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December 2015

ReadingGroupGuides.com Newsletter December 2015


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Find a Guide by Title, Find a Guide by Author, Find a Guide by Genre, Register Your Group, Contests, Most Requested Guides, Reading Roundup, Read This Newsletter Online
 

'Tis the Season

Last night, I spent a wonderful evening at the Garden City Public Library on Long Island, New York, presenting a select list of book group titles to readers. I shared commentary on books that are proven book group favorites, and did a sneak peek at some titles that I think are destined to be added to that list in 2016. The library has a beautiful event space, and Laura Flanagan and Ann Garnett made me feel so welcome. You can see a photo of me with them above. (Laura is on the left, and Ann is on the right.) It's so nice to get out to meet readers, hear their feedback and see their reactions to the books I am sharing.

I love presenting like this, and I am available for speaking engagements around the country. If you would like me to speak at your library or local group, let me know and I can share my fees for this. Please note that if you are in the downtown Denver area, I will be there in late January for a conference and would love to do something with book groups while there.

As the year winds down, "Best Of" lists are sprouting up everywhere. We choose not to do "Best Of" lists for many reasons, mostly because I feel reading is a personal experience, and I am not sure how "best" can be defined in a broad way, much the same as how I do not understand how algorithms can tell you what you want to read next just by looking at what you have read in the past.

That said, we would love to compile a reader-generated Favorites List --- and need to hear from you to do that. Here first, let us know your favorite book that you discussed with your book group this year. Second, let us know what your favorite book that you read this year is. This can be your book group selection, or another! Take a moment and let us know. Please be careful with the spelling of the book titles and the authors' first and last names to save us editing time! You have until Monday, January 11th to share your selections. We'll tabulate all selections and report back in mid-January. We look forward to hearing what books you will share.

In early January, we will have our annual list of the Most Requested Guides of 2015, so you can see what you and other groups searched for most during the year. I have a few ideas about what will come up on top.

We have only one featured guide for you this month, but it's a great one. From New York Times bestselling author Marisa de los Santos comes THE PRECIOUS ONE, a captivating novel about friendship, family, second chances and the redemptive power of love. In all her life, Eustacia "Taisy" Cleary has given her heart to only three men: her first love, Ben Ransom; her twin brother, Marcus; and Wilson Cleary --- professor, inventor, philanderer, self-made millionaire, brilliant man, breathtaking jerk: her father. Seventeen years ago, Wilson ditched his first family for Caroline, a beautiful young sculptor. So why is Wilson calling Taisy now, inviting her for an extended visit? Why, now, does Wilson want Taisy to help him write his memoir? Click here for the featured guide.

We do not have a new "What's Your Book Group Reading?" contest this month as we know that many groups take it easy around the holidays --- whether that means meeting socially and not necessarily to discuss a book, or not meeting at all. In January, you will be able to share what you read in both December and January with that month's contest...which means if you are meeting this month, you will have twice as many chances to win in January when you share what you have read!

In our latest poll, we asked if you do anything special with your group for the holidays. We've been getting some great feedback! We plan to share that with you in a blog post later this month, so make sure to check in. We love seeing all the creative ways groups celebrate, so we've extended the poll deadline until Wednesday, January 6th at noon ET. If you haven't already, click here to tell us how your group gets (or doesn't get) festive this month.

It might not be news to you that the latest craze in publishing is coloring books with groups of women gathering to color. We ran a bookshelf with our top picks this past summer. Now --- as we're all dashing all over the place (online or in person) searching for holiday gifts for our loved ones --- seems like a great time to feature coloring books again. You can find the bookshelf, "20 Coloring Books for Adults: Inky Adventures, Stress Relievers, Mandalas and More," which features 20 coloring books to delight you, here. These beautifully crafted books make great gifts for adults or children alike, and are great for family bonding. Added bonus: They're great for relieving stress of all varieties, including the holiday cooking-baking-shopping-decorating-induced kind!

Frank Sinatra would be turning 100 on December 12th, and the publishing world is cranked up to celebrate this milestone. We wanted to get our party started early, so we assembled a bookshelf of 20 books, CDs and DVDs that celebrate his life, music and films. You can find our "Happy 100th, 'Ol Blue Eyes!" bookshelf here. It was such fun to curate this one; I literally sat on my couch one Saturday night and pulled the list together with my toe tapping. We know we're a week early for his birthday, but because we're already knee-deep in our holiday shopping, we thought there may be ideas here for the Sinatra lover in your life.

And as long as we're on the subject of gift-giving --- seems inescapable this time of year --- over on Bookreporter.com, our contest featuring Linwood Barclay's thriller, BROKEN PROMISE, is open until Monday, December 7th at noon ET. Keeping in line with the mysterious number that keeps being featured in his Promise Falls trilogy, we're giving away 23 personalized signed copies for readers to give to their friends or family members this holiday season. To enter, tell us by Monday, December 7th at noon ET which of your friends or family members would like to receive a signed copy of BROKEN PROMISE; if selected, they will receive the book as a special holiday gift with a personal inscription of your choosing. Remember that the goal here is for you to give this book and thus is not a "to me/from me" moment. You can enter here.

Also at Bookreporter, we are celebrating the holiday season in style with our Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature. This year's Holiday Cheer titles include books that you want to give and get, as well as a "hot" 2016 title or two. The contests have been starting at noon ET on select days in November and December, and run for just 24 hours, so you will have to check the site to see what is being featured. As always, we'll be sending our special Holiday Cheer newsletter on the days when there are contests. You can subscribe to that newsletter here. This week's prizes were TENACITY by J.S. Law; DOG CRAZY: A Novel of Love Lost and Found, by Meg Donohue; CHRISTMAS ON CANDY CANE LANE: Life in Icicle Falls, by Sheila Roberts; and AMISH CHRISTMAS AT NORTH STAR: Four Stories of Love and Family, by Cindy Woodsmall, Mindy Starns Clark, Emily Clark, Amanda Flower and Katie Ganshert. Next week's selections will be ASHLEY BELL by Dean Koontz; LOST OCEAN: An Inky Adventure & Coloring Book, by Johanna Basford; A QUILT FOR CHRISTMAS by Sandra Dallas; and TAILS FROM THE BOOTH by Lynn Terry.

While I read many, many books, I have found that I enjoy listening to memoirs on audio, particularly when they are read by their author. I loved Shonda Rhimes' YEAR OF YES: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person. I enjoy watching "Scandal" and "How to Get Away with Murder," but I confess to not knowing anything about the creator of ShondaLand. I have been quoting from this book --- and was delighted to see that Maya Gittelman, our Bookreporter reviewer, shared many of my sentiments. You can read her review here. Thus it should come as no surprise that it's my latest pick for Bets On. Click here to see why I'm betting you'll love this book.

Right now I am just about finished listening to Carly Simon's BOYS IN THE TREES, which is her memoir of her childhood, her early career and her marriage to James Taylor. She's laced together so many details and stories that bring the '70s and '80s alive, and woven throughout are 250 musical interludes.

Want to get into the seasonal spirit with some ideas for book-giving traditions? Then look no further than our Bookreporter Holiday Author Blogs, where 18 authors, including Paula McLain, Melanie Benjamin and Chris Bohjalian, will be sharing their own bookish holiday memories until December 24th. I have read all of these pieces, and you are in for quite a treat with them.

We also have contests for both teen and kid readers...scroll down for more on those. Bet there is someone on your list who would love these books.

While the year winds down, I am reading ahead to 2016. The one thing about books: one can never catch up! I already have identified at least a half-dozen titles that will be Bets On picks for the year ahead. Note that on Bookreporter we will be announcing our Year-End Bets On Contest on December 11th, where readers can enter to win my 33 Bets On selections of 2015.

We also are giving you a sneak look at what we have planned for January. Already quite a lineup is planned!

Those of you who have registered your book group will get one more newsletter in mid-December. If you would like to register your group, sign up here.

Over the holidays as you see family and friends, we would love you to spread the word about ReadingGroupGuides.com and Bookreporter.com.

To all, Emily and I wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Happy Kwanzaa or, simply, Happy Holidays. See you next year.

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping for books, if you use the store links below, ReadingGroupGuides.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!


 

Special Feature: Tell Us What YOUR Best Books of the Year Are

This is the time of year when everyone is posting “Best Books of the Year” lists. We would like you and your book group to help us compile ours! Click here to share both your favorite book that you read with your group this year and your favorite book that you read this year outside your group.

Please be careful with the spelling of book titles and authors’ first and last names to save us editing time!

And remember, the books can be the same.

The deadline to add your selections is Monday, January 11th.

We will have our reader-compiled Best Of list to share with you in mid-January. We cannot wait to see what you select.

 

Click here to tell us YOUR favorite books that you read in 2015.

 
Featured Guide: THE PRECIOUS ONE by Marisa de los Santos

THE PRECIOUS ONE by Marisa de los Santos (Fiction)
From the New York Times bestselling author of BELONG TO ME, LOVE WALKED IN and FALLING TOGETHER comes a captivating novel about friendship, family, second chances and the redemptive power of love.

In all her life, Eustacia “Taisy” Cleary has given her heart to only three men: her first love, Ben Ransom; her twin brother, Marcus; and Wilson Cleary --- professor, inventor, philanderer, self-made millionaire, brilliant man, breathtaking jerk: her father.

Seventeen years ago, Wilson ditched his first family for Caroline, a beautiful young sculptor. In all that time, Taisy’s family has seen Wilson, Caroline and their daughter, Willow, only once.

Why then, is Wilson calling Taisy now, inviting her for an extended visit, encouraging her to meet her pretty sister --- a teenager who views her with jealousy, mistrust and grudging admiration? Why, now, does Wilson want Taisy to help him write his memoir?

Told in alternating voices --- Taisy’s strong, unsparing observations and Willow’s naive, heartbreakingly earnest yearnings --- THE PRECIOUS ONE is an unforgettable novel of family secrets, lost love and dangerous obsession, a captivating tale with the deep characterization, piercing emotional resonance and heartfelt insight that are the hallmarks of Marisa de los Santos’s beloved works.

 

Click here for the featured guide.

 
Bookreporter.com's Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature

At Bookreporter.com, we kick off the holiday season in style with our Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature. This year’s Holiday Cheer titles include books that you want to give and get, as well as a “hot” 2016 title or two. The contests start at noon ET on select days in November and December, and run for just 24 hours, so you will have to check the site to see what is being featured. As always, we’ll be sending our special Holiday Cheer newsletter on the days when there are contests. Click here to sign up for these email alerts.

Our next prize book will be announced on Monday, December 7th at noon ET.

This year's featured titles include:

Click here to read all the contest details and see our featured titles.

 
Featured Bookshelf: 20 Coloring Books for Adults

Coloring books have been growing in popularity lately, and they’re not just for kids. Many of them, such as SECRET GARDEN and THE MINDFULNESS COLORING BOOK, have been designed especially for busy, stressed-out grown-ups who find the calming routine of working on sophisticated, beautifully crafted coloring books to be a welcome break from their hectic, everyday lives. Partially due to adult coloring book pages being featured on sites like Pinterest and partially due to the ease with which people can purchase them online, coloring books are increasingly in vogue with adults who feel the need to unplug and treat themselves to a form of art therapy that can be as simple and pleasing as choosing the perfect shade of blue.

Take a look at our bookshelf for a selection of gorgeous adult coloring books, some of which came from suggestions from our readers. Whether you’re after a break from your everyday routine, an opportunity for meditation Tibetan monk-style, or simply to have fun and feel like a kid again, we bet there’s something here for you. Also, for those of you in the market for a gorgeous 2016 calendar, check out COLOR YOUR YEAR WALL CALENDAR 2016: Mindful Coloring Through the Seasons for something beautiful to hang on your wall all year long.

 

Click here to see our "20 Coloring Books for Adults" bookshelf.

 
Featured Bookshelf: Happy 100th, Ol' Blue Eyes!
December 12th marks what would have been the 100th birthday of the iconic Frank Sinatra. Although best known for his timeless music and distinctive voice, Sinatra was much more than a popular vocal artist. In addition to his 11 Grammy Awards, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, with a film career spanning five decades. Aptly nicknamed “Chairman of the Board” and “The Entertainer of the Century” (not to mention “Ol’ Blue Eyes”), Sinatra is still at the forefront of popular culture to this day.

Fitting for such an accomplished man, we have gathered works celebrating Sinatra’s legacy in various forms of media: DVDs of his best movies, CDs of his most memorable songs, and books exploring all aspects of his life and career. James Kaplan investigates the effects of Sinatra’s signature sounds in both FRANK: The Voice and SINATRA: The Chairman (the latter picks up on his career from the day after he won his Academy Award for From Here to Eternity in 1954), and David Wills offers details of Sinatra the actor in THE CINEMATIC LEGACY OF FRANK SINATRA (which will be published in January 2016), to name just a few of the items on this bookshelf commemorating a legendary pop culture icon.

 
Click here to see our "Happy 100th, Ol' Blue Eyes!" bookshelf.

 
December's New in Paperback Roundups

December’s roundup of New in Paperback fiction titles includes THE PATRIOT THREAT by Steve Berry, in which an individual has unearthed a secret that calls into question the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, and it's up to Cotton Malone to learn the truth; THE POCKET WIFE, a psychological thriller from Susan Crawford in which a woman suffering from bipolar disorder cannot remember if she murdered her friend; and MADEMOISELLE CHANEL, C. W. Gortner's novel that imagines the life of iconic fashion designer Coco Chanel --- the ambitious, gifted laundrywoman’s daughter who revolutionized fashion, built an international empire, and became one of the most influential and controversial figures of the 20th century.

Among this month’s nonfiction offerings are I'LL BE BACK RIGHT AFTER THIS, a memoir by Pat O'Brien, who reveals the highs and lows of the life of a radio and TV broadcaster, spent sharing the mic with the world's rich and famous while battling an infamous public scandal and demons that nearly killed him; THE GIRL FROM HUMAN STREET, in which award-winning New York Times columnist Roger Cohen tracks his family’s story of repeated upheaval, four generations of wandering from pre-Shoah Lithuania to apartheid-era South Africa, and then to England, the United States and Israel; and HER BRILLIANT CAREER by Rachel Cooke, an exuberant group biography that follows 10 women in 1950s Britain whose pioneering lives paved the way for feminism and laid the foundation of modern women's success.

-Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of November 30th, December 7th, December 14th, December 21st and December 28th.


 

Bookreporter.com Special Contest: Win a Personalized Signed Copy of Linwood Barclay’s BROKEN PROMISE for Your Friend or Relative!

Here’s an opportunity to win a personalized signed copy of BROKEN PROMISE by Linwood Barclay for someone on your holiday list. And, ahem, this is not a “To Me/From Me” gift! The purpose is for you to give the book to a thriller reader.

Barclay is hailed as “a suspense master” by Stephen King, and the writing in BROKEN PROMISE, the first book in the Promise Falls trilogy, lives up to that description. This fast-paced series is also on a fast publication schedule. The second book, FAR FROM TRUE, will be in stores on March 22, 2016. The third book, THE TWENTY THREE, will release on November 16, 2016.

We have 23 prizes to give away. Why 23? That is the number that keeps resurfacing in the series of strange events in Promise Falls that runs through the books and will be revealed in THE TWENTY THREE.

Tell us who you would like to nominate to win by Monday, December 7th at noon ET. Note: You can share a personalized greeting to include or leave it to Linwood to inscribe the book. We will wrap up the book with a gift tag for you and send it to the recipient who you select! What could be more fun?

BROKEN PROMISE by Linwood Barclay (Thriller)
After his wife’s death and the collapse of his newspaper, David Harwood has no choice but to uproot his nine-year-old son and move back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York. David believes his life is in free fall, and he can’t find a way to stop his descent. Then he comes across a family secret of epic proportions that will affect not only his family, but the entire town.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to see why we're betting you'll love this book.

 

Click here to enter the contest.

 
Recent "Bookreporter.com Bets On" Selection: YEAR OF YES - Audiobook, written and read by Shonda Rhimes

YEAR OF YES: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person - Audiobook by Shonda Rhimes (Memoir)
Before I listened to YEAR OF YES, I knew little about Shonda Rhimes beyond the fact that she “owned Thursday night” on ABC with her lineup of shows --- “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder” (the latter two are favorites of mine). I assumed that she was a super outgoing, type-A personality who was brash, bold and full of herself. From the first moments I listened to the audiobook, I knew I was wrong. Instead I found a woman who is competitive in everything, including knitting (which made me laugh), but also who hung back not accepting invitations and shying away from experiences. As successful as she is, I was surprised to learn that this was something she needed to overcome!

-Click here to read more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review of the print version of the book.

 

Click here for more books we're betting you'll love.

 
New Guides Now Available

The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

LONE STAR by Paullina Simons (Fiction)
From the author of TULLY and THE BRONZE HORSEMAN comes an epic new romantic saga...

THE PRECIOUS ONE by Marisa de los Santos (Fiction)
From the New York Times bestselling author of BELONG TO ME, LOVE WALKED IN and FALLING TOGETHER comes a captivating novel about friendship, family secrets, second chances, dangerous obsession and the redemptive power of love.


Please note that this title, for which we already had the guide when it appeared in hardcover, is now available in paperback:

THREE MINUTES IN POLAND: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film by Glenn Kurtz (Memoir)
THREE MINUTES IN POLAND traces Glenn Kurtz’s remarkable journey to identify the people in a home movie he found in his parents’ closet that had been made by his grandfather during a 1938 European tour one year before the outbreak of World War II.


 

Looking Ahead: Why We Can't Wait for January 2016

January is shaping up to be a BIG month on ReadingGroupGuides.com. Here's what we know so far. We'll have THREE wonderful contests for you.

First up, 100(!) groups will have a chance to win a copy of Lisa Scottoline's MOST WANTED, which will be published on April 12th. Groups will need to commit to reading the book by early April to participate, so you may want to get that on your book group's radar now.

We'll be giving away copies of Lisa Genova's INSIDE THE O'BRIENS and Christopher Scotton's THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH. Three very different books with one thing in common: They're all fantastic reads!

We'll also be featuring the guides for Sally Hepworth's THE SECRETS OF MIDWIVES, Natasha Solomons' THE SONG OF HARTGROVE HALL and Mary Glickman's AN UNDISTURBED PEACE. For TV fans, MIDWIVES is said to appeal to fans of the popular PBS series "Call the Midwife," and HARTGROVE HALL is a delicious period drama reminiscent of "Downton Abbey."

And more! So many exciting things to look forward to in 2016. For book lovers, the new year is already looking bright!

 

Holiday Bundle of Cheer Contests --- Enter to Win Today at Teenreads and Kidsreads!

Do you have teens or kids in your life who love to read? Over at Teenreads.com and Kidsreads.com, we're kicking off the holiday season with our Holiday Bundle of Cheer Contest and Feature. As our gift to you, we are spotlighting some amazing books for teens and kids. Five lucky readers per contest will win a copy of each featured title to curl up with this holiday season, along with some incredibly festive goodies. The deadline for both contests is Thursday, December 17th at noon ET, so enter now!

This year's Teenreads.com featured titles include:

-Click here to enter the Teenreads.com Holiday Bundle of Cheer Contest and Feature.
 

This year's Kidsreads.com featured titles include:

-Click here to enter the Kidsreads.com Holiday Bundle of Cheer Feature and Contest.

 

This Month's Poll
Do you do anything special with your group for the holidays?

We go out for a special dinner.
We have a holiday party.
We read a holiday-themed book.
We exchange gifts.
We take a break from our meetings over the holidays.
I do not know.
Other (Please specify)

 
Click here to answer the poll by Wednesday, January 6th at noon ET.

 

Do you like what you see here, and want to forward it to a friend? Then click our link on the bottom of the page to do just that!

Happy reading. We'll see you next month.

Don't forget to visit our other websites from TheBookReportNetwork.com:


www.Bookreporter.com, www.20SomethingReads.com, www.Teenreads.com, www.Kidsreads.com, www.GraphicNovelReporter.com, and www.AuthorsOnTheWeb.com.

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

The Book Report Network
250 W. 57th Street - Suite 1228
New York, New York 10107