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

Support the Betsy-Tacy Society When You Shop at Any Barnes & Noble Nationwide Sat. Oct 3rd!

To celebrate the reissues of the high school Betsy-Tacy books, the Betsy-Tacy Society has partnered with Barnes & Noble. If you shop at any Barnes & Noble nationwide on Saturday, October 3rd using this voucher, a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Betsy-Tacy Society! The Betsy-Tacy Society is dedicated to maintaining the legacy of Maud Hart Lovelace's beloved series as well as with the upkeep of Betsy's (Maud's) and Tacy's (Bick's) actual childhood homes in Mankato, MN. Both houses have been lovingly restored and are open to the public for visits.

Thanks to the Betsy-Tacy Society, you can look out Betsy's front window at Tacy's house across the street and imagine yourself seeing Tacy for the first time. You can sit on the bench where Betsy and Tacy took their dinner plates, see the brass bowl that Mrs. Ray (so smartly) bought for herself the Christmas of Betsy's Freshman year, and also the typewriter on which Maud wrote the books and more. So if there are books you've been meaning to buy (and hey, why not buy some Betsy ones too!) head to your local B&N tomorrow to shop and benefit Betsy-Tacy at the same time!

Help the Betsy-Tacy Society by Shopping at Barnes & Noble on Monday, July 20th

Thanks to many dedicated members and donors, the Betsy-Tacy Society was able to pay off the mortgage on Betsy's house in 2009! This is a tremendous accomplishment and having seen Betsy's and Tacy's houses in person, I can attest to the fact that they look amazing and being able to visit them and actually see Mrs. Ray's brass bowl, the coffee pot, Maud's typewriter and more is wonderful.

However, the current economic climate is making things very difficult in terms of further renovation and upkeep of the houses. We all need to do what we can to keep Maud's legacy alive in Mankato, as the Society gets no city, state or federal funding. How can you help? Well, you can become a member of the Betsy-Tacy Society, purchase an engraved paver stone to go outside Betsy's house (see previous post), and for tomorrow only, if you shop at any Barnes and Noble using this voucher, a portion of the proceed will go to the Betsy-Tacy Society! So, if you have a book you've been meanining to pick up (maybe this month's book club selection), or a birthday present, why not go tomorrow, Monday July 20th and help Betsy-Tacy at the same time?

Thanks for all you can do to help.

Black Friday Advice from Book Club Girl

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am on the couch resting up after a very long, but nice, day, contemplating the weekend ahead. The holiday shopping season officially begins tomorrow and I know this is a different "Black Friday" for all of us. No matter what our particular situation, we're all approaching the holidays with trepidation and a more conservative idea of what we'll spend this year. As lovers of literature, I want to make a plea that books are part of the purchases that you do make. Bookstores need our business, as do, of course, publishers, and ultimately authors. If you're reading this blog, you love books, and I don't have to tell you why they are important or remind you that books are gifts that keep on giving, every time you open them up. So as you head out the door tomorrow, or go online, be sure to visit Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon, Books-A-Million, your favorite independent bookstore or any place that sells books. Here is a video to inspire you along the way.

My Book Group's Next Selection is Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth

I'm so excited that my book group decided our next book is Jhumpa Lahiri's acclaimed new book of stories, Unaccustomed Earth. I've heard such great things from friends who have already read and loved the book. I'm interested to see how a discussion of short stories goes, as in my last book group we had a hard time discussing stories, but I'm game. You can read an excerpt here, download the reading group guide here, read more about Lahiri here and watch a video of Lahiri on Barnes & Noble's Meet the Writers series.