<% if (about) = "yes" or (about) = "none" then %>
|
<% else %>
|
<% end if %>
|
Elizabeth Berg: My Itty Bitty Book Club
 How many people does it take for a reading group? Elizabeth Berg, today's guest blogger, proves that sometimes two is the magic number as she recalls weekly phone conversations she had with a long-distance friend about books.
Elizabeth is the author of two nonfiction works and several novels, the most recent of which is Home Safe, the story of a mother and daughter forced to reassess their lives after a disturbing secret comes to light.
Back in the Pleistocene age, before I was a published writer, I was a member of a book club. It consisted of me and my best friend, Phyllis. At the time, I was living in Boston and married to a man who took justifiable pride in his ability to cook dinner one night a week, even if what he made each time was the exact same thing. He cooked on Sunday nights, and on those nights I was the happy beneficiary of Caesar salad complete with homemade croutons, lamb chops cooked perfectly on the grill, a baked potato, and tomatoes topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and then broiled. While my husband cooked, I would go up to the bedroom, stretch out on the bed, and call Phyllis. She lived in California and I didn't get to see her very often, so these weekly phone calls were very important to us. We talked about a lot of things, but we almost always spent a good part of the conversation talking about books, because we both loved them and needed them as much as we needed oxygen and Caesar salad. Phyllis is a very sensitive person. I'll tell you how sensitive. One time we were having a little tiff because I thought she was being insensitive at a time when my skin was feeling particularly thin. I told her, "I mean I'm feeling really fragile, right now." And she stared at me with her big blue eyes and said, "I feel fragile ALL the time." I thought about getting mad, but then I just said, "Yeah, well, okay, you win, then." I tell you this because Phyllis, being the number one most sensitive person in the country, is also my number one favorite person with whom to share things that are close to my heart. Such as certain passages in a book. Because she gives you the response el grande. Where I might be moved by a passage, she will be brought to tears by it. Where humorous writing might make me giggle, it makes her laugh out loud --- long and hard. So. Imagine the scene: me, full of lovely anticipation, stretched out on my bed. From the kitchen below are coming the glorious smells of garlic sizzling in olive oil and potatoes baking in the oven. The bedroom door is closed. My daughters know if they need anything, they can ask their capable Dad, and he'll deliver. I have a block of time to have a good conversation, and I will not be interrupted. For a young mother, this is about as close to Nirvana as it gets. I dial Phyllis' number, and she knows it's me before she answers, and this is in the days before call waiting. She gets ready to talk, which means she stretches out, too. And we're off. At some point, I am likely to say to Phyllis, "Listen to this," and then read a section of book that I love. And we will sigh and carry on and cluck in admiration of the author like a couple of literary hens. And then she will tell me about what she's reading that she loves. It's rarely the same book that we're reading --- I tend to focus on contemporary fiction; her choices are more eclectic. But I look upon these phone calls as book clubs all the same. Because they are a sanctioned time and place for the review and appreciation for an art form that really rings our chimes. An art form that gets us where we live, one that informs and inspires and cheers us and often consoles us in a way that nothing else can. Books make us feel more awake, more alive. And we use books not only for our own pleasure and edification, but to make the bonds between us as friends even tighter. I think that's the value of good book clubs, no matter their size. I think what I've just described is what they do. They bring people together for an exchange of worthwhile ideas and the particular kind of relief that comes from having someone else see and appreciate the kind of things you do, i.e., books and reading. This makes you feel not so alone in a lonely universe. Many book clubs also provide good food and drink so that while the soul is nourished the body can be, too, and let me tell you, that is my kind of book club. Most book clubs allow for dissent, even welcome it, because civilized dissent can lead to learning things you didn't know before; and it can lead to appreciation of another's point of view, even if it's radically different from your own. It's no secret that publishing houses are ecstatic about the fact that there are so many book clubs. Authors, too, know that when your title is chosen for a book club selection, it's a good thing, not only because it can up your sales numbers, but because it increases awareness of you and your work in general. I cannot tell you how gratified I am when I get a letter from someone saying, "We read one of your titles in my book club and we all really liked it." (My absolute favorite, I must tell you, was a letter that said, "Well, Now I'm going to have to go out and buy every single thing you've ever written." I might enlarge that woman's letter and make it into wallpaper.) I love being a writer, and I am well aware of my good luck at able to support myself by being one. But I miss those days of being only a reader, oblivious to my own words and instead focused fully on analysis and praise of another's. After all these years, I think it's time to find another book club. The glory of their popularity means I won't have to look hard to find one. ---Elizabeth Berg
National Reading Group Month: Great Group Reads
Lauren Grodstein: First Impressions
 Today's guest blogger, Lauren Grodstein, recalls her interesting first visit to a book club to discuss her debut novel, Reproduction is the Flaw of Love. She is also the author of A Friend of the Family and the story collection The Best of Animals.When my first novel came out in 2004, I was thrilled to talk about it anywhere --- a neighbor's playgroup, my brother's high school English class, the local dog run. So when a friend of a friend asked if I wanted to talk to her book club --- a real live women-and-bagels book club --- I did my best not to act like a cocker spaniel on uppers. "Yes yes yes! I want to talk to a book club! I'll do it right now! Or whenever! You tell me!" The book club was in a suburb of New York --- well, more like an exurb --- a good two and a half hours from my tenement home in Brooklyn. Fine. The women were all thirty-to-forty-something professionals who usually discussed nonfiction, not novels. No problem. I spent the week before preparing note cards on some of the fundamental questions of the book, looking for any particular nonfiction angles the women might find interesting. I also transcribed a few witty anecdotes and practiced them out loud. I chose an outfit that said "Serious Writer" --- glasses and scarves, Tina Fey meets Toni Morrison. I borrowed my parents' car. And then, all too soon, it was Book Club Day. On the drive to Exurb, Mapquest directions in shaky hand, I crossed at least three New York City boroughs and two state lines, but still I got to the Official Book Club Café half an hour early. I strolled up and down the leafy streets to kill time, then followed brick-paved sidewalks to the riverfront, wishing I still smoked. Surely, I thought, Exurb was full of interesting and serious book people. I could tell by the wrought-iron streetlights and all the Saabs parallel-parked by the river. At five of one, I headed back to the café and looked around for my club. Where were they? I was searching for a crowd of, say, twenty to twenty-five women, all wearing a version of the same outfit I was. "Lauren? Is that you?" In the corner by the espresso machine were three women in jeans and a copy of my book with a library stamp on it. My book club! "It's me!" When I arrived at their table, my hostess informed me that we were still waiting for one more person to arrive. In the meantime, we were talking about kitchen renovations. Kitchen renovations were not the subject of my book; in fact, in my Brooklyn tenement, the subject of kitchen renovations came up vanishingly rarely. Still, I jumped in: granite over Corian, Bosch over SubZero. Slate flooring can be chilly but the look is really awesome. Book club member #4 arrived. Still we dwelled on renovations, but soon enough, we moved on to a friend's failing marriage. Again we swirled back to kitchen design. We paused for a fleeting moment on toddler nap schedules. Then we dallied over whether or not to get more coffee. "Goodness!" said my hostess, as the clock inched toward three. "We're almost done and we haven't even talked about the book yet! Lauren, we really loved your book." "You did?" The ladies smiled kindly. I didn't know if they were telling the truth. I decided they probably were. "Is there anything you'd like to tell us about it?" I thought about my anecdotes, the notecards in my purse. I thought about whether or not Corian really resisted fingerprint stains. "It was fun to write," I said. "That's great," said my book club. "Thank you so much for coming." A few minutes later, I was back in my parents' car, tooling down the leafy streets of Exurb, high on espresso and the writing life. They'd loved my book! Total strangers, most of them, and still they'd loved my book. Clearly, as far as my writing career went, I was on the path to very big things. ---Lauren Grodstein
Breakfast of Champions: The National Book Festival
 This past Saturday, Washington, D.C., played host to the National Book Festival. Denise Neary attended with a fellow book club member --- her teenage daughter --- and recalls festivities on the National Mall and a star-studded author breakfast.To read Denise's previous post, Family Bonding Over Books, click here.We all look forward to certain days with some excitement --- for some a holiday, others the first day the pool opens for the season, the first day of snow, or the longest day of summer. For me, it is the National Book Festival in Washington, DC. Hard to describe what a booklover's dream that day is. It is a sweet little world and a lovely day where the book is the thing. Location helps. The festival, hosted by the Library of Congress, is held on a real estate gem, the Smithsonian mall area, bracketed by the United States Capitol and the Washington Monument. Price helps, too. It is provided to the public for free. A little tent city is created, with each tent hosting a series of wonderful authors talking about their latest books --- mysteries and thrillers, children's titles, poetry and prose, teens, fiction, history and bibliography. The authors, gods and goddesses for the day, traverse the mall in golf carts, waving like the Pope at those gathered. The crowd reaction is adorable --- we ooh and aah over seeing people we actually already knew planned to be there. The crowd itself is priceless. An example --- four adorable high school girls had bright yellow t-shirts made for today’s festival. On the back --- a list of all Jodi Picoult's books. On the front --- one had J, one O, one D, one I. Of course they had a picture taken with the author. As she set them up for the picture (they were so flustered that their original formation was IDOJ) she thanked them for making her feel famous. The book paraphernalia is a thing to behold. The Magic School Bus has made appearances. Kids can have their picture taken with Dora the Explorer and a series of other characters from children's books. Publishers give away books and sponsor endless craft projects. Children squeal with excitement. And it is all about reading. One hot September day there was a woman making the rounds of the festival dressed as Marmee from Little Women. A gaggle of young girls (and many of their moms) sighed at the sight of her. In short, I really look forward to the festival. This year, I was invited (through an odd set of circumstances including some supplication) to attend the festival author's breakfast at the Washington Post. To say that I was happy about the invitation seriously understates my excitement. My husband and 16-year-old daughter were invited to come, too --- but I told them they could only come if they were united in the belief that this was primarily my day, and that any happiness for them that day took back-burner. How could anyone argue with logic like that? We weren't sure what the event would be like. My assessment after the fact? If only Louisa May Alcott had made an appearance, it would have been the perfect morning. I was star struck from the moment I entered the Post (following Ben Bradlee!) to the moment I left. Some of the authors who were there when I arrived: Holly Black, Doug Brinkley, Michael Connelly, Sharon Creech, John Grisham, John Irving, Sue Monk Kidd, Lisa Scottoline, Nicholas Sparks. And they kept coming and coming. My very cool teen nudged me in the side, with an excitement that reminded me of her at five. "There's Jodi Picoult!" she whispered. We introduce ourselves to Ms. Picoult, who is --- and why would this be a surprise? --- so nice, so smart, so funny and so down to earth. And the whole time I am talking to her, I think "I am talking to Jodi Picoult.”" Two minutes later, I had a similar out of body experience while chatting with Sue Monk Kidd. My husband and I were drinking coffee, eavesdropping behind John Irving, one of our favorite authors. "What goes on in that brain?" he asked, when his attention was diverted. He points to Kristin Downey, on her way to get a drink. "I want to talk to her --- she just wrote a book on Frances Perkins." How can you not like a guy who knows his authors by sight? And he was off. By the time I next saw him, he'd nabbed Ralph Eubanks and Michael Connelly as well. The brief program remarks were wonderful --- smart, funny and uplifting. Lisa Scottoline gave a speech that was almost a cheer (if your leaders of cheer are not just enthusiastic and beautiful, but also hilarious and brilliant) about why books matter. John Irving spoke next. I am sure he was brilliant (he always is), but I didn't hear most of his presentation. As he spoke, Judy Blume crossed the room and stood next to me. JUDY BLUME! Next to me. I am completely anti-technology, and rail especially about all of the contraptions that tether us to be available all the time to everyone. Hate my phone, hate my BlackBerry, hate to get reply emails 15 minutes after I send a message saying "sorry for the delay." What on earth do people want to tweet about? Are their lives really that exciting, that the rest of us need a play by play? But, the moment she stood next to me, this thought popped into my brain: "This is a tweet-worthy moment." And a tweet-worthy day followed --- visiting the festival, hearing authors talk about their work, talking to people who are in love with books. As wonderful as my favorite day was, it was tough to beat that morning. ---Denise Neary
Indie Next List for Reading Groups
Bookstores and Book Club Resources
Today, contributor and bookseller Jamie Layton makes the case for shopping at independent bookstores. Reading groups will find all kinds of resources at their local bookshops, one of which is helpful and well-read staffers who can make suggestions for great discussion picks.
November 7 has been designated National Bookstore Day to encourage people to stop by their favorite bookstore and do some holiday shopping (or treat yourself to some new page-turners). If you live in New York City, Indie Bookstore Week NYC will be taking place November 15-21, 2009, with special events happening at bookstores throughout the city. There will be details soon on their website.Wow! Summer '09 has come and gone! I have to admit I went into the season S & N (scared and nervous). Everywhere you turned was the R word (recession), the F word (foreclosure) and the D word (down- as in 'they're down 50% from last year'). Our business, on the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina, thrives on summer visitors and while their annual vacation is the last thing most people cut out of a shrinking budget once they're here and ensconced in the beach house they'll tighten their belts in a lot of other ways --- eating out one night instead of the usual three or four; doing puzzles on a rainy day instead of hitting the boutiques; you get the picture. So I wasn't sure which column books were going to end up in --- N (necessity) or L (luxury). I am very pleased to report that this little bookstore had a great summer and so far are enjoying a slammin' fall. My feeling that books should ALWAYS be a necessity was validated by loyal Duck's Cottage customers who apparently feel the same way. There's just one pesky little habit we saw a lot more of this summer which sends me straight to the Indiebound soapbox. Let me present you with this scenario: You're browsing in a lovely little independent bookstore. Their shelves are filled with a wide array of interesting, hand-picked titles; you've seen more than one that appeals to you! When a friendly bookseller approaches you to make sure you are finding everything you need do you: A- Smile back and say 'yes, thank you' and continue browsing. B- Make a selection or two, proceed to the register and pay for your books. C- Ask for a pencil so you can write down the titles/authors/ISBNs of the books you're interested in so you can go home and 1- order them for your Kindle; 2- order them from an online retailer because they're a few bucks cheaper (before you add shipping); 3- head straight for the nearest chain store because you have a card that gets you a 20% discount or 4- add them to your library request list. As you can imagine, I love A and B and C4 is fine too. However, the nice young lady who gave you the pencil (and probably a piece of paper too) has no clue why you're writing those titles down, but she does suspect what's happening. You're going to write down a bunch of books that you want to read, but will get somewhere else. You will hand your pencil in and leave without buying anything. This is quite vexing to us small bookstores. What you are doing is perusing our carefully edited choices and using us to help make your selections and then bypassing us for your purchase. In doing this, you are not only helping push that indie store one step closer to the retail endangered species list but you are also enabling the chains and big box stores that have undermined the tenets and foundations of local commerce and small business. Without us, there would be much less variety on the shelves of every bookstore --- local or chain. You see, small stores don't buy into every publishing fad and craze; we don't limit ourselves to any bestseller list or author. We are the force behind such books as Water for Elephants, the 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year and a huge book club favorite. In fact, when accepting the award author Sara Gruen thanked independent bookstores profusely and was insistent that without them, Water for Elephants would have never reached bestseller status. And this is not the only title that indie booksellers helped to make famous. At Duck's Cottage, like many independent bookstores, we have a ton of resources for book clubs. Along with hosting an in-store group, we have Jamie's Book Club, a bi-monthly "book of the month" club with subscribers across the country and a blog where readers can post comments and discuss the selections. And we love making reading recommendations --- undiscovered gems that might not necessarily be on your radar that will make for great discussions. I'm betting your local indie booksellers have many titles to suggest, too. All you have to do is ask. Now, would you walk into your favorite local restaurant, cheerfully greet the owner, ask to see a menu, write down the ingredients of all your favorite dishes then go home and cook them yourself? I didn't think so. Please think about this the next time you start to ask for a pencil. ---Jamie Layton
Book Clubs in the News
In this round-up of book club news: marking a milestone, a men's group, giving important advice, Julia Child recipes, and more... The Baltimore Sun: Ask Amy Amy Dickinson"Ask Amy" columnist Amy Dickinson offers advice on how to deal with book club members who monopolize discussions. Columbus Dispatch: Page BoysThe reading selections of an 11-year-old, men-only book club in Ohio have ranged from David Grann's The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon to Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. One of their most memorable meetings? Each member read his favorite piece from Walt Whitman's 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass. Galesburg Register-Mail: Book Club Pays Homage to Julia ChildAn Illinois book club cooks up a tribute to Julia Child (recipes included). Huntsville Item: Sam Houston Book Club Celebrating 50 YearsCelebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the Sam Houston State University Women’s Book Club in Huntsville, Texas, is seeking new members to keep it going strong. Despite its name, it isn’t just for those affiliated with the university. Said one member: "We cater to any women who desire to participate in a book discussion club." TCPalmer: Carpe Librum is more than a book club"What kind of book club was this? Little did I know what an adventure it would be. Carpe Librum is about reading the books, but not about discussing them in traditional ways," writes Marilyn Bauer in this article. She shares some of her group's fun and festive get-togethers, including one where members had their future read and another where chocolate cigars were served.
History Buffs, Take Note
 Two reading groups are taking place in upstate New York and south Florida, one focusing on the Great Depression and the other Abraham Lincoln to coincide with the bicentennial of the 16th president's birth. On Thursday, October 1st, the History Center in Ithaca, New York, kicks off a monthly reading group focusing on the Great Depression in America. Among the planned topics are 1930s history, experiences of everyday people and Depression-era letters. Participants will be able to view photographs and other materials from the History Center’s archives. The inaugural selection is John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.  Also on October 1st, Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida, is hosting the second of the store's Lincoln Bicentennial Reading Group Discussions. Historian Bernita King is leading a discussion of John Stauffer's Giants: The Parallel Lives of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. No matter where you live, though, you can start your own historical-themed  discussions with your book club --- perhaps tying into an anniversary taking place in 2010, such as the Women's Suffrage Amendment being signed into law ( August 26, 1920), the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird (July 11, 1960) and the 200th birthday of composer Frederic Chopin. 2010 has been designated the Year of Mark Twain, for good reason. It's the 175th anniversary of the raconteur's birth (April 21, 1910), the 100th anniversary of his death (November 30, 1835) and the 125th anniversary of the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Oprah's Latest Selection
Oprah has made her latest selection, and it's Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan, a collection of short stories by an African author that came out in June 2008. It's the first time that Oprah has selected a short story collection. Bookreporter.com, another website in The Book Report Network reviewed the book when it was first published. Here is what the reviewer Sarah Rachel Egelman had to say, "In each story Akpan uses language, often a broken but lyrical English, to show the similarities and differences between the diverse peoples of Africa. Because of this, along with powerful plots and sympathetic narrators, Say You're One of Them is an unforgettable, beautiful, authentic and wise literary call to action. Akpan's book is highly recommended and will leave readers wanting more of his dark, carefully moralistic and quite extraordinary tales." You can read the rest of her review here. ReadingGroupGuides.com has a guide for the book here and you can read more about the author on his website here. We look forward to hearing what you have to say about this book and if your group already has read it or plans to read it, we'd like to hear what you have to say!
Talking with Claire Cook
When Claire Cook isn't writing novels, she might be found teaching a reinvention workshop and inspiring women to pursue their dreams --- like the characters do in her latest novel, The Wildwater Walking Club. Today we talk with Claire, who shares her own story of reinvention, how both book clubs and walking clubs are enjoying the novel and some of the things she enjoys most about speaking with reading groups.
Claire is also the author of Summer Blowout, Life's a Beach and three other novels.
 ReadingGroupGuides.com: In The Wildwater Walking Club, Noreen takes up walking and is soon joined by neighbors Tess and Rosie. Why do you think walking together encourages camaraderie? Have you walked along with any book clubs or walking clubs?
Claire Cook: When women walk together, there's usually at least as much talking as walking going on. I have a theory that all those endorphins being released into the bloodstream simply loosen everybody's lips! In any case, lives are shared, but what's so interesting to me is that it's often very self-contained. While researching The Wildwater Walking Club, I talked to women who'd walked together for decades, sharing everything they'd gone through --- divorces and cancer and kids growing up and moving out and back in again --- and yet they almost never saw each other except to walk. So, in one way, they were really close, but it as if they'd created a separate little walking world. Both book clubs and walking clubs have been reading The Wildwater Walking Club. Lots of them have been discussing it while they walk, and some of them have taken field trips to join me at one of my bookstore walk 'n' talk events. I've had such a blast walking with them all! I've also done lots of phone chats for Wildwater. At one they even passed me around on a cell phone while they walked the beach! (Click here for book club and walking club guides.) RGG: Your own story as well as snippets from one of your reinvention workshops appeared in a segment about creative ideas for reinvention in a tough economy on the Today Show. The idea of women reinventing themselves resonates in your novels, including The Wildwater Walking Club. What appeals to you about using this theme in your writing? What interesting conversations has it sparked among book club members?
CC: Reinvention is the story of my life! After a lifetime of fear and procrastination, I wrote my first novel in my minivan outside my daughter's swim practice. It was published when I was 45, and at 50 I walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the adaptation of my second novel, Must Love Dogs. I'm now 54 and the bestselling author of 6 1/2 novels. I love sharing my story, because I think it gives hope to so many women out there with buried dreams of their own. The characters in all my novels are trying to find their own next chapters, too. I think it's such a strong theme in my own life and the lives of the women I've met, it just naturally found its way into my books. Teaching free reinvention workshops for women has become my way of sharing what I've learned and giving back to my readers for supporting me. Someone who hosted one of those workshops told the Today Show about me --- as one of my characters says, karma is a boomerang! As for book club members, what I hear all the time is that my books have given them some great ideas for their own reinvention! RGG: What other real-life issues have your discussions with book clubs about The Wildwater Walking Club touched on, such as losing a job and having a romantic relationship end?
CC: At the beginning of The Wildwater Walking Club, Noreen takes a buyout from the shoe company she's been with for eighteen years. When I was writing the book, I had no idea how cutting edge this part would be, but by the time I started talking to book clubs, everyone knew someone who had recently lost their job in one way or another. So most of my discussions with book clubs have touched on this awful economy. Forward-looking topics follow: How do you find yourself again after years of mistaking your resume for your personality? What was that thing you really wanted to do before life got in the way? Noreen is also dumped unceremoniously by a colleague she probably shouldn't have been dating anyway, so that sparks some interesting discussion. Not that any of us have ever dated the wrong guy, of course, but we all know someone who has! There's also a clothesline controversy in the book, so it's been fun to hear the debate between women who support the right-to-dry movement and find clotheslines both charming and a great way to lesson our carbon footprint and save energy, and those who think clothesline bans keep property values high. Lavender figures into the book, too, and the women in the book take a trip to a lavender festival outside Seattle. Some of the book clubs have served snacks involving lavender, everything from lavender margaritas to lavender chocolate --- and talked about planning their own book club road trip! RGG: The Wildwater Walking Club takes places over a period of 32 days, with Noreen recording how many steps she's taken on each one. What made you want to structure the story this way? Did you lace up your athletic shoes and log miles on a pedometer while you were writing the book?
CC: Great question! I wanted the reader to take the journey with Noreen. Writing in the first person helps, but I thought the number of steps Noreen takes each day would add to the empathy, and as an added bonus, it might encourage readers to get out there walking, too. Eventually, I think those daily steps remind us that even big changes happen one small step at a time. Yes, I laced up my sneakers, hooked on a pedometer, and walked 10,000 steps a day while I wrote the book. It made me remember that walking ALWAYS makes me feel better. As Noreen says in the book... "Now I knew that the hardest part of any workout was just putting on your sneakers. Once you got started, all you had to do was keep putting one foot in front of the other, no matter what was or wasn't happening in your life, no matter how happy or sad you were. I'd taken that first step because I wanted to look better. I wanted my clothes to fit. But it hadn't taken me long to figure out that the biggest benefit was less about vanity than it was about sanity. Walking always helped."
RGG: What are some of the things you enjoy most about speaking with reading groups? What one or two especially memorable book club moments can you share with us?
CC: I love speaking with reading groups! After months spent glued to my computer, it's just so much fun to connect with women (and a few good men) again! Also, I think reader response is key: I never fully know what my books are about until I hear what resonates for readers. I've learned so much about my own writing from talking to reading groups. Also, hearing things like "I can't remember when I laughed out loud like that!" or "OMG, you're writing my life!" always get me psyched up to write my next novel. I've had so many great book club moments, it's hard to choose. Book clubs tend to pick my novels after they've read something dark and depressing, and they're ready to have some fun. I just love hearing about the book-related food and drinks, the decorations, even the crafts. Groups have painted clotheslines for The Wildwater Walking Club and made sea glass jewelry for Life's a Beach. They've done group makeovers for Summer Blowout. This doesn't mean they don't have serious discussions about my novels, but I think we all need more play in our lives, so I always love hearing that my books have inspired some!
Jacquelyn Mitchard: Because They Waited for Me
Jacquelyn Mitchard's debut novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was selected in 1996 as Oprah's first book club pick. Now, the story of the Cappadora family continues in her most recent novel, No Time to Wave Goodbye. Today's guest blogger, Jacquelyn explains how book clubs inspired her to bring back the Cappadoras nearly a decade after the characters first appeared in print. She is also the author of several other novels, including The Breakdown Lane and Cage of Stars.  Once a week, maybe more, I "visit" book clubs. I don't get the wine and the spinach puffs, the taco dip and the wine --- but I get plenty of eager questions and lots of strokes and laughter when I try to answer them (particularly if I have NO IDEA that I named a character in mourning after a grief-stricken Shakespearean damsel). As the conversation winds down, however, almost invariably, I'm asked, "What happened to Vincent? What happened to Beth?" A dozen years have gone by since readers met the Cappadoras in my first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean. But something about those people, their neighborhood, their relatives and their lives stayed with readers. They stayed with me. I never knew what to say. I didn't know what the relationship between the brothers, Ben and Vincent, was after the end of the book --- during which Ben was kidnapped as a toddler and then returned to his family by a road with as many hairpin turns as glorious vistas. I didn't know if their estranged parents, Beth and Pat, repaired their fractured marriage. I don't think a book has to answer every question to provide satisfaction and closure. Then, even though I had another book nearly complete that one day will be published, I began the authorial equivalent of doodling with a story about Vincent Cappadora. It was a story about his mother --- and about the relationship between a mother and her sons that was patched but never really healed. I doodled through a few chapters. They weren't the answer. I doodled through a few more. They weren't right either. And then I found the answer. I found the story about the Cappadoras and those around them that needed to be told. It was No Time to Wave Goodbye, the story inspired by all those nights on speakerphone with book clubs from Dallas to Duluth. I knew the story. And I was scared silly. Why? Respected authors don't write "sequels." And --- at least by some, at least sometimes --- I'm a respected author. Of course, there are wildly notable exceptions, to which I'm not comparing myself. John Updike's Rabbit Angstrom trilogy. Louise Erdrich's return to the vast clan she first introduced in Love Medicine --- although many of her other novels, including one of my favorites, Last Report of the Miracles at Little No Horse, had nothing to do with that Ojibway family. And Faulkner's mythical county...well, that goes without saying. So I began to think of No Time to Wave Goodbye not as a sequel but as a piece of a universe to which I could return again, if I chose to. The Cappadoras are front and center in No Time to Wave Goodbye, but there are other important characters who weren't part of the first novel --- who weren't even born at the time of The Deep End of the Ocean --- who are part of the action, the emotion, the tension and absolution. The way I'm thinking now, these characters may show up again, because I had such a great time suffering through and finally polishing this novel (I've come to love rewriting more than writing) that I don't want to say a final goodbye either. I hope that book club members who haven't read The Deep End of the Ocean will take this chance to do so, if only for the chance to meet the people they'll come to care about in No Time to Wave Goodbye. But that's not required reading. One of the early reviewers who applauded the book had never even heard of me when she read the book and found the characters vital, quirky and deeply engaging. Of course, it's to the book clubs that I hope this novel goes. I hope they take it to their hearts. And I hope that, then, they call to invite me (despite how much I'll want the spinach puffs, the taco dip and the wine!) and ask me all kinds of questions. They waited for the answers and they kept on asking. They kept on suggesting. And this novel I love, that their questions prompted.... Well, I wouldn't trade that for anything. ---Jacquelyn Mitchard
Michelle Moran: Life and Libraries in the Classical Age
Michelle Moran is the author of the historical novels Nefertiti, The Heretic Queen and Cleopatra's Daughter, which is on sale today. It's the story of Selene, the daughter of Cleopatra and Marc Antony, who is forced to leave her home in Egypt to face the dangers of a foreign land. In today's guest blog post, Michelle takes us back in time to glorious and tumultuous Imperial Rome...
Visit Michelle's website for a Q&A about Cleopatra's Daughter , a look at the history behind the story, a discussion guide and more. One of the most frequent questions I'm asked by readers is what life was like two thousand years ago when Julius Caesar walked the corridors of the Senate house and Cleopatra visited Rome. Surprisingly, life for the ancient Romans was not unbelievably different from today. The Romans had many of the little luxuries that we often associate exclusively with the modern world. For example, baths were to be found in every city, and public toilets were viewed as a necessity. The toilets depicted in HBO's Rome Series are copies of those discovered in Pompeii, where those caught short could find a long stretch of latrines (much like a long bench with different sized holes) and relieve themselves next to their neighbor. Shops sold a variety of wigs, and women could buy irons to put curls their hair. For the rain, there were umbrellas, and for the sun, parasols. Houses for the wealthy were equipped with running water and were often decorated quite lavishly, with elaborate mosaics, painted ceilings, and plush carpets. In the markets, the eager shopper could find a rich array of silks, along with linen and wool. You could also find slaves, and in this, Roman times certainly differ from our own. While some men spoke out against it, one in three people were enslaved. Most of these slaves came from Greece, or Gaul (an area roughly comprising modern France). Abuse was rampant, and the misery caused by this led desperate men like Spartacus to risk death for freedom. For those few who were free and wealthy, however, life in Rome provided nearly endless entertainments. As a child, there were dolls and board games to be played with, and as an adult, there was every kind of amusement to be had, from the theatre to the chariot races. Even the poor could afford "bread and circuses," which, according to Juvenal, was all the Romans were really interested in. For those more academic minded, however, there were libraries. Although I don't portray this in Cleopatra's Daughter, libraries were incredibly noisy places. The male scholars and patrons read aloud to themselves and each other, for nothing was ever read silently (the Romans believed it was impossible!). Other cities were renowned for their learning, too: Pergamum (or Pergamon) was the largest and grandest library in the world. Built by the Greeks, Pergamum became Roman property when Greece was captured and many of its people enslaved. The library was said to be home to more than 200,000 volumes, and it is was in Pergamum that the history of writing was forever changed. Built by Eumenes II, Pergamum inspired great jealousy in the Egyptian Ptolemies, who believed that their Library of Alexandria was superior. In order to cripple this Greek rival (and also because of crop shortages), Egypt ceased exporting papyrus, on which all manuscripts were written. Looking for an alternative solution, the Library of Pergamum began using parchment, or charta pergamena. For the first time, manuscripts were now being written on thin sheets of calf, sheep or goat's skin. The result of this change from papyrus to parchment was significant. Now, knowledge could be saved by anyone with access to animal hide. Manuscripts (although still quite rare) were now available to more people. Alas, so impressive was this vast Pergamese library of parchment that Cleopatra asked Marc Antony to ship its entire contents to her as a wedding gift. This transfer marked the end of Pergamum's scholarly dominance, and is the reason why, today, we remember Alexandria as possessing the ancient world's greatest library. ---Michelle Moran
Meet the Overdue Book Club and Other Reading Groups
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at other book clubs? Every month on ReadingGroupGuides.com we feature interviews with book clubs and learn things like what keeps a group going strong, what books have provided the best discussions, any traditions or memorable moments, and much more. Here we introduce four of these groups, and you can click through to read their interviews. If you'd like to tell us all about your book club, click here to answer our interview questions. Charlie KidsThis online-based book club for kids and teens has more than 45,000 members in 26 countries. Member Scarlett Ingram talks about how they organize chapter meetings in different communities and the three authors whose works the group most often discusses. The Messenger Library Book GroupJanan Hudek Foster organizes a library book group in North Aurora, Illinois. Along with describing ways in which the group enlivens discussions, she reveals the book that had the most profound effect on members. The Overdue Book ClubA member of this Palm City, Florida, reading group talks about the importance of flexibility when selecting books and interacting with fellow members, shares some of their favorite titles --- and explains the origin of the club's name. The Ultimate Book ClubTogether 11 years and counting, this book club in Culver City, California, takes pride in thinking outside the box and making their gatherings unique and fun. They often incorporate themed activities or field trips into their discussions and participate in community outreach activities.
Sofie Laguna: Writing ONE FOOT WRONG
Today's guest blogger, Australian writer and actress Sofie Laguna, shares her thoughts on her novel One Foot Wrong and its main character, Hester, and why she wrote the book 15 minutes at a time. Publishers Weekly called the story, told from the perspective of a young girl kept imprisoned in a house by her reclusive, religious parents, "a truly haunting tale that readers won't soon forget, from a compelling, original voice." Click here for a discussion guide. I wrote One Foot Wrong over a period of seven years. In early drafts I interwove the voices of other characters around Hester's --- I didn't trust that Hester's voice alone could carry the story. That possibility felt too "easy," too simple. I now know that it wasn't because it was too easy, it was because writing the whole story in Hester's voice was the natural and right way for the book to work, and at that point I didn't trust it. The good thing about writing those other drafts was that I met some characters along the way that I love, and I am sure they will eventually find their way into books of their own. The character of Hester Wakefield spoke and thought in a way that was utterly her own. Her voice gave me freedom. I didn't stop to consider the requirements of "perfect sentences," I just inhabited the voice and the sentences took care of themselves. Maybe it was the actor in me. The process felt like it bypassed my own intellect --- I just had to relax and let Hester push the pen across the page. Having said this, I did find I could only work on the book for short periods. Very short. Sometimes fifteen minutes in a day felt like a lot. Generally I have pretty good stamina for sitting at the desk and writing, so it was different for me. Perhaps it was the distressing nature of the content in One Foot Wrong. Even though I was never blocked while writing the story, I had this feeling after a short time of working that I had to get away from the desk and clean the house at all costs. I remember wriggling in my chair a lot and feeling guilty for not being able to stick at it longer, but somehow, in fifteen minutes spurts (sometimes many in a day), the book got written. While making this book I didn't think about it being published too much. All of my energy went into making the right music with the words. It was a challenge to imagine that writing something so uncompromising, so uniquely mine could actually be allowed. Not all of my ideas ask to be completed, but this one never let go. I had some negative criticism about it along the way but, in the end, it didn't stop me. That's because I wanted to write in Hester's voice --- it always felt like an act of rebellion and release. I had the desire. And now the book is here, published. It feels miraculous --- wonderful beyond my wildest dreams. For many years I worked as an actor. I was certain that acting was my path, no matter how much pain it caused me, so it is an ongoing surprise to me that I write books and that writing turned out to be what was best for me. An ongoing and very delightful surprise, I should say. Writing has put me where I belong – with the people who make books and the people who read them. I am really happy about it. ---Sofie Laguna
Elizabeth Strout and Olive Kitteridge
 The Kansas City Star recently talked with author Elizabeth Strout. In the extensive interview she offers insight into her Pulitzer Prize-winning book Olive Kitteridge and reveals why she's surprised that the cranky title character is so well-liked. She also shares why she chose small-town Maine as the setting, how the episodic format came about (it's a series of linked short stories) and what her writing routine entails. Check out Elizabeth's RGG.com guest blog posts: All About Olive KitteridgeElizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Recommendations
Talking with Masha Hamilton
In Masha Hamilton's novel 31 Hours, Carol Meitzner awakens one morning in New York City with a feeling that her 21-year-old son, Jonas, is in danger. As the gripping story unfolds, she attempts to find him, not knowing just how vital it is that she do so. In 31 hours, Jonas, newly converted to Islam, has vowed to commit a terrible act of violence.
Today we talk with Masha, who is also a journalist, about 31 Hours , what research she undertook for the novel and what she enjoys most about interacting with book clubs.
Masha is also the author of the novels The Camel Bookmobile, Staircase of a Thousand Steps and The Distance Between Us. To read her previous guest blog post on RGG.com about The Camel Bookmobile and its real-life inspiration, click here. ReadingGroupGuides.com: What do you enjoy most about interacting with book clubs?
Masha Hamilton: I, of course, enjoy their questions, which can be surprising and illuminating. I love to hear what they liked as well as what they didn't. On occasion, a book club has made me see something about the book I didn't see even over the long years of writing it! I also really enjoy hearing about the clubs themselves; I often ask how long they've been meeting and what kinds of books they typically read. RGG: Why did you choose to unfold 31 Hours from multiple viewpoints --- Jonas, Carol and other people with whom their lives intersect?
MH: One of the themes of the book is connections --- the critical moments that we miss as well as the ways in which our lives intersect. It seemed the best way to explore that theme was to allow each of the characters, from the subway panhandler to the Upper West Side art dealer, to have a voice. RGG: What research did you do for the novel?
MH: A lot of this was inside me, burning to come out. So much of it was a matter of opening the tap and trying to listen hard to my own fears --- about violence, about parenting, about missed opportunities. But in terms of research, I did do some writing on the subway itself. I went on with a notebook and wrote a line or two that sometimes ended up in a scene. I also spent time researching the kind of secret training that goes on in the northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. RGG: 31 Hours is about an important, timely subject. Aside from enjoying an entertaining read, what would you like readers to take away from the book?
MH: Some of the issues I thought about while writing included what it means to be the mother of a young adult in today's chaotic, often-violent and confusing world. I also thought a lot about the role of faith and tradition --- or lack of it --- in our modern lives. And the idea of prayer in the very broadest sense of the word. Additionally, of course, I worked hard to wrap my brain around the idea of truly understanding what might motivate an act of unimaginable violence. RGG: What elements of 31 Hours are you especially looking forward to discussing with reading group members?
MH: Really, all of the above, and anything else a book club might think of --- I've found book clubs are very wise and creative in the topics they themselves hone in on.
Holly Goddard Jones: Not Based on True Events
The whole truth? Today's guest blogger, Holly Goddard Jones, talks about a way in which being a reader is different from being a writer --- and reveals real-life details she drew on for Girl Trouble, a collection of stories depicting small-town Southerners caught in moral and sometimes mortal quandaries. I have heard writers insist, when asked about the truths that inspired their work, that there are no truths, that they "made it all up." Before my own collection of stories became a book that newspaper reporters and old friends and family from back home could read, I failed to understand this response. Made it all up? You didn't imagine any of the scenes set on the city streets you walked as a teenager? You never read a newspaper article and got an idea? You never experienced any of the acts --- arguing, lovemaking --- that you write about with so much authority? Do you live your life only in front of the computer, writing and doing research on the internet? Could it all really be invention? Of course not. No writer can claim all of that. But I understand now the temptation to try as I field questions about how much of my book is "actually true." Call me naïve, and you'd be right. I wrote a book of stories set in a small, western Kentucky town, and though I'm from a small, western Kentucky town, it had barely occurred to me that readers might want to take the book's stories literally, or semi-literally. Residents of Russellville, Kentucky, will recognize my fictional Roma's local barbecue joint, its Tobacco Festival, its town square with a Civil War soldier stationed proudly in the center. Is it unreasonable, then, for them to wonder if the high school basketball coach who got his star player pregnant might also be real, or sort of real? (He's not.) Should my loved ones be faulted for seeing themselves in the mothers and fathers and best friends who people this familiar landscape? No --- but it would be a mistake to. The Empire State Building really exists, but there was never a King Kong to climb it. The place in the book where I draw most evidently from the biography of a loved one is in the story "Allegory of a Cave," which is about a middle school boy who was born with juvenile cataracts --- a condition that forces him to wear thick glasses, take eye drops twice daily, and brings with it the looming threat of eventual glaucoma. My little brother, Eric, was born with this condition, and the first draft of the story (which was radically different from the one appearing in Girl Trouble) was propelled for me by a what-if question: What if the threat of glaucoma were more serious for Eric than it appears to be, and he had to spend his adolescence bracing himself for blindness? From there, the plot developed around a series of lesser what-ifs. I wondered what Eric would do about his medicine, which my father always administered and which required refrigeration, if he wanted to go to summer camp. Then, I wondered what would happen if this shared ritual --- the intimacy of a parent leaning in to give a child medicine ---ceased. Would the child miss it? Would he be relieved? You can see that, in my reconstructing of the story's conception, I shifted from identifying the boy as "Eric" to identifying him as "the child." The writing process, for me, often starts this way with some detail or idea from real life --- though usually that process of borrowing is much subtler than the scenario I've just outlined --- and the more I work through the what-ifs, the themes, and images, the more I'm trading the world I know for the one I've invented. And though the story was rooted for me initially in the question of intimacy between fathers and sons --- about what happens when you lose ritual as a pretense for that intimacy --- the revision had much more to say about Ben's relationship with his mother: the Oedipal triangle between Ben and his parents, an allusion that locked into place for me perfectly when I realized that I'd already been playing with the tragedy's imagery of light and dark, blindness and sight. That was accidental and delightful; I stumbled into it, and the stumbling took me farther than ever before away from the story's grain of fact. For most fiction writers, the little details from life are ways of hypnotizing ourselves into those imaginative leaps that make the writing process so exciting. Sometimes the truths can be significant, like my brother's eye disease. But often they're trifling, merely decorative. At one point in "Allegory of a Cave," for instance, Ben remembers going to his father after falling from his bike, only to be told, teasingly, to "Cry me a handful." It's a harsh moment, and it helps to illustrate the father's tendency to handle difficult situations with irreverence and spite, as a kind of defensive posturing. My father often said to me "Cry me a handful" when I was small. He did it, though, in an entirely different spirit --- not as a response to real pain but to those situations when I'd thrown a hissy fit out of pure selfishness: when I was denied some toy or candy bar I wanted, or when I'd argued with my brother and demanded my way. In that context, it was actually a kind of brilliant, even gentle retort: one that surprised me into silence, teaching me that I'd be treated with seriousness and respect when I could articulate my frustrations with seriousness and respect. His comportment in saying "Cry me a handful" was warm, his lips pulled into a smile that forgave rather than mocked. My memories of that line are good ones. So why did I twist it into an act of cruelty in "Allegory of a Cave"? Simply because it was convenient, and most writers are unrepentant opportunists. ---Holly Goddard Jones
Gyles Brandreth: On the Case with Oscar Wilde
An intriguing detail in an autobiography by Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle led today's guest blogger, Gyles Brandreth, to craft his own mystery tales starring another celebrated literary figure: Irish scribe Oscar Wilde. In Brandreth's lastest page-turner, Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile, the playwright and amateur sleuth finds adventure in America and Paris. A series of seemingly random events, including a mysterious death at sea, leads Oscar to discover a horrifying secret --- one that may bring him closer to his own last chapter than anyone could have imagined. The previous books are Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance and Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder. How did it come about? How did the idea of creating mysteries involving Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle come to me? It's a long story, so I will try to keep it short. Since I was a boy, I have been an admirer of both the works of Oscar Wilde and the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. About ten years ago, in the late 1990s, by chance, I picked up a copy of Memories and Adventures, the autobiography of Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1924, and discovered, on page 94, that Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde were friends. I was amazed. It would be hard to imagine an odder couple. They met in 1889. They were brought together by an American publisher, J M Stoddart, who happened to be in London commissioning material for Lippincott's Magazine. Evidently, Oscar, then 35, was on song that night and Conan Doyle, 30, was impressed --- and charmed. The upshot of the evening was that Mr. Stoddart got to publish both Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes story, The Sign of Four, and Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I was inspired to write the first of "The Oscar Wilde Mysteries." My first story begins on the afternoon of the day of Wilde and Conan Doyle's first encounter. Oscar calls on a house in Cowley Street, Westminster, expecting to meet up with a friend --- a female friend, as it happens, a young actress.... Instead, in a darkened upstairs room, fragrant with incense, he discovers the naked body of a boy of sixteen, his throat cut from ear to ear. Wilde, established poet and wit, "the champion of aestheticism" (and happily married to Constance and living in Tite Street, Chelsea, with their two sons), turns to Conan Doyle, doctor and writer of detective fiction, "the coming man," for help --- but Conan Doyle quickly discovers that when it comes to the art and craft of amateur sleuthing Oscar Wilde has very little to learn from Sherlock Holmes. Wilde is overweight and apparently indolent (more Mycroft than Sherlock Holmes), but his mind is amazing: his intellect is as sharp as his wit. Oscar Wilde, in his own way, is as brilliant as Sherlock Holmes --- and just as Holmes had his weakness for cocaine, Wilde has his weaknesses, too. Famously, Wilde was a brilliant conversationalist. He was, also, by every account, a careful listener and an acute observer. And he had a poet's eye. He observed: he listened: he reflected: and then --- with his extraordinary gifts of imagination and intellect --- he saw the truth.... What makes Wilde particularly attractive as a character to write about is that he was such a fascinating and engaging human being. What makes him particularly useful --- and credible --- as a Victorian detective is that he had extraordinary access to all types and conditions of men and women, from the most celebrated to society's outcasts, from the Prince of Wales to common prostitutes. Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle is central to Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile --- as he will be to the sequels in the series --- but, in my book, he is not Wilde's Dr. Watson. That role falls to one Robert Sherard, a journalist, poet, ladies' man and Wilde's first, most frequent and most loyal biographer. Sherard first met Wilde in 1882 in Paris and, throughout their friendship, which lasted until Wilde's death in 1900, kept a detailed journal of their time together. As a child I felt close to Oscar for a special reason. I was a pupil at Bedales School, where, in 1895, Cyril, the older of the Wildes' two sons, had been at school. The founder of Bedales, John Badley, was a friend of Wilde's, and was still alive and living in the school grounds when I was a boy. John Badley told me, "Oscar Wilde could listen as well as talk. He put himself out to be entertaining. You know, he said, 'murder is always a mistake. One should never do anything that one cannot talk about after dinner.' He was a delightful person, charming and brilliant, with the most perfect manners of any man I ever met. Because of his imprisonment and disgrace he is seen nowadays as a tragic figure. That should not be his lasting memorial. I knew him quite well. He was such fun." More than a century after his death, I am still having fun in his company and as you read my Oscar Wilde Mysteries I hope you will, too. As Oscar once said, "There is nothing quite like an unexpected death for lifting the spirits." ---Gyles Brandreth
|
<% if (about) = "yes" or (about) = "none" then %>
<% else %>
|
<% end if %>
<% if (about) = "yes" or (about) = "none" then %>
<% else %>
RSS Feed
Newsletter
Blog Roll
<% end if %>
|
How many people does it take for a reading group? Elizabeth Berg, today's guest blogger, proves that sometimes two is the magic number as she recalls weekly phone conversations she had with a long-distance friend about books.
