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Marsha Toy Engstrom, The Book Club Cheerleader™, has put together a list of Top 10 Book Club Books of 2009, along with suggestions on how to enhance discussions if you select these titles.We don't want to give away the books on the list, but here is some of what you'll find:
Cathy Sherman wrote to tell us about her Kansas book club, which was founded in late 1980. Having joined in 1987, she's "the new girl" and the keeper of the group's blog, Blather, a book club. Today, founder Chris Becicka shares stories about their book club --- how it came to be, the first book they read as a group, what has changed over the years and more. Previous Book Club Longevity Interviews:
For book clubs looking for guidance on memoirs, there is a great resource at hand --- Read On…Life Stories: Reading Lists for Every Taste, which offers brief descriptions of nearly 450 memoirs, from classics like The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin to recent bestsellers like Julie Andrews' Audition.
The Bookers of Henrico, North Carolina, celebrated their 20th anniversary this past September. As part of our series of interviews with members of long-running book clubs, we talk with Carol Weigel about what has kept them reading and discussing for two decades, why The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus made for a memorable discussion...and why they felt compelled to change their group's name.Previous Book Club Longevity Interviews:
When Judy Silver's book club launched, she and her fellow members were new mothers...39 years ago. "We're now grandmothers who still love good literature," says Judy. "We are still going strong in 2009!"Today we talk with Judy about the Thursday Night Book Club, which meets in West Hartford, Connecticut --- what kinds of books they read, how the group is structured, the reading selection process and more.Previous Book Club Longevity Interviews:
In this round-up of book club news, members share anecdotes, advice and recipes. You'll meet a group that thinks not finishing a reading selection is just fine, another that finally decided on a name after meeting for two years, one that has an interesting method for selecting books picks and more.Attleboro Sun Chronicle: A Men's Book Club? You Bet
What makes a reading group stay together for an incredible two decades...and often even longer? Earlier this week we introduced V&C (Vulture and Culture), the first of several book clubs we'll be profiling that have done just that.Today we talk with Mary Healey, who attributes diversity as one of the factors keeping the Farmington Woods Book Group of Avon, Connecticut, reading and meeting for 24 years.
Over the next couple of weeks we're going to be introducing some remarkable book clubs --- ones that have been meeting for at least twenty years. We've asked members to share their insight on how they've been able to keep the momentum going and what recommendations they have for other groups that would like to make it to the two-decade mark...and beyond.
As Brooke and Keith Desserich share in Notes Left Behind, their six-year-old daughter Elena was diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer and died just nine months later. As Elena lost her voice and the ability to walk, she communicated through writing and drawing. Unbenownst to her parents, she was writing notes and leaving them around the house tucking them in between books in the bookcase, the holiday ornament boxes and other places where they would later find them as they moved through their everyday lives.