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A few weeks ago, we received a query from Noreen in Sarasota, FL: "Our book club will be exploring an author's study for February and March. We want to pick one author and two different works to compare them. Do you have any suggestions?  I'm sure other clubs must have done this before."

Last weekend hundreds of book lovers flocked to beautiful historic Savannah, Georgia, for the Ninth Annual Savannah Book Festival. With venues situated around Telfair, Wright and Chippewa Squares, the Savannah Book Festival welcomes both fiction and nonfiction authors and readers of all ages who would like to see their favorite authors and add new titles to their reading lists.

Over the past two months, we polled our readers to find out how you celebrate the holidays with your book groups. We listed four options, as well as an “other” options, because we know how creative our readers can be. You did not disappoint us!

The Miami Book Fair --- which boasts more than 450 authors and 250 publishers in attendance --- is the biggest literary party of November. This year, the eight-day event kicked off on the 15th, and went strong all week and through the weekend. Our intrepid reporter Cristina Vazquez was kind enough to share her thoughts on 2015's Fair, including her favorite panels, some surprising things she learned, and what she’s most looking forward to reading.  

A few weeks ago, Carol spotted a Facebook post from Lisa R. Cohen --- a longtime network news producer/author, who is now at Columbia Journalism School --- about her mother-daughter book group. Mother-daughter groups are not as common as you’d think, and so we immediately seized the opportunity to find out more about this rare group dynamic. Below, Lisa answers our questions about the original incentive to start a group with local mothers and daughters, how the group functioned and evolved through the years, and how the mothers are faring now that their girls (young women?) are all away at college.  

Last Saturday, over 200 fans and readers were invited into Hachette's offices for their annual Book Club Brunch. Boasting a variety of authors, books and snacks, this event is highly anticipated by readers and sells out nearly every year. I had the pleasure of attending with Carol Fitzgerald, former intern Matthew Burbridge, reviewer Vivian Payton, and her friends Mary, Cheryl and Donna.

On Saturday, October 3rd, readers and writers braved the very cool, damp and gloomy weather that followed the threat of a hurricane to attend the second annual Morristown Festival of Books. Focused on celebrating the power of the written word while bringing authors and readers together, the festival featured several fun, informative panels throughout the day as well as author signings and a pop-up bookstore.

As one of this season's most highly anticipated novels, Lauren Groff's FATES AND FURIES is everywhere. I received my copy last week and since then I've seen copies on the subway, in coffeehouses and even in a few restaurants. Focusing on the marriage of Lotto and Mathilde, FATES AND FURIES offers readers to wildly different perspectives of a shared relationship over the course of two decades.

Over my summer staycation I read a number of Young Adult (YA) books. About 15 of them! I remembered why I love this category; tight plotting and typically edgy stories. Here are some that I particularly loved and recommend.  

September is always a big month for new releases and this year has been no exception. This week, I had the pleasure of attending two book launches for some of this season's most highly anticipated books. In my time in publishing, I've found that book launches are a terrific way for readers to interact with authors and get a behind-the-scenes view at how books are written and published. Best of all, readers can even hear their favorite authors read their work aloud and --- if they're lucky --- even snag a signed book or two.