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Latest Update on Our GoFundMe Campaign
to Expand The Book Report Network:
We Are More Than Halfway to Our Goal!
Thank you to those of you who already have donated to our GoFundMe campaign. So far, with online donations and checks that have been sent to our office, we have raised $27,925 of our $50,000 goal. Any level of donation helps get us to our goal!
Maybe your group can make a group donation. We would call you out by name in the next newsletter! We are loving the comments that have been shared with donations about how you enjoy this newsletter and ReadingGroupGuides.com. Here are a couple of them that arrived online and with snail mail donations:
Feef: "I love reading the book reviews, getting guides and questions for my book club, and having the opportunity to take part in the polls and contests. Thank you Reading Group Guides!"
Donna: "The Books and Friend's Book Club has been lucky winning recipients several times on this site. We appreciate the newsletter with suggestions for books, book reviews, contests and so much more. Our club donated, and then I matched the donation."
You can read more about our plans and donate here. If you would rather donate via check, our address is:
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Thank you again for your consideration and your donation.
Our 8th Annual Book Group Speed Dating event at Book Expo was a huge success,
as you can see in the photos above. 240+(!) readers heard from 23 publishers
about upcoming titles that are perfect for book groups.
At Book Expo, Carol interviewed Jennifer Weiner (left) about her new book,
MRS. EVERYTHING, which is this month's Barnes & Noble Book Club selection.
On the last day of Book Expo, Carol ran into Jean Kwok (right), author of SEARCHING FOR
SYLVIE LEE, which is June's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club pick.
Carol interviewed Jean in our latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview.
Tara Cibelli, a co-founder of the Long Hill Book Club of which Carol is a member,
was one of the speakers at the Audio Publishers Association Conference during Book Expo.
Carol will be moderating the next Book Club Girl "Night Out" event on Wednesday, June 19th
at 6:30pm ET. Her author guests will be Joshilyn Jackson and Meg Mitchell Moore. Those who aren't able to attend the event can watch a Facebook Live broadcast on Book Club Girl's Facebook page.
On Wednesday, June 26th at 5pm ET, members of the Simon & Schuster team will host a
Facebook Live Book Club chat to discuss THE LOST QUEEN by Signe Pike,
June's pick for S&S's Book Club Favorites program.
Fall/Winter Reading Preview and Lots More…
It has been an action-packed couple of weeks, and there is much more to come. I have so been looking forward to sharing the latest news with you!
First up, our 8th Annual Book Group Speed Dating event at Book Expo was a huge success. 240+(!) readers heard from 23 publishers about upcoming titles that are perfect for book groups. You can see a couple of photos from the event above. As we know many of you could not join us, we have added PDFs of the slide presentation to the site, as well as an Excel sheet that lists the books both by publisher and by title. We hope you take the opportunity to peruse these lists.
During the event, I found myself walking from table to table to hear the passionate presentations from the presenters. So many people came up to tell us that this is their favorite event of the show. We also had a dozen amazing volunteers working with Nicole and me to ensure that the two-hour program ran smoothly. Once again, time got away, and we were not able to snag a picture with them or the publishers.
There was a terrific panel at the Audio Publishers Association Conference on the subject of “Influencers in Audio.” I was so happy that Tara Cibelli, a co-founder of the Long Hill Book Club that I belong to, was one of the speakers. She shared how many of our group members listen and how that experience enriches the discussion. She did point out that, often with books told with multiple voices over multiple time periods, it would be helpful if there were cues as to who was speaking and the time period. In a book you can look back, but it’s harder to follow on audio. There are some print books where more title cues would be helpful as well.
I was happy to hear that MRS. EVERYTHING by Jennifer Weiner is this month’s Barnes & Noble Book Club selection. Barnes & Noble will be selling a special Exclusive Book Club Edition of the novel, along with hosting a free Book Club Night to discuss it, in stores across the country on Tuesday, July 16th at 7pm local time. Click here to sign up for the event. As a way of preparing for the discussion, be sure to check out the guide and our review on Bookreporter.com. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jen at Book Expo. MRS. EVERYTHING opens in Detroit in the ‘50s and follows two sisters over the next seven decades. Through their eyes, and that of their mother, we see how life changes for women in America. There is much to talk about; it’s a big, sweeping book, the one that Jen always wanted to write. Mission accomplished!
This month, we’re excited to be featuring the guide for SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok, along with our Bookreporter.com review and my Bets On commentary. This book was just named as Jenna Bush Hager’s Today Show Book Club pick for June. Our reviewer, Rebecca Munro, nailed it with this quote: "Part domestic suspense, part generational saga and all heart, SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE unfolds in an enthralling way that will upend all readers’ expectations.”
With some of the funds that we have raised in our fundraiser, I have started a new series of video interviews called “Bookreporter Talks To.” This week, I interviewed Jean Kwok, and last week, Wendy Walker, author of THE NIGHT BEFORE, was my guest (Wendy will Skype with the Long Hill book group on Monday night). You can see the interviews with Jean here and Wendy here. We will promote them on Facebook and Instagram --- and they will run on our YouTube channel. You can subscribe so you never miss a video.
I feel that much online talk about books is quick bits and bites, and many of you do not have the opportunity to see authors at your local bookstore or hear in-depth interviews. My goal is to bring these interviews to you in a format that you easily can share with your fellow book club members. This week, we brought in a smart young woman, Helen Kornbluth, to handle editing. And we have bought a new snazzy camera that we will be breaking out next week. Look for lots more to come from us with author interviews!
Our latest “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest title is THE GREAT BELIEVERS by Rebecca Makkai, which recently came out in paperback. In 1985, Yale Tishman is the development director for a Chicago art gallery. As his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying, and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister. Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris locating her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter.
Three groups will win 12 copies of the book; to enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, July 10th at noon ET. In the meantime, don’t miss the discussion guide and our review on Bookreporter.com. A Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, THE GREAT BELIEVERS has been optioned by Amy Poehler’s production company for television. As soon as more details become available, we’ll be sure to let you know! This is a book that I “missed” reading last year, and I have heard such wonderful things about. I have it here for catch-up reading!
In our previous “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest, here are the five books mentioned most frequently as titles that our book groups read: WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens, BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate, THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah, EDUCATED: A Memoir by Tara Westover, and ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman. Scroll further down the newsletter to see the Top 15.
This is your last newsletter reminder to enter our very special contest for Jennifer Egan’s 2017 bestseller, MANHATTAN BEACH, which released in paperback last summer, was awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and was 2018’s “One Book, One New York” pick. Her first historical novel follows two fascinating characters --- Anna Kerrigan and Dexter Styles --- into a world populated by gangsters, sailors, divers, bankers and union men. Five groups will be awarded 12 copies of the book and have the chance to chat with Jennifer via phone, Skype or FaceTime. Ten additional winners will receive a single copy of the book. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, June 27th at noon ET. Click here for the discussion guide and here for our Bookreporter.com review. Readers always ask how they can connect with authors for a chat, and this contest will make it easy to do that.
We’ve added three more guides to this update: THE FRIENDS WE KEEP, in which Jane Green traces a long friendship among three individuals who grow apart and then surprisingly find one another again; THE SUMMER WIVES, Beatriz Williams’ postwar fable of love, class, power and redemption set among the inhabitants of an island off the New England coast, which is now available in paperback; and KICK-ASS KINDA GIRL, Kathi Koll's powerfully moving memoir in which she unveils an unexpected life of joy, adventure and heartbreak as she shares the realities of being a full-time caregiver to her husband.
I saw Jane Green at an event recently. She told a funny story about how, as the children leave the house, she has been thinking about moving in with old friends whose children have also left the roost to have a kind of communal home. It inspired her latest book. Beatriz Williams’ novel was a Bets On selection last year, and the island setting worked so well with this story. Kathi Koll’s memoir is so poignant for anyone who has had a loved one take an unexpected health turn. When her husband had a massive stroke, she rallied to learn all she could to ensure that he was cared for in their home. It was a very steep learning curve, even for someone with considerable means. She’s gone on to found The Kathi Koll Foundation, which supports caregivers.
For our latest poll, we’ve listed 10 paperbacks releasing in June, and we’re asking you which of them, if any, you have read or are planning to read with your group. Click here to cast your votes.
Nancy Sharko, one of our longtime readers, attended the Maplewood-South Orange Book Festival in South Orange, NJ, last weekend and was kind enough to share her experiences with us in this blog post. Many thanks to Nancy for her diligent reporting!
Sarah Jessica Parker has selected HEARTLAND: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh as her latest ALA Book Club Central Pick. According to Parker, "Ms. Smarsh writes with authority and urgency about the entrenched deprivation of overlooked Americans born into poverty across the country. Her straightforward, empathetic storytelling is motivated by a deeply-saturated love for her family and Kansas home and brings readers into the heart of what it means to live with brokenness and resilience every day.” We have a discussion guide for the book here and our review on Bookreporter.com here.
THE CACTUS by Sarah Haywood is June’s Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick. Here’s what Reese has to say about her first pick of the summer: “This title is a perfect metaphor for Susan who is a single, regimented woman faced with an unexpected pregnancy just as she navigates a difficult family inheritance issue at the same time. I found myself laughing out loud at Susan’s prickly character as she finds herself in a love triangle, navigating family ties and dealing with 9 months of pregnancy at the age of 45. Hope y’all love Susan as much as I do!” Check out our rave review of the book on Bookreporter.com here.
For more book club picks from celebrities this month, take a look at this article from E! News.
Meanwhile, this month’s pick for the PBS NewsHour-New York Times “Now Read This” book club is THE FIFTH SEASON, the first book in N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy. Click here to find out why it was selected.
As we announced last month, THE LOST QUEEN by Signe Pike (which is now available in paperback) is June’s pick for Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites program. S&S will host a Facebook Live Book Club chat about the book on Wednesday, June 26th at 5pm ET. We encourage you to join the conversation with your comments about the novel and interact with your fellow readers.
S&S is also hosting a sweepstakes where one winner will be awarded 12 copies of THE LOST QUEEN for their book group, along with a yearly membership to US Chapters of the Girly Book Club, a book club for women around the world to connect with each other online and in person. Be sure to enter by 11:59pm ET on Sunday, June 30th. Click here for all the details.
I have four events these next two weeks. First up is the Book Club Girl "Night Out" event at the HarperCollins offices on Wednesday, June 19th at 6:30pm ET, where I will interview Joshilyn Jackson (author of NEVER HAVE I EVER, which releases on July 30th) and Meg Mitchell Moore (author of THE ISLANDERS, which is now in stores). Click here to purchase your tickets. If you can’t make it to the event in person, you can watch a Facebook Live broadcast on the Book Club Girl Facebook page and post your questions for the authors in the comments section.
The following day, I am doing a private event for the Nassau County librarians, and then I am zipping over to Rockville Centre for an event at 7pm as part of their Summer Reading program. And I am going to be in Avalon, New Jersey, for another summer reading presentation on Friday, June 28th at 6pm. Click here to see my schedule.
Here’s to a great book group discussion this month. We will be back to you the week of June 24th with our next update.
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 GREAT BELIEVERS
by Rebecca Makkai 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.
Our latest prize book is THE GREAT BELIEVERS, Rebecca Makkai's award-winning novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris. Now available in paperback, this Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist has been optioned for television by Amy Poehler. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, July 10th at noon ET.
THE GREAT BELIEVERS by Rebecca Makkai (Fiction)
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet, as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying, and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.
Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the ‘80s and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.
THE GREAT BELIEVERS has become a critically acclaimed, indelible piece of literature; it was selected as one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year, a Washington Post Notable Book, a BuzzFeed Book of the Year, a Skimm Reads pick, and a pick for the New York Public Library’s Best Books of the year.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here to enter the contest.
Special Contest: Enter to Win 12 Copies of
MANHATTAN BEACH for Your Group
and an Opportunity to Chat with Jennifer Egan
Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, MANHATTAN BEACH tells the haunting story of Anna Kerrigan, who becomes the Brooklyn Naval Yard's first female diver during World War II, and her search for her missing father. We are giving five groups the chance to win 12 copies of this New York Times bestselling novel, plus the opportunity to chat with its author, Jennifer Egan. Ten additional readers will be awarded a copy of the book, which was last year's "One Book, One New York" pick. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, June 27th at noon ET.
MANHATTAN BEACH by Jennifer Egan (Historical Fiction)
Anna Kerrigan, nearly 12 years old, accompanies her father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. She is mesmerized by the sea beyond the house and by some charged mystery between the two men.
Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that once belonged to men, now soldiers abroad. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. One evening at a nightclub, she meets Dexter Styles again, and begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life, the reasons he might have vanished.
“A magnificent achievement, at once a suspenseful noir intrigue and a transporting work of lyrical beauty and emotional heft” (The Boston Globe), “Egan’s first foray into historical fiction makes you forget you’re reading historical fiction at all” (Elle). MANHATTAN BEACH takes us into a world populated by gangsters, sailors, divers, bankers and union men in a dazzling, propulsive exploration of a transformative moment in the lives and identities of women and men, of America and the world.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here to enter the contest.
New Featured Guide:
MRS. EVERYTHING by Jennifer Weiner
Barnes & Noble’s Latest Book Club Selection
MRS. EVERYTHING by Jennifer Weiner (Fiction)
Do we change, or does the world change us?
Jo and Bethie Kaufman were born into a world full of promise.
Growing up in 1950s Detroit, they live in a perfect “Dick and Jane” house, where their roles in the family are clearly defined. Jo is the tomboy, the bookish rebel with a passion to make the world more fair; Bethie is the pretty, feminine good girl, a would-be star who enjoys the power her beauty confers and dreams of a traditional life.
But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. Jo and Bethie survive traumas and tragedies. As their lives unfold against the background of free love and Vietnam, Woodstock and women’s lib, Bethie becomes an adventure-loving wild child who dives headlong into the counterculture and is up for anything (except settling down). Meanwhile, Jo becomes a proper young mother in Connecticut, a witness to the changing world instead of a participant. Neither woman inhabits the world she dreams of, nor has a life that feels authentic or brings her joy. Is it too late for the women to finally stake a claim on happily ever after?
In her most ambitious novel yet, Jennifer Weiner tells a story of two sisters who, with their different dreams and different paths, offer answers to the question: How should a woman be in the world?
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Visit the Barnes & Noble Book Club page and sign up for their free Book Club Night to discuss MRS. EVERYTHING.
Click here for the featured guide.
New Featured Guide:
SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok
A “Read with Jenna” Today Show Book Club Pick
and a Bookreporter.com Bets On Title
SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok (Fiction)
It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother --- and then vanishes.
Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place and didn’t rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love.
But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it’s Amy’s turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister’s movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets...secrets that will reveal more about Amy’s complicated family --- and herself --- than she ever could have imagined.
A deeply moving story of family, secrets, identity and longing, SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive portrait of an immigrant family. It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone --- especially those we love.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
- Click here to watch Carol's "Bookreporter Talks To" interview with Jean Kwok.
- Click here to see why Jenna Bush Hager selected it to be this month's Today Show Book Club Pick.
Click here for the featured guide.
New Featured Guide:
THE SUMMER WIVES by Beatriz Williams
Now Available in Paperback
and a Bookreporter.com Bets On Title
THE SUMMER WIVES by Beatriz Williams (Historical Fiction)
In the summer of 1951, Miranda Schuyler arrives on elite, secretive Winthrop Island as a schoolgirl from the margins of high society, still reeling from the loss of her father in the Second World War. When her beautiful mother marries Hugh Fisher, whose summer house on Winthrop overlooks the famous lighthouse, Miranda is catapulted into a heady new world of pedigrees and cocktails, status and swimming pools. Isobel Fisher, Miranda’s new stepsister --- all long legs and world-weary bravado, engaged to a wealthy Island scion --- is eager to draw Miranda into the arcane customs of Winthrop society.
But beneath the island’s patrician surface, there are really two clans: the summer families with their steadfast ways and quiet obsessions, and the working class of Portuguese fishermen and domestic workers who earn their living on the water and in the laundries of the summer houses. Uneasy among Isobel’s privileged friends, Miranda finds herself drawn to Joseph Vargas, whose father keeps the lighthouse with his mysterious wife. In the summer, Joseph helps his father in the lobster boats, but in the autumn he returns to Brown University, where he’s determined to make something of himself. Since childhood, Joseph has enjoyed an intense, complex friendship with Isobel Fisher, and as the summer winds to its end, Miranda is caught in a catastrophe that will shatter Winthrop’s hard-won tranquility and banish Miranda from the island for nearly two decades.
Now, in the landmark summer of 1969, Miranda returns at last, as a renowned Shakespearean actress hiding a terrible heartbreak. On its surface, the Island remains the same --- determined to keep the outside world from its shores, fiercely loyal to those who belong. But the formerly powerful Fisher family is a shadow of itself, and Joseph Vargas has recently escaped the prison where he was incarcerated for the murder of Miranda’s stepfather 18 years earlier. What’s more, Miranda herself is no longer a naïve teenager, and she begins a fierce, inexorable quest for justice for the man she once loved...even if it means uncovering every last one of the secrets that bind together the families of Winthrop Island.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
- Click here to read our interview with Beatriz Williams.
Click here for the featured guide.
New Featured Guide: KICK-ASS KINDA GIRL by Kathi Koll
KICK-ASS KINDA GIRL: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Caregiving by Kathi Koll (Memoir)
On the sun-kissed shores of the Golden State, Kathi and Don Koll were a golden couple. He was a successful real estate developer, and she had grown up among children of celebrities and future TV stars with a beloved big brother engaged to one of Hollywood’s leading ladies. Together, Kathi and Don --- a modern-day Nick and Nora Charles --- built a life of joy, filled with adventure, romance and a little mystery, as they cracked jokes with the president, survived a carjacking and traveled the world as guests of royalty and heads of state. But their life, which seemed rich with possibility, changed abruptly after Don suffered a catastrophic stroke, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down, unable to speak, breathe or walk on his own, while Kathi became his full-time caregiver.
With honesty and refreshing humor, Kathi shares the realities of life in uncharted territory, from the challenges of turning their home into an ICU unit to the complications of intimacy. Despite her own personal suffering, Kathi's indomitable spirit helped her summon the strength and endurance to fight for what many said was impossible so Don could continue to live a full life. Kathi's journey, steeped in the joy of living in the moment, teaches us what it means to never lose hope for tomorrow --- at the best of times and under the worst of circumstances.
KICK-ASS KINDA GIRL is a caregiver's journey, but it is also a love story and a warrior's tale filled with inspiration and practical advice, offering a unique perspective on living life to the fullest.
Click here for the featured guide.
Great Book Club Picks for Fall/Winter 2019
At Book Expo, we had a chance to meet some of our readers at the Speed Dating session that we ran on Friday, May 31st. We know that many of you were not able to join us in New York, and we want to give you the opportunity to see all of the wonderful titles that were presented at the event. To give you an easy way to mark what you want to suggest at your future book group meetings, we are providing a spreadsheet with all the featured titles here, which lists the books both by publisher and by title.
We also have made PDFs of all the titles presented. Due to the large size of the file, we have divided it up by publisher.
Click here to access the PDFs of great book club picks you will want to discuss.
Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks
Our Most Popular Book Group Selections for May’s "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest
June’s New in Paperback Roundups on Bookreporter.com
June’s roundup of New in Paperback fiction titles on Bookreporter.com includes I OWE YOU ONE by Sophie Kinsella, an irresistible story of love and empowerment about a young woman with a complicated family, a handsome man who might be “the one,” and an IOU that changes everything; NIGHT OF MIRACLES, Elizabeth Berg's delightful novel of friendship, community and the way that small acts of kindness can change your life; THE COLLECTOR'S APPRENTICE, a noirish page-turner from B. A. Shapiro, who once again takes readers into the world of art, glamour and mystery; and Ottessa Moshfegh's second novel, MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION, which is about a young woman's efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature and the battery of medicines she prescribes
Among our nonfiction highlights are Anthony Ray Hinton's THE SUN DOES SHINE (Oprah’s Book Club 2018 Selection), a powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice and the power of reading by a man who spent 30 years on death row for a crime he didn't commit; CALYPSO, David Sedaris' most deeply personal and darkly hilarious book, in which he sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality; and SMALL FRY, a poignant coming-of-age story from Steve Jobs' daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs --- which is part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the '70s and '80s.
Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of
June 3rd, June 10th, June 17th and June 24th.
Recent Bookreporter.com Bets On Selections:
SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE and ASK AGAIN, YES
SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok (Fiction)
Jean Kwok’s SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE untangles the complicated ties binding three women --- two sisters, Sylvie and Amy, and their mother --- in one Chinese immigrant family, and explores what happens when the eldest daughter disappears and a series of family secrets emerge. The story unfolds with pitch-perfect pacing from the moment that Amy receives a call from the Netherlands that Sylvie is missing. She first searches Sylvie’s New York apartment, and what she sees there has her hasten her way to the Netherlands to track down those who last saw her older sister. And from there, the quest to find Sylvie gets more and more tangled.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to watch Carol's "Bookreporter Talks To" interview with Jean Kwok.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary
on SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE.
ASK AGAIN, YES by Mary Beth Keane (Fiction)
ASK AGAIN, YES by Mary Beth Keane is one of my favorite books of 2019. It’s set in a Long Island town where two New York City policemen, who are not close friends, live next door to each other. One’s wife is dealing with some serious emotional and mental illness issues, which will have an impact on both families --- including Peter, the son of one family, and Kate, the daughter of the other, who fall for one another. The book works on so many levels. It’s a family story, a love story and a story about life’s turns.
- Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on ASK AGAIN, YES.
Bookreporter.com's Summer Reading
Contests and Feature
Summer will be here before you know it! At Bookreporter.com, this means it's time for us to share some great summer book picks with our Summer Reading Contests and Feature. We are hosting a series of 24-hour contests for these titles on select days through August 23rd, 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 prize books include:
Click here to read all the contest details.
See the prize books that were awarded in May
and that will be awarded in June, July and August.
Enter Our Ongoing Bookreporter.com Contests:
"Word of Mouth" and "Sounding Off on Audio"
We currently are featuring the following guides on ReadingGroupGuides.com:
THE FRIENDS WE KEEP by Jane Green (Fiction)
THE FRIENDS WE KEEP is about how, despite disappointments we’ve had or mistakes we’ve made, it’s never too late to find a place to call home.
THE GREAT BELIEVERS by Rebecca Makkai (Fiction)
A finalist for the 2018 National Book Award, THE GREAT BELIEVERS is a dazzling novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss, set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris, by acclaimed author Rebecca Makkai.
KICK-ASS KINDA GIRL: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Caregiving by Kathi Koll (Memoir)
KICK-ASS KINDA GIRL is a caregiver's journey, but it is also a love story and a warrior's tale filled with inspiration and practical advice, offering a unique perspective on living life to the fullest.
MANHATTAN BEACH by Jennifer Egan (Historical Fiction)
A daring and magnificent novel from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan, MANHATTAN BEACH is a dazzling and propulsive exploration of a transformative moment in the lives and identities of women and men, of America and the world.
MISTRESS OF THE RITZ by Melanie Benjamin (Historical Fiction)
Melanie Benjamin's captivating novel is based on the story of the extraordinary real-life American woman who secretly worked for the French Resistance during World War II --- while playing hostess to the invading Germans at the iconic Hôtel Ritz in Paris.
MRS. EVERYTHING by Jennifer Weiner (Fiction)
From Jennifer Weiner, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of WHO DO YOU LOVE and IN HER SHOES, comes a smart, thoughtful and timely exploration of two sisters’ lives from the 1950s to the present as they struggle to find their places --- and be true to themselves --- in a rapidly evolving world.
THE PARIS DIVERSION by Chris Pavone (Thriller)
Kate Moore, who was introduced to readers in THE EXPATS, is back in a pulse-pounding thriller to discover that a massive terror attack across Paris is not what it seems --- and that it involves her family.
SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok (Fiction)
SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE is a poignant and suspenseful drama that untangles the complicated ties binding three women --- two sisters and their mother --- in one Chinese immigrant family and explores what happens when the eldest daughter disappears, and a series of family secrets emerge.
Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:
AMITY AND PROSPERITY: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold (Current Affairs/Environment)
In AMITY AND PROSPERITY, the prize-winning poet and journalist Eliza Griswold tells the story of the energy boom’s impact on a small town at the edge of Appalachia and one woman’s transformation from a struggling single parent to an unlikely activist.
MORNINGS WITH ROSEMARY by Libby Page (Fiction)
MORNINGS WITH ROSEMARY (originally published as THE LIDO) is a feel-good novel that captures the heart and spirit of a community across generations --- an irresistible tale of love, loss, aging and friendship.
THE SUMMER WIVES by Beatriz Williams (Historical Fiction)
New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams brings us an electrifying postwar fable of love, class, power and redemption set among the inhabitants of an island off the New England coast.
Our Latest Poll: Which June Paperbacks Have You Read, or Are You Planning to Read, with Your Group?
Which of the following paperbacks releasing in June have you read, or do you plan to read, with your group? Please check all that apply.
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BEFORE AND AGAIN by Barbara Delinsky
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COTTAGE BY THE SEA by Debbie Macomber
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THE DINNER LIST by Rebecca Serle
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THE GREAT BELIEVERS by Rebecca Makkai
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I OWE YOU ONE by Sophie Kinsella
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NIGHT OF MIRACLES by Elizabeth Berg
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THE QUIET SIDE OF PASSION: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel, by Alexander McCall Smith
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THE SECRETS BETWEEN US by Thrity Umrigar
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THE SUMMER WIVES by Beatriz Williams
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THE SUN DOES SHINE: How I Found Life, Freedom, and Justice, by Anthony Ray Hinton with Lara Love Hardin
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None of the above
Click here to vote in the poll by Wednesday, July 10th at noon ET.
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