February 2016

Was I the only one who missed seeing the Clydesdale horses clopping their way through a Super Bowl commercial last night? It’s like a tradition was missed!

With thanks to YOU, for a second year we’ve compiled our Reader-generated Best Of 2015 list. (Since it’s happened twice, can we now call this our tradition?) We asked you which books you read and loved in 2015, both with your group and for your personal reading. Clearly you all had your favorites beyond those in your discussions. ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, Anthony Doerr’s historical fiction knockout, came in high on both lists, as did Kristin Hannah’s THE NIGHTINGALE. Clearly books based on World War II continue to resonate with readers. After that, though, the lists diverge: Sue Monk Kidd’s THE INVENTION OF WINGS and Daniel James Brown’s THE BOYS IN THE BOAT got top-billing for discussion books, while Paula McLain’s CIRCLING THE SUN was a top pick for solo reading, perhaps as you prepare to select it for group reading. Click here for the full results. And thank you to everyone who participated!

With your selections in mind, in our latest poll we want to know which of the top 15 Best Of Group Picks you’ve read with your group. Click here to let us know.

We’ve also updated our Most Requested Guides for 2015. Emily and I took a look at all of the requested guides for 2015, and from there we pulled together two lists. One for New Favorites (books that were published in hardcover or paperback in the last three or so years) and a second for Ongoing Favorites for books published a bit longer ago in hardcover or paperback that still rank high with our readers. We love seeing what resonated with you!

Reminder that while we used to post the Most Requested Guides each month, we stopped that in early 2015. We instead are encouraging you to read what other book groups are reading each month in our “What’s Your Book Group Reading?” feature. There, you’ll not only find the group selections, but also a bit about the demographics of the group that selected a title. This gives you the opportunity to peruse selections that may be a good fit for your group. We like reading these each month as this feature give us a small window into what’s going on with your book groups!

With that in mind, we are happy to announce that our February prize selection for "What's Your Book Group Reading?" is the love-themed ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes. We selected this with some special timing in mind. Last week the trailer for the movie adaptation of ME BEFORE YOU (in theaters June 3rd) was released and had us all pretty emotional at the office as we viewed it. (From what I saw this morning close to 2,000,000(!) already have seen it; we call that rabid enthusiasm!) We cannot wait for the movie to hit theaters in June, so in anticipation of that we’re featuring the heartbreaking bestseller as the prize in our “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” Contest to give your group time to enter to win and read it before the movie hits theaters. Our mantra: Read the book first!

ME BEFORE YOU is the story of Louisa Clark, an unmotivated young woman, whose whole life changes --- for better and for worse --- when she takes on the job of caretaker to moody quadriplegic Will Traynor. Now is the perfect time to read the book with your group before the movie comes out. As usual, we’re giving three groups the chance to win 12 copies. Let us know what your group is reading this month by Wednesday, March 9th at noon ET for your chance to win. Consider this our valentine to you!

Again in the spirit of giving, we would like to introduce you to a new website, Signature, with some pretty neat prizes as part of their launch. Signature is the latest news source with a literary slant that also includes Word to Film news. They’re kicking things off over there with Signature-Reads.com’s Winter Reading Essentials Sweepstakes, a giveaway perfect for readers looking to spend some cozy nights at home with some terrific reads. One grand prize winner will receive five buzzworthy books, a cotton herringbone blanket from Kaufmann Mercantile, a pair of Warby Parker glasses, and a $25 Starbucks gift card. Now that is one very cool prize! Books with the perfect accoutrements. Enter now!

Back to our site, where we’re celebrating the March 1st release of Libby Fischer Hellmann's JUMP CUT --- the exciting fifth installment in her award-winning Ellie Foreman Mystery Series --- by giving 50 readers the chance to win a copy of the book. We’ve featured contests for Libby’s books in the past, and you have been enthusiastic about her work. She hasn’t written a new Ellie Foreman book in over a decade, and now Ellie's back and better than ever! Click here to enter by Wednesday, March 9th at noon ET. Additionally, to spread the word and get this thriller into the hands of as many readers as possible, Libby will visit 50 book groups via Skype. Click here to visit Libby’s website to find out how your group can enter for a chance to be one of the lucky 50!

We’re excited to feature the guide for Mary Glickman’s AN UNDISTURBED PEACE. Abrahan Bento Sassaporta Naggar, Dark Water of the Mountains, and a black slave named Jacob --- a trio of outsiders linked by unrequited and rekindled love --- find themselves surrounded by the escalating horrors of President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act. As the US government implements the appalling logistics of transporting the Native American tribes of the South to the western side of the Mississippi River, Abe tries desperately to intervene --- and Jacob and Dark Water fight for their lives. Click here for the featured guide. We also have a Q&A with Mary, which you can see here.

We’re excited to share news that the aforementioned Kristin Hannah’s THE NIGHTINGALE has now celebrated a year on the New York Times bestseller list. This was a Bets On pick when I first read it back in February 2015, and it was on so many year-end Best Of lists. It also won the Goodsreads Best Historical Novel award and the People’s Choice Award for Best Fiction! My mom’s book group read it last week, and she shared that “they had the very best discussion of it. One member said she thought it was the best book we've ever read. They took the discussion to all different levels, and many had personal experiences on the subject. We went way over the usual discussion time." In honor of this great milestone, we're once again featuring the guide, which you can see here.

The new year means plenty of book-to-screen adaptations to look forward to, and 2016 is already looking like a strong year for book/movie lovers. We’ve put together our Books on Screen: January – August 2016 bookshelf, featuring some of the films based on our favorite books that will be hitting the big screen in the coming months. This includes riveting action movies (13 Hours, Ben-Hur), romantic films that are not only funny or dramatic (How to Be Single, the aforementioned Me Before You) but also full of butt-kicking heroines and hordes of hungry undead (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), and enough superhero movies to keep the spandex industry in business for a good long time (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War).

February 14th is drawing ever closer…and what better way to celebrate its impending arrival than by entering our 11th Annual Valentine’s Day contest over on Bookreporter.com? Five readers will win six love-themed books, along with some sinfully delicious Ghirardelli chocolates. If this prize package sounds too good to pass up, then you’ll need to fill out this form by Tuesday, February 16th at noon ET for a chance to win some post-Valentine’s Day goodies.

My 2016 reading is off to a great start. Already, I have SIX Bets On titles to share with you. The most recent are THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE, Melanie Benjamin’s dazzling new book about New York’s “Swans” of the 1950s --- and the scandalous, headline-making and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley (we just added a discussion guide for this) and ORPHAN X, Gregg Hurwitz’s game-changing thriller (I’m enjoying the audiobook right now after reading the book in an early galley months ago), and. Click on each title to see why I’m betting you’ll love it, and click here to catch up on all my latest Bets On picks.

In May, I am going to be interviewing Fredrik Backman, author of A MAN CALLED OVE, at BookExpo America (BEA) in Chicago. The feel-good book was an instant bestseller and turned its Swedish blogger-turned-author into an overnight sensation, as well as book group favorite. I have not read it yet, but if you have and you have a question you would like me to ask Fredrik, feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].

On April 29th at the Random House Reader Day, I will be interviewing Dawn Tripp, the author of GEORGIA, which is the latest Pennie’s Pick from Costco. Along with Dawn on this panel will be the aforementioned Melanie Benjamin and Helen Simonson, the author of MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND, and the upcoming THE SUMMER BEFORE THE WAR, which will be on sale on March 22nd.

For those of you who have attended the Book Group Speed Dating sessions at BEA in New York the past few years, please note we will be taking the event on the road to Chicago where the BEA show is this year. The event will be held on Friday, May 13th. In the next day or so, we will be sending out signup information to those who have attended this event in the past. We also will have a signup ad posted on ReadingGroupGuides.com. We look forward to seeing BEA attendees there.

It’s been a VERY busy start to the new year, with lots more to come. May we ask that you share this newsletter with other members of your book group, and those at your local bookstore or library, who you think may have an interest in it?

Here’s to a great discussion for your group this month!

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping for books, if you use the store links below, ReadingGroupGuides.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
 

Each month, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. Note: To be eligible to win, let us know the title of the book that YOUR book group is CURRENTLY reading, NOT the title we are giving away.

Love is in the air this month! In anticipation of the movie adaptation --- which hits theaters in June --- this month's prize book is ME BEFORE YOU, the heartbreaking #1 New York Times bestseller by Jojo Moyes. Louisa Clark takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. When she learns of his shocking plans to end his own life, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, March 9th at noon ET.

ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes (Fiction)
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life --- steady boyfriend, close family --- who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life --- big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel --- and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy --- but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A Love Story for this generation, ME BEFORE YOU brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common --- a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks: What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
-Click here to watch the trailer for the film adaptation.
 

We are celebrating the March 1st release of Libby Fischer Hellmann's JUMP CUT --- the exciting fifth installment in her award-winning Ellie Foreman Mystery Series --- by giving 50 readers the chance to win a copy of the book. To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, March 9th at noon ET.

Additionally, to spread the word and get this thriller into the hands of as many readers as possible, Libby will visit 50 book groups via Skype. Click here to find out how your group can enter for a chance to be one of the lucky 50!

JUMP CUT: An Ellie Foreman Mystery by Libby Fischer Hellmann (Mystery)
Chicago video producer, Ellie Foreman, has been absent from thriller author Libby Fischer Hellmann’s repertoire for almost a decade. Now she’s back…and soon entangled in a web of espionage, murder and suspicion that threatens to destroy what she holds most dear.

Hired to produce a candyfloss profile of Chicago-based aviation giant, Delcroft, Ellie is dismayed when company VP Charlotte Hollander, the architect of a new anti-drone system for Delcroft, trashes the production and cancels the project. Ellie believes Hollander was spooked by shots of a specific man in the video footage. But when Ellie arranges to meet the man to find out why, he’s killed by a subway train before they can talk. In the confusion, she finds a seemingly abandoned pack of cigarettes with a flash drive inside that belonged to the now dead man.

Ellie has the drive’s contents decrypted, but before long she discovers she’s under surveillance. Suspecting Delcroft and the ambitious Hollander are behind it, she’s unconvinced when Hollander tells her the dead man was a Chinese spy. Ellie and her boyfriend Luke try to find answers, but they don’t realize how far they ventured into the dangerous echelons of hidden power where more lives are on the line, including theirs.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
 

AN UNDISTURBED PEACE by Mary Glickman (Historical Fiction)
Mary Glickman’s sweeping historical novel is the story of a trio of outsiders who will each be profoundly affected by the Indian Removal Act. There is Abrahan, a young Jewish immigrant who must live in indentured servitude to his uncle until his debts have been fulfilled. In his peddler’s travels, Abe falls madly for Dark Water, the daughter of a powerful Cherokee chief, now in exile. Then there’s Dark Water’s estranged lover Jacob, a black slave, accused of the murder of a white man.

Linked by love and friendship, Abe, Dark Water and Jacob face the horrors of President Jackson’s Indian Removal Act as the tribes of the South make the grueling journey across the Mississippi River and into Oklahoma.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read a Q&A with the author.
 

THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah (Historical Fiction)
In love we find out who we want to be.

In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious 18-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. THE NIGHTINGALE tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France --- a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

Now celebrating a year on the New York Times bestseller list!

-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
-Click here to read a Q&A with the author.
-Click here to read why Carol chose it as a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection.
 

Signature, the latest news with a literary slant, wants you to bundle up and hunker down with your very own set of cozy reading essentials, including:

• 5 buzzworthy books
• A cotton herringbone blanket from Kaufmann Mercantile
• A pair of Warby Parker glasses ($95)
• A $25 Starbucks gift card

Our latest Sneak Peek Feature spotlights THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER by Phaedra Patrick, a poignant and curiously charming debut about a lovable widower who embarks on a life-changing adventure. The book doesn’t release until May 3rd, but we have 35 advance copies to give away to readers who can commit to previewing it and sharing their comments on it by Friday, April 1st. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, February 11th at noon ET.

For our Sneak Peek program, your commitment to participate is critical, so please only enter this contest if you truly will have time to read THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER and give us your feedback by the April 1st deadline.

THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER by Phaedra Patrick (Fiction)
Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden.

But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam’s death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam’s possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he’s never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife’s secret life before they met --- a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places.

Featuring an unforgettable cast of characters with big hearts and irresistible flaws, THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER is a joyous celebration of life’s infinite possibilities.

-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Phaedra Patrick’s bio.
-Click here to visit Phaedra Patrick’s official website.
-Connect with Phaedra Patrick on Facebook and Twitter.
 

We have 35 copies of THE WIDOW by Fiona Barton to give away to readers who would like to read the book, which releases on February 16th, and share their comments on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, February 11th at noon ET.

THE WIDOW by Fiona Barton (Psychological Thriller)
For fans of GONE GIRL and THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, an engrossing and thrilling debut novel of psychological suspense from a major new talent.

There's a lot Jean hasn't said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment.

Now her husband is dead, and there's no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were secrets. There always are in a marriage.

The truth --- that's all anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything...

-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Fiona Barton’s bio.
-Click here to visit Fiona Barton’s official website.
-Click here to connect with Fiona Barton on Twitter.
 

At Bookreporter.com, we are kicking off 2016 with our second annual Winter Reading Contests and Feature. On select days between now and February 19th at noon ET, we are hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter and giving five lucky readers a chance to win it. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.

Our current prize book is GEORGIA: A Novel of Georgia O'Keeffe by Dawn Tripp. To enter, please fill out this form by Tuesday, February 9th at 11:59am ET.

This year's featured titles include:

• ANGELS BURNING by Tawni O'Dell
• CALMING THERAPY: An Anti-Stress Coloring Book
• DOG LOVE by Ann DeVito
• THE FLOOD GIRLS by Richard Fifield
• THE FRIENDS WE KEEP by Susan Mallery
• GEORGIA: A Novel of Georgia O'Keeffe by Dawn Tripp
• INSIDE THE O'BRIENS by Lisa Genova
• ORPHAN X by Gregg Hurwitz
• A PLACE FOR US by Harriet Evans
• PRETTY BABY by Mary Kubica
• SEIZED: The Profiler, Book 3 by Elizabeth Heiter
• UNBECOMING by Rebecca Scherm
• AN UNDISTURBED PEACE by Mary Glickman
• THE VATICAN PRINCESS: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia by C. W. Gortner
• A VOICE FROM THE FIELD by Neal Griffin
• THE WONDER GARDEN by Lauren Acampora

Last year brought us some great books on screen (including plenty of award contenders), and it's looking like 2016 will be just as exciting.

We can look forward to riveting action movies (13 Hours, Ben-Hur), romantic films that are not only funny or dramatic (How to Be Single, Me Before You) but also full of butt-kicking heroines and hordes of hungry undead (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), and enough superhero movies to keep the spandex industry in business for a good long time (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War). Fans of beloved children's fiction won't want to miss adaptations of THE BFG, THE JUNGLE BOOKS and THE LITTLE PRINCE, not to mention all the high-profile YA movies that will be hitting the big screen (The 5th Wave, Allegiant). If presidential election years get you in the mood for political entertainment, you can count on movies like Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and Snowden to scratch that particular partisan itch. And fans of Alexander Skarsgård's abs will see their dreams become a reality this summer when the stunning swede dons a loincloth in The Legend of Tarzan.

They weren't kidding when they said there's going to be something for everyone this year. Happy Sweet '16! Now get out there and see some books on screen!
 

Valentine's Day is only a few heartbeats away. We can't think of a better way to celebrate this special day than to cuddle up with your loved one...and a good book, of course! We're giving readers the chance to win one of our five Bookreporter.com Valentine's Day prize packages, which includes one copy of each of our featured books and some delicious Ghirardelli chocolate. Enter here between now and Tuesday, February 16th at noon ET for your opportunity to be a lucky (and beloved!) winner.

If you're feeling frisky, share with us your all-time book character crush. Don't be shy, we all got 'em! We'll post the top 10 literary loves and lusts --- along with the five winners --- right after Valentine's Day, so please be on the lookout!

This year's featured titles are:

• ANYTHING FOR YOU: A Blue Heron Novel by Kristan Higgins
• THE ARRANGEMENT by Ashley Warlick
• A GIRL’S GUIDE TO MOVING ON by Debbie Macomber
• NO BAGGAGE: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering by Clara Bensen
• POSSESSED BY PASSION by Brenda Jackson
• WICKED SEXY LIAR by Christina Lauren

THE THINGS WE KEEP by Sally Hepworth (Fiction)
I first discovered Sally Hepworth with her book, THE SECRETS OF MIDWIVES. I knew then that she was an author to watch. In THE THINGS WE KEEP, Sally creates a terrific multi-layered story with interesting characters. In it, Anna Forster is just 38 years old and in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. She moves into Rosalind House, an assisted living facility, where she can be kept safe as her mind unravels. There she finds Luke, a resident who is close to her age, whose mind is unraveling with another disease. Love is an emotion that overrides the loss of memory, and Anna draws closer and closer to Luke.

-Click here to read more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
-Click here to read a Q&A with the author.


ORPHAN X by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller)
ORPHAN X is the start of a new series for Gregg Hurwitz, and it’s fabulous. In it, Evan Smoak is a guy with a dangerous past. He was an orphan, and as a child was recruited into a deep-dark black box program called Orphan. He was the 24th recruit, hence his moniker X. He broke from the program and instead has now become a vigilante known as The Nowhere Man. But someone from his past is on to him and is out to get him.

-Click here to read more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.


THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE by Melanie Benjamin (Historical Fiction)
I read --- and swooned over --- THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE by Melanie Benjamin. It’s a juicy story of the friendship between Truman Capote and socialite Babe Paley. Her friends, known to Truman as “the Swans,” included Slim Keith, C. Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness and Pamela Churchill. Melanie’s editor advised in the note that accompanied the early copy I read that I would find myself googling all the characters --- and she was so right. I remember some of these bold-faced names from my Conde Nast days. They were splashed on the pages of Women’s Wear Daily, and their names adorned the Styles sections of the New York Times. They were elegant women, who married well and lived in a style that always had heads turning --- classy socialites who were envied by many. Their backstories will remind us that money is not everything and that shiny veneers can easily be scraped away.

-Click here to read more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
-Click here to read a Q&A with the author.
-Click here for the guide.
 

The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

THE EVENING SPIDER by Emily Arsenault (Fiction)
A gripping blend of psychological suspense and historical true crime, this riveting novel --- inspired by a sensational real-life murder from the 1800s --- by critically acclaimed author Emily Arsenault delivers a heart-stopping mystery linking two young mothers from different centuries.

THE GOLDEN SON by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (Fiction)
The New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of SECRET DAUGHTER returns with an unforgettable story of family, responsibility, love, honor, tradition and identity, in which two childhood friends --- a young doctor and a newly married bride --- must balance the expectations of their culture and their families with the desires of their own hearts.

THE HEART by Maylis de Kerangal, trans. by Sam Taylor (Fiction)
An international bestseller --- THE HEART takes place over the 24 hours surrounding a fatal accident and a resulting heart transplant as life is taken from a young man and given to a woman close to death.

JUMP CUT: An Ellie Foreman Mystery by Libby Fischer Hellmann (Mystery)
Chicago video producer Ellie Foreman is back…and soon entangled in a web of espionage, murder and suspicion that threatens to destroy what she holds most dear.

MOONLIGHT OVER PARIS by Jennifer Robson (Historical Fiction)
An aristocratic young woman leaves the sheltered world of London to find adventure, passion and independence in 1920s Paris in this mesmerizing story from the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE and AFTER THE WAR IS OVER.

THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE by Melanie Benjamin (Historical Fiction)
The New York Times bestselling author of THE AVIATOR’S WIFE returns with a triumphant new novel about New York’s “Swans” of the 1950s --- and the scandalous, headline-making and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley.

AN UNDISTURBED PEACE by Mary Glickman (Historical Fiction)
A trio of outsiders linked by unrequited and rekindled love find themselves surrounded by the escalating horrors of President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act.

THE WIDOW by Fiona Barton (Psychological Thriller)
A loving husband or a heartless killer…she’d know, wouldn’t she? For fans of GONE GIRL and THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, an engrossing and thrilling debut novel of psychological suspense from a major new talent.


Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:

BALM by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Historical Fiction)
The New York Times bestselling author of WENCH returns to the Civil War era to explore the next chapter of history --- the end of slavery --- in this powerful story of love and healing about three people who struggle to overcome the pain of the past and define their own future.

A REUNION OF GHOSTS by Judith Claire Mitchell (Fiction)
Three wickedly funny sisters. One family's extraordinary legacy. A single suicide note that spans a century…

THE UNRAVELING OF MERCY LOUIS by Keija Passinen (Psychological Thriller)
Evocative and unsettling, THE UNRAVELING OF MERCY LOUIS charts the downfall of one town’s golden girl while exploring the brutality and anxieties of girlhood in America.
 

Which of the top 15 books submitted by readers for our Best Of 2015 list have you read with your group? (Please select as many as apply.)

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr
BIG LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarty
THE BOYS IN THE BOAT: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins
THE HUSBAND'S SECRET by Liane Moriarty
THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd
THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS by M. L. Stedman
A MAN CALLED OVE by Fredrik Backman
ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes
THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah
ORPHAN TRAIN by Christina Baker Kline
THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Simsion
THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH by Christopher Scotton
SOME LUCK by Jane Smiley
THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin
None of the above