Reading Group Choices Newsletter
Great Gifts for Book Lovers!
Win All Six!
Special Edition: November 2010
Greetings!

This is a special issue of Reading Group Choices' newsletter. The holidays are fast approaching and so is the need to find thoughtful gifts for loved ones. As reading group members know, books make perfect gifts. We have found some great books to give to your friends and family with the help of one of our publishing partners, Doubleday. And, of course, pick one for yourself - the old saying, "one for another, one for me!"

 

Enter for a chance to win one set of all six books - The Books=Gifts Pack

In This Issue
Peek Inside the Illustrated Edition of The Lost Symbol
Music by the Book
A Gift for Animal Lovers
A Love Story
Give a Trip This Holiday
Give Thanks to our Soldiers
My Reading Life

 

Books = Gifts

Peek Inside the Illustrated Edition of The Lost Symbol
 

The #1 worldwide best-seller is now in a beautiful gift edition featuring more the 150 full-color lavish illustrations.

 

The Lost Symbol by Dan BrownDan Brown's record-breaking novel The Lost Symbol weaves a breathtaking trail through the hidden artwork, chambers, tunnels, and temples of our nation's capital. Now the fascinating visuals appear right before your eyes, making for a sumptuous reading experience that brings alive Robert Langdon's heart-stopping race through a little-known Washington, D.C. Revealing a world of ancient mysteries, stunning history, and secret societies, this Special Illustrated Edition unveils a whole new level of intrigue and fascination within The Lost Symbol.

 

A holiday gift for any Dan Brown fan! Read the Conversation Starters, and peek inside the book.

 

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Music by the Book

Listen to your favorite Ol' Blue Eyes' songs, and read James Kaplan's triumphant new biography, Frank: The Voice.  Kaplan's redefines Frank Sinatra and reveals many rarely seen photographs. Brilliant gift for bobby soxers, music lovers, Hollywood watchers!

Frank: The Voice by James KaplanDespite his mammoth fame, Frank Sinatra, the man, has remained an enigma. James Kaplan goes behind the legend and hype in Frank: The Voice to bring alive a force that changed popular culture in fundamental ways and shows us (as one of Frank's famous song goes) how little we know. Frank: The Voice relives Frank's years in brilliant detail. Here at last is the biography that makes you feel like Frank's closest confidante.

"This is biography at its very best--the story of a fascinating character brought to life as never before through superb writing, impeccable research and penetrating insight.  It is a terrific book," says Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals.


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A Gift for Animal Lovers
 

What a Difference a Dog Makes by Dana Andrew JenningsIn What a Difference a Dog Makes: Big Lessons on Life, Love, and Healing from a Small Pooch, Dana Jennings tells the story of his dog, Bijou, and the difference she made in his life. When NYTimes.com blogger Dana Jennings and his son were both seriously ill-Dana with prostate cancer and his son with liver failure-their twelve-year-old miniature poodle Bijou became a healing presence in their lives. After all, when you're recovering from radical surgery and your life is uncertain, there's no better medicine than a twenty-three-pound pooch who brings joy into your life even when it doesn't seem like there's much to be joyful about.

 

"A poodle named Bijou teaches her cancer-stricken master how to savor his life in this heartfelt gift of a book," quotes Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human.

 

Join Dana and Bijou for a walk

 

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A Love Story
 

Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter is a moving testament to the power of love - one not to be missed.

 

Must You Go by Antonia FraserIn this exquisite memoir, Antonia Fraser recounts the life she shared with the internationally renowned dramatist. In essence, it is a love story and a marvelously insightful account of their years together, beginning with their initial meeting when Fraser was the wife of a member of Parliament and mother of six, and Pinter was married to a distinguished actress. Must You Go? is based on Fraser's recollections and on the diaries she has kept since October 1968. Over the years, they experienced much joy, a shared devotion to their work, crises and laughter, and, in the end, great courage and love as Pinter battled the illness to which he eventually suc­cumbed on Christmas Eve 2008.

 

The Library Journal's starred review writes, "A lovely, intimate portrayal of a marriage . . . A wonderful testament to romance, love, shared humor, and true partnership."

 

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Give a Trip This Holiday
 

Venice: Pure City by Peter Ackroyd Venice:  Pure City by Peter Ackroyd is a glittering, evocative, fascinating, story-filled portrait of Venice, the ultimate city. Ackroyd's account embraces facts and romance, conjuring up the atmosphere of the canals, bridges, the churches and the markets, the festivals and the flowers. He leads us through the history of the city, from the first refugees arriving in the fourth century to the rise of a great mercantile state and its trading empire, the wars against Napoleon, and the tourist invasions of today. And the ever-present undertone of Venice's shadowy corners and dead ends, of prisons and punishment, wars and sieges, scandals and seductions.

 

History and context are provided in each chap­ter, but Ackroyd's portrait of Venice is a particularly novelistic one, both beautiful and rapturous.

 

A reader and arm-chair traveler could have no better guide-reading Venice: Pure City is, in itself, a glorious journey to the ultimate city.

 

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Give Thanks to our Soldiers 
 

Reach Out and ReadThis year, you can give thanks to America's service men and women and their families by supporting Reach Out and Read Military Initiative. Donate a book to a soldier's child to help build routines and strengthen family bonds, which are so important to families dealing with separation and deployment. Forty-four military bases participate in the Reach Out and Read program. Share your joy of reading!

 
Thanks for keeping the joy of reading alive,
 

 
My Reading Life
My Reading Life by Pat Conroy 

Pat Conroy's novels have been favorite reading group picks for decades. His stories, including South of Broad, The Great Santini, and Beach Music, have great thought-provoking topics to discuss for hours.

 

Now, My Reading Life by Pat Conroy celebrates his favorite picks! Pat shares stories about the books that he views as the most important influences on his life as a boy, a man, and as one of America's most gifted writers. He has for years kept a notebook in which he notes words or phrases, just from a love of language.


For Pat, read­ing is not simply a pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that reading has saved his life, and if not his life, then surely his sanity.


Atlanta Magazine praises My Reading Life as "his most personal and introspective offering yet...you are in the hands of a master craftsman who happens to be a great storyteller."

 

Reading about Pat's lifetime love of reading is like sitting down with him at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. What a great treat for yourself and any book lover on your list!

 

Visit the author online or on Facebook.

 

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$4.00 

How about this for a great book group gift idea?  Order a copy of Reading Group Choices 2011 for everyone in your group, and save $4.00 per copy off the single copy price!  Now through December 15th, if you order 8 or more copies, you can get them for only $2.95 each.  Order online and choose the stocking stuffer special.  "Mix and match" with previous editions, if you like.

Offer Expires: December 15, 2010