Sunday Salon: Does Your Book Club Need Help Choosing It's Next Read?

Do you belong to a book club? If you do, you're probably always looking for good books to read and discuss with them, right? I mean, there are books out there that are good fun to read but that you can't talk about beyond saying, "It was fun, right?" and "I liked it. Did you?" Now if your book club is really just an excuse to get together and drink wine and you only justify it by calling it a book club, maybe that's an okay thing for you. But if you go to book club because you like to read and want to talk about the books you've read with other people, these books aren't going to be the best option for you.

So how do you choose your next book? There are a lot of different ways to find recommendations. You can browse in your local independent bookstore and see what the booksellers recommend. You can go to your local big box store and look on the front tables. (Did you know those front table placements are, in many cases, paid for?) You can listen to the latest celebrity to start a book club. And less and less frequently, you can read the arts section of the newspaper or listen to your local NPR station. All of these are perfectly fine ways to choose a book. But what if you want to read something that's wonderful and perhaps a little out of the mainstream? What if you was different? But you still want a book that is well written, addresses timely issues, and keeps your group talking about it long after the first glass of wine is finished. If that's what you want, have I got a list for you! The Women's National Book Association puts out the Great Group Reads list for National Reading Group Month and it has something for everyone on it. It's fiction and memoir, small press and large. It's got own voices and issues we're all talking about right now. It's a great list, chosen by readers who know book clubs and know books (and I'm one of them). I think you'll be intrigued by the choices and I'd love to hear your thoughts on any you've read.

The Affairs of the Falcons by Melissa Rivero

All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Death of a Rainmaker by Laurie Loewenstein

The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib

Haben by Haben Girma

The Honey Bus by Meredith May

The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner

Laurentian Divide by Sarah Stonich

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland

Love You Hard by Abby Maslin

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

No Good Asking by Fran Kimmel

Retablos by Octavio Solis

Southernmost by Silas House

Tomorrow's Bread by Anna Jean Mayhew

Tonic and Balm by Stephanie Allen

The Tubman Command by Elizabeth Cobbs

Unfurled by Michelle Bailat-Jones

Sunday Salon: October Is National Reading Group Month

Did you know that October is National Reading Group Month? If you've been reading this blog for any time at all, you probably know it because I bang the drum every October. This year isn't going to be any different! In Women's National Book Association chapters all around the country, there are wonderful sounding events occurring to celebrate this tenth year of the program.

If you're in Charlotte, you can come to the 8th annual Bibliofeast with me!

Participating authors:

Jodi Lynn Anderson, author of Midnight at the Electric

Sarah Creech, author of The Whole Way Home

Sebastian Matthews, author of Beginner's Guide to a Head-on Collision

Bren McClain, author of One Good Mama Bone

Jim Minick, author of Fire Is Your Water

Michel Stone, author of Border Child

Caitlin Hamilton Summie, author of To Lay to Rest Our Ghosts

Leah Weiss, author of If the Creek Don't Rise











Tickets can be purchased here.

Local events are not the only thing about this month though. WNBA also publishes a carefully curated list of Great Group Reads, those books that will be wonderful for book clubs to read and discuss together.  (See below.)  The books are well written, topical, and will keep everyone talking about the book instead of car pool pick-ups and the like well beyond the first glass of wine. I am the Manager of the Selection Committee and I have to tell you, we're pretty proud of our list this year. These are some pretty amazing books and I hope you'll pick up one, two, or all of them! Happy Reading!!!

National Reading Group Month and the Annual Great Group Reads List

It's October again. That time of year where the leaves change color, everything is flavored with pumpkin, stores devote multiple aisles to candy, and in honor of National Reading Group Month, the Women's National Book Association releases its annual Great Group Reads list. I am a big fan of all of the above but especially of the Great Group Reads list. If you're in a book club, these books will make for great discussions and your book club will thank you for choosing them. If you're not, they are just plain ole great reads. Seriously, you should read 'em. In the interest of full disclosure, I am the President of the Charlotte chapter of the WNBA and a reader on the selection committee to determine this list. But don't let that put you off. :-) Now without further ado, the list for 2014-2015 is:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Cataract City by Craig Davidson
Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani
The Commandant of Lubizec by Patrick Hicks
Euphoria by Lily King
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe
Marching to Zion by Mary Glickman
Neverhome by Laird Hunt
The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis
Painted Horses by Malcolm Brooks
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
The Promise by Ann Weisgarber
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
What is Visible by Kimberly Elkins
Where Somebody Waits by Margaret Kaufman
The World of Rae English by Lucy Rosenthal

2013 Women's National Book Association Great Group Reads

October is National Reading Group Month and in honor of that, each year the Women's National Book Association (the WNBA without dunking) chooses a list of books that will make for "Great Group Reads." The books are well written and thoughtful. And they deal with topics and themes which should generate good and lengthy discussions in your group. Every year when I read some of the books submitted, I am pleased to discover wonderful books I might not have otherwise picked up or even heard of without their inclusion on the list. In the interest of full disclosure for those who aren't long time readers of my blog, I am the President of the Charlotte chapter and also a member of the panel which selects the books.

This year's list has just been officially released so here it is with links to any I've reviewed so far:

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Big Brother by Lionel Shriver
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
David by Ray Robertson
The House Girl by Tara Conklin
How It All Began by Penelope Lively
Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Margot by Jillian Cantor
Mary Coin by Marisa Silver
The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg
Nowhere Is a Place by Bernice L. McFadden
The One-Way Bridge by Cathie Pelletier
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Schroder by Amity Gaige
Sparta by Roxana Robinson
Wash by Margaret Wrinkle
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers


So if you are looking for your group's next great read or even just your own next great read, consider one of these. You'll be thinking about whichever one you choose long after you close the pages.

2012 WNBA Great Group Reads Choices

It's that time of year again where the WNBA (of which I am a member of the Charlotte chapter) releases its list of "Great Group Reads" in preparation for October's National Reading Group Month. The list always contains some fantastic books. This year's list with links to any I've reviewed:

The Absolutist, John Boyne

An Age of Madness, David Maine

Art of Hearing Heartbeats, Jan-Philipp Sendker

The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach

Blue Asylum, Kathy Hepinstall

Boleto, Alyson Hagy

The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman

Equal of the Sun, Anita Amirrezvani

Faith, Jennifer Haigh

I Married You for Happiness, Lily Tuck

In the Shadow of the Banyan, Vaddey Ratner

A Land More Kind Than Home, Wiley Cash

The O’Briens, Peter Behrens

The Orchardist, Amanda Coplin

The Right-Hand Shore, Christopher Tilghman

Running the Rift, Naomi Benaron

Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward

Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey

What Alice Forgot, Liane Moriarty

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal, Jeannette Winterson

It's National Reading Group Month!

October is a busy month. It's National Breast Cancer Awareness month. It's the lead up to Halloween. And best of all for those of us who are book obsessed, it is National Reading Group month. And that means that the Women's National Book Association has published it's annual list of Great Group Reads. Once again I was lucky enough to be on the panel that selected these wonderful books. They're books to read and discuss with others. They'll make you think and argue and laugh. Hopefully they will inspire great discussions in book groups, in stores, on the bus, and on street corners. I've read them all (duh!) so I have my favorites among them (no one but my mom can get that info from me though, sorry). Now I'm challenging you to read them and let me know what your favorite or favorites are. And I won't even give you a time limit to do it in, especially not the insanely abbreviated time limit in which I had to read them!

Here's the official list of the lucky thirteen in the order they appear on the official page which also has blurbs and links to other resources:

Blame by Michelle Huneven
The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle
Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship by Cathie Beck
Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin
Room by Emma Donoghue
Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye
Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson

Now get reading!

National Reading Group Month Great Group Reads

**In the interest of full disclosure, I am a member of the WNBA and was also on the selection committee charged with picking the books. Feel free to ask me anything at all about the organization (I'm part of the Charlotte chapter) or about the books on the list and I'll happily ramble on interminably for you!

National Reading Group Month Announces the 2009 Great Group Reads

NEW YORK — September 24, 2009 —The National Reading Group Month Selection Committee has chosen nine books, eight novels and one memoir, as this year’s Great Group Reads. The books are:

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)

These titles were selected on the basis of their appeal to reading groups for whom they are bound 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. The Committee also made a conscious decision to focus its attention on under-represented gems from small presses and lesser-known mid-list releases from larger houses. All are books with strong narratives peopled by fully realized characters; books which perhaps have flown under the radar of reviewers and reading groups overwhelmed by the sheer number of new releases each year.

Selection Committee coordinator Rosalind Reisner puts it this way: “Great Group Reads will help passionate readers find that great mid-list fiction and nonfiction that may be overlooked in the clamor over best-sellers.” Ms. Reisner also was one of ten selectors, all of whom praise the process and the choices made. According to her colleague, Judith Strand, “This NRGM program taught me to read more objectively and gave me greater insight into how to judge a book based on its appeal for group discussion rather than how the story affected me personally. I am grateful to the publishers who trusted our judgment, and to the authors who continue to astound me with their ever higher standards of excellence.” Another Committee member, Michele Leber adds, “Suggesting titles for book groups is a natural next step in WNBA's celebration of National Reading Group Month. As a lifelong lover of reading, a published reviewer for 35 years, and a member of a 15-year-old book group, I'm delighted to have a hand in selecting these titles.” (A full list of Selection Committee members can be found at the National Reading Group Month Web site. (http://www.nationalreadinggroupmonth.org/ggr_committee.html)

The National Reading Group Month chair Jill A. Tardiff thanks the Committee for its hard work and all the publishers who submitted titles and made reading copies available. Ms. Tardiff says, “We hope that these wonderful titles become reading-group staples and that booksellers and libraries across America feature them during month of October, which is, of course, National Reading Group Month.” She continues, “To that end, we are providing an array of professionally designed display materials such as shelf-talkers and table-top posters on the National Reading Group Month Web site for anyone to download and use in promoting these titles. We encourage visiting the site for these and other features, as well as links to further resources.”

See National Reading Group Month Marketing Toolkit at Get Involved http://www. nationalreadinggroupmonth.org/involved.html.

National Reading Group Month is an initiative of the Women's National Book Association (WNBA). Founded in 1917, WNBA promotes literacy, a love of reading, and women's roles in the community of the book.

National Reading Group Month 2009 Official Sponsors: HarperCollins Publishers, Harper Perennial, Ingram Content Group and Susannah Greenberg PR.

National Reading Group Month Great Group Reads logo designed by Susan Vianna, Fishergate Inc., Chester, MD.

Further information is available at:
www.NationalReadingGroupMonth.org, www.wnba-books.org

Women's National Book Association, P.O. Box 237, FDR Station, New York, NY
10022-9998
(212) 208-4629
www.wnba-books.org, www.NationalReadingGroupMonth.org

Press release prepared on September 24, 2009,
by Jill A. Tardiff, National Reading Group Month Chair/Coordinator
tel (201) 656-7220.

Visit National Readiing Group Month on Twitter http://twitter.com/WNBA_NRGM and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=100063086491&ref=ts.