Reading Group Choices Newsletter
New Reads, New Authors, New Genre, New Formats!
Happy New Year!
January 2014

Happy New Year Book Clubbers! Maybe the New Year is a time to expand your group's outlook. In this newsletter, we have picked two wonderful debut novels in niche genres that book clubs often overlook. And we have a special offer to encourage your group to try discussing a book you have listened to, instead of read.

Plus NEW Ladies' Home Journal article, a way remember every book you read and discussible titles that your group can see in movies in 2014.

The Reading Group Choices 2014 printed guide is now available! Order copies for your book group.

In This Issue
Fresh Ideas for Discussion
Upcoming Audiobooks
Ladies' Home Journal Book Club
New Year, New Authors, New Genre
NEW "Spotlight" Book Club
2014 Movies Inspired by Books
Journal Your Readings
Reading Group Choices 2014 Printed Guide
Happy New Year from RGC!
Fresh Ideas for Discussion

 

And Then She Was Gone by Rosalind Noonan 

 

Eleven-year-old Lauren O'Neil vanished one sunny afternoon as she walked home from school. Six years later, her parents Rachel and Dan still tirelessly scour their Oregon hometown and beyond, always believing Lauren will be found. Then one day, the call comes. Lauren has been rescued from a secluded farm mere miles away, and her abductor has confessed. Yet her return is nothing like Rachel imagined. Though the revelations about what Lauren endured are shocking, most heartbreaking of all is to see the bright-eyed, assertive daughter she knew transformed into a wary, polite stranger. Lauren's first instinct is to flee. For years she's been told her parents forgot her; now she doubts the pieces of her life can ever fit together again. But Rachel refuses to lose her a second time. Little by little they must relearn what it means to be a family, trusting that their bond is strong enough to guide them back to each other.  

 

Enter for a Chance to Win a Free Copy!  

 

 

An Unexpected Grace by Kristin von Kreisler 

 

Lila Elliot knows she's lucky. A shooting rampage at her office left several colleagues dead and others seriously wounded. Lila's injuries will heal in time. Yet though she gratefully retreats to her best friend's house to recuperate, Lila can't quite move past her fear and anger. Being drafted into caring for Grace--a shaggy, formerly abused golden retriever--only adds to her stress. Lila has been terrified of dogs since childhood. But Grace, like Lila, needs time and space to recover. Grace keeps her distance, sensing Lila's wariness, and only perks up for Adam, the neighbor who rescued her. Though struggling to make sense of her recent tragedy, Lila, an accomplished artist, begins to see beauty in Grace's wisps of fur and haunted eyes. As Adam points out, Grace, too, has suffered through no fault of her own. And in helping Grace to trust, Lila is being gently nudged toward the courage she needs to do the same.  

 

Enter for a Chance to Win a Free Copy!

 

 

What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman

 

In this stunning new novel, the acclaimed author of The Plum Tree merges the past and present into a haunting story about the nature of love and loyalty--and the lengths we will go to protect those who need us most. Ten years ago, Izzy Stone's mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother's apparent insanity, Izzy, now seventeen, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster parents, employees at the local museum, have enlisted Izzy's help in cataloging items at a long-shuttered state asylum. There, amid piles of abandoned belongings, Izzy discovers a stack of unopened letters, a decades-old journal, and a window into her own past. Illuminating and provocative, What She Left Behind is a masterful novel about the yearning to belong--and the mysteries that can belie even the most ordinary life.   

 

Enter for a Chance to Win a Free Copy!

 

Upcoming Audiobooks

 

Perhaps your book group would like to discuss a book that you all listen to, instead of read, in 2014. It might add a new dimension to your discussion as you compare reactions to the narrator or glean new insights from an inflection. If you would like to try it, we have a suggestion. Since June is AudioBook Month, Reading Group Choices, in conjunctions with Macmillan Audio, will distribute FREE audiobooks of either Jane Green's Tempting Fate or Lisa Scottoline's Keep Quiet to all groups who sign up on our Random Drawing Webpage. Your group will receive the audiobooks at the end of April, giving everyone in your group time to do their listening before your June meeting.

 

Tempting Fate by Jane Green
Read by author

Gabby and Elliott have been happily married for eighteen years. They have two teenaged daughters; they have built a life together. So why does she even look at the handsome guy--ten years younger--at the other end of the bar one night? Gabby is the last person to have an affair--a physical one, at least. But Matt makes her feel sparkling, fascinating--something she hasn't felt in years. Surely there's no harm in continuing a long-distance friendship? Surely there's no harm in an emotional affair? As Gabby steps ever deeper into the allure of attraction and attention, things turn perilous. If she makes one wrong move she could lose everything--and find out what really matters most.

 

Enter to receive free audiobooks to discuss in June


Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline
Read by Ron Livingston

Jake Whitmore is enjoying a rare bonding moment with his sixteen-year-old son, Ryan, when disaster strikes. They get in a terrible car accident that threatens to derail not only Ryan's chances at college, but his entire future. Jake makes a split-second decision that saves his son from formal punishment, but plunges them both into a world of guilt, lies, and secrecy. Just when Jake thinks he has everything under control, a malevolent outsider comes forward with the power to expose Jake's secret and taunts him to the breaking point. Lisa Scottoline's Keep Quiet is the powerful and gut-wrenching tale of the unraveling--and the ultimate redemption--of a family. 

 

Enter to receive free audiobooks to discuss in June

 

Ladies' Home Journal Book Club


In the January Ladies' Home Journal Book Club selection Calling Me Home, debut novelist Julie Kibler tells the story of two unlikely best friends from Texas; Isabelle McAllister, a feeble but sharp witted white woman in her eighties, and her younger sympathetic black hairdresser, Dorrie Mae Curtis. When Isabelle asks Dorrie to drive her to a funeral in "Cincy" Ohio, Dorrie knows that she is the only person with whom Isabelle wants to share the experience--the death of someone of great significance in Isabelle's unspoken past...

Read "Forbidden Love: The Historical Taboo of Biracial Relationships" by Reading Group Choices' Neely Kennedy for discussible topics and themes! 

New Year, New Authors, New Genre!

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon


The Bone Season
introduces a compelling heroine--a young woman learning to harness her powers in a world where everything has been taken from her. It also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a bold new reality in this riveting debut.


Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller


Norwegian by Night introduces an ensemble of unforgettable characters--Sheldon and the boy, Rhea and Lars, a Balkan war criminal named Enver, and Sigrid and Petter, the brilliantly dry-witted investigating officers--as they chase one another, and their own demons, through the wilderness at the end of the world.


NEW "Spotlight" Book Club

Our current "Spotlight" Book Club is The Daily Grind Book Club. Read about their group here.



Become one of our Spotlight Book Clubs!

Spotlight Book Club Email us at info@readinggroupchoices.com with a picture of your book group and description of what makes your reading group unique.

If your book club is chosen, we will send you and your group a box of books to share!

2014 Movies Inspired by Books

A recent  Buzzfeed.com article lists books that will be movies in 2014. Among the 16 book-to-movies are five Reading Group Choices Discussible Picks!

LABOR DAY by Joyce Maynard
Starring: Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin
 Watch Trailer!

Over the course of a Labor Day weekend in the late '80s, 13-year-old Henry and his depressed mother Adele's lives change when they harbor fugitive Frank Chambers at home. Frank fills a fatherless void for Henry and brings out life in Adele, all while the police are on the hunt for the escaped murderer. It's a deeply moving read with unpredictable twists, and Kate Winslet is bound to shine as Adele in the film.

 

 

DARK PLACES by Gillian Flynn
Starring: Chlo� Grace Moretz, Nicholas Hoult, Charlize Theron, Christina Hendricks

Libby Day was 7 when her mother and two sisters were brutally murdered in an event known as "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas." She testified that the person responsible for the cruel acts was in fact her 15-year-old brother, Ben. Fast-forward about 25 years and Libby is approached by the Kill Club, a group of people obsessed with solving notorious crimes. They believe Ben was wrongly accused, and she is eventually sucked into the investigation to uncover the twisted truth. Christina Hendricks plays Charlize Theron's mom, so that should be interesting!  

 

 

GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike

It's Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary when Amy mysteriously disappears. Nick is oddly evasive and evidence is slowly going against him, but did he really kill his wife? Gillian Flynn's novel is packed with suspense, twists, and plenty of emotions. Readers are pretty split on their feelings about the end, but the entire book is definitely thrilling and the movie will probably be just as captivating. 

 

 

UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand
Starring: Garrett Hedlund, Jai Courtney, Domhnall Gleeson

This true story follows Louis Zamperini, a track star from the '30s and a participant in the Berlin Olympics. Zamperini became an airman in WWII and in May of 1943, his plane was shot down, leaving him adrift in the Pacific Ocean with nothing but a raft. Facing starvation, dangerous waters, and a situation in which he is taken prisoner by Japanese forces, this fascinating account is both vivid and powerful. The film is directed by Angelina Jolie.

 

WILD by Cheryl Strayed
Starring: Reese Witherspoon

Twentysomething Cheryl Strayed lost her mother and her marriage all in a short amount of time. Four years later, with nothing to lose, Strayed took an 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail in order to deal with her catastrophic past. This honest memoir is filled with suspense and humor, a journey worth the read. Reese Witherspoon takes on the role of Strayed and she'll probably be her usual charming self.    

 

Journal Your Readings

With The Book Journal in your hands, gone are the days of forgetting the key details of your favorite books. Reading is an adventure that must be chronicled, and The Book Journal brings out the details of your favorite reads.

This book journal is ideal for avid readers, reading groups and students. Months and years from now, it will help you recall forgotten details of your reading experiences.

Reading Group Choices 2014 Printed Guide

The New Year--perhaps a perfect time to recharge and refocus your book club discussions with the help of Reading Group Choices 2014. Here you will find over fifty of the year's best titles, their summaries, critical praise, as well as thoughtful discussion questions for each--titles including Mrs. Poe, The Weight of Small Things and Visit Sunny Chernobyl.  Make your next group get together seamless and relaxing by letting us do the work for you!

Buy a copy for yourself for $6.95, or for book club members for $3.95 each when you order 5 or more!
 
 
Thanks for keeping the joy of reading alive,
 
LogoNwsltr
 
Happy New Year & New Beginnings 
 
  

 

January is a time for new beginnings.

Why not expand your group's outlook a little by reading one of the season's best debut authors or a new genre?  We have picked two newcomers, one in Science Fiction and one in Thrillers, whose fantastic first novels indicate promising careers to come.  The Bone Season is a futuristic take on living with supernatural powers, and Norweigan by Night brings a unique light to war, relationships, time, and memory. We hope that you enjoy, and we are looking forward to seeing what Samantha Shannon and Derek Miller publish next.

 

Or perhaps your book group would like to discuss a book that you all listen to, instead of read. It might add a new dimension to your discussion as you compare reactions to the narrator or glean new insights from an inflection. If you would like to try it, we have a suggestion. Since June is AudioBook Month, Reading Group Choices, in conjunctions with Macmillan Audio, will distribute FREE audiobooks of either Jane Green's Tempting Fate or Lisa Scottoline's Keep Quiet to all groups who sign up on our Random Drawing Webpage. Your group will receive the audiobooks at the end of April, giving everyone in your group time to do their listening before your June meeting.

 

Happy New Year and welcome to new beginnings!

    

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