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The Miami Book Fair  is now in its 31st year, and boasts more than 450 authors reading and discussing their work, including the Latin American and Spanish authors who participate in the IberoAmerican Authors Program. Unfortunately, Carol could not make it to Miami this year, but one of our readesr Cristina Vazquez (who Carol has been lucky to spend time with at the Fair in the past) was kind enough to share her commentary on the event. Here, she talks about some of the panels she attended (she learned some surprising information about one of her favorite authors) and the books she thinks will lend themselves to excellent book group discussion.

Last Saturday book group members, leaders and avid readers joined editors of the Hachette Book Group and their authors in New York at the Lighthouse International for Hachette’s Annual Book Group Brunch.

This past Saturday, September 27th, readers and writers arrived in downtown Morristown for a beautiful, sunny day of books and author talks at the inaugural Morristown Festival of Books. The downtown location was a particularly great venue because of the easily accessible parking and literally dozens of places to eat during the lunch break.

Last October, we gave 100+ book groups the chance to win a copy of THE PRESERVATIONIST and have author Justin Kramon personally visit their group's discussion. We heard from many of you that the book was great and Justin was an absolute delight. Here, Justin shares his experience group-hopping across the country; it seems he enjoyed you as much as you enjoyed him, even if no attempts at kidnapping were made! Make sure to scroll all the way down to see some photos from Justin's travels. And click here to check out reader Valerie Giambona's blog post about Justin's visit to her book group.

If there is one series that has crossed multiple generations and genres, it is the Outlander novels. The books, the first of which was published in 1991, have slowly but surely acquired a large base of fans, many of whom who have been reading the series for over 20 years.

One of my favorite parts of my job is conducting interviews for REAL TALK: Publishing. I get to meet people with the most interesting jobs, and, like our readers, get a sneak peek into a side of the book industry that I likely know little about. Preparing for our upcoming REAL TALK interview with audiobook producer/director May Wuthrich was no exception, and actually, it was extra special, because it came with a field trip! May invited me to watch an hour of her recording session with Mozhan Marnò (“House of Cards” fans will recognize her as reporter Ayla Sayyad), who was narrating READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN author Azar Nafisi’s newest book, THE REPUBLIC OF IMAGINATION: America in Three Books. Here are a few of the most interesting things I discovered:

Last week, Lorenzo Carcaterra and his daughter, Kate, introduced us to the book group that they both belong to, The Red Table Book Club (which you can read all about here). Lorenzo mentioned that the group was visited by another author, Julia Dahl, to discuss her book, INVISIBLE CITY. Here, he shares what that experience was like, including how funny and sharp Julia was, why he loves being a part of his daughter's book group and how wonderful and supportive the writing community proves time and time again to be.

A few months ago, mystery writer William Kent Krueger had the honor of having his most recent novel, ORDINARY GRACE, chosen as a One Book-One Community Read in South Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota. The One Book-One Community program seeks to promote family and community interaction through reading the same book. In this case, ORDINARY GRACE was the perfect choice, as Minnesota is not only Krueger's home state, but the setting for many of his books. We recently had the opportunity to ask Krueger a few questions about the event, from how his novel was selected to how he handled the community discussion and what comments surprised him most.

Last week, Carol Fitzgerald, President of The Book Report Network, was invited to join members of The League, a New York-based book group, as they met with author Daisy Goodwin and discussed her latest book, THE FORTUNE HUNTER. The event was hosted by St. Martin's Press, and was a wild success: "an easy, fun night." Here, Carol shares her thoughts on the experience, including some insight into Daisy's writing process, The League's book group background and feedback from the group about the book! Make sure to read all the way to the end to see The League's past reading list, as well as their "Reading Bank,"  a list of books that are suggested by members for more reading.

While we were going through submissions for our "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest, we were struck by some of your interesting book group names! One that caught our attention in particular was the "Armchair Travelers Book Club" --- we were inclined to take their name literally, and wondered whether or not all their books had to do with traveling. Member Mary Lee Olson was kind enough to enlighten us and share with us the origin of her group's name and some of the great books they've read and plan to read in the future.