Book Club Girl

Jennifer Weiner's Best Friends Forever On Sale Today -- And I've Got Two Copies to Give Away!

That's right -- I have two copies of book club favorite Jennifer Weiner's brand-new novel Best Friends Forever, to give away -- one for you and one for YOUR BFF! The premise of Weiner's new novel sounds so great --

Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school's scapegoat.

Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents' house in their small hometown of Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet. She's just returned from Bad Date #6 when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. "Something horrible has happened," Val tells Addie, "and you're the only one who can help."

Best Friends Forever is a grand, hilarious, edge-of-your-seat adventure; a story about betrayal and loyalty, family history and small-town secrets. It's about living through tragedy, finding love where you least expect it, and the ties that keep best friends together. (from the Simon and Schuster website)

Plus the cover just screams "take me to the beach and read me!" Look for Jennifer Weiner on tour near you, follow her on Twitter, and check out the reading group guide to Best Friends Forever.

To enter to win two copies of Best Friends Forever, tell me about the BFF with whom you'll share your second copy!

Book Club Girl on Air Welcomes Frances de Pontes Peebles to Discuss Her Novel The Seamstress

I'm so pleased to announce that for our first show in August (and the next one after the July 22nd show with Garth Stein) we are welcoming Frances de Pontes Peebles to discuss her novel The Seamstress.

As seamstresses, the young sisters Emília and Luzia dos Santos know how to cut, how to mend, and how to conceal. These are useful skills in the lawless backcountry of Brazil, where ruthless land barons called "colonels" feud with bands of outlaw cangaceiros, trapping innocent residents in the cross fire. Emília, whose knowledge of the world comes from fashion magazines and romance novels, dreams of falling in love with a gentleman and escaping to a big city. Luzia also longs to escape their little town, where residents view her with suspicion and pity. Scarred by a childhood accident that left her with a deformed arm, the quick-tempered Luzia finds her escape in sewing and in secret prayers to the saints she believes once saved her life.

But when Luzia is abducted by a group of cangaceiros led by the infamous Hawk, the sisters' quiet lives diverge in ways they never imagined. Emília stumbles into marriage with Degas Coelho, the son of a doctor whose wealth is rivaled only by his political power.She moves to the sprawling seaside city of Recife, where the glamour of her new life is soon overshadowed by heartache and loneliness. Luzia, forced to trek through scrubland and endure a nomadic existence, proves her determination to survive and begins to see  the cangaceiros as comrades, not criminals.

In Recife, Emília must hide any connection to her increasingly notorious sister. As she learns to navigate the treacherous waters of Brazilian high society, Emília sees the country split apart after a bitter presidential election. Political feuds extend to the countryside, where Luzia and the Hawk are forced to make unexpected alliances and endure betrayals that threaten to break the cangaceiros apart. But Luzia will overcome time and distance to entrust her sister with a great secret—one Emília vows to keep. And when Luzia's life is threatened, Emília will risk everything to save her.

An enthralling novel of love and courage, loyalty and adventure, that brings to life a faraway time and place, The Seamstress is impeccably drawn, rich in depth and vision, and heralds the arrival of a supremely talented new writer.

Read this Q&A with de Pontes Peebles and check out the reading group guide to The Seamstress. I think this is going to be a wonderful discussion and hope that you can join us on August 6th at 2 pm EST for the show. The first 10 people to comment that they'd like to participate in the show will receive a free copy of The Seamstress to read in preparation. Be sure to set your reminder for the show on 8/6 at 2 pm EST as well.

Listen to the Book Club Girl on Air Show with Liz Rosenberg Now!

For those who weren't able to tune in live last Wednesday to participate in the Book Club Girl on Air show with Liz Rosenberg discussing her novel Home Repair, you can listen to it now by clicking on the player below. Enjoy!

The Best of the National Book Awards Fiction - Find a New Award Winning Book Every Day!

To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the National Book Awards has launched a daily book blog that will highlight every single one of the 77 winners of the fiction award since the awards began. The blog began today and features Nelson Algren's The Man with the Golden Arm. Each post will include information on that day’s winning book and author and original posts by contemporary authors, bloggers, and editors, as well as that year’s judges and the winners of other literary awards. Follow the blog and on September 21st, you will have an opportunity to vote for the best novel out of all the 77 books featured and to win two tickets to attend the National Book Award Ceremony on November 18th in New York City! I'm going to add the blog to my sidebar, this is a great resource for choosing your next book club book.

Rebecca Wells Returns with The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder On Sale Today!

It's been four years since Rebecca Wells, author of the bestselling book club classic Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, published a new book. Her last book, Ya-Yas in Bloom, looked at the Ya-Yas in their younger days. Now Wells forges all new territory and brings us a new character sure to rival the immortal Vivi Abbot Walker -- Calla Lily Ponder.

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder is the sweet, sexy, funny journey of Calla Lily's life set in Wells's expanding fictional Louisiana landscape. In the small river town of La Luna, Calla bursts into being, a force of nature as luminous as the flower she is named for. Under the loving light of the Moon Lady, the feminine force that will guide and protect her throughout her life, Calla enjoys a blissful childhood—until it is cut short. Her mother, M'Dear, a woman of rapture and love, teaches Calla compassion, and passes on to her the art of healing through the humble womanly art of "fixing hair." At her mother's side, Calla further learns that this same touch of hands on the human body can quiet her own soul. It is also on the banks of the La Luna River that Calla encounters sweet, succulent first love, with a boy named Tuck.

But when Tuck leaves Calla with a broken heart, she transforms hurt into inspiration and heads for the wild and colorful city of New Orleans to study at L'Académie de Beauté de Crescent. In that extravagant big river city, she finds her destiny—and comes to understand fully the power of her "healing hands" to change lives and soothe pain, including her own. When Tuck reappears years later, he presents her with an offer that is colored by the memories of lost love. But who knows how Calla Lily, a "daughter of the Moon Lady," will respond?

I just love this video where Rebecca, in talking about the novel, talks about how the events, be they illnesses, loss or something else entirely, that knock us down in life are the very things that make us who we are

A tale of family and friendship, tragedy and triumph, loss and love, The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder gives readers an unforgettable new heroine to treasure and features the warmth, humor, soul, and wonder that have made Wells a cherished writer for so many book clubs. Be sure to check out Rebecca Wells' new website, the reading group guide, and this Interview with Rebecca. Friend her on Facebook as well!

To celebrate this brand new Rebecca Wells novel, I have 5 copies to give away. Comment on which Wells novel your book group (or you on your own) read and how it affected you. I'll choose 5 random winners from all comments received by midnight, Friday, July 10th. Tweet this giveaway and you'll get two entries into the drawing (please post a link to your tweet as a separate comment).

Reminder! Our Book Club Girl on Air Show with Liz Rosenberg is this Wednesday, July 8th!

Just a reminder that this Wednesday, July 8th is our Book Club Girl on Air show with Liz Rosenberg on which we'll be discussing her novel Home Repair. Set your reminder for the show Wednesday at 7pm EST and return to that same link to listen live on Wednesday.

If you can't make the live broadcast, please feel free to send any questions you may have for Liz (have already heard from one reader!), before 5pm on Tues, to make sure I have them in time, to bookclubgirl AT gmail DOT com. Be sure to watch the video where Liz talks about Home Repair, before the show.

Looking forward to talking to everyone on Wednesday night!

Guest Post from Sally Gunning, Author of Historical "Satucket Novels" The Widow's War and Bound

Today's guest post comes from Sally Gunning, author of The Widow's War and Bound, which was recently released in paperback. In her "Satucket novels," as Geraldine Brooks has dubbed them, Gunning writes about 18th century Massachusetts. In The Widow's War she wrote about the widow Lyddie Berry, a whaler's wife living in Cape Cod and in Bound she tells the story of Alice Cole, an indentured servant. I identify with Gunning below, when she talks of her fascination with indentured servitude. From the time I learned of this type of slavery in elementary school, I have long been interested in learning more about it and how it worked in 18th century America. A friend of mine recently contacted me to see if Gunning could speak to her book group as they had just read The Widow's War and I thought I'd ask her to write something for all of you, about the background to her most recent novel. The paperback edition of Bound includes several interesting new materials, including the original court documents that inspired the novel: arrest warrants, witness depositions, the jury verdict, and more. Read on to learn how Gunning came to write Bound. Be sure to check out the Bound reading guide, and if you are interested in inviting Sally Gunning to speak to your reading group by phone, email her at bookmail AT comcast DOT net. Be sure to visit her website for more information as well.

Many book clubs ask me what compelled me to write the story of Alice Cole.  In the course of some historical research that took me through a number of seventeenth and eighteenth century Cape Cod wills I discovered that slavery was widely practiced and little acknowledged in this part of the country.  My there’s-a-book light bulb went off; I felt that this particular part of New England’s history deserved to see the light of day.  But as I discussed the subject with my brother he said, “All the slaves weren’t black, you know,” reminding me of a related subject that had long interested me and greatly influenced the make-up of New England: indentured servitude.  I also remembered that I’d come across an intriguing story of an indentured servant in researching my previous historical novel, The Widow’s War.

Diarist Benjamin Bangs of Harwich (formerly Satucket, now Brewster) made the following notation in his diary in 1764, referencing a former indentured servant who had given birth to an illegitimate child while alone, and the child died.  In that era a single woman in such circumstance was almost always charged with infanticide, the assumption being that she would have killed the child to hide the crime of fornication.  The diary passage reads:

[July] 10: Tuesday: wind SW: hot: I went in my chaise with my wife to Bass ponds  visited Mrs Kelly and dind then went to see :Hannah: the black girl we brought up: who has had a bastard child alone at tom Ralphs: the [grand] jury brot in that the child died for want help  she is in fitts and weak and almost dead  an object of pity  the sheriff Stone has put a guard over her and intends to put her in goal if she lives  She lies lamenting her folly when sencible.

Several things intrigued me about this passage: first, of course, was the fact of the pending infanticide charge, but second, the fact that Bangs refers to this indentured servant as “the black girl we brought up,” as if she were almost a member of his family, even going to visit to her in her time of distress.  The literature on indentured servitude is filled with tales of abusive masters, but Benjamin Bangs was clearly of another type.

Even though Hannah was not one of the “white slaves” (Bangs alternately refers to her as “Indian Hannah” or “Black Hannah”) I decided to see what I could find out about her, and was fortunate to be able to locate the files for the case of “Hannah Nutup, a spinster from Yarmouth” in the archives of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.  The record contained three depositions from the women who arrived at the scene, each almost identical to the one by Sarah Burgess, Hannah’s arrest warrant, grand jury indictment, and trial jury verdict.

In reading the record of Hannah’s trial I knew that this was a story I wished to tell.  But as I began to talk to various people about indentured servitude I discovered that  although they all knew plenty about the exploitation and enslavement of Africans and Indians, few were familiar with the “white slaves.”  I decided I might best illuminate this unknown part of our history by creating as my main character a young white girl who came into service the same way so many of them had: she was bound out by her father in order to help pay for the family’s costly passage to America, a legal practice as long as the child had reached seven years of age.

So Alice Cole was born, and although her life converges with Hannah’s in some of its details, it sometimes diverges dramatically, and in at least one instance to Alice’s greater advantage: her path crosses that of someone the readers of my previous historical novel will recognize: the widow Lyddie Berry.

Book Club Girl on Air Welcomes New York Times Bestselling Author Garth Stein!

I am THRILLED to announced that on Wednesday, July 22nd, I'll be joined on air by Garth Stein to discuss his bestselling novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain. I can't wait for this show. Art of Racing in the Rain is a heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope—a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it. This book has touched so many hearts, I think it's going to be a fantastic conversation.

 I know many of you are fans of the book already and hope you'll be able to join us on July 22nd at 7 pm EST. For those who have yet to meet Enzo, I also have 10 copies of the book to give away. The first 10 people to comment that they'd like to participate in the live broadcast on the 22nd (by online chat or by phone) will win!

Set your reminder for the show with Garth Stein and share it with a friend! Be sure to visit Garth Stein's website and check out the reading group guide and interviews with Garth -- you can even submit a photo of your own dog!

In Case You Missed it, Movie Adaptation of Jodi Picoult's Book Group Favorite My Sister's Keeper Opened Yesterday

I'm feeling a bit remiss that I neglected to post the trailer for My Sister's Keeper, by far the most popular Jodi Picoult novel read by your book clubs, until today. The film opened yesterday, so send the husband and kids to Transformers or Up (though you should also see Up, it's WONDERFUL) and go see My Sister's Keeper with your book club. Then chat it out to see if you think the movie did the book justice. Good lord, this trailer just made me cry:

Listen to Last Night's Show with Marisa de los Santos Now!

Listen to the great show we had last night with Marisa de los Santos, discussing her book Belong to Me, now! Thanks to Marisa for joining us and to everyone who called in!

Tell Me about Authors Who Have Visited Your Book Club and You'll Be Entered to Win a Book Club Girl Bag of Books!

So this month my book group has chosen, quite by chance, a book by a local author. We're considering inviting him to join us for our discussion, but before we do, I wanted to hear from all of you about what works well, and what doesn't, when you invite an author to your book group. I'm used to interviewing authors with on the radio show, but the idea of having someone actually visit our group is obviously much different. Who's had an author visit in person, and if you have, how did you do it? My instinct is to have the group meet first for about 30 minutes and get ourselves somewhat organized and then have him join us after that. Does that make sense to those of you who have hosted an author? There's a bit of added pressure in that I'm the one hosting next month, so I'll also need the house to be really clean. :)

Please send in your stories/comments about having an author visit in person, or on the phone. As incentive, I'll randomly choose one person from all the comments received by midnight Friday, June 26th to win a Book Club Girl totebag of these great hardcover summer reads:

Perfection
by Julie Metz
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
by Katherine Howe
The Lace Makers of Glenmara
by Heather Barbieri
Dismantled
by Jennifer McMahon

Our Book Club Girl on Air Show with Marisa de los Santos is Tuesday Night!

Just a reminder that our show with Marisa de los Santos, where we'll discuss her new novel in paperback Belong to Me, is tomorrow night, Tuesday, June 23rd at 7 pm EST! Set your reminder for the show the link above and return to that same link to listen live on Tuesday night. You can call and ask Marisa questions directly at (347) 945-6149. Remember to turn your computer volume down when you're on the air. You can also participate by sending questions in to the chat room, just be sure to register at Blog Talk Radio ahead of time, so you're ready to go at 7 pm. If you can't participate live, but have questions you'd like to ask, please email them to me at bookclubgirl AT gmail DOT com or post them here. Be sure to check out the reading group guide ahead of time as well. Can't wait to talk to you all tomorrow night!

Twitter LitChat Focuses on Great Book Group Reads, in 140 Characters or Fewer

For those who missed it, today's #litchat conversation on Twitter discussed book groups and what books make for good discussion. Some great points were made and several titles were recommended, from current bestsellers like The Help to older titles like The Sparrow and to historical fiction like Anita Diamant's The Red Tent. The book group I was in at the time had an absolutely wonderful discussion about The Red Tent--though not all of us loved it--and I've found that historical fiction often generates some of the best conversations in my current book group: Pope Joan, The Other Boleyn Girl and Year of Wonders in particular.

Another great idea, proposed by twitterer ErinHere is for clubs to pick two linked books to read over two months like Great Expectations with Mister Pip. In that vein, RebeccaWoodhead recommended reading Jane Eyre along with Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, the latter being the story of Rochester's wife, the so-called "madwoman in the attic." If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it, it's a wonderful literary imagining of the story before Jane Eyre that really makes you think about all your assumptions about men, women and passion. Other great literary pairings include A Christmas Carol and Mr. Timothy and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Wicked.

Check out the litchat stream (or search Twitter by "#litchat") to see all that was discussed. If you're not on Twitter, you'll see what wonderful conversations are happening there. And if you're already on Twitter, you may find some smart new book people to follow!

Book Club Girl on Air Welcomes Liz Rosenberg, Author of Home Repair

We'll have two Book Club Girl on Air Shows in July, after of course, our next show on June 23rd when we'll be joined by Marisa de los Santos who will be discussing her bestselling novel now in paperback, Belong to Me.

For our first show in July--on Wednesday July 8th at 7 pm EST--I'm thrilled to welcome Liz Rosenberg, author of the new novel, Home Repair. In this poignant, lovely, funny and uplifting novel, Rosenberg tells the story of Eve, whose beloved Ivan died thirteen years ago in an automobile accident. Her charming, boyish Chuck has taken a different exit out of her life: hopping into his car in the middle of a garage sale with no forewarning and departing their formerly happy upstate New York home for points unknown. Now Eve's a boat adrift, subsisting on a heartbreak diet of rue, disappointment, and woe--left alone to care for Ivan's brilliant teenaged son, Marcus, and Chuck's precocious, pragmatic nine-year-old daughter, Noni, while contending with Charlotte, her acerbic mother, who's come north to "help" but hinders instead. But life ultimately must go on, with its highs and lows, its traumas and holidays, and well-meaning, if eccentric, friends. A house and a heart in disrepair are painful burdens for a passionate woman who's still in her prime. And while learning to cope with the large and small tragedies that each passing day brings, Eve might end up discovering that she's gained much more than she's lost. This novel of love, family, and survival is an unforgettable introduction to a lyrical, wise, and wonderfully vibrant new literary voice.

I can't wait to talk to Liz, who prior to this novel, has written books for young readers as well as poetry. The first 10 people to comment on this post that they'd like to participate as well will receive a free copy of Home Repair. Set your reminder for the show on July 8th.

In the meantime, browse inside Home Repair and catch up with Rosenberg when she's on tour this summer to promote her book!

Bestselling Book Club Favorite Garth Stein's Art of Racing in the Rain is On Sale in Paperback Today!

I know that a great many of you are already fans of The Art of Racing in the Rain and that some of you even got to meet author Garth Stein in the past year as he has criscrossed the country promoting his amazing novel. Well today the novel is finally available in paperback and Garth will once again set out on an extensive tour to promote it! The book has already become a reading group favorite, and now that it's in paperback, I think it will become a book club staple. For those of you who have yet to experience the sheer page-turning joy of reading this book, here's a description in a nutshell: it is a heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope—a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it. Intriguing, no? Browse inside the book here to see for yourself what everyone is talking about.

Check out Garth's brand-new website which is full of great info and fun stuff. You can download Enzoisms to print on t-shirts and pick up tile ads to put on your blog, facebook or wherever to show and spread the Enzo love with the online buzz kit. There are wonderful resources for book groups including reading group questions, videos, an author interview and more. Sign up for the newsletter and follow and friend Garth on Twitter and Facebook here.

In celebration of Enzo's on-sale day, I have ten copies of the paperback to give away. Here's how you can enter to win:
1) Download an Enzo tile ad from the website and put it on your blog or facebook page (send me a link in the comments)
2) Tweet: "The Art of Racing in the Rain by @garthstein is On Sale in Paperback Today!" with a link back to www.garthstein.com
3) Do both things and get two entries into the random drawing!

The drawing will take place from all entries received by midnight Friday the 12th! Stay tuned for more news on Art...including an upcoming Book Club Girl on Air show with Garth!

In Celebration of the Tonys - Read a Play for Book Club

In Sunday's New York Times, Dwight Garner wrote about sitting down to read the four plays nominated for best play this year, having seen none of the productions. His story reminded me of the joy I once had reading plays. I was an English major who concentrated in drama, so plays were the thing for me. I wrote my thesis on George Bernard Shaw, and first came to love Alan Ayckbourn (whose brilliant Norman Conquests just won best revival of a play!), Noel Coward, Peter Shaffer, Harold Pinter and others by reading them, not by watching productions of their plays. Reading those plays led me to wonderful worlds and on my first literary pilgrimage (to Ayckbourn's Stephen Joseph theater in Scarborough, England the year after I graduated from college). And just this week, I was heartened to hear from my reluctant reader daughter that she LOVES READING SHAKESPEARE.

So I'm not sure why I've never thought to suggest reading a play at book club, especially since there are so many to choose from, and, well not to put too fine a point on it, but they are quick to read! There would really be no excuse for not finishing. I plan to scour my shelves for some good options. In the meantime, of the four examined by Garner, I think that God of Carnage (winner of Best Play tonight), in its examination of two disfunctional marriages whose fissures are revealed when the couples are brought together by an altercation between their sons, would be a terrific book club choice. I plan to pick it up asap (well, right after I finally get my Norman Conquests tickets-still trying to figure out to explain to my husband why I need to see three plays in one day ;)).

Book Club Favorite Lisa See's Shanghai Girls On Sale Now

I feel remiss not mentioning this earlier, but Lisa See's newest novel, Shanghai Girls is now on sale. Her Snow Flower and the Secret Fan became a book club staple when it was published. She followed that with Peony in Love. Now, in Shanghai Girls, See tells the story of Pearl and May Chin, two well-off women living the life in 1937 Shanghai, who are both abruptly married off to men living in America after their father gambles away their family's wealth. Pearl and May are moved to Los Angeles where they face discrimination and Communist witch hunts, while finding themselves hemmed in by Chinatown’s old ways and rules. The sisters are close and there for each other, but like sisters everywhere, they harbor resentments as well as a secret that could change everything. I loved Snow Flower and can't wait to read this one.

Read an excerpt of Shanghai Girls here, catch See on tour near you, and watch a great interview with her about the novel below.

Listen to Deborah Johnson Discuss The Air Between Us Now

Announcing My Next Book Club Girl on Air Show with Marisa de los Santos, author of Belong To Me

I'm thrilled to announce that our next Book Club Girl on Air show will be with Marisa de los Santos, author of the New York Times bestsellers Love Walked In and Belong to Me. Marisa's first novel, Love Walked In, was launched onto the bestseller list in large part because of its adoption by book groups and her latest, Belong to Me, is fast becoming a book club favorite in paperback. In this compelling novel, de los Santos illuminates the leaps of faith and twists of fate from which our human connections are made as she examines the lives of Cornelia Brown, who is newly transplanted to the suburbs, her seemingly perfect neighbor Piper and her feisty and her charismatic new friend Lake. As their stories unfold, the women become entangled in a web of trust, betrayal, love, and loss that teaches them what it means for one human being to belong to another.

Browse inside Belong to Me and check out the reading group guide.

Marisa will join us on Tuesday, June 23rd at 7 pm EST, set your reminder for the show here. The first 15 people who comment that they'd like to participate in the show live on the 23rd will receive a free copy of Belong to Me to read before the show!

And don't forget that this Wednesday June 3rd on an afternoon edition of Book Club Girl on Air, we'll be joined by Deborah Johnson, who will discuss her debut novel, The Air Between Us.

Listen to Kelly Corrigan Discuss The Middle Place Now

Tonight's was an amazing show. Kelly Corrigan was just as compelling on air as she is on the page. Listen in now to the show and you'll also hear from Stephanie over at Stephanie's Written Word who called in (and brought us all to tears). I'm still thinking about so many things Kelly talked about: her reading of C.S. Lewis and exploring issues of faith, how we experience life during and inside a crisis, and how we need to not play games in our marriages, but learn to ask nicely and receive gracefully. I just talked to my husband about that (and he was happy to hear it). We're all looking forward to her new book, Lift, coming out in March 2010. If you're at BEA this weekend, you can attend Kelly's signing at 2 pm on Saturday (though we hope some of you come to the Book Blogger panel at the same time!). The website that Kelly created for people whose friends are going through cancer is CircusofCancer.org. Check it out and listen to the show now.