Book Club Girl Loves Banned Books

It's Banned Books Week, sponsored by the American Library Association to raise awareness about challenged titles --- books some people would like to see removed from library shelves. Contributor Jennifer Hart, aka Book Club Girl, explains why she loves Banned Books --- and why you might want to consider selecting one of the challenged titles for a reading group pick.

It is so hard to believe that in this day and age, people are still trying to, and sometimes succeeding in, banning books in their communities. When I first hear the phrase "banned books" I think of a time long-ago, like Scopes-Monkey trial time, and I'm always shocked when I hear people are trying to ban books today, books as innocuous, and as wonderful, as Harry Potter. When I think that a child might not be exposed to a magical and delightfully imaginative series like Harry Potter, because some misguided person thinks that somehow books can do, well, I don't know what it is they think books can do that is so pernicious and negative that would require them being removed from places of public consumption like the local library.

The American Library Association's Banned Books Week, which began this past Saturday and runs through October 4th, seeks to promote the awareness of book banning and to make sure Americans don't take our freedom to read for granted.

Being a part of a book group is a perfect way to explore the issue. Choose a banned book for your group's next pick and along with reading and discussing it, do some research on what communities sought to ban the book and why. Only by trying to understand the motivation of people who fear the written word, can we hope to ever communicate with them and help convince them that words can only educate and elevate us.

You might be surprised at how many reading group favorites appear on the frequently challenged books list, including The Color Purple, The Handmaid's Tale, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Things They Carried, The Lovely Bones, and Like Water for Chocolate, just to name a few. For lists of challenged books, as well as resources on why they've been challenged, go here.

How else can you get involved? The ALA website has more tips on how you can support the week, find a Banned Books event, or join the the Banned Books Groups on Facebook and My Space.

Meanwhile, read banned books and display them with pride.

---Jennifer Hart

Annie Barrows: Going to Guernsey

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society has struck a chord with book clubs. Annie Barrows' novel, told through letters, unfolds the story of a group of residents on the English Channel island of Guernsey, who formed a book club as an alibi while the isle was occupied by Nazis during World War II. To read the Bookreporter.com review, click here, and to watch a video of Annie Barrows talking about the novel, click here.

Today's guest blogger, Annie shares reactions from readers, why you shouldn't make potato peel pie, and how you can keep a book going after you've read the last page.

Like many readers of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I want to go to a Society meeting. I want to sit in Clovis and Nancy Fossey's living room --- with spillover into the kitchen --- and argue about Wuthering Heights and Seneca. I want to chat with Dawsey and Isola. I used to want a piece of potato peel pie, but then I had one, so I don't want that anymore.

I have received many, many letters from readers all over the world bemoaning the fact that the book comes to an end. "I wanted it to go on forever," they say. "I want to go to Guernsey and join a book club." "I want to be a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." And the answer is Yes. As long as we don't get too caught up in the space-time continuum, the book does still go on, every time a reader talks about it with another reader. The membership of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society increases each time the book is read and enjoyed. The wonderful thing about books --- and the thing that made them such a refuge for the islanders during the Occupation --- is that they take you out of your time and place and transport you, not just into the world of the story, but into the world of your fellow-readers, who have stories of their own.

In the last six weeks, the weeks since the book was published, I have heard from readers who were reminded of their own wartime experiences. One Guernsey native told me of his evacuation to England, along with hundreds of other children, the week before the Germans invaded. The most thrilling moment, he said, was his first glimpse of a black cow. He hadn't known cows came in black. Another woman, a child in Germany during the war, told of bringing food to the French soldier hiding in her attic --- she was the only member of the family small enough to squeeze through the trapdoor.

It's not all war-stories, though. I've heard from people who want to know if Isaac Bickerstaffe is real (yes) and people who want to make potato peel pie (don't do it!) and people who want to read another book written in letters (Daddy Long Legs). Mostly, though, I've heard from people who are happy because they enjoyed the book.

This, it seems to me, is the new version of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Its members are spread all over the world, but they are joined by their love of books, of talking about books, and of their fellow readers. We are transformed --- magically --- into a book club each time we pass a book along, each time we ask a question about it, each time we exclaim, "Oh, I loved that book!" when we see someone else reading it, each time we say "If you liked that, I bet you'd like this." Reading joins us into a motley, sometimes argumentative club --- and what could be better than that?

---Annie Barrows

Books Into Movies

I love Netflix, but I have found something I wish they had --- a "Books into Movies" section. Seriously. I just went looking for that on their site, and it was not there. With a very nasty rainy weekend predicted around here, I wanted to find titles that I would suggest books clubs read/watch. But my plans were foiled when I could not find any grouping like that. Moments like that always surprise me when I am SURE something is going to be there and then it is not.We have a Books Into Movies section on Bookreporter.com, and we even added a Books Into Movies Now on DVDs section (yes that is a mouthful) recently, but I thought I could suggest even more titles by checking out Netflix.

What's in my personal Books Into Movies queue? Well, Wednesday night I saw Dennis Lehane speaking about his new book, The Given Day. Comparisons were made to E. L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime, as they are set in the same period. I thought I might rent the movie version of Ragtime and watch it as I read Lehane's book so I would be immersed in the time period. Also, his book Gone Baby Gone was made into a movie, and I would like to see that since his series with Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro was one I really loved.

Sunday I am moderating an author panel where Harlan Coben is one of the guests, and I wanted to see the film adapted from his book Tell No One. It's French, with subtitles. What do subtitles mean? No watching the movie while you answer e-mail, especially if you took Spanish in high school!

I have Atonement here at the house, which just arrived from Netflix. I caught half of this film on my way back from London in April. I was wishing we would have to circle til I finished it, but there was no such luck. I also may venture out to a theatre to see Nights in Rodanthe since a rainy weekend could be a perfect time to get all girl schmaltzy over a Nicholas Sparks Book Into Movie moment.

What are movies you have loved to read/watch? And think we should petition Netflix for a Books Into Movies rental category? Wonder if Redbox or Blockbuster have them...off to check THAT out...

---Carol Fitzgerald

Book Club Makeovers

Does your book club need a makeover? No, we won't be revamping your wardrobe but rather your reading habits and group dynamics. The Book Club Makeover is a new feature on ReadingGroupGuides.com. We'll select groups each month for makeovers, review their problems, and make suggestions. Below, RGG.com contributor and Books & Books' reading group coordinator Debra Linn explains the concept and how it came to be.

If you're interested in a Book Club Makeover for your group, click here for details. We'll unveil the first "made-over" group next week here on the blog.


Fall has begun, and that means change is here. The white shoes have gone away (thankfully), football has kicked off (thankfully), and your book club trudges on...

As much as you cherish your book club meetings, you just can't deny that you've fallen into a rut. You keep picking the same type of books. Or you're picking a variety of books no one enjoys. The discussions feel like deja vu. Like deja vu. Your excitement is waning, and fewer members are coming to meetings.

Well, like any relationship or anything that matters, your book club needs tending, needs refreshing, needs a little loving care. But like any relationship or anything that really matters to you, it's hard to be objective and constructive, to find the poetic beauty of renewal and reawakening.

Maybe you need a helping hand. Maybe you need a Book Club Makeover.

Reading Group Guides guru and Book Report Network co-founder Carol Fitzgerald came up with this brilliant idea to bring help to readers across the land, one bookstore at a time. A fresh look and a fresh outlook for each month.

This is not Dr. Phil territory, nor as weighty as the September issue of In Style. And it wouldn't be a forum for thrashing your fellow book clubbers. Just advice and wisdom from reading group experts.

Like any good makeover, it all starts with the foundation. For us, that's the books. Pick the right books for your group and just about everything else will fall into place. (Yes, even the food.) We'll offer up options. If you like The Kite Runner, try Brother, I'm Dying. Edwidge Danticat's memoir about Haiti, Brother, I'm Dying, might seem --- and literally is --- thousands of miles away from Khalid Hosseini's novel about Afghanistan, but both explore upheaval and exile.

They provide insight into worlds we read about in the news but can't fully appreciate. They force us to feel and think, and they force us to feel and think differently than we had before. And that forces us to have a different discussion. Similar topic, but different perspective. And when the discussion is different, so is a possibly troubling group dynamic (Chatty Cathy or Dominating Debbie might find herself in a new role). And, trust me, Haitian food is rather different than Afghan food (both good, though).

Would your club be interested in a Makeover? What areas concern you most? Book selection? Group dynamics? Meeting variety? We're trying to shape a meaningful --- and fun --- experience before we take it out on the road and to a bookstore near you.

---Debra Linn

Book Profiling

Tonight a friend asked me for book recommendations. I often tell friends that I see myself as a book concierge, and I take my role very seriously. When someone asks what I think they should read, I ask them what they have read that they liked. I ask what authors have made an impact on them. I ask what books they would want to re-read --- and talk about.

Usually at about this point people are warmed up, and titles, authors and bookish memories start coming at me. From there I start to form a picture of my friend as a reader. People often surprise me with what they enjoy reading. Often just when you think you know someone, you will hear what they are reading and then see them a whole new way.

Contrast this with book clubs where readers often know each other by their taste in books more than anything else. Thus when it's someone's turn to choose you either cheer or groan according to whether their tastes match your own.

As I write this post I am looking at my own bookshelves. They tell a story of me and how my reading habits have changed over the years. I can remember a lot about these books as I look at them. And where I was in my own life as I read them.

Look at your own bookshelves sometime and see what story they tell about you. Do you like that story? If not, how would you edit your shelves to tell a story of you that you would be happy with? Ask your fellow book club members these questions when you meet next. It might be fun to hear their answers!

---Carol Fitzgerald

When a Book Tugs at You...

Reading is a personal and private pursuit and most of the time, it's okay to just mull thoughts on my own once I hit the last page. But there are other books that tug at me so hard that I feel a need to talk about them immediately and want to have an instant discussion about them as soon as I close them. I had this happen to me about a week ago.

On a very rainy Friday night, I went to a bookstore event at the Clinton Bookshop in Clinton, New Jersey, to see Robin Gaby Fisher talking about her book, After the Fire. It's a story of the friendship that grew between two of the survivors of the Seton Hall fire. Both boys, now men, were there. For those of you not aware of this story, a fire broke out in the freshman dorm, Boland Hall, at Seton Hall University in the wee hours of a January morning in 2000. When it was over, three students were dead, 58 were injured; three of them critically burned. The fire had started when students lit a paper sign in the common area lounge on the third floor. It quickly spread out of control.

After the Fire tells the story of two of the most critically hurt victims, what they experienced during the fire, and its aftermath, and how they still are there to support and encourage one another more than eight years later. It's an emotional read. A thoughtful read. A book that I have told just about anyone who will listen about in the last week or so.

Most of us at the event that night did not know each other, but something happened in that room that brought us all together not just physically, but emotionally. Since I think all of us knew the circumstances of the fire we were talking about the book as if we had read it, asking the author questions and probing the survivors for their impressions and feelings. I later thought that it was like we were having the book club discussion BEFORE we read the book. And what we were learning was going to enhance our reading experience.

After the formal reading, a number of people stayed to chat. And share stories. And marvel at these two men who have forgiven, moved on and built their lives.

I read the entire book the morning after the event. Then I started writing people about it. I wrote an entire blog here last week.

Would I have said going in that this was a book club discussion book? Probably not. But is it? Read it and let me know. I think I know your answer. And I am just an email away if you want to share your thoughts.

---Carol Fitzgerald

carol@bookreporter.com

Surprise Discussions

Today's guest blogger is Stephanie Coleman, who talks about how her New Jersey reading group chooses books --- and how one selection inspired members to discuss more than the novel at hand. To read more by Stephanie, visit her blog, Stephanie's Written Word.


When I approached my neighbor with the hope of starting a book club last spring, I had already done some research as to how to run a successful group. One big issue within book clubs seemed to surface quite a lot. In most groups, each month one member picks the book they want to read. While this seemed like an interesting way to pick a book, it wasn't all that democratic. I wanted our book club to be interactive for all involved, so we decided that each month one member would pick three books to suggest to our group and then we could all vote on their suggested books. Whichever book got the most votes won. We would rotate members each month, so that everyone would have a chance to suggest some books. With about ten members in our group, it meant that each member would be able to suggest books at least once a year. That first month was my turn. I came up with three books that I was most interested in reading and ultimately we voted on Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. Moloka'i turned out to be the perfect opening book for our club.

This way of picking our books has lead to some interesting and varied book club picks. Back in April, one of Nicole's suggestions was Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. Francine Rivers is a famous Christian fiction writer, a genre we had yet to delve into. Out of the three books Nicole suggested, this was the one that I most certainly did not want to read. You would think that being a Christian I wouldn't be put off by her suggestion of a Christian fiction title, but I was afraid that the book might lead to discussions that could potentially be uncomfortable for some. Of course, the voting won out and Redeeming Love was added to my "to be read" pile.

What was surprising about that month was the fact that not only did I love the book, but the discussion itself was insightful and thought provoking. I then realized that this book opened our book club discussion far and wide, and I was lucky to be a part of such a special group of women. Had Redeeming Love not been one of her suggestions, I might not have had the opportunity to read this wonderful book. Yeah for the voting process!

Is our little system perfect? Not quite. There was one unforeseen issue that came from our unique way of picking books for our meetings. One member was so worried about picking out books our club members might enjoy reading, that she was missing the whole point of being a part of a book club. I reminded her that she need not pick three books that she thinks the group might enjoy, but three books that she herself would enjoy reading. This idea seemed to click with her, and now she comes up with some of the most diverse suggestions in the group.

All in all, this way of picking our books each month has worked nicely for our group. I'm wondering if we are unique in our way of selecting books each month, or does your book club have an efficient and successful way of setting up the books you read?

---Stephanie Coleman

Thank You...We Won!

While there was no moment of "May I have the envelope please..." and I did not get to wear the fabulous backless dress that I have envisioned wearing to every awards ceremony since Kim Basinger dazzled with her ice blue number at the Oscars years ago, it was an amazing feeling yesterday when we saw that we had won Best Book Group Blog in the Book Blogger Appreciation Awards. The awards were in honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, launched by My Friend Amy. The winner in our category was announced yesterday by Booking Mama. We did a cyber air kiss with her later!

Thank you to everyone who voted for us. We are just thrilled to have won, especially given the wonderful work of our fellow blogger competitors. We share this award with everyone who has ever blogged for us --- and all of our readers.

This blog is actually a collection of voices, not just one. When we conceived of the idea, the thought was that we wanted to have many voices writing here, not just mine or those of the staff at ReadingGroupGuides.com. Since we launched in February, we have had 120 posts from 70 different contributors --- authors, booksellers, librarians, publishing industry execs, and book club members. It's been fun seeing the many different ways people look at book clubs. Just when we think we have heard it all, we have another person talking about reading groups in a whole new way.

VERY special thanks to Shannon McKenna Schmidt, who has been writing/editing/producing/cheerleading posts for this blog from the beginning. Shannon and I have known each other since 2000, thus she is very used to getting calls from me where I say, "Shannon, I have an idea..." About nine months ago, I made just such a call with an idea for this blog. I am glad that a) she answered and b) she jumped on board to make my random thoughts take shape and create a real winner and c) she has been so imaginative at coming up with people to tap to write for us. I am VERY lucky to have someone who can take a kernel of an idea and crystallize it as wonderfully as she does.

Now, with that in mind, we always are looking for people to contribute a blog post about their book group adventures. Whether you're an author or a book club member, a bookseller or a librarian, we'd love to have your perspective on things like great discussion titles, what works and what doesn't in your group, reading books by theme, anecdotes and advice, holiday tips and other reading group topics. Seriously, folks, we want you to be part of this. Write Shannon@bookreporter.com with your ideas. Thus far they clearly have been winners...and we would love to keep that spirit going here.

For those of you just meeting us for the first time, you can read our archives and catch up. For our regular readers, there will be a new post tomorrow. Thank you again...

How the Centennial Book Club Began

When Susan Clark moved to Ellicott City, Maryland, several years ago, she found camaraderie in this new place by starting a reading group. Here Susan shares how she and the other members of the Centennial Book Club came to bond over books and some of the things she has learned along the way.


In January of 2004, my family and I relocated to a new community in a new state. It was difficult leaving my friends behind. It took awhile to get settled. I began working as a substitute teacher again to be home in the summertime for my son. As a substitute teacher, it was extremely difficult to make friends teaching at a different school every day. It wasn't until the fall of 2004 that I began to get antsy for having friends back in my life. It's one thing to call and talk to a friend by phone, but it is another thing to actually spend time together and hear how things are going in each other's lives. Friendships between women can be very strong and lasting. I wanted that for myself again.

I thought of different ways that I could acquire some new friends. I asked myself, "What do I like to do?" --- hobbies, crafts, and activities that I like to do both in and outside. Then a light bulb went off in my head as I thought, "Mmm.... I love to read. I'll join a book club!" It would meet my needs both socially and intellectually, and it could be fun! After trying to find one without any success, I decided to start one in my own neighborhood and see what kind of response I received.

Before I began searching for other members, I had to really think a lot about the kind of book club I wanted to be involved with. I wanted members who wanted basically the same things in a book club as I did. So, I wrote out my questions --- what kind of books do I want to read, would I want a certain age group of women in the club and did that matter, how often would I want to get together and where would I want our group to meet.

Next, I created a flyer with an attention-getting header: "DO YOU LOVE TO READ?" On the flyer I simply stated that I was new to the area, looking to make some new friends and wanted to start a fiction book club for women. I asked if interested, to please contact me via e-mail by a certain date and that we'd work out the details of what we all would want for a book club at our first get-together.

In mid-October on a very cold and windy day, my son and I walked the neighborhood and passed out 200 flyers, attaching them to the flags of mailboxes. And then....I waited. Out of 200 flyers, I received four responses from women in the neighborhood over the next few weeks. "That's great," I said to myself.

Our first meeting was held the third Wednesday of November in 2004. Those four women came and one of them brought a friend, so there were six of us total. At this meeting we worked out all the details of when and where we would meet, what the hostess would do for food/drinks and who would lead our discussion. We also decided on how we would select books to read. Our first official book club meeting was held in December of 2004. We discussed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Hayden.

As time passed, some people dropped out, and by the following spring we were down to only three members. I did not get discouraged but remained hopeful that the club would turn around. By the end of summer it picked up again. More people joined by word of mouth, and now we are an established group of seven members.

Do not be discouraged when starting a group. You may only get three or four responses from 200 flyers, or people may drop out for various reasons, but eventually you will establish yourselves as a group! The women of the Centennial Book Club all look forward to getting together every month. Not only is it a night out for all of us, but we get to reconnect with each other and catch up on one another's lives after not seeing each other all month long. There is always a lot of laughter, wine, food and, of course, great conversation about that month's book. Are we always in agreement on the books we read and discuss? Of course not! But that's what makes it so interesting and fun.

Nearly four years have passed since I extended myself out into my neighborhood seeking friendship --- and I certainly lucked out by going the extra mile. I really am thankful that I enjoy reading so much, because by having this hobby my life is now complete. I am in good health, have a great family, a good job and now six wonderful women who I honestly can say mean a lot to me. What more could a person want in life?

---Susan M. Clark

Brunonia Barry: Soup and Stories

Brunonia Barry's debut novel, The Lace Reader, is set in Salem, Massachusetts. It's the story of Towner Whitney, who hails from a family of women who can read the future in the patterns of lace. After a decade-long absence Towner returns to the seaside town, where she discovers the truth about her twin sister's long-ago death. Brunonia has met with many reading groups, both before and after The Lace Reader was published, and here she talks about soup, stories, and how some book club members' comments helped shape the novel.

"I like soup, do you like soup?"

This was the first question someone asked me at the most recent book club meeting I have attended. The question is a direct quote from The Lace Reader, but the soup she was offering was real. Cold avocado and crab soup, to be specific. And it was delicious. Followed by a full meal, a pot luck buffet, all favorite recipes of the members, all very different and not meant to blend together in any specific, menu-planning way, yet blending perfectly with no repetitions. Which was a perfect metaphor for the group, as I later discovered.

This was not your cucumber sandwich type book club. In fact, not one of the clubs I've attended has ever served cucumber sandwiches, though I would have welcomed them. Some have served tea, a direct homage to my character Eva's tearoom, I suspect, though coffee and wine seem to be the beverages of choice in book clubs these days.

I have been to almost fifty book clubs in the last year; a few of the early ones even read loose pages of The Lace Reader before the book was in print. If it weren't for book clubs, my book might not exist. Or more specifically, it might not exist in its current incarnation. These early book clubs provided me with critiques and suggestions as well as a great deal of encouragement. One member of the first club I attended, a technical editor, even jumped in with editing pointers which were not only used but much appreciated.

Overwhelmingly, this latest group wanted to talk about the ending of my book (which is great fun for me and something I obviously cannot do at signings). And overwhelmingly, everyone had a different opinion. "Of course, you would have that interpretation," our host, a research scientist, said to her best friend, a hypnotherapist and Reiki practitioner. And the fun of it is that they are both right, which they eventually figure out for themselves. Unless asked a direct question, I am always silent during the discussion of my book's ending. The rest of the time, I speak freely, answering questions and sometimes reading aloud, but only if they request it.

Another universal topic is the writing process. When do I write? Where? How many hours per day do I devote to it? What do I use as inspiration?

We sat outside in the garden facing Marblehead Harbor. As the cannon blasts echoed across the water from the local yacht clubs, signaling sunset, I began to feel as if I were in my own story. My characters of Towner and Lindley have heard those same cannon blasts. And as I listened to this group of women who have been meeting for almost ten years now to discuss their favorite books, I was reminded of May's Circle of women, the ones who make lace together on a fictional island not far from the mouth of this harbor, and I felt the privilege of being invited into this special group who have become friends over the years, not before the book club began as you might expect, but because of its existence. As one of the members explained, "Our lives are completely different, our interests seldom overlap. But when we get lost in a story, we almost become the characters, and for those few shared hours of discussion, we are the same."

---Brunonia Barry

Read a Classic, Save a Landmark

ReadingGroupGuides.com contributor Jennifer Hart made a suggestion for book clubs in a recent post on her Book Club Girl blog: read a classic work by Mark Twain or Edith Wharton and have each member bring $10-20 to donate to the respective literary landmark --- the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, and The Mount (right), Edith Wharton's estate in Lenox, Massachusetts, both of which are in danger of closing due to financial difficulties.

If you live in the Hartford area, or if you're inspired to take your book club on the road for a literary getaway, the Mark Twain House & Museum (left) is hosting the fundraiser "Writers Reading for Twain" on September 23rd. The event features an impressive line-up of a dozen authors --- including ReadingGroupGuides.com guest bloggers Kristy Kiernan and Jon Clinch, who has his own Twain connection. Clinch's debut novel, Finn, is a spin-off of Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, imagining the life of Huck's father.

For a reading suggestion, consider Wharton's The House of Mirth. My book club read this novel about a young woman out of place among the moneyed elite of Old New York earlier this year, and we all agreed that it inspired one of the best discussions in our 12-year history. Last year we took on Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson, a mystery that showcases his trademark humor and social commentary.

It would be a shame to lose either literary landmark, each of which has a story to tell about its famous occupant.

--- Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Book Clubs in the News

Book clubs are a hot topic, often making headlines in newspapers across the country. Occasionally we'll highlight some of these articles. It's inspiring to read about the impact that book clubs can have on individuals and communities, and we start with stories featuring library reading groups. If it's been a while since you've checked out your local library, why not stop by soon? September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month.


Elburn Herald: Book Groups Offer an Escape
Members of two different library book clubs in Illinois share what they most enjoy about their reading group gatherings...and what they've gained.

The Times of Trenton: Gain in the Translation
A Spanish language reading group at the Princeton Library in Princeton, New Jersey, spans cultural boundaries.

Fayette Daily News: Reading the Write Way
A six-month-old book club at the Fayette County Library in Fayetteville, North Carolina, is "an incredible venue for the discussion of literature that is both inspiring and educational" and "the best thing to happen around here since coconut cake."

Charles Martin Rocks the Pulpwood Queens Boat

Last month Kathy Patrick's Pulpwood Queens Book Club in Jefferson, Texas, hosted Charles Martin. They took to the water for a cruise along Big Cypress Bayou to discuss his most recent novel, Where the River Ends. Read on to find out about the Pulpwood Queens' literary adventure...


Dear Readers,

August is a cruel month for book club meetings. Nobody wants to come, as they are either getting their kids back to school, just exhausted from the heat and summer activities or trying to get in their last chance summer vacation! Being the ever resourceful Pulpwood Queen that I am, I became proactive! I put on my hot pink and leopard print thinking cap! What would make a Pulpwood Queen Book Club member want to forget all of the above, read a great book, and come to our monthly book club meeting? I have two words: Charles Martin!

Charles Martin is the author of many books, books so wonderful that we have made them at one time or another Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selections. You see, we consider it an honor and a privilege to feature authors that are yet undiscovered in a big way. So when we invited Charles Martin originally for our annual convention held the third weekend in January every year, many years ago, no one at the event had heard of Charles before. Charles Martin is still not a household name as far as authors are concerned to the general public, but to the Pulpwood Queens, he's famous! In fact, we predict that this latest book, Where the River Ends, will bring him into the bestsellers frame picture! He is just that good!

When Charles received a three-book deal with Broadway, part of Random House, we were not at all surprised. With each book and each visit, we all clapped each other on the backs that we had discovered such a fine author. In fact, if someone could create an author who had both the visible and reading appeal to readers as Charles Martin, you can count that money in the bank. He is a model and an artist at the same time for authors and readers everywhere. He paints a picture that makes you want to look again, and again, and again, and then read everything you can to learn more about the artist.

And funny, his book is about a fishing guide and struggling artist from a south Georgia trailer park who falls in love with a beautiful, privileged child of a South Carolina senator. Doss Michaels and Abigail Grace Coleman meet by accident, but each feel as if they have found their true soul mate. After ten years of marriage, Abbie faces a life-threatening illness, and Doss battles it with her every step of the way. She makes a list of ten things she hopes to accomplish before she loses the fight for her life, and Doss helps her complete that list by stealing away in the middle of the night to embark upon a 130-mile trip down the St. Mary's River --- a voyage Doss promised Abbie in the early days of their courtship.

Being a former art major, you cannot imagine my elation, our elation, when we found out Charles was bringing his lovely wife, Christy, too. Now we were able to observe the full picture and with the perfect setting. You see, I knew it would be hard to get Pulpwood Queens to come to my book club in August, but with Charles and Christy coming it would be a cinch. That was Plan A but on to Plan B. Did I mention East Texas weather?

It's hot and humid in East Texas. So hot you only go outside when you really, really have to, to run to your car that is completely air conditioned on to wherever that is completely air conditioned. How would we get all the Pulpwood Queens into my incredibly air conditioned shop? It would be a tight squeeze, so on to Plan. B. If you have to move outside, go to water, my friends.

How perfectly perfect, a boat ride down Big Cypress Bayou was arranged and we were booked to life preserver capacity. I soon had a waiting list and one woman all the way from Beaumont, Texas. I believe Charles' name and reads are getting to be known.

A nice little breeze came up off the water as we floated down the river with the Pulpwood Queens, the Martins as our special guests in tow. Captain Johnny Nance gave us a splendid talk on the history of the river and its importance to the economy of Jefferson, Texas. As we turned to come back, Charles stood at the stern of the boat and began a reading like no other. As he read, the words drifted off the page in perfect rhythm with the rock and sway of the boat. He read of looking at the water. We looked at the water. He read that you could see the reflection of the trees. We were seeing the reflection of the cypress trees on the bayou. If ever there has been a perfect marriage of words to experience, we were witness to the event.

I looked at Christy as Charles read. Quietly listening, I felt the love she felt for her husband and his words. I was in pure heaven. I heard the words, as Charles read, and felt the love of his words as they reflected the love of a good story. I viewed a man who loved his wife, both on and off the page, and who had a way of writing that gave me hope. Hope that love does conquer all. I thought: this is a perfect marriage in the sense of a balance between man and wife, book and story.

As we disembarked from the boat, everyone felt transformed, refreshed and ready for what fall was about to bring. We forgot it was blazing hot, and all our attention was on the author and his book. Charles had been the perfect author for what I believe is the perfect book club read, Where the River Ends. I had previously handed out "Cry Like a River," little packages of Kleenexes that the publisher had so graciously sent to us to have handy as we read the book. But I have to tell you, I did not cry over the book. I felt an overwhelming sense of joy from the affirmation that true love exists in a world of apathy and skepticism.

Someone asked me once why the Pulpwood Queens did not read romance books. I beg to differ. My answer is define romance. I have never read a more romantic book than Where the River Ends, and I can tell you that I hope everyone will discover Charles Martin, too. He is my role model for author, man, husband, father, Christian, and friend. What more could a book club ask for. He's perfect to me!

---Kathy Patrick

Jill Pitkeathley: Jane Austen's Enduring Allure

What is it about Jane Austen's novels that continue to appeal to modern-day readers? British writer Jill Pitkeathley reveals how she finally got her book club to read and discuss the classic scribe's works. Jill is the author of the debut novel Cassandra & Jane, which explores Austen's relationship with her sister.


"Jane Austen?" said my friend. "Are you mad? Nobody will want to read Jane Austen at the women's group."

"Why ever not?" I asked, amazed by the vehemence of her reaction.

"Well, she is so, so...un-liberated --- all that Mr. Right stuff and women sewing shirts while men were out hunting. It is all so irrelevant, and anyway, we need to discuss books which are controversial --- there is no controversy in Jane Austen."

This was my first try at getting a book group to focus on my favourite author, and it certainly was not going very well. To be fair, it wasn't actually called a book group. It was called a women's group --- this was the '70s after all --- but we met in each others houses, read books and discussed them, so a book club in embryo perhaps?

My friend who was so opposed to Jane Austen was the group leader, so I needed to ask why she thought my suggestion would be so unpopular.

"They all have the same plot --- 'poor girl wins rich man after some misunderstandings,' there is no sex in them and most of us were made to read them at school --- enough reasons?"

I resisted the temptation to refute her first two by reference to Emma, who is extremely rich, and to the various seductions and women fallen from grace to whom I could point. I had to own, though, that if you had been forced to study a book --- especially for an examination, and almost every educated English woman had had that experience at the time --- reading that author for pleasure might take some getting used to. So I resolved to resist pressing Jane on to the group immediately.

At the next meeting the book we were discussing was about whether marriage was necessary for a woman to be happy and how you could cope with a marriage which was unhappy. One member suddenly said: "It all depends doesn't it on whether you see yourself as Elizabeth Bennet or Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice? You know, whether it is all about romance and dreams coming true or whether you settle for the least worst option."

"Oh, but Elizabeth is not a romantic fool," said another. "She will manage Darcy well, but there will have to be compromises on both sides."

"Well," I joined in, scarcely able to believe my luck at this unexpected development in the discussion, "there are compromises and compromises. Would you settle for Mr. Collins?"

Almost immediately the room was buzzing, every member trying to contribute:
"Think of the consequences in those days of not being married."
"Yes, how would you like to be dependent on your brothers?"
"But imagine Mr. Collins in the bedroom. It is too awful."
"Far better to be single and poor or even a governess."
"Don't be ridiculous. Governesses were slaves. Think of Jane Fairfax."

I glanced over at my friend as the heated conversations went on. "Still think there is nothing to discuss in Jane Austen?" I asked.

"You win," she said. "Which book do you want to present next time?"

Since then I have heard Jane Austen discussed in endless different settings. I have seen people laugh helplessly at some of her scenes and cry uncontrollably too. I have witnessed people almost coming to blows about whether Fanny Price is a moral example to be admired or a self-righteous prig, or about whether Emma's attentions do more harm than good to Harriet Smith.

I suppose the most common topic for discussion in the groups over the years is whether Jane's writing is relevant today or a form of escapism. I have no doubt where I stand on that. I rarely pick up a Jane Austen without finding within it some dilemma which is facing me or my friends and family today, or some new historical perspective on a problem. Above all, I will always find her delicious irony and her wicked humour which will enable me to cope better with whatever is worrying me at the time.

Of course, the huge interest in Jane Austen and the new films and TV series which have been made of her works and about her life, have introduced many more people to the joy of her. They have added many more topics for discussion, too --- not only well-trodden ones such as "Was she ever in love?" "Was she a feminist?" --- but also details of the adaptation, casting and dialogue. "Is the new Elizabeth as good as the last, and is this Captain Wentworth better than last year's?"

I am sure I am like many others in that there are some portrayals I cannot bear to watch, others I could watch every week. As long as people feel the same about the adaptations, the novels themselves and, above all, about dear Jane, book clubs will never be short of discussion topics!

--- Jill Pitkeathley

Cast Your Votes

We have an election that you can vote in now. It involves no conventions, commercials, debates or rhetoric --- and it certainly is one that will touch the hearts of readers.

The founder of My Friend Amy (who is an avid reader) has launched Book Blogger Appreciation Week from September 15 - 19. Cast your votes in the Book Blogger Appreciation Awards in categories like Best Name for a Blog, Most Extravagant Giveaways, Best Literary Fiction Blog and Best Author Blog. Just perusing the list of nominees you're likely to discover some great new sites and a plethora of reading suggestions.

Okay, this message might be just a bit commercial because as you vote we'd like you to keep in mind...

In the Best Book Club Blog category, ReadingGroupGuides.com is up for contention!

Now note that we are nominated along with Jennifer Hart's Book Club Girl. Jennifer is a regular contributor to the RGG.com blog and a Harper Collins exec, and Book Club Girl is also nominated in the Best Publishing/Industry Blog category.

Another RGG.com contributor, Heather Johnson, is up for contention for her blog, Age 30: A Year of Books, in the Most Chatty category.

And Trish Collins, who also has written for us, earned nods in two categories for her blog Hey, Lady! Whatcha Readin' --- Most Chatty and Funniest/Most Humorous Blogs.

Voting is open until September 12 at midnight.

Vote responsibly. And trust we have been told that chads are not going to be a problem.

Thank you!

Joyce Hinnefeld: Garnering Book Club Insight

Today guest blogger Joyce Hinnefeld shares some of the questions she'd like to ask reading groups about her debut novel, In Hovering Flight, which was published this month. It's the story of the struggles and triumphs of Addie Sturmer Kavanagh, a famous bird artist and environmental activist, and her family --- her husband, Tom, an ornithologist and musician, and their poet daughter, Scarlet, who slowly comes to terms with her mother's complicated past.


I love the whole phenomenon of the reading group, which has transformed reading for so many people, particularly women. Suddenly reading isn't an isolated or a purely academic act (something you do to perform well, to write a decent paper or do well on a test); it's a communal endeavor, a reason to come together with others and share reactions and food --- and wine! I love how many groups also seem to make sure there's plenty of wine!

I think of a student at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, where I teach, who did an independent study with me a couple years ago. We read and talked about Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, Richard Wright's Native Son, Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina, and Benjamin Kunkel's Indecision, among other things. Krys, the student, had smart, interesting things to say about all these books, but the one that got her most excited was Bastard Out of Carolina --- because her younger cousin was reading it too. There was someone --- besides me --- to talk to about it! Krys just loved that, and she spoke, too, about how some of her best reading experiences had happened in classes, when she and her fellow students had talked and argued and laughed. That was an instructive reminder for me as a teacher, just to get out of the way and let my students talk.

I have all kinds of questions I'd like to ask the members of groups who read In Hovering Flight. For instance: How irritating is Addie, to you? Some readers have told me that Addie really bothers them, but I continue to like and admire Addie so much, despite her self-righteous tendencies. I wonder sometimes if the people who find her so irritating are reminded of a self-righteous someone in their own lives --- if Addie just really pushes those particular buttons.

A lot of my questions for book group members would probably revolve around Addie. Can you imagine being as passionate and driven about anything as Addie is about habitat loss for birds? For the mothers in the group: How many times have you said, to yourself at least, that you really dislike motherhood? And to any and all readers: How many rounds of chemotherapy do you think you'd say yes to? As many as were offered, no matter what you felt about what those rounds of therapy had done to you? Have you had friends like Addie's friends Cora and Lou? I'd particularly like to hear about friends like Lou --- the kind who constantly exasperate you, but whom you also miss the minute they leave the room. I have questions about Tom and Scarlet too, of course. Here's one, connected with Scarlet: Have you ever had the fantasy of reconnecting with one of your earliest loves?

But I'll stop, for now. I love the idea of hearing what readers might say about these things --- but mostly I love the idea of hearing all the questions (and answers) I haven't even thought of yet.

I'd love to hear from you! You can find me online at InHoveringFlight.com.

---Joyce Hinnefeld

American Wife

Curtis Sittenfeld's new novel, American Wife, which features a character inspired by First Lady Laura Bush, was just published this week. We asked ReadingGroupGuides.com contributor Avideh Bashirrad to weigh in about the book and the feedback it's generating, as well as to share some thoughts on why it would be a good book club selection. Could this discussion be spirited? Undoubtedly so. However, in a ReadingGroupGuides.com poll conducted earlier this year nearly 90% of respondents told us they felt that their groups either talk about --- or would be willing to talk about --- books with controversial topics in them.

Had I known that Laura Bush was the inspiration behind Curtis Sittenfeld's new novel, American Wife, I may not have picked it up. Oh, what a big mistake that would have been. Luckily this book is published by Random House so it was my job to read it (full disclosure).

It's not that I disliked Laura Bush, I just never found her particularly intriguing because, to me, she's been an almost invisible presence during the tumultuous years of her husband's presidency. I realize now that I judged her for that silence, quite unfairly. I never imagined that behind her seemingly vacant disposition there could be a complex and enigmatic person --- someone whose personal ambitions might conflict with the public life she's been tasked with.

Thank goodness then, for authors like Curtis Sittenfeld who dare to imagine. For me, Sittenfeld's portrait of Alice Blackwell, the fictional character who closely resembles our First Lady, has given depth and nuance to the real Laura Bush. What we have here is a case of truth inspiring fiction, which then inspires and informs the truth.

A lot has been said about American Wife since Maureen Dowd's op-ed ran in the New York Times and Radar published those provocative scenes from the book (which taken out of context gave the false impression this might belong in the steamy romance genre). Much of the chatter online was colored with controversy, which real or manufactured, tends to polarize people. Some praised the book and others vowed never to read it. Politics were clearly in play here. But if Sittenfeld had an agenda at all, I believe it was simply to challenge what we think we know about people in the public eye. In Alice Blackwell she has created a three-dimensional character --- someone who is completely convincing and easy to like because, like us, she's not perfect.

At its core this is a beautifully written coming of age story about a young girl who becomes the First Lady, and struggles to reconcile the divergence between her private and public life. It's a story with heart, and I think book clubs will find much to talk about in these pages --- tragedy, love, friendship, and betrayal are just some of themes you'll encounter.

Now that the novel is finally on sale, I hope people will pick it up and decide for themselves what to think. In this age of information overload, we could maybe use some silence (something the first lady is familiar with) to reclaim the joyful act of reading a good book (something else the first lady can relate to).

---Avideh Bashirrad

Misjudging a Book Club Selection

Contributor Shannon McKenna Schmidt admits to prematurely misjudging some of her book club selections --- and what she ultimately thought about them...


Have you ever passed judgment on a book club selection before you've even read the first page? I'm guilty of doing just that.

In my group, members take turns picking a book each month. There's no group consensus, which means that you either read the book that has been chosen or...claim your schedule is crazy and you can't make that meeting. Also, it's rather unusual for my reading group to have back-to-back nonfiction selections, as we tend to lean more towards fiction with the occasional biography or memoir sprinkled in between.

So what were the two books I judged by their covers? The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw and Julie & Julia by Julie Powell.

Now don't get me wrong --- or pass judgment on me before I have a chance to explain. I love nonfiction, and, in fact, I've wanted to read more books about World War II specifically. (I'm still trying to persuade my husband to read and discuss Franklin and Winston in our own two-person book club.) But when a fellow book clubber declared that her pick was The Greatest Generation --- she had always wanted to read it but never quite got around to it --- my immediate reaction was that it might not be a great pick for the group. It was July, a time of year when we could indulge in lighter reading, and instead we were going to tackle a historical tome?

But I was thoroughly engrossed by The Greatest Generation. One aspect of the book did make it difficult to discuss in a group setting. It's made up of vignettes about people both obscure and famous who served during World War II, and it was nearly impossible to remember specific names (further hampered by the meeting being postponed for a month).

What I recall most are vivid moments, such as the military doctor taken captive by German forces; he and fellow prisoners spelled out "USA POWS" with their bodies to prevent Allied airmen from mistakenly firing on them. And the African American soldier denied access to a U.S. officers' club while German POWs were made welcome.

We also discussed our impressions of the time period --- how the war advanced the women's movement; whether the current generation would be capable of the same acts of heroism and bravery; and relatives we each have who fought in World War II. Overall, it turned out to be an interesting and thought-provoking discussion.

Next up was our August selection, which I was excited to read --- Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. So how did I (mis)judge this one? I took the title and subtitle too literally. I assumed the book would be a linear narrative of the author's year-long culinary odyssey, in which she works her way through all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a detailed account of measuring, chopping, baking, and sauteing. That plays a part, sure, but from the first chapter it's clear that Julie Powell's story --- told in a sassy style that is entertaining, engaging and funny --- is about so much more: friendship, marriage, family, career, and sense of self. In other words, it's about life.

Now fess up. What book club picks have you judged before reading them?

---Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Invite an Author, Reap the Rewards

As Debra Linn notes in today's post, several authors have contributed pieces to the ReadingGroupGuides.com blog talking about how meeting with book clubs has offered them insight into their own prose. This exchange of ideas, she explains, is a two-way street --- an author visit can be just as beneficial for book clubbers as it is for the scribe who wrote the book being discussed.


At Books & Books, we often invite authors to join our ready-made book club luncheons and evenings. We do this knowing how much our book clubbers get from discussing these books with their authors. We never imagined how much the authors would get from it.

People join book clubs to create the common experience of reading, to take a by-definition solitary pursuit and make it social, to see if the universal themes are indeed universal.

And the author gets to do the same thing.

And more.

It's writers' therapy or maybe the modern-day version of running the gauntlet. Armed with nothing but a 300-page book and an MFA degree, the author must traverse quizzing and questioning and soon-to-wilt salads from 12 women --- and the clock is ticking.

But entry after entry in the Reading Group Guides blog gushes about the insightful and inspiring sessions authors have had with book clubs. From Debra Dean to Garth Stein, from Kristy Kiernan to Lisa See, each writer discusses how his writing has improved, how his own understanding of his writing has improved from these meetings.

Readers can usually tell when a writer has shortchanged a character, when he has trapped himself into a literary corner, when he has taken the easy way out. And in the direct glare of empty wine glasses and eager readers, there is nowhere the author can hide. It takes a brave author to meet his readers in person. And it takes a brave reader.

Seeing the author face to face --- or phone to phone, or Webcam to Webcam --- forces book clubbers to think critically about the book. Not just criticism but critique. Why did I enjoy this passage? How did I get to know these characters? Was it all through dialogue? Was there a turn of phrase that stuck in my head? Did a character's decision ring true to the personality the author developed? Was the book too long? Too short?

And when the author is in the house, fellow book clubbers never let you get away with just saying, "I didn't like this book."

Maybe this is the 21st century version of hands-on editing in a publishing world with diminishing resources. And it skips a few marketing steps, too, because there's no guessing what readers will like. They're telling authors right to their faces.

As a long ago literary criticism class taught me, literature has a life of its own once it has been written. But it doesn't just have a life of its own. It has everyone's life. Each and every reader.

In the backroom of our Books & Books Bal Harbour Shops, we have a tattered photocopy of a cartoon that captures this perfectly. The drawing appears to be of a typical book-signing line at an author event --- people lined up, clutching books, and one person sitting behind a table. But the sign next to the table says, "Meet the Reader," and the first person is line says, "I love the way you read my first book." It's role reversal, but it puts the emphasis right where so many writers have it.

So, help an author today: Invite one to your book club. You can reach most of them through their own websites. If the meeting is in-person remember that if you feed them, they will come. If the meeting is by phone, the conversation may provide all the nourishment they need.

---Debra Linn