May 2010

Ten Years!

Happy May...though I still am wondering WHERE April went; it flew by! May means that ReadingGroupGuides.com is celebrating its 10th Anniversary --- WHERE did those years go? --- and we are going to be celebrating in a VERY big way. Look for a special newsletter from us next week where we share our exciting anniversary plans.

As we hit this milestone, we’re curious about when you first heard about the site. In this month’s poll let us know when you found ReadingGroupGuides.com by answering our question: “When did you discover the site?”

We are hosting three contests throughout May. The first is for 100 readers to win an advance copy of Dinaw Mengestu’s How to Read the Air, about an immigrant family’s struggles to adjust in America. Mengestu became a book club favorite when he released The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears a few years ago, earning him rave reviews. This will be one of the most anticipated titles of the fall as it’s due in stores October 14th. Click here to enter.

A lucky 100 readers will also have the chance to win an advance copy of Mark T. Mustian’s The Gendarme. This love story, set in both America and Turkey throughout the 20th century, deals with a lot of the turbulent politics of Turkey, and shows that love can conquer all. The Gendarme is due in stores September 2nd, but you can win an advance copy by entering here.

Our third contest book is a Young Adult title that I just absolutely loved, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. It’s about a very popular high school girl and her friends (we ALL knew girls like them) and how their actions in one day spin out of control to some horrific consequences. That’s chapter one. Now hit rewind six times, and each chapter takes on a new look with a few twists, which show how subtle differences in actions bring different reactions. For the record, these ultra-cool girls are every high school girl’s nightmare, but also totally relatable.

I was engaged in it right from the start. One of the women in the office read it and felt the same way, and for a few days there I joked that we were in a book group of two talking about it. I had the pleasure of having dinner with Lauren in San Jose in February, and I laughed reading the inscription in my book where she referenced nearly falling comatose from the chocolate desserts that night. Many Young Adult books make excellent crossover titles to the adult market, and this definitely is one of them. We have 50 hardcover copies of Before I Fall to give away by entering here. As a bonus, for our registered readers, we will have three author chats with Lauren Oliver available. If you’re not one of our registered readers, you can join here.

In late April I had a wonderful time at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The Friday before the Festival, I had a lovely lunch with Lisa See at my hotel; we were thrilled to find fish tacos on the menu as we had dined on those in the Caymans a few years ago. Lisa shared stories from her months of traveling and meeting readers for her tour for the paperback release of Shanghai Girls, which took her across the country. We had great fun comparing the stores that we both have visited and talking about how interesting it is to meet readers as we travel. She’s working on the follow-up to Shanghai Girls and is so excited about it. I never quiz authors on what they are writing since I know ideas germinate before they can be shared, but she clearly is loving writing it, which means we should be in for a treat.

At the Festival, among the authors I got to see was Erica Bauermeister (whose The School of Essential Ingredients made me want to cook and have a book discussion), Pamela Ribon (I had read her book, Going in Circles, a few weeks ago) and Karen Stabiner (whose novel Getting In about the college admission process should be required reading for all hyper high school parents). They weighed in on how their books are about forging ahead. I love how you can watch different authors play off each other at events like this.

I also moseyed over to hear the aforementioned Lisa See and her mother, Carolyn. What’s interesting here is that I have seen them speak together on at least three occasions, but they never repeat stories and they always have a lively conversation. I loved how they talked here about how for them writing happens without a lot of pomp and circumstance. They told a story about writing a book together right after Lisa gave birth to her first son. They passed the baby back and forth as they each wrote, knowing they were sharing two roles --- writer and co-caregiver --- right then. They clearly just love writing and the joy of the craft. They have written a Mother's Day blog piece for us that you can read here.

I also went to an event where Herman Wouk was interviewed by Tim Rutten, who clearly is a scholar of Wouk’s work. Wouk is one of my favorite authors, and just seeing his name made me want to re-read Marjorie Morningstar, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. As he made his way onto the stage, flashbulbs went off and he benignly smiled from the stage. While I would have loved to hear him talk only about his earlier works, he also talked about his latest book, The Language God Talks: On Science and Religion. He wove in such wonderful stories of his life that I knew I was having one of those literary moments that you will reach back and grab in the future.

Speaking of Wouk, there is a BIG book, Rich Boy, coming in on August 2nd from Sharon Pomerantz that reminded me very much of my reaction when I read Marjorie Morningstar, where I dropped into Marjorie’s world. The same thing happened here with Robert Vishniak, who spends his life trying to escape a past that he is not proud of as he infiltrates the most elite social circles. It takes place over four decades, and the story is rich and full of detail. Pomerantz worked on it for 10 years, and her attention to the craft is evident. There were none of the dull spots that often plague a book of this size; it moves.

As always, our newsletter subscribers are automatically entered to win 20 copies of a title just for simply receiving and reading the newsletter. This month we’re offering copies of The Family Man by Elinor Lipman. She’s probably a familiar name to many book clubs, and if you’re lucky, your group may receive 20 copies of the paperback edition, available in stores now. And please share any interesting book group news for our ReadingGroupGuides.com blog with Contributing Editor Dana Barrett at [email protected].

On the ReadingGroupGuides.com homepage, we have some book-themed items to give away that would be perfect for groups. We have two different reading journals --- My Bibliofile and Reading Journal --- available for you to track your favorites and/or keep a group log. We also have the Lit Wit trivia deck, which is loaded with fun, informative book facts. Lastly, there’s Gourmet Game Night, a cookbook geared toward book clubs, bridge clubs, knitting clubs and the like with simple recipes to keep everyone happy and full during your discussion. You can win all four prizes here. The contest ends May 12th at noon ET, so enter to win now!

This year at BookExpo America (BEA) marks the first time that book group leaders are invited to enjoy the industry’s largest trade show. This year’s show is being held at the Javits Center in New York City from May 25-27th and features a variety of floor events, lectures, author signings and so on. It truly is the book world’s marquee event. I’ll be moderating an event on new fall titles on Wednesday at 10AM. Please do sign up fast if you’d like to make the trip, as space is limited! Click here for details on the show, and click here for pricing information. If you are traveling into town, be sure to check out the terrific hotel deals that are available here. I really hope to see you there!

Looking forward to seeing Emily Giffin during her New York appearance next week to promote Heart of the Matter, out May 11th, which we're featuring below. You can also click here to see our current Bookreporter.com Women's Fiction feature on Emily and Heart of the Matter. I loved this book, and it gives readers a lot to think about --- and discuss.

Wishing all our readers who are moms a Happy Mother’s Day. If your family needs hints on what you might like to celebrate, peruse the Mother’s Day feature that we have on Bookreporter.com with 36 terrific mom-friendly titles. And our Mother’s Day blog pieces from authors and their mothers that you can read here are making my dream of celebrating Mother’s Day for a MONTH come true. You can read pieces from authors such as Mary and Carol Higgins Clark, Kathy and Kerry Reichs, Sandra and Ryan Brown, Kelly Corrigan, Lisa Gardner, Cathleen Schine and legal thriller author Robert Dugoni, among the 30-plus authors who contributed here. And we still have pieces on tap from Emily Giffin, Janet and Alex Evanovich, Sandra Dallas, and political analyst and author Cokie Roberts. Also, our Coming Soon feature has been updated recently to help your group plan for the summer months and even into the fall! Just scroll or jump to the month you're looking for.

Before I close this newsletter, I wanted to acknowledge any of our readers in the Nashville area and extend my concern to you with the recent flooding in that area. The media has been woefully remiss in covering this tragedy, but from comments from my friends on Facebook and other social media, I know the destruction has been horrific. Our thoughts are with you. The Book Report Network, the parent company of ReadingGroupGuides.com, has longstanding ties with the Nashville area. Hatch Showprint actually designed the company logo way back in 1995 when we first launched.

See you next week with our anniversary news…for now, read on….

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
 

We are celebrating the October 14th release of How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu --- a family saga of African immigrants --- with a special contest. 100 readers will have the opportunity to each win one advance copy of How to Read the Air for their group. The deadline for entries is Wednesday, June 2nd at noon ET.

More about How to Read the Air:
Dinaw Mengestu’s first novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, earned him comparisons to Bellow, Fitzgerald and Naipaul, and garnered ecstatic critical praise for its haunting depiction of the immigrant experience in America. Now he enriches the themes that defined his debut in a novel that follows two generations of an immigrant family.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
 

We are celebrating the release of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver --- a young adult bestselling high school drama that will surely resonate with adults --- with a special contest. 50 readers will have the opportunity to each win one copy of Before I Fall, which is in stores now, for their group. The deadline for entries is Wednesday, June 2nd at noon ET.

More about Before I Fall:
What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? And how far would you go to save your own life? High schooler Samantha Kingston has it all: a desirable boyfriend, a closeknit circle of friends, and the first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read all the contest details.

For May we have a very special opportunity for Registered Book Groups. Groups who have registered with us by Tuesday, May 18th will have the chance to win a chat with Lauren Oliver and copies of Before I Fall. If your group is not registered, click here to register.

 

A tour de force of historical improvisation and vocal acrobatics, Peter Carey’s new novel looks at post-revolutionary France and America through the eyes of two unforgettable narrators: Olivier and Parrot. The result is a vivid counterpoint and two wildly divergent perspectives on the same tumultuous period. It is also the story of a most unlikely friendship between a French lord and an English servant.
 

When small town Louisiana girl Calla Lily Ponder encounters sweet, sexy, succulent love on the banks of the La Luna River, she thinks her future with Tuck LeBlanc is a given. But when he disappears into the Ivy League world that she will never be a part of, she must make her own way. Using the gifts of healing, which her mother gave her, Calla leaves the familiarity of her hometown and heads to the untamed city of New Orleans, where love and adventure and beauty school help her magical destiny unfold.

 

RETURN TO SULLIVANS ISLAND by Dorothea Benton Frank

New York Times bestselling author Marie Bostwick is back with A Thread So Thin, revisiting the popular town, quilt shop and characters from her Cobbled Court series, for a timeless tale of friendship, love, and the choices we must make in their name.

 

Julie Orringer’s astonishing first novel, eagerly awaited since the publication of her heralded bestselling short-story collection, How to Breathe Underwater, is a grand love story set against the backdrop of Budapest and Paris, an epic tale of three brothers whose lives are ravaged by war, and the chronicle of one family’s struggle against the forces that threaten to annihilate it.

 

Watermark is an atmospheric and compelling debut about the search for identity, the power of self-expression, and value of the written word. Set in France in 1320, this historical novel centers on Auda, the mute-born daughter of a papermaker in a small French village, who is forced to shun the daylight in her village, but who eventually finds solace and escape in the wonder of the written word.

 

Jessica Jiji’s Sweet Dates in Basra is a compelling, poignant and unforgettable tale of friendship and family, set in Iraq during the Second World War. A dramatic departure from Jiji’s previous novel, Diamonds Take Forever, Sweet Dates in Basra brilliantly captures the atmosphere of a volatile Middle East during the previous century and pays tribute to the lost traditions of a once-idyllic world.

 

A young woman deals with the aftermath of her father’s death while she struggles to commit to a future with her fiancé in Life After Yes, the poignant, wry and very accomplished debut novel from Aidan Donnelley Rowley. A story of hope and light in the darkness, newcomer Rowley has captured all the angst and pain of truly becoming an adult, and has done so with unusual heart and grace.