Book Club Girl - Book Group Recommendations, Reading Group Guides, Audio Book Club Podcasts

Target's Book Club Pick -- Veil of Roses

Target has been selling the heck out of trade paperback books, largely books that are great for book clubs, for some time. They announce a book club pick each season and the current one is Veil of Roses, by Laura Fitzgerald. In her novel, Fitzgerald tells the story of a young Iranian woman who leaves the confines of Iran for the freedom of America, where she begins to discover her own independence. On their Bookmarked site dedicated to their book club picks as well as to many more books and authors, Target offers some really nice book club resources to accompany your reading experience. Along with the standard reading guide and excerpt are club meeting ideas along with recipes and beverages to serve that are specific to the current book. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter to hear about new selections as they're announced. 

Lisa See's New Novel Peony in Love On Sale Now

Book groups were a huge part of what made Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan a bestseller and many of us have been eagerly awaiting her follow up, which just went on sale yesterday. Peony in Love tells the story of young Peony, a woman betrothed to a man she's never met who, while attending the controversial opera the Peony Pavilion, falls in love with a mysterious stranger. It is only when she is dying that she learns that the object of her affection is her intended husband. After she dies, she haunts him from the afterlife. The novel is set in the 17th century, and like with Snow Flower, See takes us into a world that most of us know nothing about, and tells a beautiful story at the same time.

Here are book group resources for Peony in Love:
Reading Group Guide
Lisa See's Tour
Lisa See on Writing Peony
Q&A
Sample Chapter

Report from ALA

I spent yesterday at one of the most effective and worthwhile conferences I've attended in quite a while -- the annual convention of the American Library Association.

We had some great authors in attendance and I was struck by how thoughtful all the attending librarians were, and how eager they were to meet and connect with our authors, including Jennifer McMahon, author of Promise Not to Tell, a gripping murder mystery set in Vermont (here's the reading group guide); and Heather McElhatton, who has reinvented the choose-your-own-adventure books of our youth into a modern, definitely for grownups, "Do-Over Novel" entitled Pretty Little Mistakes. You graduate from high school on the first page and decide whether to go to college or go off with your boyfriend and it takes off from there, with 150 different possible endings.  They were both fantastic and charmed everyone they met.

The day before we were joined by Shireen Dodson, author of the newly revised Mother-Daughter Book Club (we want to hear from you here soon Shireen!). Hers is a fantastic compendium of books for girls of all ages and their mothers and celebrates and encourages the formation of mother-daughter book clubs. I missed Shireen on Sunday but got to spend some time with her daughter the following day (helping her troll the Penguin booth for multiples of the coveted Harry Potter bag, oops, now they know, that was me, each time).

I have to give a big shout out to our academic and library marketing group. They are incredible. Pickles and Sarah Jane, you do Virginia and Diane proud.

Harry-est Town Update

Sorry for the delay this week, if you've been reading you know I was in DC for ALA. More on that in a moment. Well, I took advantage of my train ride south to begin re-reading Half-Blood Prince and I'm really glad that I did as I had forgotten quite a lot. Now I feel like when I see the movie of Phoenix, one week before the big day, I'll be able to place everything in order. God I really am getting old that I'm so concerned about remembering the chronology. Something tells me that the 10 year-olds out there are not as concerned about remembering what happened when, they just know it.

OK, onto the Harry-est Town Update -- and may I just comment for a moment on the Dementor-like grip that VA has on the top of the list? I mean, I love Amazon too, but are there no bookstores holding midnight parties in Virginia? New to the top 100 this week are Ojai, CA (isn't that where the oddly compelling Brothers and Sisters is set?); Estes Park, CO; Olympia, WA; Monroe, NY and Chardon, OH.

Watch this Space for News from ALA!

BCG is off to DC to attend the American Library Associations' annual convention. I'll be back tomorrow night with a full report!

Diane Rehm's Latest Book Club Pick is Water for Elephants

Did you know that NPR radio host Diane Rehm hosts a monthly book club discussion on her site? This past Wednesday she announced her new pick, the runaway New York Times bestseller and book club favorite, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The discussions usually take place on the third Wednesday of the month (hey, that's when my book group meets as well), so listen for the show on Elephants on or around July 18th. Previous picks included Vilette by Charlotte Bronte and Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

My Book Group Met Last Night

To discuss Tender at the Bone, and truth be told, there wasn't a lot of discussion. Some liked, some really didn't (which surprised me) and our one resident foodie really didn't like it, she felt that it was a tad boring. I read this book in my first book group about 8 years ago (or so) in NY and I remember that we all really enjoyed it. Are we perhaps memoired out here in 2007? Maybe there have been so many since this was first published, with such larger themes (Joan Didion, Augusten Burroughs, etc.) that our standards for what makes a life worth examining are higher?

We did have a more lively discussion when voted for our next book. Eat, Pray, Love was again a candidate, and again came in second (by our rules, we can't present that one again, so I'll be reading the one on my bedside table alone, but very soon). We were deciding between that, Suite Francaise, Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Emperor's Children, and Water for Elephants.

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky, was the winner and I'm very excited to read it. The book was published first in France, after the author's daughter found the manuscript that her mother left behind after her arrest and deportation to Auschwitz, where she died. The novel follows the lives of a group of men and women in Paris as the Germans descend on their city and country. Here are resources to supplement our read:

reading guide
the story behind the book
New York Times Book Review review
an excerpt

Talk to Paulette Jiles, Anna Quindlen and More

Did you know that Barnes & Noble hosts a terrific Book Club section on their site, including online chats with about 30 authors at any one time? New this month are Anna Quindlen, (Rise and Shine), Paulette Jiles (Stormy Weather), and Aryn Kyle (The God of Animals). Join the chatter!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Grows Up

I devoured the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books and was sad to close the final volume earlier this year. I also really enjoyed the movie (of course it did feature BCG tv faves Alexis Bledel and America Ferrarra). Anyway, as you can imagine, I was excited to learn that Ann Brashares was writing her first book for "grown ups." The Last Summer (of You and Me) tells the story of sisters Alice and Riley, in their mid 20s, figuring out what to do with their lives and how their life-long friend Paul fits in with those plans. The three have spent every summer together on Fire Island and the nostalgia for the island is palpable, reminding me fondly of my own summer share there. Paul and Riley are best friends with the younger Alice always tagging along and looking up, with increasing admiration, to them both, especially Paul. Paul and Alice finally act on their feelings in this fateful summer, and they all must confront a development that will change their relationships, and lives, forever.

It was so nice to see Brashares explore the biological sister relationship, as opposed to the best friends-as-sisters-scenario from the pants books, since it is a much more fraught one, given that it's not a relationship that we choose, but is often one of the closest bonds we ever have.  Highly recommended as a great summer beach read and for book clubs. Here is the reading guide.

Michael Tolliver Lives!

I love love love the Tales of the City series, and still remember first reading them when I came to NYC. When the first adaptation aired on PBS, my boss at the time was friends with Laura Linney and I believe that was my first big-city-one-person-removed brush with fame. The books are like popcorn, as soon as you finish one, you have to pick up the next. Armistead Maupin's newest book, Michael Tolliver Lives, which is not a sequel per se, but more a revisiting of our friends at Barbary Lane is just on sale. Watch his event last week at Barnes & Noble, complete with a performance by Elk City. Catch him on tour in a city near you.

Win an IPod Nano! Courtesy of I Love You Beth Cooper

Celebrate high school graduations everywhere, by reliving your own and enter this contest in honor of the ultimate high school graduation story -- I Love You Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle. You could win an IPod Nano, plus an ITunes gift certificate to fill it up with Denis Cooverman's Graduation Mix. Hurry, the contest ends on June 29th!

Ask Jeffrey Eugenides a Question via Oprah!

If you're like many readers, your summer has started off with you diving, not into the local pool, but into the amazing Oprah Book Club Pick for the summer, Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Be sure to check out Oprah's site for lots of supplementary material to your read. And if you already have questions for the author, you can send them to him via Oprah here. Your question and the author's answer could be featured in the Q&A coming later this summer!

Harry-est Town Update

33 days to go! Ambler, PA ambles back into the top 100 at 100 and Auburn, CA cracks the list to land at 92. To help fill your next 33 days (I for one, need to start re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince because, well, I've had a baby since then and my brain cells and memory are not what they used to be) anyway, to help fill YOUR time until the big day, you can watch a book club discussing Harry Potter at Borders here and check out the Knight Bus tour here. And Scholastic announced last week that J.K. Rowling is coming to the States this fall for a limited tour!

Welcome Book Report and Bluestocking Reader

Say hello to two new links in our Book Blogs section -- The Book Report features some great interviews with BCG friends Nancy Pearl and Debra Dean as well as with Daniel Pinkwater.

And Bluestocking Reader is a fantastic blog dedicated to books from an ardent reader and independent book reviewer that turned me onto this What Dickens Character are You? Quiz. Turns out I'm Little Dorrit, which of course is the one I haven't read. Check 'em both out.

Don't Let No Reading Guide Deter You from Picking a Book

I know many book groups search for reading group guides for titles before they will even think of discussing them in their group. The truth is, while publishers strive to write guides for all the books out there, some books won't have them. Reading Group Guides.com, run by Book Club Maven Carol Fitzgerald has come to the rescue. In addition to hosting more guides than any other place I can find on the web, Fitzgerald has developed the What to Do When There's No Guide Guide -- with questions and topics of discussion specific to different genres, including biography, historical fiction, spirituality and more.

Shameless flogging alert -- many Harper Perennial books come with P.S. -- 16 page sections at the back of the book with background information on the story, interviews with and essays by the author, lists of further recommended reading, timelines, photos and more. These are great for reading groups because come on, who actually goes through all those questions? What my group always wants to know is more about the author and their inspiration. Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife, is an author who loves P.S. Her Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette, is just out in paperback and the P.S. contains a timeline and this q&a. Enter to win Sena calling your reading group, plus goodies from L'Occitane, down and to the right. And if you're still a traditionalist, here's the reading guide.

Debra Dean -- Live from Book Group Expo, Day 3

The final day of Book Group Expo in San Jose began with the wonderful Anna Quindlen. "I can imagine my life without writing, but I can't imagine my life without writing." She described her childhood as a bookworm, curled up with a book while her mother stood in the doorway admonishing her to go outside and get some fresh air. When she set down her book, she recalled, the characters froze, as in a game of statues, only to come to life again when next she picked up the book.

Reading, though, is not just a diversion but a necessary cornerstone in a healthy society. "In a democratic society," she said, "it is more of a threat to cut library budgets than to cut the defense budget."

I was honored to share a stage with four other authors of books about art and artists: Karen Essex (LEONARDO'S SWANS), Carolyn Burke (LEE MILLER: A LIFE), Susan Vreeland (LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY), and moderator, Harriet Scott Chessman (LYDIA CASSATT READING THE MORNING PAPER). We gabbed about art and writing - go figure - Leonardo da Vinci and Renoir and . . . I wish I could tell you more, but I wasn't taking notes.

Afterwards, a fashion show: various authors in the costumes of their characters or wearing their typical 'writing attire.' Writers may clean up nice for public appearances, but at home - well, let's just say if grunge ever makes a fashion revival, we'll be ahead of the curve. This was the patter for my parade down the catwalk, dressed as the protagonist of THE MADONNAS OF LENINGRAD: ³Marina is wearing a simple cotton nightgown embellished with lace straps and a drawstring neckline. Perfect for a night out in the San Juan Islands - or pair it with a quilted jacket, boots, gloves, two pair of wool stockings, a shawl, and a fur hat for those chilly winter evenings in Leningrad. Here, Marina accessorizes with a fetching little painting by 14th century Siennese artist Simone Martini: ŒMadonna of the Annunciation.¹ Notice the stunning gilt halo and the graceful drape of her blue robes. You¹re sure to get noticed around the Winter Palace wearing this. Painting by Martini sold separately.²

The organizers of BGE are looking into taking their show on the road. Look for future Book Group Expos in Seattle and Minneapolis.

-Debra Dean, author of The Madonnas of Leningrad

From BCG: here are reading guides for the books Debra mentions above:
Leonardo's Swans
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper

Harry-est Town Update

OK, it's getting difficult to make this interesting, but now that I've started it, it's something I have to see through to its end. (You should have seen me back in the 90s when I was determined to tape every single episode of the reruns of Twin Peaks in order to have a complete set. It was a revelation when my friend Greg taught me how to program the VCR to tape the same show every day....as you can imagine, I was pretty happy when both DVDs and TIVO were invented). OK, number one remains the same but new to the top 100 this week are Lewisburg, PA at #97 (home of Bucknell University), and rounding out the top at #99 and #100 respectively are Monroe and Canton, NY.

Debra Dean -- Live from Book Group Expo Day 2

The opening salon this morning at Book Group Expo featured Po Bronson (Why Do I Love These People), Sara Davidson (Leap), and Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) moderated by Sam Barry.   All three of their books deal in some way with . . . and I'm quoting Sam here "a response to our existential existence." Here's some snippets from a fascinating conversation.

In answer to the question "How were your relationships affected by writing this book?" Sara Davidson admitted that she'd lost one important friend with each book she wrote. "You have to ask yourself, what's more important, the friendship or the book? And often it's the friendship." Elizabeth Gilbert quipped, "Everyone who is mad at me was mad at me before I wrote this book."

(A side note, you might think that writing fiction would protect you from this. You'd be wrong. My experience and that of most fiction writers I know is that even if you've created completely imaginary people, your friends and family will see themselves in the characters. My sister was sure that she was the model for the daughter Helen in The Madonnas of Leningrad. I couldn't have been more surprised to hear this.)

The panel also talked about how they came to writing; it turns out that Po Bronson was a math whiz as a child and was told his writing was terrible. "True," he says. "I was a bad writer because I'd never written anything I cared about." Sara Davidson wrote her first book when she was five. At some point much later, she was asked 'if you knew the world was going to end in two days, what would you do?' and her answer was "Take notes. Becuase this was going to be the biggest story in my lifetime." Elizabeth Gilbert also knew as a child that she wanted to be a writer. "I have friends who are burdened by being multi-talented. That was never an issue for me...I had a simple aspiration: I wanted to be published before I was dead."

They also chatted about the business of writing about spiritual transformation. Gilbert told the joke about a man praying to a saint, constantly asking to win the lottery. The saint got fed so fed up that he materialized before the man and said, 'Why don't you go buy a lottery ticket?' "You have to show up for your own transformation," Gilbert added.

-Debra Dean, author of The Madonnas of Leningrad

Debra Dean -- Live from Book Group Expo

I’m in San Jose at the 2nd annual Book Group Expo, which runs though the weekend. The headliner tonight was Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, in conversation with Susanne Pari, BGE Program Director and author of ‘The Fortune Catcher.’ Hosseini read a short passage from his new novel, ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns,’ a scene set in a women’s hospital in Afghanistan during the Taliban’s reign. I won’t give anything away except to say that he knows how to tell a cliffhanger with language that is incantatory. Afterwards, he talked about the struggle to write this second book after the colossal success of ‘The Kite Runner’. He described the onslaught of fan letters: “At some point, the letters, as wonderful as they were, became a challenge . . . I underestimated how difficult it is to write a second novel. . . . Most people want greatness out of you.” In advance of writing it, he began to feel sorry for this this second novel. The word around the rooms, though, is that this one is even better than ‘The Kite Runner.’

Tomorrow, there’s a full slate of authors, including Po Bronson, Elizabeth Gilbert,  Nathan Englander, and Steve Wozniak . . . And that’s just before noon. Stay tuned.

-Debra Dean, author of The Madonnas of Leningrad

Watch this Space for Live Commentary From Book Group Expo!

This weekend the second annual Book Group Expo is being held in San Jose, CA. Author Debra Dean (The Madonnas of Leningrad) is on hand at the Expo and will be sending in her reports from the show. She's joined by other top book club authors like Khaled Hosseini, Elizabeth Gilbert and Amy Tan. Dean's Madonnas is a moving story told in two time periods. In the current day, Marina, an elderly Russian woman living in America, is suffering from Alzheimer's and is unable to remember the recent events in her life. Instead, she is brought back in her mind to her time in Leningrad, during WWII, where she helped to pack the priceless art in the Hermitage museum as the German troops were descending on the city. It is a fascinating story about memory and what we pack away in our own minds. We look forward to hearing from Dean here.