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The 11th Annual Savannah Book Festival took place this year from February 15-18 in Savannah, Georgia. According to their website, the Festival celebrates “nationally recognized and local authors through their contributions to literacy, ideas and imagination. Festival Saturday is a free and open to the public event that features solo author presentations in seven venues around Telfair, Chippewa and Wright Squares in historic downtown Savannah.” In this blog post, four Bookreporter.com readers report on their experiences at this year’s Festival and share their thoughts on the author presentations they attended.  

Lee, one of our readers, wrote to us that “a friend of mine is going into the hospital next week for some testing that may lead to heart surgery. Yesterday, when I saw her at our monthly Book Club meeting, she asked me if I could gather a list of great historical fiction titles, which is her favorite genre.” Our readers weighed in with their own suggestions, all of which you can see in our special blog post. We hope Lee's friend finds at least a few titles here that appeals to her!

Joy, one of our readers, recently asked for a “happy book” suggestion for her book group. As she said, "From the mud in Mississippi, to war-time Europe, trekking through the Amazonian jungle, to President Lincoln mourning his son, these were pretty depressing. I need a happy book to suggest for our book club. Any ideas?” We let our readers know about Joy's question, and they came up with MANY ideas, all of which you can see in our special blog post. Happy Reading!

On Saturday, October 21st, booklovers and book club members from the New York City Tri-State area convened at Hachette’s sixth annual Book Club Brunch. The event was held at the New York Society for Ethical Culture in a beautiful, spacious room with plenty of comfy seats. Lucky for me, I was able to attend with my good friends and avid readers Cheryl, Mary, Matt and Vivian.

John Shors is the internationally bestselling and award-winning author of BENEATH A MARBLE SKY and UNBOUND, among other works of historical fiction. In an effort to provide readers with an unparalleled travel experience, John launched John Shors Travel in 2014. Through his tour company, he has led small groups of travelers on adventures all over the world to the settings in his novels, including India, China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. In this piece, John talks about the origin of these unique literary tours and how wonderful it has been to travel with his readers.

In late January, Roz Shea reviewed WHO KILLED PIET BAROL? by Richard Mason for Bookreporter.com. She loved the book so much that she wanted to discuss it with her book group. We made a special arrangement for the publisher to send her group enough copies of the book for their discussion. The catch was that she lives in Arizona, and many of her book group members are snowbirds; as she says, “They flee the desert by mid-May.” Thus she wanted to send them away with the book in hand so this discussion could be the first of the fall season. They indeed discussed the book at their first meeting of the season, and we asked Roz some questions about it.

Prominent New York realtor Joanne R. Douglas has a new book out called NEGOTIATING NEW YORK: Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Real Estate, which she wrote with her brother, Alfred Renna. Joanne has been in a book group for 10+ years, and there’s a very poignant chapter in the book where she talks about how her book group helped her get through her husband’s illness and death. Here she shares some stories about what her book group has meant to her.

The ultimate thrill for any reader is the opportunity to meet an author whose work they enjoy. When I saw an announcement that I could meet Louise Penny, I was ecstatic! I was introduced to Louise’s work long after her series was established; although I had certainly heard of her, I not read any of her books.

On Saturday, March 11th, New York City readers and booklovers were treated to a wonderful afternoon of celebrated authors discussing their books and writing. Hosted by publisher Simon & Schuster in the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, the Book Club Matinee was the first event from the publisher and, hopefully, not the last. It was just perfect in so many ways.

Washington DC's Shakespeare Theatre (STC) is a jewel in the city, with an extraordinary community service reach…..here is another facet to that jewel.