toward their own risky consolations, 13-year-old Nico is left alone to grope toward understanding and clarity, falling into a seductive, dangerous relationship with her sister's enigmatic boyfriend. Over one haunted summer, Nico must face that life-changing moment when children realize their parents can no longer help them. Click Here for the reading group guide.

Thank You For All Things by Sandra Kring At 12, Lucy Marie McGowan already knows she'll be a psychologist when she grows up. And her quirky and conflicted family provides plenty of opportunity for her to practice her calling. Now Lucy, her "profoundly gifted" twin brother, Milo, her commitment-phobic mother, and her New Age grandmother are leaving Chicago for Timber Falls, Wisconsin, to care for her dying grandfather --- a complex and difficult man whose failure as a husband and father still painfully echoes down through the years. Click Here for the reading group guide.

A Country Called Home by Kim Barnes Thomas had always dreamed of living by a wild river, and when he marries Helen and convinces her to move to Idaho with him --- and to buy a broken-down farm, sight unseen --- it would seem his dream had come true. The year is 1960, and the young couple is fleeing the East Coast and the stifling influence of Helen's wealthy parents. But once they arrive in Idaho things begin quickly to go wrong. Click Here for the reading group guide.

The Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal For most young couples, news of their unborn child's gender brings joyful anticipation. But not for Isha Tilak and her husband, Nikhil. They already have a beloved daughter --- and Nikhil's parents, hard-wired to favor male children above all. A wonderful follow-up to The Dowry Bride, Shobhan Bantwal's debut novel, The Forbidden Daughter takes on the very real, controversial and dramatic subject of gender-selective abortion in India today. This gripping new novel asks: Where can a woman turn when life's greatest blessing is seen as a curse? Click Here for the reading group guide.

Dancing in the Lowcountry by James Villas Ella Dubose is a Southern lady of a certain age --- an age at which memories of youth can rush in at every turn and overwhelm the present. But while Ella's two younger children are concerned for her health and want to limit her independence, Ella --- elegant, unconventional and unrepentantly willful --- has very different ideas. And she's not about to be controlled by anyone, not when there are tasks she needs to complete and loose ends that must be tied. Click Here for the reading group guide. Click here to see our Southern Writers feature for James Villas and Dancing in the Lowcountry on Bookreporter.com.

The Common Bond by Donigan Merritt When Morgan Cary flies home to Hawaii after a decade spent in California, he arrives with a broken heart and an overwhelming sense of guilt surrounding the death of his wife. As he spirals further into his grief, the hope of a deliverance into the future appears through an unexpected friendship with a native Hawaiian family, and forces Morgan to sift through the worst of his memories as he searches for his life in the solace of the sea. Click Here for the reading group guide.

A Week in October Written by Elizabeth Subercaseaux, Translated by Marina Harss The beautiful wife of a successful Chilean architect courageously confronts her illness, mastectomy and treatment while recording her thoughts and experiences in her journal. What develops is a thinly veiled version of her own life, her disappointment with their cold marriage, her reminiscences of childhood, and the death that seems to surround her. A bestselling Latin American author, A Week in October is Elizabeth Subercaseaux's first novel to be translated into English. Click Here for the reading group guide.

For Christian Readers

John 3:16 by Nancy Moser In Nancy Moser's latest release, unexpected tragedy hits a college town. And in its wake, the resulting string of events brings together a group of desperate people, each looking for a reason to keep living. As these lives intersect on a sunny, fall day, one of them will hold up a sign at a football game: John 3:16. This simple act of faith has the power to change lives forever. Click Here for the reading group guide.

Out Of Her Hands by Megan DiMaria Linda Revere's grown children are poised to launch into life, and, like all parents, she only wants the best for them. She's been praying for her children's future spouses since they were small. Confident that her prayers will be answered, Linda isn't prepared for the young woman her son brings home. Will Linda be able to trust that God is in control when the situation is out of her hands? Click Here for the reading group guide.

Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon by Debbie Fuller Thomas When Marty Winslow's 13-year-old daughter dies of a devastating genetic disease, she discovers the truth --- her precious middle child had been switched at birth. After learning that her actual biological daughter was recently orphaned, she decides to fight for custody. Winning the court case would prove to be the easy part. This still-grieving, single mom is torn between memories and realities. And she wants desperately for God to heal her family. Click Here for the reading group guide.

Rhapsody in Red by Donn Taylor It certainly was a bad day to find a corpse on campus. So, recluse professor Preston Barclay and an outcast co-worker must form an unlikely alliance to stay ahead of the police, the college's wary and incompetent administration, and whoever is trying to get away with murder. Or else they both might end up unemployed, behind bars, or worse… Click Here for the reading group guide.

My Sister Dilly by Maureen Lang When Hannah Williams decides to step in as her sister's keeper and makes the move back to her rural hometown from a fast-paced life in California, she ends up finding more than she bargained for. As she sees her sister experiencing freedom far beyond what her release from prison offers, Hannah begins to wonder if the God she's ignored for so long could, and would, give her the same redemption. Click Here for the reading group guide.

• New Christian Guides:
• A Cut Above: Shop-Til-U-Drop, Book 3 by Ginny Aiken
• Home Another Way by Christa Parrish
• Longings of the Heart: Sydney Cove Series, Book 2 by Bonnie Leon
• Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin

Registered Book Club Promotion

For October we have three very special opportunities for Registered Book Groups. Our featured titles this month are Testimony by Anita Shreve, A Silent Ocean Away by DeVa Gantt and Home Another Way by Christa Parrish. Groups who have registered with us by Wednesday, October 15th have the chance to win author chats and/or free books. If your group is not registered, click here to register.


New Guides

• The 7th Victim by Alan Jacobson
• American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
• Beside a Burning Sea by John Shors
• The Black Tower by Louis Bayard
• Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures: Stories by Vincent Lam
• Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat
• The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith
• Carry Me Home by Sandra Kring
• Cloud Nine by Luanne Rice
• The Common Bond by Donigan Merritt
• A Country Called Home by Kim Barnes
• A Cut Above: Shop-Til-U-Drop, Book 3 by Ginny Aiken
• Dancing in the Lowcountry by James Villas
• Dead Boys: Stories by Richard Lange
• Dream Country by Luanne Rice
• The Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal
• The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters by Lorraine López
• Goldengrove by Francine Prose
• He Loves Me!: Learning to Live in the Father's Affection by Wayne Jacobsen
• Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance by Lloyd Jones
• The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
• Home by Marilynne Robinson
• Home Another Way by Christa Parrish
• Hometown Favorite by Bill Barton and Henry O. Arnold
• Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution -- and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman
• The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt
• Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
• John 3:16 by Nancy Moser
• Land of a Hundred Wonders by Lesley Kagen
• The Letters by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger
• Longings of the Heart: Sydney Cove Series, Book 2 by Bonnie Leon
• Lookin' Back, Texas by Leanna Ellis
• Lulu in Marrakech by Diane Johnson
• Messy Faith: Daring to Live by Grace by A. J. Gregory
• My Sister Dilly by Maureen Lang
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
• One Perfect Day by Lauraine Snelling
• Out of Her Hands by Megan DiMaria
• A Passion Redeemed: The Daughters of Boston, Book 2 by Julie Lessman
• The Queen of Sleepy Eye by Patti Hill
• Rhapsody in Red by Donn Taylor
• The Seamstress by Frances de Pontes Peebles
• Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
• Seal Woman by Solveig Eggerz
• The Secret's in the Sauce: The Potluck Catering Club, Book 1 by Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson
• Shadow of Colossus: Seven Wonders Series, Book 1 by T. L. Higley
• A Silent Ocean Away: Colette's Dominion, by DeVa Gantt
• Sinful Too by Victor McGlothin
• Swim to Me by Betsy Carter
• Testimony by Anita Shreve
• Thank You for All Things by Sandra Kring
• Train to Trieste by Domnica Radulescu
• Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon by Debbie Fuller Thomas
• Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin
• The Various Flavors of Coffee by Anthony Capella
• A Week in October by Elizabeth Subercaseaux
• When the Soul Mends: Sisters of the Quilt, Book 3 by Cindy Woodsmall
• Wounded: A Love Story by Claudia Mair Burney

Oprah's Book Club Selection
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

This month's prize:
The View from Mount Joy by Lorna Landvik

Labels: 2008