Book Club Girl

Read a Sneak Peek and Enter to Win the New Novel by Wally Lamb!

Wally Lamb fans have been waiting a long time for his new novel. His acclaimed She's Come Undone and I Know This Much is True were not only both picked by Oprah for her book club, both have been huge reading group favorites for years. Next Tuesday his third novel, The Hour I First Believed, will be published, and you can read a sneak peek of it now, plus enter to win one of five free copies of the book!

In The Hour I First Believed, Lamb tells the story of forty-seven-year-old high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his younger wife, Maureen, a school nurse, who move to Littleton, Colorado, and both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, Caelum returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has just had a stroke. But Maureen finds herself in the school library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed, as two vengeful students go on a carefully premeditated, murderous rampage. Miraculously she survives, but at a cost: she is unable to recover from the trauma. Caelum and Maureen flee Colorado and return to an illusion of safety at the Quirk family farm in Three Rivers. But the effects of chaos are not so easily put right, and further tragedy ensues in this extraordinary tour de force, at once a meditation on the human condition and an unflinching yet compassionate evocation of character.

To enter to win one of five copies of the book, simply click on over to read the sneak peek and come back here and comment on what you've read. I'll choose five random winners from all the comments received by midnight this Friday, November 7th!

Winners, We Have Winners, We Have Lots and Lots of Winners

Finally! Someone remind me never to hold a giveaway every day in one week. In any event -- Here are the winners from all of last week's contests plus a few that happened just prior to BBAW!

Winner of a signed copy of Joshua Henkin's Matrimony

Lori

Winners of Diane Hammond's Hannah's Dream plus a bag of peanuts
Carmen 
Pam
Michelle
Melanie
Heather
Jenn
Dawn
Laura
Heidi
Lauren

Winners of the Book Club Girl mousepad
Amy
Jenne
Yasmin
Jill
Dawn
Rebekah
Susan
Nise
Amanda
Bethany

Winners of Nothing is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn and a Book Club Girl mousepad

Julie E.
Amanda
Johnna
Sandy
Carol
Lauren
Jenne
Kelly
Raych
Kathy

Winners of a signed first edition of Spy Goddess and a Book Club Girl mousepad
Karina
The Dizzy
Tina
Booklogged
Kelly
Heather
Bobbi
Stacie
Book...Spot
Kelly

Winners of Philippa Gregory's The Other Queen and a Book Club Girl mousepad
Daphne
Julie P.
Lauren
Kori
Stephanie C.
Michele
Nicol
Carol
Ruth
Mary

Winners of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and a Book Club Girl mousepad:

Dawn
Lisa
Ruth
Melanie
Yasmin
Lucile
Pam
Leah
Laura
Carol

And the Grand Prize Winner of the Book Club Girl Book Club Hostess Survival Kit is....... Kelly!!!!

I've Got the New Oprah Book Club Pick to Give Away On the Final Day of BBAW!

Today marks the final day of Book Blogger Appreciation Week and I want to extend a huge thank you to Amy at My Friend Amy -- she pulled together this stellar event that introduced so many of us bloggers to each other and to all you readers -- it's been so much fun!! Everyone should immediately add My Friend Amy to their blogroll, RSS feed and the like, it's a must read!

And for anyone who's saddened that the week has come to a close, you can rejoice that today Oprah announced her new Book Club Pick and it's the acclaimed and wonderful novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski which I first talked about here and I have copies to give away!

Here are some resources to accompany your reading of the novel along with Oprah:
A Special Message from Wroblewski to Oprah Readers
Browse Inside the Book
Visit David Wroblewski's Website
Reading Group Guide
Oprah's Official Book Club Site Dedicated to Edgar Sawtelle

I have ten copies of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle to give away along with ten Book Club Girl mousepads. Post a comment about what your favorite pet means, or meant, to you and you'll be entered to win. This giveaway will be open until noon EST on Sunday.

I'll announce all the winners from this week of giveaways as well as the winner of the Book Club Girl Book Club Hostess Survival Kit next week so tune in on Monday for that!

And don't forget our chat with Ann Patchett about Run next Wednesday night -- hey, maybe next week is going to be just as exciting as this one! :)

Zora Neale Hurston on PBS' American Masters

Tonight's American Masters series on PBS examines the life and literature of Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God. If you, like me, didn't come to know Hurston's works until college or even later, with Oprah's fine adaptation of the book , please treat yourself to this show to learn more about one of our country's most acclaimed authors. See clips from the show here and check the time it will air on your local PBS station here. Should the show inspire you to read Their Eyes in your book group, here's the reading group guide.

Oprah's New Book Club Pick is Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth!

Oprah's new book club selection announced today is the inspirational book The New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle. This looks like a great pick, especially for this time of year, a kind of "new year, new you" for the soul! And this time the book club has a new twist -- you can register now for a 10-week online class, or webinar, to be held every Monday night with Oprah and Tolle himself. Sign up now and find out what your homework is for Monday, March 3rd!
Find out more about the book and here is the reading guide.

Diane Rehm's Latest Reader's Review Title(s)

Ok, I'm completely late on this one, and it seems my link to her on the right went away (it's back now) and I missed last month's book. But in the interest of being complete (and who doesn't like a good recommendation, even if they don't have time to read the book for the show) I give you:  Diane Rehm's listeners will be tuning in this Wednesday to discuss Anne Morrow Lindbergh's lyrical memoir Gift from the Sea. And last month, I'm sure they had a great discussion of a book already discussed here, the late Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.

Watch this space on Wednesday am for news of Oprah's new pick, set to be announced that day!

My Book Group Met Last Night to Discuss Diana Gabaldon's Outlander

My book group met last night to discuss Outlander, the first in Diana Gabaldon's epic 6 book series. We were a pretty divided group on the book, some liked, some loved and some were very frustrated by it. The one member who has read the entire series defended it staunchly and I agreed with her that it's a sweeping love story in which you can learn a whole lot about the history of England, Scotland and Europe, and that if you let yourself go, you can lose yourself in the time frame and the entire saga.

We also voted on our next pick and the choices were (and yes, we broke our rule to not include a book we'd already voted against twice, faithful readers will know which one):
The Secret History by Donna Tartt -- this reminded me of my first year in publishing, when this was a breakout bestseller
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Love in the Time of Cholera -- Oprah's recent pick and the basis for the forthcoming film
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah -- watch the author video at the link

The winner was Eat, Pray, Love -- at last -- and I'm really looking forward to finally reading it. We have two months to read as our next meeting will be our holiday celebration. We decided to forego the restaurant this year and instead have everyone bring appetizers and desserts over to one member's house so we can hang out as long as want and not have to worry about waiters shooing us out. And of course we'll have our Yankee Swap -- with $15 gift maximum, so I better find some to start posting.

Here are resources for Eat, Pray, Love:
Excerpt
Author Interview
Author Podcast
Gilbert Talking with a Borders Book Group

Why Do You Read?

Motoko Rich muses on what motivates readers and the future of reading in America here.

Oprah's New Book Club Pick is Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth

Oprah has announced her winter book club pick and it's Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth! In his epic tale of the generations who built the greatest Gothic cathedral ever known, Follett illuminates a struggle between good and evil and church and state that pits brother against brother in the Middle Ages.

Read an Excerpt
More on Ken Follett
Follett's Inspiration for the Novel
Family Trees
Reading Guide and Calendar

National Reading Group Month -- NY Kickoff Event

I attended a wonderful event last night -- the NY National Reading Group Month event, hosted by the Women's National Book Association. There were five reading group authors on a panel moderated (with her usual consummate skill) by Carol Fitzgerald of ReadingGroupGuides.com as well as a 150-plus crowd of book group members and publishing folk. The space was terrific -- the New York Center for Independent Publishing and the panel was interesting and lively with authors talking about their work as well as reading. Wally Lamb, whose most recent book is I'll Fly Away: Further Testimonies from the Women of York Prison spoke about what it's like to be an Oprah book club pick -- twice -- while Matthew Sharpe, author of The Sleeping Father talked about his experience as a Today Book Show pick, how he was chosen by Susan Isaacs and the fun of being interviewed by Katie Couric. Beverly Swerling, author of City of Glory discussed what it's like to write historical fiction, and how many people have told her that they wish she had been their History teacher back in school.

Laura Dave, author of London is the Best City in America (I love this title) discussed her forthcoming book, The Divorce Party as she ruminated on family ties and the stages of relationships. Lastly, book group maven Adriana Trigiani spoke about what it means to be Italian and as well as her many experiences with reading groups on the phone and in person and generally cracked the audience up reading from Rococo. 

Also on hand was Shireen Dodson, author of The Mother-Daughter Book Club book, to offer advice on starting and maintaining a reading group. Stay tuned for a report from the NJ event, held tonight.

Oprah's New Book to be Announced Next Week!

Tune in next Friday, October 5th to find out Oprah's new book club pick!

Exclusive Oprah Video Interview with Jeffrey Eugenides Now Online!

Members of Oprah's Book Club (you can sign up easily on her site) can view not only her tv interview with the author of her current book club pick, Middlesex, but also see exclusive video of what happened after the show!

My Book Group Met Last Night to Discuss Water for Elephants

My book group met last night to discuss Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants (resources). It was a really good discussion (fueled by excellent brownies)and many were impressed by the amount of research Gruen had done and how she had woven that into the fabric of the story. Some wondered what she had written before this book and I mentioned her two previous novels. We also voted on our new book and it was a heated session. The candidates were:
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen

It came down to Devil in the White City and The Emperor's Children in the final round, where we found ourselves with what looked like an unbreakable tie. We postponed final voting until we discussed Water (and everyone had a chance to have a little more wine) and by our final vote, we landed on The Emperor's Children. All the resources for The Emperor's Children can be found in my first post about the book. I'm really looking forward to this one.

Jeffrey Eugenides Answers Your Questions

Another exclusive question and answer are now up on Oprah's site. Find out why Eugenides refers to Cal's brother as "Chapter Eleven" and more.