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Latest Update on Our GoFundMe Campaign:
"Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts are Live
Next Up: Raising Money for Our Website Redesign
Thanks to Our Donors, We've Raised Over $30,000!
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 $30,380 of our $50,000 goal. We have two goals in place with our videos and podcasts. Now it's on to getting our website redesigned to be mobile-responsive and updated!
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 we received recently:
Nicholas: "You've steered ME towards a whole lot of good books over recent years. It's the least I can do to help steer YOU towards further success!"
Laura: "I can’t wait to see you accomplish this goal. What you do is so needed, now more than ever! Thank you for being you!"
You can read more about our plans and donate here. If you would rather donate via check, our address is:
The Book Report, Inc.
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Thank you again for your consideration and your donation.
Our “Bookreporter Talks To” podcast is live and available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Two interviews are live: Mary Beth Keane and Gilly Macmillan. A new one will be added each week!
A member of Carol's Long Hill Book Group discovered the "Books in a Bag" program from their local library system. In each bag are multiple copies of a book and discussion materials for book clubs.
The Goldfinch, based on Donna Tartt's bestselling novel, is now in theaters.
Carol's neighborhood book group is reading SOMEONE WE KNOW by Shari Lapena,
and her Long Hill Book Group is reading or listening to Isaac Mizrahi's memoir, I.M.
Earlier this year, we ran a contest where book groups won copies of THIS TENDER LAND
by William Kent Krueger. Pictured above is one of those groups, the Mirasol Book Group,
from Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Click on the photo to read their comments about the book,
along with feedback from our other winners.
Melanie (pictured above in the blue dress), who edits our Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio features on Bookreporter, and her group had a Skype chat with Kim Michele Richardson, author of
THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK, and thoroughly enjoyed their conversation.
On Monday, September 30th at 3pm ET, members of the Simon & Schuster team will host a
Facebook Live Book Club chat to discuss THE LIGHT OVER LONDON by Julia Kelly,
September's pick for S&S's Book Club Favorites program.
September Means Full Book Group Attendance!
In many ways, September feels like the dawn of a new year! It’s time to line up pre-holiday projects and establish some new goals. For your book group, you may be back to meeting again after having the summer off, or at least getting back to full attendance. Once you all get out the wine and catch up on each other’s lives, we have a lot of great ideas for your next discussion.
My neighborhood book group is reading SOMEONE WE KNOW by Shari Lapena. We had not read a thriller, and thought since this one is set in a neighborhood, it would be fun. My Long Hill Book Group is reading I.M. by Isaac Mizrahi. Most are listening to the latter as Isaac does a brilliant job of narrating, and we do love memoirs narrated by their authors.
One of the members of the Long Hill Book Group discovered "Books in a Bag" from our local library system. We would love to hear from you about your group using something like this, where a library supplies multiple copies of a book and discussion materials. Send me a note with the subject line "Books in a Bag" to tell us what you read and anything else you want to share about the experience. With so many listening on audio and reading e-books, I am curious about "Books in a Bag."
Some of you shared your comments on the film adaptations of THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN and WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE. Read on later in this newsletter to see what readers had to say!
The Goldfinch is now in theaters. If you go see it, please send me your feedback on it with an email subject line of “The Goldfinch.”
I am very happy to share that our "Bookreporter Talks To" podcast is now live. We have two episodes up at this time. The first is with Mary Beth Keane, the author of ASK AGAIN, YES, and the latest is with Gilly Macmillan, the author of THE NANNY, which is just in stores this week. We also have videos of both of these authors on our YouTube channel for those who enjoy watching video more than just listening. You can see the playlist for our "Bookreporter Talks To" interviews on YouTube here.
Thanks to all of you who have supported our fundraiser. Your contributions have helped us fund both the videos and the podcast! And we have many more plans to come for both of these features. Next on the agenda is funding new websites. Ours are in dire need of a redesign; one goal is that they will be mobile-responsive, as in easy to read on a phone or tablet.
The long-awaited sequel to Margaret Atwood’s classic 1985 novel, THE HANDMAID’S TALE, is now in stores. In THE TESTAMENTS, which takes place more than 15 years after the events of THE HANDMAID’S TALE, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power. However, there are signs that it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.
Shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize, THE TESTAMENTS is this month’s Barnes & Noble Book Club pick. B&N will be selling a special Exclusive Book Club Edition of the book, along with hosting a free Book Club Night to discuss it, in stores across the country on Wednesday, October 9th at 7pm local time. Click here to sign up for the event.
This month, we’re excited to feature the discussion guide for William Kent Krueger’s new stand-alone novel, THIS TENDER LAND, an instant New York Times bestseller and a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Perfect for fans of BEFORE WE WERE YOURS, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING and ORPHAN TRAIN, this magnificent book is about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression. Over the course of one unforgettable summer, they will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift --- from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds.
Along with the guide, we’re happy to share our review on Bookreporter, our interview with Kent and my Bets On commentary. Earlier this year, you may remember we ran a contest that gave 10 book groups the chance to win up to 10 advance copies of THIS TENDER LAND and give us their feedback on it. We’ve compiled the comments from our winning groups, which you can see here, and pictured above is one of those groups, the Mirasol Book Group from Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Many thanks to all who read the book and took the time to share their opinions with us!
Our second featured guide is for YALE NEEDS WOMEN: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant by Anne Gardiner Perkins, which is now available. In the winter of 1969, young women across the country sent in applications to Yale University for the first time. The Ivy League institution dedicated to graduating "one thousand male leaders" each year had finally decided to open its doors to the nation's top female students. Isolated from one another, singled out as oddities and sexual objects, and barred from many of the privileges an elite education was supposed to offer, many of the first girls found themselves immersed in an overwhelmingly male culture they were unprepared to face. YALE NEEDS WOMEN is the story of how these young women fought against the backward-leaning traditions of a centuries-old institution and created the opportunities that would carry them into the future. Click here for our Bookreporter review.
We also are featuring the guide for David R. Gillham’s 2018 novel, ANNELIES, which is now in paperback. The year is 1945, and Anne Frank is 16 years old. Having survived the concentration camps, but lost her mother and sister, she reunites with her father, Pim, in newly liberated Amsterdam. But it’s not as easy to fit the pieces of their life back together. Anne is adrift, haunted by the ghosts of the horrors they experienced, while Pim is fixated on returning to normalcy. Her beloved diary has been lost, and her dreams of becoming a writer seem distant and pointless now. As Anne struggles to overcome the brutality of memory and build a new life for herself, she grapples with heartbreak, grief and ultimately the freedom of forgiveness.
Our latest “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest title is HEARTLAND: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, which recently came out in paperback and was a Bets On pick when it released in hardcover last year. During Sarah Smarsh’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, she enjoyed the freedom of a country childhood, but observed the painful challenges of the poverty around her --- untreated medical conditions for lack of insurance or consistent care, unsafe job conditions, abusive relationships, and limited resources and information that would provide for the upward mobility that is the American Dream. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the people she loves with clarity and precision but without judgment, Smarsh challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country.
Three groups will win 12 copies of HEARTLAND; to enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, October 9th at noon ET. In the meantime, be sure to check out the discussion guide, our review on Bookreporter and my Bets On commentary for the audiobook, which is narrated by Sarah herself. I love when authors read their own memoirs!
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, EDUCATED: A Memoir by Tara Westover, THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah, LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng, and THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL by Robert Dugoni. Scroll further down the newsletter to see the Top 15.
I was so excited to hear that THE DEARLY BELOVED, a recent Bets On pick, is Jenna Bush Hager’s #ReadWithJenna book club selection for September. "Each couple has struggles --- some of which are secret, some of which become well known. These struggles force them to come together, become stronger and find faith in each other as well as in a higher power," Jenna explained. "The relationship dynamics seem universal. The way they lean on each other and love each other — and how the dynamics shift through some heartbreaking moments --- reminds me of other couples that I know." Click here for more of Jenna’s thoughts on Cara Wall’s debut novel, and don’t miss the discussion guide, our review on Bookreporter and my Bets On commentary.
This month’s Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick is THE SECRETS WE KEPT by Lara Prescott, which was one of this year’s Book Expo Buzz books. Here’s what Reese has to say about it: “Set during the Cold War, it tells the story of secretaries turned spies who are tasked with smuggling DOCTOR ZHIVAGO out of the USSR and into the hands of Russian citizens. You’ll get to know Sally and Irina, two spies who risk it all for love and adventure.” Click here for the discussion guide.
On August 27th, three members of the Simon & Schuster team hosted a Facebook Live Book Club chat to talk about WATCHING YOU by Lisa Jewell, last month’s pick for their Book Club Favorites program, which you can see here. This month’s selection is THE LIGHT OVER LONDON by Julia Kelly, which will be available in paperback on September 24th. S&S will host a Facebook Live chat about the book on Monday, September 30th at 3pm ET. We encourage you to join the conversation with your comments about the novel and interact with your fellow readers.
Back in June, I did a video interview with Christy Lefteri at Book Expo, where we talked about her latest novel, THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO, which is now in stores and is a Bets On pick. Unfortunately, we couldn’t post the video as there was too much background noise. But we were able to transcribe it, and you can read the full interview here. I think this is a natural for book groups!
Melanie, who works with us on our Word of Mouth and Sounding off on Audio features on Bookreporter, and her book group chatted with Kim Michele Richardson, the author of THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK, from Kim Michele's home in Kentucky. Here are her comments.
“It was terrific! We had nine people, which was great as at that point Hurricane Dorian was headed our way in Boca Raton. Kim Michele added a lot to the discussion. It took her five years to write this book, and she spent a year living in Appalachia researching it. She felt that by writing this book, she brought together two things people did not know much about: the Pack Horse Library Project of the WPA, which was specifically designed to put women to work, and the blue-skinned people of Kentucky. She said they do still exist and live there, and she was very protective of their location as she felt media would descend on them! She had a Junia charm (the name of the mule in the book) and auctioned it off to one of our lucky members. Very sweet! One member made an apple cake, and Cyndi, another member, and I made chocolate bourbon cake, which was delicious!"
If anyone else meets with an author and would like to send along a photo and tell us something about the meeting, we would love to share it with our readers! As I get a lot of email, please make the subject line "Author Book Group Chat."
Our reader Nancy Sharko was at the Library of Congress National Book Festival recently and tells us all about it in this blog post, where she talks about the panels she attended featuring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Beth Macy, Sara Paretsky, Laila Lalami and many more. Nancy does terrific event coverage, and we appreciate her sharing this with us!
Over on Bookreporter, we have lots of opportunities for you to win books, including our series of 24-hour Fall Preview contests, which have only just begun. In our Nonfiction Author Spotlight, we’re giving 35 readers the chance to win a copy of Nefertiti Austin's MOTHERHOOD SO WHITE: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America, which releases on September 24th, and share their feedback on it. And, as always, we have our aforementioned Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio features, where you can win some fabulous hardcovers and audiobooks. More details on all of these contests can be found later in this newsletter.
Last week, I was so saddened to hear the stunning news of Dorothea Benton Frank’s passing at the age of 67 after a brief illness. We featured many of her books on the site, along with their discussion guides. I attended a lovely memorial service where we told lots of stories about Dottie (as we all knew her) and shared some of our most cherished memories of her. Read more about this wonderful celebration of her life and my own interactions with Dottie in the opening note of the September 6th Bookreporter Weekly Update newsletter here. Her funeral will be today at 2pm ET at Grace Church Cathedral in Charleston, SC, and it is open to the public. It also will be live-streamed here.
We also mourn the loss of Anne Rivers Siddons, who passed away this week at the age of 83 after battling lung cancer. Siddons wrote 19 novels revolving around strong Southern women --- including PEACHTREE ROAD, HEARTBREAK HOTEL, THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR, OFF SEASON, BURNT MOUNTAIN and THE GIRLS OF AUGUST (her last) --- and one work of nonfiction, JOHN CHANCELLOR MAKES ME CRY. She is survived by four stepsons and three step-grandchildren. Click here to read more about her life and legacy.
Whew…like I said, there is a lot going on.
Here's to a great discussion this month with your book group. We’ll be back in two weeks 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!
New Featured Guide:
THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger
A Bookreporter.com Bets On Pick
THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger (Historical Fiction)
1932, Minnesota. The Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.
Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, THIS TENDER LAND is an enthralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams and makes us whole.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
- Click here to read our interview with William Kent Krueger.
- Click here to visit William Kent Krueger's website.
- Click here to read comments about THIS TENDER LAND from the winners of our contest earlier this year, where 10 book groups discussed the book.
Click here for the featured guide.
New Featured Guide:
YALE NEEDS WOMEN by Anne Gardiner Perkins
YALE NEEDS WOMEN: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant by Anne Gardiner Perkins (History)
In the winter of 1969, from big cities to small towns, young women across the country sent in applications to Yale University for the first time. The Ivy League institution dedicated to graduating "one thousand male leaders" each year had finally decided to open its doors to the nation's top female students. The landmark decision was a huge step forward for women's equality in education.
Or was it?
The experience the first undergraduate women found when they stepped onto Yale's imposing campus was not the same one their male peers enjoyed. Isolated from one another, singled out as oddities and sexual objects, and barred from many of the privileges an elite education was supposed to offer, many of the first girls found themselves immersed in an overwhelmingly male culture they were unprepared to face.
YALE NEEDS WOMEN is the story of how these young women fought against the backward-leaning traditions of a centuries-old institution and created the opportunities that would carry them into the future. Anne Gardiner Perkins' unflinching account of a group of young women striving for change is an inspiring story of strength, resilience and courage that continues to resonate today.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here for the featured guide.
New Featured Guide: ANNELIES by David R. Gillham
Now Available in Paperback
ANNELIES: A Novel of Anne Frank by David R. Gillham (Historical Fiction)
From the author of CITY OF WOMEN, a powerful new novel that asks the question: What if Anne Frank survived the Holocaust?
Anne Frank is a cultural icon whose diary painted a vivid picture of the Holocaust and made her an image of humanity in one of history’s darkest moments. But she was also a person --- a precocious young girl with a rich inner life and tremendous skill as a writer. In this masterful new novel, David R. Gillham explores with breathtaking empathy the woman --- and the writer --- she might have become.
Click here for the featured guide.
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest: Enter to Win 12 Copies of HEARTLAND by Sarah Smarsh, a Bookreporter.com Bets On Title, 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 HEARTLAND: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh, which is now available in paperback --- an eye-opening memoir of working-class poverty in America that will deepen our understanding of the ways in which class shapes our country. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, October 9th at noon ET.
HEARTLAND: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh (Memoir/Sociology)
Sarah Smarsh was born a fifth-generation Kansas wheat farmer on her paternal side, and the product of generations of teen mothers on her maternal side. Through her experiences growing up on a farm 30 miles west of Wichita, we are given a unique and essential look into the lives of poor and working class Americans living in the heartland.
During Sarah’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, she enjoyed the freedom of a country childhood, but observed the painful challenges of the poverty around her --- untreated medical conditions for lack of insurance or consistent care, unsafe job conditions, abusive relationships, and limited resources and information that would provide for the upward mobility that is the American Dream. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the people she loves with clarity and precision but without judgment, Smarsh challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country.
Beautifully written, in a distinctive voice, HEARTLAND combines personal narrative with powerful analysis and cultural commentary, challenging the myths about people thought to be less because they earn less.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary for the audiobook.
Click here to enter the contest.
Now Available: THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood
September’s Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick
THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood (Dystopian Fiction)
Margaret Atwood's dystopian masterpiece, THE HANDMAID'S TALE, has become a modern classic --- and now she brings the iconic story to a dramatic conclusion in this riveting sequel.
More than 15 years after the events of THE HANDMAID'S TALE, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.
Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.
As Atwood unfolds THE TESTAMENTS, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
Visit the Barnes & Noble Book Club page
and sign up for their free Book Club Night to discuss THE TESTAMENTS.
New Guide: THE DEARLY BELOVED by Cara Wall
September’s Today Show
“Read with Jenna” Book Club Selection
THE DEARLY BELOVED by Cara Wall (Fiction)
Charles and Lily, James and Nan. They meet in Greenwich Village in 1963 when Charles and James are jointly hired to steward the historic Third Presbyterian Church through turbulent times. Their personal differences, however, threaten to tear them apart.
Charles is destined to succeed his father as an esteemed professor of history at Harvard, until an unorthodox lecture about faith leads him to ministry. How, then, can he fall in love with Lily --- fiercely intellectual, elegantly stern --- after she tells him with certainty that she will never believe in God? And yet, how can he not?
James, the youngest son in a hardscrabble Chicago family, spent much of his youth angry at his alcoholic father and avoiding his anxious mother. Nan grew up in Mississippi, the devout and beloved daughter of a minister and a debutante. James' escape from his desperate circumstances leads him to Nan, and, despite his skepticism of hope in all its forms, her gentle, constant faith changes the course of his life.
In THE DEARLY BELOVED, we follow these two couples through decades of love and friendship, jealousy and understanding, forgiveness and commitment. Against the backdrop of turbulent changes facing the city and the church’s congregation, these four forge improbable paths through their evolving relationships, each struggling with uncertainty, heartbreak and joy. A poignant meditation on faith and reason, marriage and children, and the ways we find meaning in our lives, Cara Wall’s THE DEARLY BELOVED is a gorgeous, wise and provocative novel that is destined to become a classic.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
- Click here to see why the book is this month's Today Show "Read with Jenna" Book Club selection.
Click here for the discussion guide.
New Guide: THE SECRETS WE KEPT by Lara Prescott September’s Reese Witherspoon x
Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick
THE SECRETS WE KEPT by Lara Prescott (Historical Thriller)
At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle DOCTOR ZHIVAGO out of the USSR, where no one dare publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world --- using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally's tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops and invisibly ferry classified documents.
THE SECRETS WE KEPT combines a legendary literary love story --- the decades-long affair between Pasternak and his mistress and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who was sent to the Gulag and inspired Zhivago's heroine, Lara --- with a narrative about two women empowered to lead lives of extraordinary intrigue and risk. From Pasternak's country estate outside Moscow to the brutalities of the Gulag, from Washington, D.C. to Paris and Milan, THE SECRETS WE KEPT captures a watershed moment in the history of literature --- told with soaring emotional intensity and captivating historical detail. And at the center of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world.
- Click here to see why the book is this month's Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick.
Click here for the discussion guide.
Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for September
Our Most Popular Book Group Selections for August’s
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest
Readers Comment on the Film Adaptations of
THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN
and WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Based on THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein
Debbie: “I read the book when it first was published and loved the story. I went to see the movie on Sunday, and it was wonderful, but you do need tissues! Kevin Costner was the perfect voice for Enzo. I have a nine-month-old puppy at home who is part golden and looks at me with the same eyes as Enzo’s when he looks at Denny and Eve. The end of the movie was too much. I could see Enzo’s eyes in the eyes of that little boy.
Patricia: “Saw the movie this week. Loved it, loved the book. It is a wonderful story, and the only time I cried was when the dog died, which you know is going to happen. But you love this dog. He's beautiful, and the voice of Kevin Costner makes him even better. I thought all the actors were perfectly cast in their roles. I did love the movie and the book.”
Fern: “Hubby and I went to see Racing a week ago. Thoroughly loved it! It was truly a treat to see what Hollywood has done with the story. I would have to re-read the book to know if they bungled it, but it seemed to me that it was handled pretty well. Books will usually be better, but we both thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and I've been recommending it to many people.”
Judith: “THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN is my husband’s all-time favorite book by a current author, so we were very anxious to see how the film treated the story. The actors, including the sweet dog who played Enzo, were perfectly cast for Garth Stein’s characters. We were blown away by the film and are recommending it to everyone, with the caution to take along a box of Kleenex.”
Karen: The Art of Racing in the Rain movie followed the book pretty closely. Although there were a couple of really sad parts, it was really enjoyable. I'm formally from Seattle, so it was fun to see many of the terrific areas that Seattle has to offer.
Nancy: “My book club went to see it last week. I was in charge of bringing Kleenex for everyone. Don’t leave home without it. All eight of us loved the movie. We had read the book for book club last year. It’s my favorite animal book, and everyone loved it when I introduced them to it. Most of us, as you would expect, preferred the book, but a couple of women liked the movie better. The movie stayed pretty close to the book’s storyline. The one major difference (no spoilers) is the incident that results in the court case. We wondered, with everything going on with sexual harassment in Hollywood, if the script was written that way intentionally for that reason, or just to cut the length. I’m not a big Kevin Costner fan, but I thought he was perfect for the voiceover. If you’ve read the book, definitely go. If you haven’t, still go.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Based on WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE by Maria Semple
Karen: “My book club was fortunate to be invited to an advance screening of Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Cate Blanchett was really great in it. I felt it was a really cute and enjoyable movie with many very funny lines.”
Marilyn: “What’s not to like about this movie? Everyone who objects to nudity, drugs, on-screen sex, profanity, guns, etc, etc. will be happy as there is none of the above. Just a lovely, well-done story. A few laughs and an almost tearful moment.
Susan: "I never finished the novel because I could not identify with Bernadette, but went to see the movie based upon a review in The New Yorker stating that the performance of Cate Blanchett makes it a 'must see.' My book club friend and I loved the movie and are now recommending it for our September book selection. Despite the funny episodes in the trailer, it is a serious look at the difficulties creative individuals often have with relationships. I am sure we have not seen the last of Emma Nelson, who plays the daughter Bee, as she was fantastic, in addition to a great performance by Blanchett."
Bookreporter.com’s Nonfiction
Author Spotlight & Contest:
MOTHERHOOD SO WHITE by Nefertiti Austin
We have 35 copies of Nefertiti Austin's memoir, MOTHERHOOD SO WHITE --- the story of a single African American woman's fight to create the family she always knew she was meant to have --- to give away to those who would like to read the book, which releases on September 24th, and share their comments on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, September 19th at noon ET.
MOTHERHOOD SO WHITE: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America by Nefertiti Austin (Memoir)
When Nefertiti Austin, a single African American woman, decided she wanted to adopt a Black baby boy out of the foster-care system, she was unprepared for the fact that there is no place for Black women in the “mommy wars.” Austin set off on her path without the ability to seek guidance from others who looked like her or shared her experience. She soon realized that she would have to navigate skepticism not only from the adoption community, who deal almost exclusively with white women, but surprisingly, from her own family and friends as well.
MOTHERHOOD SO WHITE is the story of Nefertiti’s fight to create the family she always knew she was meant to have and the story of motherhood that all American families need now. In this unflinching account of her parenting journey, Nefertiti examines the history of adoption in the African American community, faces off against stereotypes of single, Black motherhood, and confronts the reality of raising children of color in racially charged, modern-day America.
Click here to read more in our Nonfiction Author Spotlight
and enter the contest.
Announcing 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.
September’s New in Paperback Roundups
on Bookreporter.com
September's roundup of New in Paperback fiction titles includes Kristin Hannah's New York Times bestseller and book club favorite, THE GREAT ALONE, in which a desperate family seeks a new beginning in the near-isolated wilderness of Alaska, only to find that their unpredictable environment is less threatening than the erratic behavior found in human nature; A SPARK OF LIGHT, Jodi Picoult's powerful and provocative novel about ordinary lives that intersect during a heart-stopping crisis; and THE GLASS OCEAN by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White, a captivating historical mystery, infused with romance, that links the lives of three women across a century --- two deep in the past, one in the present --- to the doomed passenger liner, RMS Lusitania.
Among our nonfiction highlights are THE REAL LOLITA, in which Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Vladimir Nabokov knew of the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing LOLITA; THE FABULOUS BOUVIER SISTERS by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, a poignant, evocative and wonderfully gossipy account of the two sisters who represented style and class above all else --- Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill; and Maxwell King's THE GOOD NEIGHBOR, the first full-length biography of children’s television pioneer and American cultural icon Fred Rogers, which traces his personal, professional and artistic life through decades of work.
Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of
September 2nd, September 9th, September 16th and September 23rd.
Recent Bookreporter.com Bets On Selections:
THIS TENDER LAND, THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO,
THE WHISPER MAN, THE DEARLY BELOVED
and THE GOLDEN HOUR
THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger (Historical Fiction)
THIS TENDER LAND --- like ORDINARY GRACE, William Kent Krueger's bestselling 2013 novel --- is another brilliant stand-alone, a departure from his Cork O’Connor series. It is atmospheric like WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, and sparks thoughts of BEFORE WE WERE YOURS and ORPHAN TRAIN. While the bayou is the setting for CRAWDADS, here we have an orphan and his friends meandering down the mighty rivers of the Midwest to escape the Lincoln School in Minnesota where they were mistreated.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read our interview with William Kent Krueger.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on THIS TENDER LAND.
THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO by Christy Lefteri (Fiction)
I read THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO by Christy Lefteri back in May. I have not looked at bees or honey the same way since. I also have given a lot of thought to people who have no options, especially those trapped by circumstances not of their own doing.
The story revolves around Nuri, a beekeeper from Aleppo, Syria, and his wife, Afra, an artist. As the book opens, Nuri and his cousin, Mustafa, are cultivating a number of hives in the Syrian countryside. War quickly upends their safe world as their hives are burned, and they are forced to flee. Mustafa heads out one way, while Nuri heads first through Turkey and then into Greece, where they join fellow Syrians looking for a safe haven. The goal: to get to the UK, which is the dream of so many refugees. Mustafa already has made his way there; he has started a new apiary and awaits Nuri’s arrival. But there are so many challenges that lie between him and this destination.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read our interview with Christy Lefteri.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on
THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO.
THE WHISPER MAN by Alex North (Thriller)
THE WHISPER MAN by Alex North is a completely addicting thriller with threads of Stephen King chills rippling throughout.
Following the death of his wife, Tom Kennedy is struggling with life with his young son. He decides to leave painful memories behind and move to a new house in a new town, called Featherbank. Two decades ago, a serial killer kidnapped and murdered five children in Featherbank. And now another child has gone missing. Pete Willis, the detective who first worked on the case, is called back up to re-interview the original killer, as the police grapple with tragedy revisiting their town. This book twists and turns, and you will want to be alert on every page, which is not hard to be. The prose is tight, and the action is brisk.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on THE WHISPER MAN.
THE DEARLY BELOVED by Cara Wall (Fiction)
In THE DEARLY BELOVED, Cara Wall has written a beautiful, heartfelt novel about two young ministers who become co-ministers at a Presbyterian church in New York City in the early ’60s, their wives --- and their lives. As the book opens, each of the couples are just meeting while they are in college. You feel their innocence, their fresh view of the world, and their unbridled excitement about the lives that are laid out before them. Each brings a very different perspective to their marriages --- and to the way they will serve the faith.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on THE DEARLY BELOVED.
THE GOLDEN HOUR by Beatriz Williams (Historical Fiction)
In THE GOLDEN HOUR, Beatriz Williams once again delves into historical fiction with two well-drawn storylines. One opens in 1900, and the other takes place in 1941.
In 1900, Elfriede von Kleist is in a mental institution in Switzerland recovering from severe postpartum depression. There she meets a fellow patient and falls for him. But her life is complicated; she is summoned home as her husband becomes ill, and there she discovers how he has betrayed her.
The second setting is Nassau in the Bahamas in 1941. The location alone is reason enough to read this book. Then layer in the idea that the recently appointed governor of Nassau is the Duke of Windsor, and he is living there with his wife, Wallis Simpson, and the draw to read it gets ratcheted up a notch.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on THE GOLDEN HOUR.
Enter Our Ongoing Bookreporter.com Contests:
"Word of Mouth" and "Sounding Off on Audio"
We currently are featuring the following guides on ReadingGroupGuides.com:
ANNELIES: A Novel of Anne Frank by David R. Gillham (Historical Fiction)
From the author of CITY OF WOMEN comes a powerful novel that asks the question: What if Anne Frank survived the Holocaust?
THE DEARLY BELOVED by Cara Wall (Fiction)
Charles and Lily, James and Nan. They meet in Greenwich Village in 1963 when Charles and James are jointly hired to steward the historic Third Presbyterian Church through turbulent times. Their personal differences, however, threaten to tear them apart in THE DEARLY BELOVED, September's Today Show “Read with Jenna” Book Club selection.
THE SECRETS WE KEPT by Lara Prescott (Historical Thriller)
THE SECRETS WE KEPT, September's Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick, is a thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice --- inspired by the true story of the CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia, not with propaganda, but with the greatest love story of the 20th century: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO.
THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger (Historical Fiction)
From the author of ORDINARY GRACE comes a magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the early years of the Great Depression --- a book that shines new light on a pivotal time in American history.
TIDELANDS by Philippa Gregory (Historical Fiction)
The #1 New York Times bestselling author and “one of the great storytellers of our time” (San Francisco Book Review) turns from the glamour of the royal courts to tell the story of an ordinary woman, Alinor, who cannot bear to conform to the life that lies before her.
YALE NEEDS WOMEN: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant by Anne Gardiner Perkins (History)
Admittance was the battle, equality was the war. YALE NEEDS WOMEN is Anne Gardiner Perkins' unflinching account of how the first group of girls rewrote the rules of an Ivy League giant.
Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:
CAN DEMOCRACY WORK?: A Short History of a Radical Idea, from Ancient Athens to Our World by James Miller (Political Science/History)
Today, democracy is the world’s only broadly accepted political system, and yet it has become synonymous with disappointment and crisis. How did it come to this?
THE GLASS OCEAN by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White (Historical Mystery)
From the New York Times bestselling authors of THE FORGOTTEN ROOM comes a captivating historical mystery, infused with romance, that links the lives of three women across a century --- two deep in the past, one in the present --- to the doomed passenger liner, RMS Lusitania.
THE GOLDEN STATE by Lydia Kiesling (Fiction)
THE GOLDEN STATE is a gorgeous, raw debut novel about a young woman braving the ups and downs of motherhood in a fractured America.
HEARTLAND: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh (Memoir/Sociology)
An essential read for our times, HEARTLAND is an eye-opening memoir of working-class poverty in America that will deepen our understanding of the ways in which class shapes our country.
THE REAL LOLITA: A Lost Girl, an Unthinkable Crime, and a Scandalous Masterpiece by Sarah Weinman (True Crime/History)
Very few readers know that the subject of Vladimir Nabokov’s LOLITA was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner. Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, THE REAL LOLITA tells Sally Horner’s full story for the very first time.
SHE WOULD BE KING by Wayétu Moore (Historical Fiction/Magicial Realism)
Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond.
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