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Last month Jamie Layton talked about how her reading group's selections went awry and whether or not she was going to break some book club rules. Here she updates us on the situation. She also comments on novelist Lesley Kagen's recent post and asks a provocative question.

Today Shannon McKenna Schmidt teams up with Joni Rendon, with whom she wrote Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West, to share some of their favorite pairings of books and literary locales. Their suggestions just might inspire your book club to take to the road or the skies this summer...or perhaps journey vicariously through the pages of these novels.

Today guest blogger Lesley Kagen reveals a question she's often asked by book club members about her debut novel, Whistling in the Dark, which follows the adventures of 10-year-old Sally O'Malley and her sister, Troo, during the summer of 1959. Lesley lives near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and her second novel, Land of a Hundred Wonders, will be published in July.

In today's post, Laura Dave reveals how reading groups played an important part in the creation of a character in her second novel, The Divorce Party, which was recently published by Viking Penguin. Laura lives in New York City and is also the author of London is the Best City in America.

With Memorial Day Weekend the "official" start of summer, we wanted to share an idea for a One-Book Book Club, which we think is a great summertime idea. It's a terrific way to dip your toe into the water if you're new to reading groups. For those of you whose groups take the summer off, it's a fun way to keep a book discussion going with a new group of readers. And if you're vacationing with a group of friends, you could host a One-Book Book Club with them and enjoy a book discussion along with the sun and surf.

Today Shannon McKenna Schmidt talks about her book club's most recent read --- Eudora Welty's The Optimist's Daughter --- how she came to select it for discussion and what her fellow members thought of this Southern novel.

While I was visiting Books & Books this past weekend in Coral Gables, Florida, for a book club event the store was hosting, I had the chance to meet novelist Kristy Kiernan. She wowed the audience with a funny, touching story about ex-boyfriends and book clubs. I asked her if we could share that story here...

Beyond swimming and biking (unless we are talking hills), I have never been particularly good at sports. I do not have natural athletic ability nor do have the patience for practice. But reading comes naturally to me and books are something I know. Thus participating in the Book Club Mixer Olympics on Sunday at Books & Books in Coral Gables was right up my alley. Ah, if reading was a sport, I truly would have a gold medal...or three.

Books really do bring people together. This idea was crystalized for me last Friday night in the Cayman Islands, of all places. I was invited down there by one of our Blog contributors, Debra Linn from Books & Books, who manages the book club events for the store.

The lunchtime book club at Cynthia Baxter's workplace in Gig Harbor, Washington, grew from occasional conversations about book-to-movie adaptations into a full-fledged book club. Their reading roster has included titles like Life of Pi and Middlesex, and they've also explored another type of book: graphic novels. Cynthia shares some of her favorites and the title she recommends for groups that would like to read a graphic novel.