July 2011

More about Miss Timmins’ School for Girls:
In 1974, three weeks before her 21st birthday, Charulata Apte arrives at Miss Timmins' School for Girls in Panchgani. Shy, sheltered and running from a scandal that disgraced her Brahmin family, Charu finds herself teaching Shakespeare to rich Indian girls in a boarding school still run like an outpost of the British Empire. In this small, foreign universe, Charu is drawn to the charismatic teacher Moira Prince, who introduces her to pot-smoking hippies, rock ‘n' roll, and freedoms she never knew existed.

Then one monsoon night, a body is found at the bottom of a cliff, and the ordered worlds of school and town are thrown into chaos. When Charu is implicated in the murder --- a case three intrepid schoolgirls take it upon themselves to solve --- Charu's real education begins.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
 

Emily Aulenbach is 30, a lawyer married to a lawyer, working in Manhattan. She doesn’t connect with much in her life, period, with the exception of three things --- her computer, her BlackBerry and her watch. Acting on impulse, Emily leaves work early one day, goes home, packs her bag and takes off. Groping toward the future, uncharacteristically following her gut rather than her mind, she heads north toward a New Hampshire town tucked between mountains. She knows this town. During her college years, she spent a watershed summer here. Painful as it is to return, she knows that if she is to right her life, she has to start here.
 

In A Stranger Like You, the border between screen fantasy and grim reality is quick to dissolve, as Hugh Waters, bent on proving his script is believable, drugs Hedda Chase, stuffs her into the trunk of her vintage BMW, and drives the car to a long-term parking lot at LAX. He leaves the keys in the ignition, the parking ticket on the dashboard, and Hedda to the whims of fate. But fate is waiting for Waters as well, and he little suspects that the forces of destiny he has set in motion will lead to strange sexual encounters, a desperate search in the California desert, and a terrible, vengeful reunion.
 

As a young girl growing up in Spain, Ana Larragoity Cubillas is powerfully drawn to Puerto Rico by the diaries of an ancestor who traveled there with Ponce de León. And in handsome twin brothers Ramón and Inocente --- both in love with Ana --- she finds a way to get there. She marries Ramón, and in 1844, just 18, she travels across the ocean to a remote sugar plantation the brothers have inherited on the island. Ana faces unrelenting heat, disease and isolation, and the dangers of the untamed countryside even as she relishes the challenge of running Hacienda los Gemelos. But when the Civil War breaks out in the United States, Ana finds her livelihood, and perhaps even her life, threatened by the very people on whose backs her wealth has been built: the hacienda’s slaves, whose richly drawn stories unfold alongside her own.
 

The Book Group Spotlight Feature is designed to share a selected book group with our readers. The spotlight may focus on a group's discussion of a book or on a group that we feel is particularly interesting.

Our latest Book Group Spotlight interview is with the AAGP (Anglo-American Group of Provence) Book Group, a diverse group that meets in France, and has members of British, American, Irish, Dutch and French descent. We were first made aware of this group back in May, when we had a special microsite dedicated to the paperback release of The Help. AAGP member Susan contacted us to let us know that her group read The Help in paperback nearly a year ago in Europe! After hearing this, we wanted to explore some of the differences and similarities between book groups in the U.S. and groups in Europe and beyond.

-Click here to read previous Book Group Spotlight interviews.
 

Is your book group stuck in a rut? Or looking to stretch beyond its comfort zone? Maybe you’re just searching for that next great read?

We’re here to help! Our latest ReadingGroupGuides.com feature, What to Read Next? Suggest a Book for This Group, aims to help a group by taking suggestions from our thousands of book group members.

We’ll regularly feature groups, tell you something about them and share their previous six selections, and then ask you to leave a suggestion for them in our special form. We’re excited to see groups sharing picks back and forth, and hope this feature helps groups find a new favorite discussion title!

-Click here to see this month’s featured groups.
-Click here to see the suggestions for last month’s groups.
-Click here to see the suggestions for previously featured groups.
-Click here to submit your group for consideration.
 

Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante (Fiction)
I like books that I can describe really succinctly, like Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante. Here’s the story. Dr. Jennifer White has Alzheimer’s. Her neighbor --- her best friend, the godmother of her daughter --- has been found dead in her home. All clues point to Jennifer, who was a hand surgeon before she became too incapacitated to work, and she cannot remember if she killed her friend or not. It’s brilliantly done as you weave in and out of Jennifer’s world as it unravels.

-Click here to read more of Carol Fitzgerald's thoughts about Turn of Mind.

The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy (Historical Fiction)
When we think about war, we think about everything in black and white. There are two sides. One is good, and the other is evil. There are allies and enemies, and never should the two meet. Or so we think. But The Soldier's Wife throws all that to the wind. Author Margaret Leroy places Vivienne de la Mare in a challenging situation. She is at home on the island of Guernsey with her two young daughters and her elderly mother-in-law as her husband is off fighting the Germans. Rumors of war are swirling around, though life for the moment is safe. Some residents of Guernsey are evacuating to England while others continue living their lives at home in peace, or in as much peace as one can have when war is everywhere.

-Click here to read more of Carol Fitzgerald's thoughts about The Soldier's Wife.

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin (Historical Fiction)
The American Heiress, Daisy Goodwin's debut novel, opens in Newport, Rhode Island, in its glory days when the Astors ruled the social scene and midnight balls were all the rage. But money is not everything, and Cora Cash's mother wants what many mothers of the day want for their society daughters --- a royal title. Thus they travel to England in search of one, and they learn that this is a time when money really does buy anything. These lush times set the scene for a look at the steamy and darker sides of this world. The fashions, customs and other historical details are just pitch perfect. Goodwin's spirited and upbeat writing style is completely entertaining.

-Click here to read more of Carol Fitzgerald's thoughts about The American Heiress.
 

Our ReadingGroupGuides.com Blog continues to be a big hit among our readers. Throughout the month we are sharing postings from regular contributors --- including authors, librarians, book club facilitators, booksellers and experts in the publishing industry --- as well as special guests. The latest blog can be found here, and here are quick links to some recent posts:

-Deborah Cloyed: THE SUMMER WE CAME TO LIFE -- Part I
-Deborah Cloyed: THE SUMMER WE CAME TO LIFE -- Part II
-Ann Patchett: How to Love a Dog
-Louisa Young: MY DEAR I WANTED TO TELL YOU
-Talia Carner: Unveiling the Jerusalem Maiden

For those of you who use RSS feeds to keep track of your favorite blogs, you can now add the ReadingGroupGuides.com Blog to your list by clicking this link. Also, receive updates by email here. In addition, the blog is shared on the ReadingGroupGuides.com Facebook page.
 

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume One: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson: This National Book Award winner tells a gothic tale of slavery, science and the Revolutionary War.
Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago: A sweeping historical novel of love and adventure as a young Spanish woman finds her way to exotic Puerto Rico as the Civil War unfolds just to the north in America.
Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan: An Irish woman ventures across the Atlantic Ocean to land in New York City as a maid for a wealthy family, but can’t forget the country --- or man --- she left behind.
Escape by Barbara Delinsky: An overworked lawyer takes her life into her own hands when she forsakes the corporate world for a mountain town retreat in New Hampshire.
The Gap Year by Sarah Bird: A novel as hilarious as it is heartbreaking about a single mom and her 17-year-old daughter learning how to let go in that precarious moment before college empties the nest.
Hassie Calhoun: A Las Vegas Novel of Innocence by Pamela Cory: A teenager hopes to launch her singing career on the Las Vegas show circuit, but finds that Sin City is much more than just a nickname for the city.
The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler: This international bestseller has a frustrated detective resorting to hypnotism to help crack the case of a brutal triple homicide.
Miss Timmins’ School for Girls by Nayan Currimbhoy: A murder at a British boarding school in the hills of western India launches a young teacher on the journey of a lifetime.
A Stranger Like You by Elizabeth Brundage: A struggling screenwriter goes to great lengths to prove his script is ready for the big screen, and extract revenge on the executive who’s blocking its way.
Summer Friends by Holly Chamberlin: Two childhood friends who have followed very different paths to adulthood reconnect at the summer retreat of their youth.

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

The Four Fingers of Death by Rick Moody: Rick Moody's latest boldly exhibits its author's talents, including his cheeky creativity, linguistic acrobatics, and eccentric characters in this romp through the not-too-distant future.
Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright: A housewife finds herself tempted to forsake her comfortable life and marriage after a chance meeting --- and connection --- with a fellow airplane passenger.
The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin: Two strangers bond together to brave the elements after their plane crashes into the remote recesses of the Rockies.
Perfect Reader by Maggie Pouncey: A writer returns to her childhood home upon her father's death to handle his estate, only to uncover his mysterious secret life.
The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass: Three members of an affluent Boston family begin to explore new, unchartered areas of their lives, including love and politics.
The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens: A housewife goes on a trip of self-discovery following her 25th wedding anniversary and the sudden disappearance of her husband.

The following new guide is now available for Christian book groups:

The Blessed by Ann H. Gabhart: A woman stuck in a dead-end marriage finds herself tempted by a young Shaker man who tests both their faith and beliefs.
Chasing Sunsets: A Cedar Key Novel by Eva Marie Everson: A divorcee gets a second chance at love after a summer vacation to the tiny island she’s always yearned to call home.
The Protector: Families of Honor, Book 2 by Shelley Shepard Gray: A young woman is forced to sell her family’s farm to support her siblings, but a suitor awaits and hopes to support them all.