Greetings!
Join us as the Virginia Festival of the Book hosts discussible authors for reading groups. Book clubs rave about last month's lively discussions. Authors offer new ideas. Films of book club favorites. All this and more in this month's Reading Group Choices newsletter! |
New Author Posts in On the Bookcase |
Claudia Sternbach, author of Reading Lips, writes that she realized that "at most big moments in life there is a kiss. Romantic or maternal. Daring or unasked for. Appropriate or not even close."
St. Patrick's Day Question: Is it a curse or a blessing to be labeled "an Irish writer?" Aine Greaney, author of Dance Lessons, weighs in.
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Last Chance for $100! |
This is your last chance to win $100 for your book group - if you and everyone in your group hasn't already completed the Favorite Discussible Book Survey, do it now. Five lucky groups will win $100 to spend any way they like for their group!
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Latest Picks |
Gretchen Rubin recounts the year she dedicated trying to be happy in The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean my Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. "The days are long, but the years are short," Gretchen realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." The Happiness Project is a test-drive through studies and theories about how to be happier with humorous details of her journey. Terry Hong of the Christian Science Monitor writes, "An enlightening, laugh-aloud read. . . . Filled with open, honest glimpses into [Rubin's] real life, woven together with constant doses of humor."
See Gretchen Rubin in an interview with Bethanne Patrick of The Book Studio
In honor of Women's History Month, here's a great book for you. Stephanie Staal's Reading Women traces her journey back to her old-self -- curious and ambitious, zany and critical. When Stephanie first read The Feminine Mystique in college, she found it "a mildly interesting relic from another era." But more than a decade later, Staal rediscovered Betty Friedan's classic work-and was surprised how much she identified with the laments and misgivings of 1950s housewives. Stephanie set out on a quest: to reenroll at Barnard College and re-read the great books by and about women. Reading Women explores the classics works, highlighting the ideas that are still relevant today. "Reading Women is terrific. Stephanie Staal's exploration of the great texts of the women who have walked before us is fresh, funny, and a wise reminder that now, more than ever, we need to feed the feminist within, "writes Katie Crouch, author of the New York Times-bestselling Girls in Trucks.
Return with Rachael Herron to the town of Cypress Hollow-site of her debut, How to Knit a Love Song-and learn How to Knit a Heart Back Home. It's a joyous tale of a fiery independent lady whose life interweaves with a bad-boy ex-cop's and the shared mission that knits their hearts together. Library Journal writes, "In her engaging sequel to How To Knit a Love Song, Herron revisits the community of Cypress Hollow and its familiar faces as well as new characters who are as entertaining as they are complicated...."
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Great Books |
The Great Books Chicago Conference is scheduled for April 28th to May 1st, with this year's theme In the Beginning. It explores how the beginnings of things allow us to look backwards and forwards at the same time, leading to insights about how we came to be what we are and where we might be going-whether by choice or by fate.
Meet thoughtful readers and enjoy lively discussions of great classics including the Book of Genesis, Brave New World, and Willa Cather's novella, Tom Outland's Story. Join in the conversation about beginnings in literature, in human communities, and in the physical world, in all their rich complexity.
Register now: online or call 1-800-222-5870, ext. 1. Reading Group Choices supports The Great Book Foundation and thanks them for keeping the joy of reading alive.
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Indie's Choice Book Awards |
The American Booksellers Association announced the finalists for the 2011 Indies Choice Book Awards. Independent booksellers will vote and the winners will be announced on April 7. This year's winners and finalists will be honored at ABA's Celebration of Bookselling Author Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, May 24. From their list, what books would you pick as winners? Let us know on the RGC Facebook page. You might win some free books! |
Books to Movies |
The Oscars are behind us but we are still talking movies. Let's look at some upcoming book-adaptation films.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront� will hit theaters March 11th. Don't think we need a summary of this title! Bront�'s novel is considered ahead of its time-abounding with social criticism. In spite of the dark, brooding elements, it has a strong sense of right and wrong, of morality at its core. Mia Wasikoska portrays Jane and Michael Fassbender as Edward Rochester with Judi Dench as Alice Fairfax.
See the Trailer
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen was adapted and will be released as a movie by the same name on April 22th. Gruen's historical novel centers on circus worker Jacob Jankowski, Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star, and an elephant name Rosie. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival. Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson are the leading couple.
See the Trailer
The film adaption of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged will be released on April 15th. The expansive mystery novel is based on the ideas that when the individual is not free to create he is doomed, that civilization cannot exist where men are slaves to society and government, and that the destruction of capitalism leads to the collapse of society. The initial movie in a planned trilogy, starring Taylor Schilling (Dagny Taggart), Grant Bowler (Henry Rearden) and Matthew Marsden (James Taggart).
See the Trailer
In One Day by David Nicholls, Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew meet for the first time on the night of their college graduation on July 15, 1988. The next day, they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? One Day revisits Dexter and Emma every year on the anniversary of their first night together-a snapshot of a particular time and place. One Day is a funny/sad love story spanning twenty years, a book about growing up-how we change, how we stay the same. Anne Hathaway plays Emma and Jim Sturgess plays Dexter; the release date is July 8th.
Kathryn Stockett's tale, The Help, will be released on August 12th. The novel chronicles the conflicted relationships between black housekeepers and their white employers in a pre-Civil-Rights-era Mississippi. Three women come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. Skeeter (Emma Stone), Minny (Octavia Spencer), and Aibileen (Viola Davis) start a movement that will change their sleepy town forever. The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
NPR's Monkey See blog has several more upcoming movies that were adapted from books. How many will you see?
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Your Own Discussible Choices | There were so many good choices and unique comments about your last book discussions that we had to choose TWO winners of the "Box 'O Books" this month!! So congratulations to Barbara and The Groton Public Library Book Club AND to Lena and The Chalice Readers for winning the random drawings for this month's Discussible Book Choices!
"Our group had quite a lively discussion about Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. Some members really disliked the book and others really liked it--this always seems to lead to a much more animated discussion than when everyone loves the book. I loved it; it's a bit creepy, imaginative, and explores the lengths to which people will go in the name of love. Not to mention, now I absolutely have to visit Highgate Cemetery in London, as it is presented so intriguingly in the novel."
Barbara, The Groton Public Library Book Club, Groton, CT
"At our last book club gathering we discussed Game Change by John Heilmann and Mark Halperin. It's full of juicy gossip, amazing unknown facts about top political figures, and unbelieveable information about the 2008 election race that will shock the reader. It is a non-fiction book that reads like fiction. We loved it!"
Lena, The Chalice Readers, Escondido, CA
We enjoy hearing from book club members and sharing their choices with everyone. Please let us know about your group's discussible choices - you may win a book-related prize for every member of your reading group!
More Discussible Choices
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Reading Group Choices 2011 Has Arrived! |
The print edition, Reading Group Choices 2011: Selections for Lively Book Discussions, is now available! This is our 17th annual print edition, which once again includes reading recommendations of some of the publication industry's best authors. Reading Group Choices 2011 includes over 65 new titles for recommended reading and book group discussion. Titles by such reading group favorite authors as Carlos Ruiz Zaf�n, Syrie James, Barbara Kingsolver, Laura Lippman, Alexander McCall Smith, Anchee Min, and Ann Hood, as well as work from debut authors have been selected for inclusion. The guide also includes valuable resources available to reading groups and book clubs all over the world. To order copies of Reading Group Choices 2011 - or other annual editions from 2008, 2006, 2005, and 2004 - visit the store, email us, or call us toll-free at 1-866-643-6883. Purchase a Copy for Everyone in Your Group |
Thanks for keeping the joy of reading alive,
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VABook! & RGC Host Book Clubs | |
Barbara from Reading Group Choices will be moderating the reading group panel, again, at the Virginia Festival of the Book (VABOOK!) in Charlottesville on Friday, March 18 at 2 p.m. The program will be held at The Central JMRL Library.
Barbara will be bringing notable writers and book club favorite authors, Myla Goldberg (The False Friend, Bee Season), Carolyn Parkhurst (The Nobodies Album, Lost and Found, Dogs of Babel), Tatjana Soli (The Lotus Eaters), and William Cobb (The Last Queen of the Gypsies) as panelists.
"I've been a moderator for this festival for five years and the talent that the organizers put together gets better every year," she says.
Just in the last few weeks, some of guest panelists have created more buzz for their work. Tatjana's Soli's New York Times bestseller The Lotus Eaters is a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for first fiction, and Mandate Pictures just announced Carolyn Parkhurst's acclaimed debut novel from 2003, Dogs of Babel, will be adapted as a dramatic movie starring and produced by Steve Carrell.
The Festival is March 16th through the 20th. Barbara says, "VABOOK! is so enjoyable, offering literary events open to the public. And to add to the festivities, I will bring five 'Big Bags o' Books' for five lucky groups to win at the end of the reading group panel."
The library is located at 201 East Market Street (434-979-7151) in Charlottesville, VA.
Come on down - we will have some bookish fun!
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Fresh Ideas for Discussion |
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More About Reading Group Choices |
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