National Reading Group Month's Great Group Reads
2009

National Reading Group Month, sponsored by the Women's National Book Association and beginning on Thursday, October 1, 2009 has chosen the following books as this year's Great Group Reads:

• Appassionata by Eva Hoffman (Other Press)
• The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (Other Press)
• The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James (Avon A)
• The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey (Harper Perennial)
• Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz (Voice)
• While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarty (Hyperion)
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Picador)
• Cost by Roxana Robinson (Picador)
• Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie (Picador)

The titles were selected for their potential to "open up lively conversations about a host of timely and provocative topics, from the intimate dynamics of family and personal relationships to major cultural and world issues."

 For more information, go to NationalReadingGroupMonth.org and wnba-books.org.

For more information about individual events, contact the event coordinators listed.

Boston
Charlotte
Dallas
Detroit
Los Angeles
Nashville
New York City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, D.C.

Boston (www.wnbaboston.org)
WNBA-Boston at Hotel 140 (Thurs., Oct. 22; 6-9 p.m.): Lisa Genova (Still Alice, Pocket Books); Katherine Howe (The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, Hyperion); Margot Livesey (The House on Fortune Street, HarperPerennial). Contact: Erin Brown, ebrown@harvardbusiness.org, or Katherine Dibble, kdibble@att.net.

Charlotte (www.charlotte.wnba-books.org)
WNBA-Charlotte with program co-sponsor Park Road Books (month-long): "WNBA-Charlotte Picks of the Lists." Contact: Carin Siegfried, Carin.Siegfried@baker-taylor.com.

WNBA-Charlotte NRGM Picks of the Lists (PDF)

Dallas (www.wnba-dallas.org)
WNBA-Dallas at Barnes & Noble Booksellers-Lincoln Park
(Sat., Oct. 17, 7-9 p.m.): Dixie Cash aka Pam Cumbie and Jeffery McClanahan (Curing the Blues with a New Pair of Shoes, HarperCollins/Avon A). Contact: Melinda Woolf, melinda.woolf@mac.com.

Detroit (www.wnba-books.org/detroit)
WNBA-Detroit with event co-sponsor Baldwin Public Library-Birmingham (Mon., Oct. 26; 7 p.m.): Laura Kasischke (In a Perfect World, HarperPerennial). Contact: Celia Morse, cmorse@berkley.lib.mi.us.

Los Angeles (www.wnba-books.org/la)
WNBA-LA at the West Hollywood Book Fair with event co-sponsor Book Soup (Sun., Oct. 4; panel, 11-11:55 a.m., book-signing, noon-1 p.m.): Kelly Sullivan-Walden (I Had the Strangest Dream, Grand Central) and Paul Ryan (The Art of Comedy, Back Stage Books), with Diana Birchall (Mrs. Darcy's Dilemma: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Sourcebooks); Dori Carter (We Are Rich, Other Press); Syrie James (The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen and The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë, HarperCollins/Avon); Estherleon Schwartz (Tears of Stone: And My Deal with God: My Life Story, Estherleon Schwartz). Contact: Kelly Sullivan-Walden, kellygq@mac.com.

Nashville (www.wnbanashville.org)
WNBA-Nashville with event co-sponsors Nashville Public Library Downtown and Davis-Kidd Nashville in conjunction with the Southern Festival of Books (Sat., Oct. 10; breakfast, 9:15-11 a.m.; book-signing, 11-11:30 a.m.): Nina Cardona (NPR-Nashville host/reporter), with Marie Brenner (Apples and Oranges: My Brother and Me, Lost and Found, Picador); Holly Goddard Jones (Girl Trouble: Stories, HarperPerennial); 2006 WNBA Award recipient Perri Klass (The Mercy Rule, Mariner Books); Inman Majors (The Millionaires, W.W. Norton & Co.); Kathryn Stockett (The Help, Putnam). Contact: Lee Fairbend, lfairbend@comcast.net.

WNBA National Reading Group Month Signature Event (Designated)

New York City (www.wnba-nyc.org)
WNBA-NYC at the Mint Theater (Wed., Oct. 21; 6-9 p.m.): Rosalind Reisner (Read On. . .Life Stories and Jewish American Literature, Libraries Unlimited) and Miriam Tuliao (NYPL Asst. Dir., Central Collection Dvt.), with Eva Hoffman (Appassionata, Other Press); C.M. Mayo (The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, Unbridled Books); Julie Metz (Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal, Voice/Hyperion); Roxana Robinson (Cost, Picador); Anne Roiphe (Epilogue: A Memoir, HarperPerennial). Contact: Lori O'Dea, nrgm@wnba-nyc.org.

WNBA-NYC NRGM Chapter Event (PDF)

San Francisco (www.wnba-sfchapter.org)
WNBA-SF with event co-sponsor Book Passage/Corte Madera (Thurs., Oct. 15; 6:30-8:30 p.m.): Tanya Egan Gibson (How to Buy a Love of Reading, Dutton); 2008 WNBA Award recipient Kathi Kamen Goldmark (And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You, Chronicle); Christopher Gortner (The Last Queen, Ballantine). Contact: Lynn Henriksen, lynn@telltalesouls.com.

WNBA-SF with event co-sponsor BookShop West Portal (Thurs., Oct. 29; Time: 7 p.m.): Joan Gelfand (A Dreamer's Guide to Cities and Streams, San Francisco Bay Press), with Allison Hoover Bartlett (The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, Riverhead); Meg Waite Clayton (The Wednesday Sisters, Ballantine); Charlie Haas (The Enthusiast, HarperPerennial); Mary Mackey (The Widow's War, Berkley). Contact: Joan Gelfand, joan@joangelfand.com.

Seattle (www.wnba-books.org/seattle)
WNBA-Seattle with event co-sponsor Third Place Books (Wed., Oct. 21; 6:30-9 p.m.): Nancy Pearl (Book Lust, More Book Lust and Book Crush, Sasquatch Books), with Jamie Ford (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Ballantine); Diane Hammond (Hannah's Dream, Harper Paperbacks); Stephanie Kallos (Sing Them Home, Atlantic Monthly Press); Jim Lynch (Border Songs, Knopf); Garth Stein (The Art of Racing in the Rain, Harper Paperbacks). Contact: Cheryl McKeon, cmckeon@thirdplacebooks.com.

Washington, D.C. (www.wnba-books.org/wash)
WNBA-Washington, D.C., with event co-sponsor Politics & Prose Bookstore · Coffeehouse (Tues., Oct. 27; 6:30-9 p.m.): "Washington Reads, P&P Reads," NC Weil (WNBA-D.C. chapter president), with Carla Cohen (Politics & Prose, co-owner); Edward P. Jones (The Known World, Harper Paperbacks). Contact: NC Weil, ncweil@patriot.net.

NRGM Chapter Events — Books and Authors 2009 (PDF)