Book group night was such a successful discussion, we've decided to provide links to free audio clips of the evening. The audio is available to download to your MP3 player or to listen online.

You can listen to clips where we discuss how to select books for your group, how to bring in new members, and how to foster great discussion.

Below you'll find tips we discussed at book group night to foster dynamic discussion in your group.  

How to Initiate Excellent Discussions 

1. Use "reading group guides" provided by publishers.

Reading group guides, as they are frequently called, list a series of questions that can get the discussion going.

 Book Reporter 

A non-publisher source, Book Reporter offers both reading guides and book reviews written by users and readers of the site.   

 EarlyWord 

Targeted specifically to librarians, EarlyWord provides interested readers with a first glance at up-and-coming titles that frequently end up on libraries' waiting lists - and as book group picks. A well-designed site with a regular e-mail newsletter, EarlyWord also includes video clips of author interviews.  

 Penguin 

Penguin's colorful site makes browsing guides by author, title and subject easy! They highlight both hardcover and paperback fiction and non-fiction books.  

 Random House 

A publisher resource, Random House lists its guides by title but also by some unique categories, including banned books, armchair travel, and food writing.  

Reading Group Guides 

Another non-publisher source that recommends recently published books on their front page, they also publish information and tips for starting and running a group and choosing books for your group.  

 Simon & Schuster Reading Group Resources Page  

A publisher resource that lists guides searchable by author, category, imprint and award. They also carry reading guides for young readers.

2. At the start of your meeting, encourage members to state one specific thing they observed about the book.

Move beyond the simplistic, "I liked this book" and "I hated this book." Nothing kills discussion more quickly than unspecific statements. Instead, try for observations like: "I was surprised by the rapidity of the ending, especially in such a long novel" or "I found Juliet to be a completely unlikeable character after she professed her love."

If you are the group or meeting leader, solicit more information from members when they talk about the book. If someone says they found the dialogue unrealistic, ask why. If someone mentions that they had a difficult time finishing the book, see if others had a similar issue.

3. Give space for all members to share.

We've all been there. The loquacious will tell you everything

they thought about the book while everyone else listens. Actively making space for even the most shy and hesitant in your group to share their thoughts can deepen the discussion in new ways. You can ask that everyone share one thing about the book at the beginning of the meeting.

4. Select "meaty" books that lend themselves to discussion.

Sometimes the best path to a great discussion is all in the book. A complicated plot doesn't necessarily equate to sharp discussion - well-developed characters, dramatic tension, and insightful commentary on politics, religion, society or issues of race and gender frequently do.   

Admittedly, with so many books being published each year, it can be hard to find the right one for your group.  Check out our recommendations in each book group e-mail or call (202-364-1919) or e-mail us for suggestions. We're always happy to help.   

5. Try to select one older book every few months.  

As our store motto says, "So many books, so little time." Don't worry about trying to read every hot new title that receives a rave in The New York Times Book Review. Reach back into the the classics to jump-start group discussion and jolt your group with something different. Novels like  John Williams' Stoner or Mary McCarthy's The Group may have been published decades ago but they still hold relevance today.  

6. Bring the author's personal biography into the discussion.  

Often an author's background influences his or her book. Bringing the author's biography into your discussion can open up new channels of conversation that were otherwise overlooked. For example, how does Zadie Smith's bi-racial heritage affect her telling of the multi-cultural modern-day families in White Teeth ?  

7. Approach discussion strategically.  

Think about the various aspects of writing your group can use a springboard into discussion. Some examples for novels include:  

• Why did the author choose the characters that she did? Was there a character you found superfluous to the action? Was there a character you loved or hated? Why?    
  
   
• What is the function of the setting (location and time) to the novel? Could the novel be moved to a different setting and still work? Why or why not? How does the culture of the particular setting influence the events in the book?      
  
   
• Who is telling the story? Is it one character, many characters, or an omniscient narrator who has no stake in the outcome? Why do you think the author elected to tell the book this way? How would the telling of the story change if someone different were telling it? Would the novel take on a different tone? Would the outcome of the events differ?    
  
   
• Are there recurring symbols throughout the novel? What is the author implying? Are they effective? Why or why not?  
  
      
• How did you feel about the ending of the book? Could the author have chosen to end it differently given the story that preceded it? If you could choose an alternate ending, what would it be?  

8. If you've tried everything above and your group is still struggling for discussion, think what your group could do differently.  

Chances are you're not serving enough wine at your meetings. We recommend a good Malbec to loosen everyone up. 

This month, our staff bookseller Liz Sher interviews author Julie Orringer, whose World War II novel, The Invisible Bridge, has been a staff and customer favorite. The novel charts the lives and loves of Hungarians in Paris in the 1930s in fresh and compelling ways. Orringer will read from her novel, recently published in paperback, at our store on Friday, March 18, 7pm.

Liz Sher: I was interested in The Invisible Bridge's pacing. The first half takes place over two years in Paris, the second half encompasses the Second World War. Had you initially imagined a longer book? A different book?

Julie Orringer: I was surprised, too, to discover that the novel's pre-war material equaled its wartime material in length, though in the end it made sense to me that the book would be balanced that way.  I realized that what I wanted to do was to establish the characters' lives-their loves, their desires, their fears and hopes-in detail over the first half of the book, so that we'd feel their losses in the second half.  I found it necessary to make broader leaps through time in the second half; I wanted the novel to reflect the pacing of history itself, in some sense, and there were times when change happened more quickly than others-when Hungary was occupied in March of 1944, for example, and when the men in the labor service were sent to the front lines.   

Liz: I loved the rich historical details in the novel. I adored the Blue Dove, how all of the students flocked to that cafe because you got a biscuit with your tea. The excerpts from the labor camp newspapers were amazing, something I had never encountered before. What were you reading and researching for this book? How did you decide what to include and what to edit out?

Julie: I started the research about six months before I began writing-and didn't finish until the end of the editing process.  A lot of the work involved talking to my grandparents and their siblings and friends, people who'd lived in Paris and Budapest during those years.  Many of their stories I used as jumping-off points for the events of the novel.  I also made long lists of places to visit when I went to Europe myself. There were two research trips to Hungary and France, three years apart-one when my questions seemed infinite and insurmountable, the next when I had more specific research needs.  I spent long hours at libraries and archives, going through old papers and letters and artifacts; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum actually has objects used by the men in the Hungarian labor service.  I read Solzhenitsyn's One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich,Imre Kertesz's Fatelessness, and Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, among others; the New York Times online newspaper archive was a wonderful resource, too.

The Blue Dove was an amalgam of many caf�s I love in Paris, but the free biscuit was a relic of Stella's, my favorite caf� in Ithaca, New York. The labor camp newspapers actually exist.  I came upon them at the National Jewish Archives in Budapest-the archivist pulled down a box of these amazingly well-preserved handmade and hand-colored papers, all of them full of dark humor and wry Hungarian wit, created by labor service inmates.  It was my good fortune to be working with a translator whose sense of humor matched the tone of the papers.

As for what to include and what to edit out, the decisions were endless and near-impossible.  Some of the research tangents were so intriguing as to suggest whole novels in themselves.  The book I'm working on now, about the American rescue worker Varian Fry, originated as an offshoot of my research for The Invisible Bridge.

Click here to read more of Liz's interview with Julie Orringer.  

The Surrendered
by Chang-Rae Lee

 Wench
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

At Tawawa House, white slave owners vacation with their enslaved black mistresses in the years before the Civil War. Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu find solace and friendship over the course of three summers  as the rumors of abolition and the threat of war complicate their lives. To leave is to risk abandoning their children but to stay is to face the emotional and psychological consequences of a life enslaved, no matter how kind the master. This original, haunting debut is based an actual Ohio resort that later became the first black college, Wilberforce University. Perkins-Valdez handles the dynamics between oppressor and the oppressed with deft grace and heart-wrenching emotion.

The Help 

by Kathryn Stockett

Issues of race, gender and class define the lives of three women in Mississippi in 1962 in this original and compassionate debut novel. Skeeter, a socialite with a college degree but without a husband, is considered a failure by her mother. When Skeeter sets out to become a writer, she enlists the help of Aibileen, a black maid who has raised seventeen white children, and Minny, Aibileen's strong-willed and sharp tongued best friend. As their lives intersect in unexpected ways, this poignant and uplifting look at a contentious era in American history will give your group a lot to talk about.  

Forthcoming in paperback in April.