Recently the drive times on my commute have left a lot to be desired. That said, it’s given me a lot of audiobook listening time. I have just finished listening to SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward, the audio of which is well done with three very strong narrators. Next up is MANHATTAN BEACH by Jennifer Egan. For any of you who are wondering HOW am I going to finish my book group book by the time of the meeting? consider listening. I love that I can nail the pronunciation of character names and locations after I have heard them. Audio also offers a great way to refresh yourself on a book you may have read a while before your discussion.
In our previous poll we asked, “If you don't like a book that you're reading for your book group, what do you typically do?” 52% of you finish the book so you can participate in the discussion, while 29% skim the rest of the book so you can partake in the conversation and 13% stop reading but try to participate in the discussion as much as possible. Click here for all the results. I wonder if listening would enhance the experience for those who are lukewarm on a title.
Our latest poll question asks, “How many of your book group members typically attend a meeting?” Click here to let us know.
One of the nice things about reading with a group is that your reading horizons can be expanded. Diane from Teaneck, NJ, wrote to talk about a book that she thinks is perfect for a book group discussion: "Our book club recently read BECOMING NICOLE, a nonfiction book about a boy who always knew he wanted to be a girl and transgendered on her 18th birthday. This book shows the family's journey to acceptance of this choice for their child and sibling. It gave me a new perspective and understanding of an issue that was not on my radar and on which I was not very informed. For me, this was an excellent book club choice because I read and learned something I would not have approached on my own."
My mom wrote that her group discussed Jodi Picoult’s SMALL GREAT THINGS this month, and the conversation was terrific, with a leader who did a great job. Mom was especially happy about this as she had recommended the book. They vote on titles once a year in her group, and members opt in to lead the discussion, so the titles they picked last June are being read now.
I’d love to hear from you about two topics. Write me with your feedback about one, or the other, or both!
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What is a book that you read with your group that you feel expanded your horizons?
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Share feedback on how your group reacted to a book that you selected, especially if it was something different from the usual fare
MUDBOUND, Hillary Jordan’s 2008 debut novel that won the Bellwether Prize for Fiction and an Alex Award from the American Library Association, will be coming to the big and small screens simultaneously next month, releasing both on Netflix and in select theaters on November 17th. (As someone who prefers to watch films at home, this makes me smile!) The adaptation stars Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke and Mary J. Blige. To celebrate, we’re giving three groups the chance to win 12 copies of the movie tie-in edition of the book in our latest “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest. If you'd like, you then can organize a meeting where you also can watch the film, or you can watch on your own and come together to discuss the book and the movie. I loved this book; it’s the kind of book that eight years later is still memorable.
In MUDBOUND, Jordan explores the unlikely friendship of two brothers-in-arms with different racial backgrounds. It is 1946, and city-bred Laura McAllan is struggling to raise her children on her husband's Mississippi Delta farm. It isn’t long before two young men return from the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura's brother-in-law, is haunted by his memories of combat, while Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm, has come home with the shine of a war hero yet is still considered less than a man in the Jim Crow South. To enter the contest, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, November 8th at noon ET.
In September’s “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest, here are the five books mentioned most frequently as titles that our book groups read: the aforementioned SMALL GREAT THINGS by Jodi Picoult, HILLBILLY ELEGY: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance, THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 by Ruth Ware, A MAN CALLED OVE by Fredrik Backman, and BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate (we just added a guide for BEFORE WE WERE YOURS and have a link to an enhanced one that the publisher created...more on this later). Scroll further down the newsletter to see the Top 15. The three winners in last month's “What’s Your Book Group Reading?” contest, where THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US by Charles Martin was the prize, were Merle and her group from Blue Bell, PA; Terryl and her group from Gardena, CA; and Tibbi and her group from Manlius, NY.
HILLBILLY ELLEGY has been coming up month after month. If you have discussed it, can you share some insights that your group took away?
We’re also giving 10 readers the chance to win a copy of ODD CHILD OUT by Gilly Macmillan, who received an Edgar nomination for her debut novel, WHAT SHE KNEW. In her latest psychological thriller, we are introduced to best friends Noah Sadler and Abdi Mahad, who have always been inseparable. But when Noah is found floating unconscious in Bristol's Feeder Canal, Abdi won’t tell anyone what happened. Detective Jim Clemo is assigned to look into this unfortunate accident. But tragedy strikes, and what looked like the simple case of a prank gone wrong soon ignites into a public battle. Noah is British. Abdi is a Somali refugee. Against this background of fear and fury, two families fight for their sons and for the truth. To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, November 8th at noon ET. Gilly is a very strong thriller writer, one we have been keeping our eyes on!
We have two new featured guides to tell you about. First up is THE DIRTY BOOK CLUB, a new novel for adults from Lisi Harrison, who is best known to YA audiences as the author of the Clique series. M.J. Stark is battling a debilitating sense of loneliness despite her professional and personal successes. So when her boss betrays her and her boyfriend offers her a completely new life in California, she decides to give it a try. Once there, M.J. is left to fend for herself in a small beach town, with her elderly neighbor, Gloria, as her only company. But when Gloria abruptly moves to Paris, M.J. discovers she left behind a mysterious invitation to a secret club that only reads erotic books. M.J. accepts the invite and meets the three other hand-selected club members. As these four strangers bond over naughty bestsellers and the shocking letters they inherited from the original club members, they start to divulge the intimate details of their own lives.
At first you think there’s just one story here, but later you see what Lisi has done so well with her characters. It’s both smart and fun. THE DIRTY BOOK CLUB will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick; you can read my commentary in the October 20th edition of the Bookreporter.com Weekly Update newsletter. In the meantime, please check out the discussion guide here.
Our second featured guide is for THE FIRE BY NIGHT, a debut novel from Teresa Messineo that centers on two American military nurses during World War II. In war-torn France, Jo McMahon tends to six seriously wounded soldiers in a makeshift medical unit. There is a growing tenderness between her and one of her patients, a Scottish officer, but Jo’s heart is seared by the pain of all she has lost and seen. Nearing her breaking point, she fights to hold on to joyful memories of the past, to the times she shared with her best friend, Kay, whom she met in nursing school. At the same time, Kay is trapped in a squalid Japanese POW camp in Manila. She clings to memories of her happy days posted in Hawaii, and the handsome flyer who swept her off her feet in the weeks before Pearl Harbor. Surrounded by cruelty and death, Kay battles to maintain her sanity and save lives as best she can...and live to see her beloved friend, Jo, once more. Click here for the discussion guide.
Three additional guides are part of this update: UNFORGIVABLE LOVE: A Retelling of Dangerous Liaisons by Sophfronia Scott, LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS: A Novel of World War I by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, and the aforementioned BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate. The publisher of BEFORE WE WERE YOURS, Ballantine Books, has created a book club kit that includes a special note and Q&A from Lisa, historical images, food and drink ideas, a music playlist, and questions to guide your discussion. Click here to read more about the book, which was a Bets On pick when it released in June, and to download the kit.
Don’t miss our Reading Roundup and New in Paperback features, which we’ve updated for October. On Bookreporter.com, we have our ongoing Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio contests, where we’re giving away some terrific hardcovers and audiobooks. And we’re nearing the homestretch of Bookreporter.com’s Fall Preview contests, as the last 24-hour giveaway will be posted on Thursday, October 19th at noon ET. More details on these contests and features can be found later in this newsletter.
The Women's National Book Association has designated October as National Reading Group Month. This is the 11th annual celebration, and thousands of readers are expected to take part in activities through traditional and online book clubs and at neighborhood bookstores and local libraries. In honor of this special month, the National Reading Group Month Selection Committee picks a selection of Great Group Reads. Titles are selected “on the basis of their appeal to reading groups, which seek books that open up lively conversations about a myriad of timely and provocative and diverse topics, from the intimate dynamics of family and personal relationships to major cultural and world issues." This year, 20 books were chosen as 2017’s Great Group Reads. Among them are NEWS OF THE WORLD by Paulette Jiles, PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee, THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE by Lisa See, and THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR by Yewande Omotoso. A complete list of the titles can be found here.
EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid is the latest American Library Association (ALA) Book Club Central SJP pick, chosen by Honorary Book Club Central Chair Sarah Jessica Parker. Parker’s second book selection for Book Club Central will be part of the kickoff of the 12th annual National Friends of Libraries Week, an initiative of United for Libraries to be held on October 15-21. The celebration recognizes the advocacy and fundraising efforts of Friends of the Library groups across the country. According to Parker, “Mohsin Hamid's EXIT WEST gives a deeply real, beautiful, intricate and electrifying look at what it means to be an immigrant right now. This tale of two people forced from their homeland and searching for a home elsewhere is transporting and illuminating. I was swept away by this gorgeous, otherworldly novel and I'm so excited to offer it as our second selection for Book Club Central, as I'm convinced every reader will feel the same.” Click here for the discussion guide and here for our review on Bookreporter.com.
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2017 has been awarded to English author Kazuo Ishiguro, "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world." Ishiguro is perhaps best known for his novels THE REMAINS OF THE DAY and NEVER LET ME GO, both of which were adapted into highly acclaimed films. His other books include WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS and THE UNCONSOLED (both of which we have discussion guides for), along with his most recent, THE BURIED GIANT.
Festival and Fair News:
Morristown Festival of Books (October 13-14): I will be moderating two panels there on Saturday. The first, at 10am, is called "Edge-of-Your-Seat Suspense," with thriller authors Megan Miranda and Riley Sager. The second, at 12:20pm, is called ”Following the Heart in Faraway Lands," with the aforementioned Min Jin Lee, along with Chinelo Okparanta and Katie Kitamura. Click here for the Festival schedule.
Miami Book Fair (November 12-19): On Saturday, November 18th at 10am in Room 3313 in Building 3, I will be doing a similar presentation to what I did last year with great book club reads for fall and winter. In addition, I will be interviewing author Ann Hood about her novel, THE BOOK THAT MATTERS MOST, and her memoir, MORNINGSTAR: Growing Up with Books, as well as her experiences talking to book groups.
Here's to your group having a brilliant discussion this month.
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, ReadingGroupGuides.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest: Enter to Win 12 Copies of the Movie Tie-In Edition of
MUDBOUND by Hillary Jordan for Your Group
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.
This month's prize book is the movie tie-in edition of MUDBOUND, in which two men --- one black and one white --- forge a friendship in racially divided post-World War II Mississippi based on their shared war experiences. First published in 2008, this award-winning debut novel by Hillary Jordan will be adapted into a film, releasing on Netflix and in select theaters on November 17th. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, November 8th at noon ET.
MUDBOUND by Hillary Jordan (Historical Fiction)
In Hillary Jordan's prize-winning debut, prejudice takes many forms, both subtle and brutal.
It is 1946, and city-bred Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband's Mississippi Delta farm --- a place she finds foreign and frightening. In the midst of the family's struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura's brother-in-law, is everything her husband is not --- charming, handsome and haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm, has come home with the shine of a war hero. But no matter his bravery in defense of his country, he is still considered less than a man in the Jim Crow South. It is the unlikely friendship of these brothers-in-arms that drives this powerful novel to its inexorable conclusion.
The men and women of each family relate their versions of events, and we are drawn into their lives as they become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale. As Kingsolver says of Hillary Jordan, "Her characters walked straight out of 1940s Mississippi and into the part of my brain where sympathy and anger and love reside, leaving my heart racing. They are with me still."
- Click here for the discussion guide.
Click here to enter the contest.
New Special Contest: Enter to Win a Copy of
ODD CHILD OUT by Gilly Macmillan
We are celebrating the release of ODD CHILD OUT by Gilly Macmillan, a psychological thriller that asks the question How well do you know the people you love?, with a special contest that will give 10 readers the chance to win a copy of the book, which is now available. To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, November 8th at noon ET.
ODD CHILD OUT by Gilly Macmillan (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Best friends Noah Sadler and Abdi Mahad have always been inseparable. But when Noah is found floating unconscious in Bristol's Feeder Canal, Abdi can't --- or won't --- tell anyone what happened.
Just back from a mandatory leave following his last case, Detective Jim Clemo is now assigned to look into this unfortunate accident. But tragedy strikes, and what looked like the simple case of a prank gone wrong soon ignites into a public battle. Noah is British. Abdi is a Somali refugee. And social tensions have been rising rapidly in Bristol. Against this background of fear and fury, two families fight for their sons and for the truth. Neither of them know how far they will have to go, what demons they will have to face, what pain they will have to suffer.
Because the truth hurts.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
Click here to enter the contest.
New Featured Guide: THE DIRTY BOOK CLUB
by Lisi Harrison
A Bookreporter.com Bets On Title
THE DIRTY BOOK CLUB by Lisi Harrison (Fiction)
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Clique series comes a novel about the importance of friendship and, of course, the pleasure of a dirty book.
M.J. Stark’s life is picture-perfect --- she has her dream job as a magazine editor, a sexy doctor boyfriend and a glamorous life in New York City. But behind her success, there is a debilitating sense of loneliness. So when her boss betrays her and her boyfriend offers her a completely new life in California, she trades her cashmere for caftans and gives it a try. Once there, M.J. is left to fend for herself in a small beach town, with only the company of her elderly neighbor, Gloria, and an ocean that won’t shut up.
One afternoon, M.J. discovers that Gloria has suddenly moved to Paris with her friends to honor a 50-year-old pact. And in lieu of a goodbye, she’s left a mysterious invitation to a secret club --- one that only reads erotic books. Curious, M.J. accepts and meets the three other hand-selected club members. As they bond over naughty bestsellers and the shocking letters they inherited from the original club members, the four strangers start to divulge the intimate details of their own lives…and as they open up, they learn that friendship might just be the key to rewriting their own stories: all they needed was to find each other first.
THE DIRTY BOOK CLUB will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. You can read Carol Fitzgerald's commentary in the October 20th Bookreporter.com Weekly Update newsletter.
Click here for the featured guide.
New Featured Guide: THE FIRE BY NIGHT
by Teresa Messineo
THE FIRE BY NIGHT by Teresa Messineo (Historical Fiction)
In war-torn France, Jo McMahon, an Italian-Irish girl from the tenements of Brooklyn, tends to six seriously wounded soldiers in a makeshift medical unit. Enemy bombs have destroyed her hospital convoy, and now Jo singlehandedly struggles to keep her patients and herself alive in a cramped and freezing tent close to German troops. There is a growing tenderness between her and one of her patients, a Scottish officer, but Jo’s heart is seared by the pain of all she has lost and seen. Nearing her breaking point, she fights to hold on to joyful memories of the past, to the times she shared with her best friend, Kay, whom she met in nursing school.
Half a world away in the Pacific, Kay is trapped in a squalid Japanese POW camp in Manila, one of thousands of Allied men, women and children whose fates rest in the hands of a sadistic enemy. Far from the familiar safety of the small Pennsylvania coal town of her childhood, Kay clings to memories of her happy days posted in Hawaii, and the handsome flyer who swept her off her feet in the weeks before Pearl Harbor. Surrounded by cruelty and death, Kay battles to maintain her sanity and save lives as best she can...and live to see her beloved friend, Jo, once more.
When the conflict at last comes to an end, Jo and Kay discover that to achieve their own peace, they must find their place --- and the hope of love --- in a world that’s forever changed. With rich, superbly researched detail, Teresa Messineo’s thrilling novel brings to life the pain and uncertainty of war and the sustaining power of love and friendship, and illuminates the lives of the women who risked everything to save others during a horrifying time.
Click here for the featured guide.
New Guide: UNFORGIVABLE LOVE by Sophfronia Scott
UNFORGIVABLE LOVE: A Retelling of Dangerous Liaisons by Sophfronia Scott (Historical Fiction)
In this vivid reimagining of the French classic LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES, it’s the summer when Jackie Robinson breaks Major League Baseball’s color barrier and a sweltering stretch has Harlem’s elite fleeing the city for Westchester County’s breezier climes, two predators stalk amidst the manicured gardens and fine old homes.
Heiress Mae Malveaux rules society with an angel’s smile and a heart of stone. She made up her mind long ago that nobody would decide her fate. To have the pleasure she craves, control is paramount, especially control of the men Mae attracts like moths to a flame.
Valiant Jackson always gets what he wants --- and he’s wanted Mae for years. The door finally opens for him when Mae strikes a bargain: seduce her virginal young cousin, Cecily, who is engaged to Frank Washington. Frank values her innocence above all else. If successful, Val’s reward will be a night with Mae.
But Val secretly seeks another prize. Elizabeth Townsend is fiercely loyal to her church and her civil rights attorney husband. Certainly there is something redeemable in Mr. Jackson. Little does she know that her worst mistake will be Val’s greatest triumph.
Click here for the discussion guide.
New Guide: LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS
by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS: A Novel of World War I by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb (Historical Fiction)
August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes --- as everyone does --- that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris.
But as history tells us, it all happened so differently…
Evie and Thomas experience a very different war. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict --- but how? --- and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war, he also faces personal battles back home where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters, Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears --- and grow ever fonder from afar. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene?
Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris --- a cherished packet of letters in hand --- determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him…
Click here for the discussion guide.
October’s Reading Roundup: Top Picks from
Indie Next, LibraryReads, Target and Costco
Each month, we share top book picks from Indie Next and LibraryReads, as well as the Target Book Club title and Pennie's Pick for Costco.
This month's Indie Next titles include MANHATTAN BEACH, which marks Jennifer Egan’s historical fiction debut and her first novel since A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD in 2010; HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES, Carmen Maria Machado’s debut collection of short stories that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies; and FOREST DARK by Nicole Krauss, which interweaves the stories of two disparate individuals --- an older lawyer and a young novelist --- whose transcendental search leads them to the same Israeli desert.
Library Reads is spotlighting THE RULES OF MAGIC, a prequel to Alice Hoffman’s PRACTICAL MAGIC, a story about the power of love reminding us that the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself; THE LAST MRS. PARRISH, Liv Constantine’s first psychological thriller, about a coolly manipulative woman and a wealthy "golden couple"; and SEVEN DAYS OF US by Francesca Hornak, a debut novel about what happens when a family is forced to spend a week together in quarantine over the holidays.
Click here for the complete roundup.
Our Most Popular Book Group Selections for September’s "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest
October’s New in Paperback Roundups
on Bookreporter.com
October’s roundup of New in Paperback fiction titles includes THE SLEEPWALKER by Chris Bohjalian, the mesmerizing story of a wife and mother who vanishes from her bed one night and the daughter determined to find her; A BOOK OF AMERICAN MARTYRS, a powerfully resonant and provocative novel from Joyce Carol Oates, who tells the story of two very different yet intimately linked American families; THE NOWHERE MAN, book two in Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series featuring Evan Smoak, who was Orphan X until he used everything he had learned to disappear and reinvent himself as the Nowhere Man; and LITTLE DEATHS, a debut novel from Emma Flint (longlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction) that explores the capacity for good and evil in all of us.
Among our nonfiction highlights are THE PRINCESS DIARIST, the late Carrie Fisher’s intimate, hilarious and revealing recollection of what happened behind the scenes on one of the most famous film sets of all time --- the first Star Wars movie; Alec Baldwin's memoir, NEVERTHELESS, in which he chronicles the highs and lows of his life; A LOWCOUNTRY HEART, a new volume of Pat Conroy’s nonfiction that brings together some of the most charming interviews, magazine articles, speeches and letters from his long literary career, many of them addressed directly to his readers with his habitual greeting, “Hey, out there”; and ABSOLUTELY ON MUSIC, a deeply personal, intimate conversation about music and writing between internationally acclaimed author Haruki Murakami and the former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa.
See what's New in Paperback for the weeks of
October 2nd, October 9th, October 16th, October 23rd and October 30th.
Bookreporter.com Bets On:
BEST DAY EVER by Kaira Rouda
BEST DAY EVER by Kaira Rouda (Psychological Thriller)
In BEST DAY EVER by Kaira Rouda, Paul Strom, an advertising executive, has planned a wonderful day for his wife, Mia, keeping in mind all of the things that will make her happy. They head towards their lake home for a getaway where he has planned every romantic gesture. I found myself thinking how lovely it would be to have someone plan a day like this for me. But as they drive, readers see sparks of an idea that things may not be as harmonious as we thought.
I do not want to give away much here as part of the reason the book works is in the reveal, but let’s just say that Paul is not the loving husband he wants us to think he is. It’s an addictive read that’s completely compulsive. Friends who I gave advance copies to all loved it; I love calls when people say “That was great” and want to talk about it.
Those who loved THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR (another Bets On title) will want to take note of BEST DAY EVER. For book groups who enjoy thrillers, this is a good one to think about for a discussion, including the construction of the book, which makes it work. I cannot wait to see what Kaira writes next!
- Click here to read a review.
- Click here to read our interview with Kaira Rouda.
Click here for more books we're betting you'll love.
Bookreporter.com's Fall Preview
Contests and Feature
Fall is known as the biggest season of the year for books. The titles that release during this latter part of the year often become holiday gifts, and many are blockbusters. To celebrate the arrival of fall, we are spotlighting a number of outstanding books that we know people will be talking about in the days and months to come.
We are hosting a series of 24-hour contests for these titles on select days in September and October, so you will have to check the site each day to see the featured prize book and enter to win. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.
This year's featured titles are:
Click here to read all the contest details
and learn more about our featured titles.
Enter Our Ongoing Bookreporter.com Contests:
"Word of Mouth" and "Sounding Off on Audio"
The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:
THE BATTLE FOR HOME: The Vision of a Young Architect in Syria by Marwa al-Sabouni (Memoir)
The “absolutely compelling...perspective on the ongoing conflict in Syria” (Library Journal) written by a young architect in war-torn Homs who shares her personal experience, how the built environment helped set the stage for civil war, and how architecture might play a role in reversing the damage.
BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate (Fiction)
Based on one of America's most notorious real-life scandals --- in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country --- Lisa Wingate's riveting, wrenching and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong. Click here for a special book club kit.
THE DIRTY BOOK CLUB by Lisi Harrison (Fiction)
A dirty martini will make you admit things to other people, but a dirty book? That will make you admit things to yourself. The Dirty Book Club --- you know you want to join!
EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid (Fiction)
A New York Times bestseller and the latest Book Club Central pick by Sarah Jessica Parker, EXIT WEST is the astonishingly visionary love story that imagines the forces that drive ordinary people from their homes into the uncertain embrace of new lands.
THE FIRE BY NIGHT by Teresa Messineo (Historical Fiction)
A powerful and evocative debut novel about two American military nurses during World War II that illuminates the unsung heroism of women who risked their lives in the fight, THE FIRE BY NIGHT is a riveting saga of friendship, valor, sacrifice and survival combining the grit and selflessness of "Band of Brothers" with the emotional resonance of THE NIGHTINGALE.
LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS: A Novel of World War I by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb (Historical Fiction)
New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor has joined with Heather Webb to create this unforgettably romantic novel of the Great War.
THE NINTH HOUR by Alice McDermott (Fiction)
THE NINTH HOUR is a magnificent new novel from one of America’s finest writers --- a powerfully affecting story spanning the 20th century of a widow and her daughter and the nuns who serve their Irish-American community in Brooklyn.
ODD CHILD OUT by Gilly Macmillan (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Best friends Noah Sadler and Abdi Mahad have always been inseparable. But when Noah is found floating unconscious in Bristol's Feeder Canal, Abdi can't --- or won't --- tell anyone what happened. Detective Jim Clemo is assigned to look into this unfortunate accident. But tragedy strikes, and what looked like the simple case of a prank gone wrong soon ignites into a public battle.
UNFORGIVABLE LOVE: A Retelling of Dangerous Liaisons by Sophfronia Scott (Historical Fiction)
UNFORGIVABLE LOVE is a vivid reimagining of the French classic DANGEROUS LIAISONS, set in the glittering, dramatic world of Harlem in the 1940s. It takes us from the grand townhomes on Lenox Avenue to the lush woods of Anselm, North Carolina, and finally to the pews of Harlem’s Mount Nebo Baptist Church, along the way shedding a new light on the source material’s classic themes of love, faith, lost innocence, betrayal and redemption.
THE VENGEANCE OF MOTHERS: The Journals of Margaret Kelly & Molly McGill by Jim Fergus (Historical Fiction)
This long-awaited sequel to ONE THOUSAND WHITE WOMEN explores what happens to the bonds between wives and husbands, children and mothers, when society sees them as "unspeakable." What does it mean to be white, to be Cheyenne, and how far will these women go to avenge the ones they love?
THE WAY TO LONDON: A Novel of World War II by Alix Rickloff (Historical Fiction)
From the author of SECRETS OF NANREATH HALL comes this gripping, beautifully written historical fiction novel set during World War II --- the unforgettable story of a young woman who must leave Singapore and forge a new life in England.
This Month's Poll: Your Book Group’s Attendance
How many of your book group members typically attend a meeting?
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Usually all, or most
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About three-quarters
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Half
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Less than half
Click here to vote in the poll by Wednesday, November 8th at noon ET.
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