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

What's On Your Nightstand?

Joining the What's On Your Nightstand meme sponsored by Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Books, here's what's currently on my nightstand (will probably have forgotten a few as I'm not actually near my nightstand at the moment, alas). Oh, but wait, last time I organized it, I took a picture and tweeted it and not much has changed since then, so let's take a peek.....aha, there's Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project; Maud Hart Lovelace's Emily of Deep Valley - which we're reissuing this coming fall with a new foreword by the fabulous Mitali Perkins; Jacqueline Kelly's The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate which I'm dying to read because it's set in the Betsy-Tacy era; Little House, Long Shadow because I'm revisiting Little House these days; and Pride & Prejudice, because, well, it's almost always on my nightstand, just in case.

"Not Your Mother's Jane Austen" Books & Bars Guest Post on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

This month's guest post from Jeff Kamin at Minneapolis' Books & Bars focuses on their discussion of the New York Times bestseller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and this month, they invited the author to join them for the discussion via Skype! I love the "you were there" feeling we now get to the discussion. I for one was fascinated to find out how many times Seth had to read Pride and Prejudice to write the book. By the way, since Jeff's last post, Books & Bars was named Minneapolis' best reading series by CityPages which praised it for becoming "an indespensable means for promoting reading within the community, giving new meaning to the term 'literary buzz.'" Kudos.

Seth Grahame-Smith chatted with Books & Bars via Skype video. It was our first video chat with an author and a rousing success we hope to repeat soon. A movie screen on stage held his image while we sat in the theater with a couple microphones to ask him questions. He could see us as though he was sitting towards the back of the theater and also see his own image the movie screen. We discussed his smash hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which pokes broader fun at the social changes taking place in Jane Austen’s classic and his other projects for about 45 minutes. Then had time to have our regular discussion without him (another 45 min), making for a good balance. Seth was thoroughly engaging and entertaining, even breaking some secret scoops for us. Topics included the process of writing a mash-up, late night humor, how anything + ninjas = awesome, the drunken washwoman defense, zombies as a metaphor (marriage, etc.), and much more. I’ll let you see for yourselves from the two 8-minute video clips. If you had a particular question you were wondering about, ask me, we may’ve gotten an answer.

Next month – non-fiction (!): June 9th we cover Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach.

Please comment here, there, in a car, by a bar, with a goat, on a boat, anywhere (otherwise we’re just yelling into a dark cave): Books & Bars, Mustache Robots, and Twitter.

Thanks for reading,
Jeff Kamin
Moderator, Books & Bars
jeff AT booksandbars DOT com

Little Dorrit on Masterpiece Sunday Night Plus a Discount and a Winner!

Little Dorrit, one of Dickens's greatest love stories, premieres this Sunday, March 29th on Masterpiece Classic. Adapted by Andrews Davies, the film stars Matthew Macfayden as Arthur Clennam, Claire Foy as Amy "Little" Dorrit, and Tom Courtenay as her father. Watch an exclusive video interview with Davies and Foy here. Viewers and readers can also chat with Davies and Masterpiece producer Erin Delaney on the B&N Book Club Message Boards for the next two weeks, starting Monday March 30th. Book and film club questions for Little Dorrit are here. Check out the trailer below - look it's Mr. Darcy from the Keira Knightley P&P!

Save Money on the Masterpiece Literary Adaptations You Love!
Now through May 15th, you can save 20% on the Little Dorrit DVD and other products in the PBS store, enter the code MPTLD1 at checkout.

And...We Have a Winner!
Last but not least, the winner of the David Copperfield DVD and Book contest that I ran a few weeks back, is Karen from the great blog Bookin' With Bingo!

Now onto the trailer.....

Watch a Young Daniel Radcliffe in His First Role and Enter to Win the Book & DVD!

Catch Daniel Radcliffe in his first role as David Copperfield on PBS tomorrow night, Sunday March 15th! You can watch a new interview with Radcliffe and Ian McKellen who stars as Mr. Creakle here. And check out the Book & Film Club resources for David Copperfield on the PBS site. In honor of the occasion and thanks to PBS and Penguin Books, I have the David Copperfield DVD and book to give away! Simply post a comment about your favorite PBS literary adaptation and you'll be entered to win. I'll go first: my favorite, which I'm sure is shared by many, is the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth Pride & Prejudice. I've never looked at a man's white shirt the same way since ;).