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It's official... it's October and National Reading Group Month has begun!

In honor of this special month, the National Reading Group Month Selection Committee picks a selection of Great Group Reads.  This year they've chosen 13 books, 12 novels and one memoir.

The titles were selected on the basis of their appeal to reading groups for whom they are bound to open up lively conversations about a host of timely and provocative topics, from the intimate dynamics of family and personal relationships to major cultural and world issues. The Committee also made a conscious decision to focus its attention on under-represented gems from small presses and lesser-known mid-list releases from larger houses. All are books with strong narratives peopled by fully realized characters; books which perhaps have flown under the radar of reviewers and reading groups overwhelmed by the sheer number of new releases each year.

Without further ado, here's this year's list:

Blameby Michelle Huneven (Picador)
The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle (Harper Perennial)
Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship by Cathie Beck (Voice)
Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger (Gallery Books)
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow (Algonquin Books)
Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster Paperbacks)
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli (St. Martin’s Press)
Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden (Picador)
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (Doubleday)
The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin (Harper Perennial)
Roomby Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown)
Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye (Unbridled Books)
Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson (Harper Paperbacks)