Who Took Their Book Group to Guernsey?

Back in May we announced the "Take Your Book Group to Guernsey" contest held by the Random House Publishing Group to celebrate the paperback publication of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows' novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

The winning group --- out of 56,000 entries --- was the Wesley Chapel G.R.I.T.S. (Girls Reading In The South) from North Carolina. They were treated to a four-day trip to Guernsey, the English Channel isle where the story is set, dinner with the winning reading group from the U.K. and a guided tour of the island. Click here to watch the BBC television segment about "Potato Peel" tourism and featuring the winning book clubs.

Today we talk with Mary Bonelli about her group's literary adventure. Mary is the author of the Book Lovers 2010 Calendar, which is filled with pictures, literary facts and stories, author birthdays and more. A portion of the proceeds are donated to First Book, a nonprofit organization that provides books to disadvantaged children.


ReadingGroupGuides.com: What inspired your book club to enter the contest? Had you already read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society?

Mary Bonelli: One of our members, Elaine Rosoff, suggested the book to us and she mentioned the contest that went along with it. She thought it would be fun to enter even though "nobody ever wins these things"! We only read the book this past July, and we were ready to discuss it at our August meeting. The book had been gaining in popularity with book clubs so we decided to give it a read. We got the news about winning the contest the week before our August meeting. So a book discussion on The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was VERY appropriate!


RGG: How did visiting Guernsey enhance your perception of the book?

MB: We could not have been more pleased with the reality of Guernsey. As you read any book, you get a mental picture of what you think the surroundings will look like. The real Guernsey easily surpassed what we all imagined. You truly could picture Juliet, Kit, Dawsey and the whole cast of characters walking about the streets that we were walking on. Looking out onto the beaches and realizing these were the same beaches that the people of Guernsey could not walk on during the Occupation because they were covered with explosives. And at the same time, the beautiful countryside, dotted with those colorful Guernsey cows and fascinating architecture were also a part of the Occupation. The experience completely brought the book to life for us.


RGG: Your book club joined one from the UK to talk about the book. What were some of the highlights of the discussion?

MB: One theme that kept coming up in our discussion was the power of books. Juliet and Dawsey began corresponding because of his discovery of her book. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society came to be because of books and how books created some type of normalcy for them during at time of complete kayos. And this wonderful book was the reason for bringing my book club together with another group of book lovers from Winchester, England for an adventure of a lifetime. Books are indeed powerful stuff!

The other main topic of discussion was the resiliency of the people of Guernsey during the Occupation. From having to adjust to the Germans living among them in their everyday lives to making the heart wrenching decision of sending their children away for who knows how long or to take your chances and have them stay on the island. The Germans were there to stay. They changed all the street signs to German, they made it mandatory to teach the German language in the schools, built new buildings for their purposes and even took over peoples homes. The way of life for the people of Guernsey had changed forever.


RGG: What can you tell us about meeting and talking with some of the people who lived through the island's occupation?

MB: We had a second book discussion at the Guille-Alles Library and the public was invited to take part in the discussion. We were so fortunate that at least a dozen of the Occupation survivors were able to join us. They were all children during WWII and they are now in their 70s and 80s. To hear their stories first-hand was a treasure beyond belief. Some of them were sent away to England while others stayed on the island with their families. We heard a funny story of how one woman, Molly Bihet, and her sister would wait for the potato truck to come down the street. Sometimes the German soldier on the truck would kick a few potatoes off the truck and the girls would scoop them up and bring home --- quite a treasure. Molly wrote a book called A Child's War that is well worth the read. It is filled with extraordinary pictures and a first-hand account of the Occupation through the eyes of a 9-year-old girl.

Another story we heard told of how scarce food was near the end of the Occupation and how so many elderly people literally starved to death. One man whose family owned a bakery in town told us they had to get very creative in what they ground down to use as "flour." When the Liberating Forces finally came to the island and supplies started becoming available again, the first loaf of bread that was baked at his bakery with real flour was an event to behold. While the man was telling us this story, tears actually fell down his cheek as he remembered the emotions that he felt so many year ago as that loaf of bread was coming out of the oven. It was truly a living history lesson that we will never forget. We so often take our freedoms for granted in this day and age, but hearing these stories reminds us to be grateful.


RGG: What was the most memorable moment for you during your visit to Guernsey?

MB: It's hard to pick just one moment but meeting the Occupation survivors is certainly one of the highlights. To have the opportunity to just walk the streets of Guernsey with our tour guide, Gill Girard, made us all feel like actual members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. To walk to the WWII memorial and read the Guernsey names; seeing the forethought that went into the Occupation Memorial in the form of a sundial representing the events that took place on Liberation Day; passing by Calais Lane where Eben Ramsey lived; walking through The Little Chapel (above) and being in awe of the millions and millions of pottery and china pieces and of course the Guernsey cows! How lucky were we?!?


RGG: Is your group interested in taking other book-related trips together, or have you done so in the past? Where would you most like to go?

MB: Some of our members have actually thought about this. At the very least we think we should take a yearly trip together. We could always go to Key West and discuss Hemingway, or to Beacon Hill in Boston to check in with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Henry James, Charles Dickens and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And if we absolutely had to venture back across the Pond again to Dublin, Ireland, to see the bronze statue of James Joyce or to walk "The Great Hall" at Trinity College, so be it. Or maybe there will be another wonderful literary contest we can enter "that nobody ever wins"!

Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD Makes It to the Movies

Opening today in theaters is the movie version of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road, the story of a father and son trying to survive in a world devastated by a nuclear holocaust. Are you planning to see it on your own or with your book club? Tell us about it in the comments section.

Bookreporter.com reviewer Tom Callahan had this to say about the book: "McCarthy illuminates the ultimate nightmare that has haunted mankind since August 1945. This is a dystopian look at America, or what would be left of America, after a nuclear war. This is a book that stares, unblinking, straight into the abyss. It is a masterpiece. The Road might be one of the most powerful anti-war novels ever written."

Click here for the full review.

The Book Club Cheerleader's Top 10 Book Club Books of 2009

Marsha Toy Engstrom, The Book Club Cheerleader™, has put together a list of Top 10 Book Club Books of 2009, along with suggestions on how to enhance discussions if you select these titles.

We don't want to give away the books on the list, but here is some of what you'll find:
- A book Marsha was unhappy had been selected by her reading group...and why she ended up really enjoying it
- A favorite she wanted on the list and "out-right cheated" to have it there
- A great choice for those who typically shy away from the fantasy genre
- A novel you probably know about already unless you've been stranded on a desert island

Click here to read Marsha's RGG.com guest blog post about how book clubs can utilize resources at local libraries.

Book Club Longevity: Reading in Kansas

Cathy Sherman wrote to tell us about her Kansas book club, which was founded in late 1980. Having joined in 1987, she's "the new girl" and the keeper of the group's blog, Blather, a book club. Today, founder Chris Becicka shares stories about their book club --- how it came to be, the first book they read as a group, what has changed over the years and more.

Previous Book Club Longevity Interviews:
V&C (Vulture and Culture)
Farmington Woods Book Group
Thursday Night Book Club
The Bookers


ReadingGroupGuides.com: What was your first book club gathering like?

Chris Becicka: There were four of us to start --- Jane Long, Marilyn McSpadden (who when she moved away 20 years ago we all felt betrayed), Mary Steeb and me --- all high school English and/or journalism teachers. We met at my house, read The Awakening by Kate Chopin, had sandwiches, dessert, and wine. We decided then to ask some others to join us --- my mom, then editor of a newspaper, a science teacher who I always saw reading during breaks and in the copy room, another English teacher, a French teacher from another school district and a couple others. For a long time, we had 10 constant members; we've always met on the third Thursday of the month, with variations dependening on people's schedules --- more erratic now than then. Two moved away; one doesn't like to drive at night now and has some physical issues.


RGG: To what do you attribute the longevity of your book club?

CB: The process and mutations speak to the longetivity I think: We decided that we would try to usually read two books; just one if it were really long. We would all read the same book. We said we would be committed to getting that or those book(s) read on time --- and most of us are pretty faithful to that --- though sometimes we wish if people hadn't read the book, they wouldn't come. (The worst offender of that is no longer with us.) We've gone through several permutations -- for a while we had a "leader" of the discussion who was responsible for coming up with some questions or finding reviews; sometimes we tried to pair the books (still do that occasionally) by theme or time. In recent years there has been more dependence on some of the premanufactured book questions out there. The person who is hosting the month's gathering gets to choose the next month's books. This, too, has recently changed in that one member thought it might be a good idea if we were reading more award-winning books and bestsellers. So we have been reading one of those which she lists in the calendar and then we pair it with another each month.

Fellow member Jane Long: As to why we have lasted so long, that is difficult to say. I think that it is at least partly due to our committment to read the books that are chosen. Those who were less committed to doing that have dropped out of the group. We are also a compatible group, I think. We don't always agree, often disagree, in fact. But we are usually able to disagree without being disagreeable. We have varied backgrounds which provide a variety of insights into the books. I think we also try to choose thought-provoking books. Some of our best discussions have been about books that we didn't especially care for, but we read them anyway and had thoughtful discussions about our objections to either their ideas or their literary value.


RGG: What changes have taken place in the group over the years you've been meeting?

Once we tried having husbands to book club because one husband wanted to come (not mine, that's for sure). That did not work. We've tried to cut back from full dinners to just appetizers --- also hasn't worked. Talked about doing just desserts. That didn't work. We meet at restaurants if someone is too stressed to cook, doesn't want to, or if it's an "empty" month (no hostess assigned) . We've gotten better at buying good food, which is helpful. The one constant: there is always wine. We've been through one marriage, two funerals of spouses (same woman actually), several children's marriages, several job and career changes, grandchildren's births, only one divorce, and several homes; our oldest member is now 85, the youngest is maybe 54. We have a blog that one member set up.


RGG: What advice do you have for other groups who would like to make it to the 20-year mark (and beyond)?

CB: Find people who want to read and will commit to finishing the book. It is more interesting if everyone is not at the same stage of life in one way or another. Read a variety of books. The books that some of us like the least create the most discussion. Two books do help. Have one conversation, not several going on at the same time --- we don't always follow this rule. Don't let someone dominate (hard to do sometimes). Do some reading and research about the book before your meeting. We read mostly fiction but have read nonfiction as well: Three Cups of Tea and David McCullough's Truman and John Adams, and like The White City and Gore Vidal's Lincoln which are fiction based on fact.


RGG: Tell us about a memorable book discussion or meeting.

CB: Since we've met for 29 years x 12 nights a year, I just don't think one stands out. However, Christmas every year is usually our most fun event and we start a half hour earlier for it. It is practically always at Mary's home --- she is the ultimate decorator, loves Christmas and is a great cook. Every year we give presents --- which started out for a couple of dollars and were usually book or Christmas-related --- lots of ornaments. Now the gifts often come from travels and are usually much cooler.

Life Stories

For book clubs looking for guidance on memoirs, there is a great resource at hand --- Read On…Life Stories: Reading Lists for Every Taste, which offers brief descriptions of nearly 450 memoirs, from classics like The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin to recent bestsellers like Julie Andrews' Audition. Today we talk with librarian and author Rosalind Reisner about how she selected the titles included in Read On...Life Stories, the top three memoirs she thinks will spark interesting discussions and much more.


ReadingGroupGuides.com: Read On…Life Stories is comprised of "annotated reading lists organized with serendipity in mind," you write in the Introduction. Why did you organize the titles by themes, such as "Marching to Their Own Drum: Unique Individuals" and "Outside the Box: Interesting Occupations"?

Rosalind Reisner: There are so many memoirs published --- especially in the last few years --- that it's overwhelming for readers to figure out what to read next. The lists are designed to help you sort through what's out there and find the memoir you'll love based on the subject and the writing --- what librarians call the "appeal" of a book. So I have lists of memoirs that are strong on character --- where authors really bare their souls, like the list called "Identity Papers: Discovering Our True Selves." Or, there are lists where the story is most important, like the list titled "Living to Tell the Tale: Near-Death Experiences." Other lists focus on the setting, like "Far Out: Travel to Unusual Places" or the mood, like "Backward Glance: Nostalgic Memoirs." There are 55 lists, covering a wide range of subjects, appeal and writing styles.

Readers can also look up a favorite title in the index and then see other, related titles in the list. I was also hoping that the lists would make the book fun to browse, that list names would pique people’s interests and help them expand the range of their reading.


RGG: There are nearly 450 titles featured in Read On…Life Stories. How did you decide which books to include?

RR: I looked for titles that were well-reviewed, won awards, or were listed on "best" lists. I also included some older personal favorites, like Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain and A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey, both classics in England and Australia, respectively. While I was working on the book, people would sometimes ask me how I found the titles to include and I would laugh --- my problem was making a selection out of so many wonderful memoirs! I often felt overwhelmed by the number of glowing reviews I'd read each week and race off to the library, bringing home armloads of books. I'm sure the staff at my local library wondered if I spent every waking minute reading memoirs!

That’s also why I started the website AReadersPlace.net as an ongoing resource. I wanted to have a way to continue writing about great memoirs and narrative nonfiction for readers, discussion groups, and librarians.


RGG: What are the top three memoirs you think will make for especially great discussions?

RR: I think Here if You Need Me: A True Story by Kate Braestrup would be my first choice. It's a spiritual memoir about a woman who became a chaplain in the Maine Warden Service after her husband died. Braestrup deals with life’s important questions, and her story is thought-provoking no matter what religion you practice. She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan would be a good choice for a book that would stimulate discussion and controversy, too, in some groups. It's a riveting memoir about a woman who always knew she was meant to be a man --- funny, insightful and beautifully written. It's hard to stop at just three, but I'd say House of Happy Endings by Leslie Garis would be another good choice. Garis grew up in a household of well-known writers --- her grandparents wrote The Bobbsey Twins series --- whose personal demons ravaged the family.


RGG: For book clubs that have never read a memoir, which one do you recommend as their first selection?

RR: The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway would be a good place to start. It's a classic coming of age story with an unusual setting: a sheep ranch in the Australian outback. Conway's account of her struggles to find her way to successful adulthood is wonderfully told and there’s lots of food for thought --- and discussion.


RGG: What are some lesser-known memoirs that book clubs might want to know about?

RR: I loved Drawn to the Rhythm: A Passionate Life Reclaimed by Sara Hall and can't figure out why it's not on every book group list. It's a wonderful, inspirational story about a woman who seized the opportunity to remake her unhappy life. Also The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa, by Josh Swiller, a remarkable story about a young, deaf Peace Corps volunteer who had a very unusual, life-changing experience in an African village. And I would also recommend First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood by Thrity Umrigar one of the most insightful coming of age memoirs I’ve read in a long time.


RGG: This year a popular memoir has been Julia Child's My Life in France, inspired in part by the movie version of Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. For those who enjoyed reading about Child's life abroad, what other memoirs would you recommend?

RR: I loved My Life in France, and I'm a big fan in general of books about experiencing other cultures. I'd suggest the following titles: Almost French: A New Life in Paris by Catherine Sanderson, about a young Australian woman who moves in with her French boyfriend and discovers that French culture is very different from what she expected. Another great title is
The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah, about renovating a wonderful old house in Morocco and in the process learning about the house's human and spiritual guardians and enemies. Also, Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr, about a writer who moves from Idaho to Rome with his wife and infant twins and falls in love with the city.

'Tis the Season...

Kicking off today on Bookreporter.com is the festive feature Author Holiday Blogs: Stories About Giving & Receiving. More than 50 authors will be sharing stories of gift giving and getting, books that have enhanced their lives and holiday traditions they love. First up is Beverly Barton, who describes two very treasured copies of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.

Stop by daily between now and December 25th if you need a dose of holiday cheer or a respite from the hectic pace of the season. We hope you end up discovering an author's work you want to read --- and some ideas for your gifts lists.

Book Club Longevity: The Bookers

The Bookers of Henrico, North Carolina, celebrated their 20th anniversary this past September. As part of our series of interviews with members of long-running book clubs, we talk with Carol Weigel about what has kept them reading and discussing for two decades, why The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus made for a memorable discussion...and why they felt compelled to change their group's name.

Previous Book Club Longevity Interviews:
V&C (Vulture and Culture)
Farmington Woods Book Group
Thursday Night Book Club


ReadingGroupGuides.com: How long has your book club been meeting, and how was it formed?

Carol Weigel: We are an activity group of the Lake Gaston Ladies Club. (The Ladies Club has many activity groups.) Bookers was formed when a member put out a clip board and asked others whether they would like to form a book club. Only two other people showed up for the first meeting. They decided to not just read books at this book club. They wanted it to cover literature and arts and education. One of them had just received the music to the "new" Broadway hit The Phantom of the Opera and an old black-and-white video film. The next meeting had more in attendance. They watched and listened to the film and music and discussed that and the book. Ever since, the meetings have been eclectic.

The mission statement for Bookers is: The purpose of the Happy Bookers is to share a mutual love of books and reading, as well as other aspects of cultural arts and education. Here are the words of one of the organizers: "Originally, after we really became organized, the group decided to call ourselves 'The Happy Bookers' as a play off of a popular book of the day, Happy Hooker. Later some ladies objected to that, although we had a lot of laughs from everyone who heard us tell them our book club name. So we are now just Bookers."


RGG: To what do you attribute the longevity of your book club?

CW: The versatility of the group. There is something for everyone. Some members used to perform elaborate plays. Sometimes they wrote the plays, sometimes they adapted books into plays. They would perform for the Bookers and also for the whole Ladies Club. It became so popular, they had an off shoot group start. The activity group is called Stage I, and they still perform one play per year for the Ladies Club. It did not break our group apart. They now have different members with still some Bookers in their group. We still perform skits in Bookers by adapting books, but we don't take months to prepare and produce.

We also don't demand that they read one book title only and discuss it. We actually only have one general book discussion during the year. We have a variety of programs dealing with literature. If we want to have a single title book discussion, people stay after the program to do so. Last year our general book discussion was "Living British Women Authors" in tribute to Doris Lessing winning the Nobel Literature award. The discussion groups were broken down by category of fiction, romance, chick lit, children's, mystery. This year we are going to do immigration literature, specifically immigrants to the USA, in recognition of the 2010 census.


RGG: What advice do you have for other groups who would like to make it to the 20-year mark (and beyond)?

CW: Have a strong planning committee. Each time we have had a good coordinator, they've had a good planning committee. We have had some years that weren't well done and membership dropped. We currently have 67 members. Some have actually been with the group for 20 years which is so exciting to have that experience to draw from and get advice.


RGG: Tell us about a memorable book discussion or meeting.

CW: We discussed House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus last year. We felt that all the main characters had some mental illness or were suffering from depression. Well, that led to the most intimate and special book discussion. People really shared their home and family experiences with mental illness. And we didn't forget about the book, but wove the discussion into the questions we were answering.

Another meeting 12 years back was wonderful for all of us. We have always tried to have one theatre event in the yearly schedule. For that meeting we went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, which was about two hours away. We saw a play in the theatre within the museum, had lunch in the members dining room, and then visited the galleries and had a talk with one of the curators (who had worked with one of our members). It truly represented what our mission statement conveys.

Book Club Longevity: Thursday Night Book Club

When Judy Silver's book club launched, she and her fellow members were new mothers...39 years ago. "We're now grandmothers who still love good literature," says Judy. "We are still going strong in 2009!"

Today we talk with Judy about the Thursday Night Book Club, which meets in West Hartford, Connecticut --- what kinds of books they read, how the group is structured, the reading selection process and more.

Previous Book Club Longevity Interviews:
V&C (Vulture and Culture)
Farmington Woods Book Group


ReadingGroupGuides.com: How was your book club formed?

Judy Silver: Our Thursday Night Book Club is in its 39th year! I was approached by the president of the Hartford chapter of Brandeis University National Women's Committee to begin a book club. I was fairly new to the Hartford area but had enjoyed leading book club discussions in St. Louis previously. Notice was sent out to members about the formation of this new group. Through the years we have had people come and go as they moved in and out of town. However, some of my closest friendships have developed through our book club. We now have about 23 people on our roster with the average number attending each month about 18.


RGG: To what do you attribute the longevity of your book club?

JS: We read excellent literature (rarely read something from the bestseller lists unless it is a remarkable book like The Kite Runner). We read a cross-section of authors writing about many different cultures and time periods. We have a high level of commitment to the group. The people in the group are serious readers.

We have one half-hour of refreshments, and then we sit down to business. Our rotation of homes, book discussion leaders and titles selected are all planned at a Pot Luck Supper
in June for the following year. Having the process carried out in an organized, fair manner lets everyone know this is a book club for the truly interested reader.


RGG: What advice do you have for other groups who would like to make it to the 20-year mark (and beyond)?

JS: Our selection process follows these guidelines:
1) the book must be in paperback
2) the book has to be of good quality literature that lends itself to discussion; this is not necessarily a "beach book" or an "airplane book," but one for which the reader is willing to stretch herself to read and discuss
3) each member can nominate one or more books, preferably having read them or have good credentials for them; the entire group then votes on nine titles for the year out of the ones "nominated." The nine getting the most votes make it to the list.

Having the above method of choosing books has kept the level of book selection high, making this a desirable book club in which to continue.

Members register for this book club at the beginning of the academic year and pay a nominal registration fee (all of which goes to our national organization of Brandeis University). Those registering for the book club must be members of the organization. A guest may visit one time before joining.


RGG: Tell us about an especially memorable book discussion or meeting.

JS: We have had so many: Magister Ludi and the Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse (many years ago!), works by Kurt Vonnegut, stories by Tillie Olson, Blindness by Jose Saramago. A personal favorite discussion of mine was when we discussed Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway one month followed by The Hours by Michael Cunningham the following month.

Book Clubs in the News

In this round-up of book club news, members share anecdotes, advice and recipes. You'll meet a group that thinks not finishing a reading selection is just fine, another that finally decided on a name after meeting for two years, one that has an interesting method for selecting books picks and more.


Attleboro Sun Chronicle: A Men's Book Club? You Bet
An all-male reading group --- strangers when they first gathered a year ago at a public library in Norton, Massachusetts --- discuss Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Very Small" Book Club Shows that Size Doesn't Matter
Find out how members of the vsbc (Very Small Book Club) use a “Genre Jar” to make book selections --- and why members "aren’t in trouble if they didn't finish the book" and actually think it enhances the discussion

Lexington Herald-Leader: Club of the century: Books Optional in 100-Year-Old Reading Group
The members of the 100-year-old Country Book Club in Versailles, Kentucky, "exist to learn, to revere books, to support each other, to laugh and to tell each other about their lives. Not always in that order, but always with those priorities."

MinnPost.com: Author Visit Do's and Don'ts
Considering having an author join your book club discussion? Here are some etiquette tips from Audra Otto of MinnPost.com's Book Club Club.

The News Enterprise: My Kitchen, Your Recipe: Members of The Ultimate Book Club Share Their Recipes
Mary Alice Holt reveals how her two-year-old reading group in Kentucky recently decided on a name --- and serves up recipes for Ultimate Book Club Pizza and other dishes.

Press-Register: Book Clubbers Share Great Reads, Friendship
The founding principle of the Carpe Diem Book Club in Alabama is "good friends sharing good books." Their reading selections have ranged from autobiographies by President Obama and Senator John McCain before last year's presidential election to recent choices by Southern writers like Sue Monk Kidd (The Secret Life of Bees) and Cassandra King (The Same Sweet Girls).

The Villages Daily Sun: True Crime Book Club Members Take a Break from Reading to Play Detectives
A Florida book group, which reads solely true crime tales, took a break from page-turners and put their deductive powers to the test with the sleuthing game "Crack the Case."

Book Club Longevity: Farmington Woods Book Group

What makes a reading group stay together for an incredible two decades...and often even longer? Earlier this week we introduced V&C (Vulture and Culture), the first of several book clubs we'll be profiling that have done just that.

Today we talk with Mary Healey, who attributes diversity as one of the factors keeping the Farmington Woods Book Group of Avon, Connecticut, reading and meeting for 24 years.


ReadingGroupGuides.com: How was your book club formed?

Mary Healey: Although we hold our meetings at a library, our members and facilitators are from our condo community. Some have been members the entire time. We average 20 members in attendance each month.


RGG: To what do you attribute the longevity of your book club?

MH: Diversity. That is what has kept the Farmington Woods Book Group going for 24 years. The differences lie in many areas: in the age of our members, our backgrounds, our interests and our selection of books. When it was first formed the members all came from our gated condo community, but as we meet at the Farmington Library monthly everyone is welcomed. A few of the original members still come faithfully each month.

The members came to Connecticut from many areas of the country. Their experiences and travels take them to many places of the settings of our book selections, and the tidbits they offer enhance the discussion. When reading a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, it was enlightening to have a personal friend of the First Lady tell intimate stories of their times together. It added to the interest of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time to have a woman from the Middle East join in the discussion and tell of her family still living there and to treat us to a cup of the tea from the book's recipe.


RGG: What can you tell us about meeting at a library?

MH: The books for the following month are waiting for us as we arrive. That certainly doesn't stop us from buying the book, as often the very books we read are the ones we purchase for gift giving.

Holding our meetings in a library sets the stage for a more formal discussion. Our members take turns facilitating from the list of books we selected by voting. Each month the facilitator researches the author and creates her discussion questions. The 28 women all take part. Everyone is respectful and yes, as in old school days the facilitator recognizes our raised hands.

Not for you, you might be thinking. Too formal and restricted? You should hear the laughter at our meetings! The humor is great, the discussions lively and afterwards lunch at a nearby restaurant is rewarding and more personal stories are shared at that time.


RGG: What advice do you have for other groups that would like to make it to the 20-year mark (and beyond)?

MH: My advice to having your group become a long-lasting one is to invite new members, to diversify. And very important is the book selection. The popular old and new books may be great reading, but we always ask, "Is it discussable?" We recommend that no one suggests a book without reading it first themselves. A different opinion always makes for a great discussion. All opinions are respected and everyone is treated with courtesy.


RGG: What do you enjoy most about being part of a book club?

MH: Reading groups open to us books we would never pick up on our own. What a great way to be entertained and educated at the same time.

Book Club Longevity: Vulture and Culture

Over the next couple of weeks we're going to be introducing some remarkable book clubs --- ones that have been meeting for at least twenty years. We've asked members to share their insight on how they've been able to keep the momentum going and what recommendations they have for other groups that would like to make it to the two-decade mark...and beyond.

First up is an interview with Marion Miller, whose book club, V & C (short for Vulture and Culture) in Far Rockaway, New York, has been in existence for nearly 35 years. There are still five original members in the group.


ReadingGroupGuides.com: How was your book club formed?

Marion Miller: My book club started as an offshoot of a study group that I belonged to. I found that the members preferred talking about books rather than issues, i.e. the welfare system. Our first meeting was held on a cold winter's night in front of a roaring fire. We all arrived in our pajamas and bathrobes. This was a group of about four or five neighborhood women. We were friends and acquaintances. However, at each meeting another neighbor asked to join. Since this was more than 30 years ago we were able to meet by day, as we were all stay-at-home moms. As time went on most of us returned to the workforce and so our meetings returned to an evening format. Due to various circumstances (relocation, death, etc), we've had to add new members.


RGG: To what do you attribute the longevity of your book club?

MM: We all belong to a Sisterhood at our local Jewish Center, so finding new members is not difficult. At one time there were at least three different book clubs, but now we are down to one group of nine.


RGG: What advice do you have for other groups who would like to make it to the 20-year mark?

MM: My advice to book clubs is to give everyone a chance to talk unless they veer from the topic at hand. For this problem you need a sergeant-at-arms! When we first started there were always a few people who did not read the book, and they would try to divert us from the topic at hand.


RGG: Tell us about an especially memorable book discussion or meeting.

MM: One of our most memorable meetings was when one of our members, a science teacher, suggested we read Lives of a Cell. She thought it was great, and we hardly understood it and had a hard time keeping straight, serious faces. Another time someone suggested the first book of the Old Testament. This too was a problem. When we tackled Dante's Inferno we invited a professor friend to do the review.

We meet about 10 times a year and go out for dinner once a year. When you are the hostess for a meeting you choose the next book. In this way we do not waste time arguing about a book. At the next meeting the person who chose the book gives a summary and info about the author and then a discussion is opened. This works for us.

Talking with Keith Desserich about NOTES LEFT BEHIND

As Brooke and Keith Desserich share in Notes Left Behind, their six-year-old daughter Elena was diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer and died just nine months later. As Elena lost her voice and the ability to walk, she communicated through writing and drawing. Unbenownst to her parents, she was writing notes and leaving them around the house tucking them in between books in the bookcase, the holiday ornament boxes and other places where they would later find them as they moved through their everyday lives.

While we often focus on the BIG moments in life --- holidays and milestones --- this book reminds us that it's important to remember that each day there is a reason to celebrate. Elena was wise beyond her years and left quite a legacy of love.

Today we talk with Keith Desserich about what Elena would think about Notes Left Behind and the outpouring of support the book is receiving, how book club members can take action and more. ---Carol Fitzgerald


ReadingGroupGuides.com: For readers who aren't familiar with Notes Left Behind, what would you like them to know about the book?

Keith Desserich: Notes Left Behind was never intended to be about cancer or the death of a six-year-old girl. Instead it is about grasping the minutes of life before they disappear through your fingertips. Too often people focus on the large moments of life like birthdays, anniversaries and weddings and in doing so skip or even forget about the smaller moments such as reading with your son or daughter before bed, walking hand-in-hand and even the small laughs you share together as a family. Originally intended as a letter to Gracie about her older sister, Elena, the book was intended to pass on the lessons of Elena in the final moments she enjoyed with her family. Today it has become a reminder to parents everywhere to cherish their children and to find time everyday to truly learn to love.


RGG: What do you think Elena would say about the book and the attention it's getting?

KD: Elena was a six-year-old girl who shied from attention, preferring to establish her legacy in the letters and artwork she created. Today with the success of the book and with the donation of all U.S. author proceeds to pediatric cancer research through The Cure Starts Now Foundation, I think Elena would be proud. Not only do her notes touch thousands of families worldwide, but in the end they are helping to find a cure for the very cancer that she fought.


RGG: When did you begin finding the notes Elena left behind? Were you surprised that she had done this?

KD: Initially we thought the notes were a coincidence. But after finding 20 or more we realized that it was something more. And as we discovered notes in briefcases, drawers and between books on the shelves we knew that Elena intended for us to find them one day. How much she actually knew about her condition we will never know, but with every note she send us a hug and a reassurance that everything will be all right. Still, there's a part of us that wishes we would have discovered the notes while she was alive so that we too could return the love and even the notes. Unfortunately, though, due to a reconstruction project started before her diagnosis and continuing until after her fight had ended, we never found her notes when we could have appreciated them most.


RGG: What are some of the topics book clubs could discuss about Notes Left Behind?

KD: I think that anyone can share in the meaning of the book and how it teaches us all to treasure our children. Elena's fight taught us how our children are our heroes and changed the way we even relate to Gracie still to this day. Hopefully this lesson is universal, but how we spend that time is individual.


RGG: On the ReadingGroupGuides.com blog we've had numerous discussions about activism, with booksellers, authors, and reading group members offering input. Proceeds from Notes Left Behind are going to The Cure Starts Now, a foundation to fun pediatric brain cancer research. For book club members inspired to do more, how might they take action?

KD: The Cure Starts Now is a foundation that started from a community and a foundation that to this day is fueled by the ideas of that community. Because of this, we offer many events such as our school-based "Caps for the Cure," the business based "Heart on My Sleeve" and the home based "Make a Stand" lemonade stands. Still, even beyond that, people nationwide create their own fundraisers for the cure that extend into their own neighborhoods and touch the hearts of hundreds more.


RGG: What would you like readers to take away from Notes Left Behind?

KD: I think Brooke and I would like nothing more than for readers of Notes Left Behind to appreciate the smaller moments in life --- to put down their phones, stash their computers and learn to be a family once again. And in doing so, the inspiration they will discover with be from within.

Oprah's Worldwide Web Event Tonight

Oprah Winfrey is joining forces with CNN's Anderson Cooper, host of the television show AC 360, for what is being billed as "the biggest book club event ever." There will be an in-depth discussion with Uwem Akpan, author of the latest Oprah's Book Club selection, Say You're One of Them, tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST. The event will be simulcast live from Oprah.com and CNN.com. It's free to participate, but you do need to RSVP.

Say You're One of Them is a collection of short stories that came out in June 2008. It's the first time that Oprah has selected a short story collection for her Book Club.

Bookreporter.com reviewer Sarah Rachel Egelman wrote about Say You're One of Them: "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 and find a discussion guide here.

Best Discussion Books: The Great Apes' Picks

Today Jeff Potter, a member of The Great Apes Reading Group of Fort Collins, Colorado, shares the three books that sparked their best discussions. The group's name comes from their 10th reading selection, Tarzan of the Apes. The main character in the book is "an avid reader, even teaching himself to read by reading Paradise Lost, if you can believe that," says Jeff. The Great Apes, an all-guy book club with members ranging in age from 37 to 64, has been going strong for 15 years.


Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West may be the best non-fiction book most of us have ever read; I personally would call it such. We still refer to parts of it even twelve years later, especially the sad ending after the trip to the Pacific was completed. Stephen Ambrose has the ability to put us right on the trail with Lewis and Clark and we see the country, or what became part of the country, unfold right before our eyes. We couldn't believe that only one Corps of Discovery soldier died over the course of the two year trip. Ambrose captures the personal and personality struggles of each soldier, too. Leadership is a big theme and I'm not sure anyone today could complete the task Jefferson charged Lewis and Clark with without lots of infighting and egos getting in the way. The psychology behind the choosing of the Corps is fascinating. If history was always taught in such a readable fashion, it would be much more popular!

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing is similar to Ambrose's book: adventure, leadership, personalities, psychology, devotion to a crew and a cause. The world was a different place when Shackleton ran his ad soliciting men for a mission to the South Pole that you "probably wouldn't return from," but the men that signed up were very recognizable to us all. We contrasted Shackleton's leadership style and motives with that of the Everest guides in Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Very well researched and readable about an expedition that many people have forgotten about or never even knew about. We can all learn something about committment to a cause and to a crew as Shackleton goes for help...and returns with help months and months later. It's an unforgettable expedition and an unforgettable read, simply an unbelievable story.

The Master and Margarita is an incredibly inventive novel that crosses all genre boundaries. It's historical, religious/spiritual, satiric, full of magic realism (see the "cat"!), political and more all at once. We talked about this over two meetings and on occasion still return to plumb its depths and keep trying to wrap our minds around what Bulgakov has created. A background in basic Russian political history and early Christianity is helpful, but probably not necesary as long as one reads with an open mind. It's also a psychological and philosophical study too, so there is no limit to the discussion subjects. I don't think any of us had ever read any Bulgakov before we happened on this novel, but we are all glad we read it even if we can't neatly tie it all together! This was one of our first foreign novels that offered a variety of translations, so we received an education of how the translation can influence the reading or the meaning. Fascinating and rewarding but definitely not for everyone.

Best Discussion Books: Oryx & Crake, On Her Own Ground and More

Continuing with best discussion books, as submitted by readers of the ReadingGroupGuides.com newsletter (sign up here), below are some of the comments that were shared. And find out what book club members had to say about why My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and Alan Brennert's Moloka'i make for great conversations.


"I laughed, cried, and was challenged by The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I sometimes shy away from "translated" books; at times they do not capture the style of the author, but this book is wonderful. It's the story of a concierge at an upscale apartment building in Paris. Her relationship (and lack of) with the characters who live there is very telling." --Rosemary Hood

"One of the best discussions we have had was about the book The Invisible Wall: A Love Story that Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein. We also read the sequel, The Dream: A Memoir, shortly after that. The ladies in the group come from a wide variety of backgrounds but all have experienced prejudice in one form or another. Prejudice from socio-economic status, religion, or simply working and stay at home have given rise to damaged egos and hurt feelings. We all related to Harry's experience and admired the courage of both mother and son." --Susie Schachte, Greenwood Public Library

"Recently, my book group read two older books: The Far Family by Wilma Dykeman and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Book books stimulated two of the best discussions we have had. Everyone had something to say, and we all agreed we would like to read more older novels." --Anna Robinson

"I think the first pick would be One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus, as the members were still bringing it up a year after we read it. The next would be Jackdaws by Ken Follett. We hesitated about picking this book, but everyone ended up loving it. Also Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Each book picked generated not only a good book discussion but many referrals to the book months down the road." --Lana Mason

"Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood was our best discussion. Often during other book club meetings, the book would resurface in our discussion. The ending was never clear and brought many ideas and much philosophical discussion on the subject." --Micheline Heckler

"Choosing three favorites is quite a task, but if I must pick three that stand out, these would be: On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker. The author, A'Lelia Bundles, phone conferenced with us for our discussion. Our group was estatic that an author would take time to discuss her work with us. Ms. Bundles gave us special insights to her book; she is also the great-grandaughter of C.J. Walker, so this made the connection more special.

Our very first book and the namesake of our group is special to us. In March 1998, our first discussion was Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith, thus our group name is FTL Book Club. As women, we connected with the protagonist of Smith's novel and enjoyed reading about the changes this Applachian woman saw in herself and in her surroundings.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks was a good and enjoyable piece of fiction. Brooks cleverly entwined religion and mystery in the storyline to keep interest for a good book club discussion." --Pat Neidhard

Susan Meissner: Books that Speak Beyond Their Pages

Susan Meissner, today's guest blogger, talks about being both a reading group member and a writer whose works are read by book clubs. She offers her thoughts on why books can make strangers the best of friends...and what she thinks readers deserve when they journey through one of her novels.

Susan is the author of White Picket Fences and The Shape of Mercy, named by Publishers Weekly as one of 2008's one hundred best novels. You can learn more about her at SusanMeissner.com.


I was sitting in a cozy fire-lit room a few weeks ago with a dozen other women. Chocolate, mugs of coffee and glasses of merlot were scattered about our copies of The Help, and the book's mellow, butterscotch cover blended in nicely with the room's fall colors. There was laughter, tender moments, tense moments, and more laughter. A casual observer might have thought, "Look at those women over there, talking and laughing and listening to each other. They're probably at this bed and breakfast for a reunion of some kind. Probably classmates who've known each other thirty years."

Truth is, my book club is comprised of women who collectively have known each other less than three years. Some of the women are so new to the group, we don't yet recognize their cars when they arrive for book club.

But when we gather to discuss, dissect, digest a book, we come across as old friends who seem to have known each other since kindergarten. A good book can do that --- bring together the people who've read it into an immediate fraternity of souls, like survivors of the same hostage situation. I would venture a good book, read by a dozen strangers, could have those strangers exchanging email addresses one hour after being placed in a room with Starbucks, comfy chairs and discussion questions.

Consider this. A book like The Help, which is a fabulous book club read, is not just a book about a twenty-something aspiring writer in the early '60s penning the stories of Mississippi maids. It's a story about servitude, prejudice, ambivalence, ingratitude, injustice, grace, resilience, choices, desperation and dignity. A book that rises above its own storyline and makes us itch to talk to someone about it is why book clubs have made best friends of ordinary booklovers.

I admit, when I write a novel, I think about the book club readers who will read it, internalize it and then relive it in someone's living room or patio. Will they want to talk about this book when they are done? Will I be able to put enough flesh on this imaginary person that she seems real? Will these readers laugh with her, cry for her, shake an angry fist at her? Will her journey --- and every protagonist is on one --- matter to these readers?

When I was piecing together The Shape of Mercy, and more recently White Picket Fences, these were the questions that haunted me as I wrote. I am highly aware of the promise I make when I begin on page 1. You, dear reader, deserve a story that will touch you at a level that the morning newspaper does not. You deserve a story that somehow leaves you different than before you read it. I write to entertain, of course. But that which is merely entertainment is often quickly forgotten. I don't want you to forget what I write. And that means I have to create a story peopled by unforgettable characters. It is a tall order. But I love every minute of the labor to give you what you deserve.

An author friend of mine recently finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I loved, loved, loved. She posted how much she enjoyed the book on an online writers group, and I couldn't help but comment on her post. I told her those characters are so beautifully real to me, I want to get on a plane and go to Guernsey right now and meet them --- 70 years after the war --- as if they are still living there. As if they were living there. As if they were living.

This is what I want to do for you. I want to give you characters who seem real to you, characters whose choices you pick apart while you sip spiced cider in a room full of people you may have only just met. Characters who make you think about things that matter. That keep you thinking long after you've turned the last page...

---Susan Meissner

Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP

Katherine Stockett's debut novel, The Help, has been generating interest since its publication earlier this year. Set in 1963, it's the story of three women --- two African American maids in Mississippi and a young white woman who sees a story in the world that they live in.

An article in today's New York Times, "A Southern Mirrored Window," takes an in-depth look at The Help --- how Stockett came up with the idea, her not-so-easy path to publication, the novel's extraordinary success (it has stayed in the top 5 on the NYT hardcover fiction bestseller list since August), and the praise as well as the controversy it has garnered.

More on The Help:
Discussion Guide
RGG.com Blog Post
Bookreporter.com Review
Bookreporter.com Author Profile
Kathryn Stockett's Website
Podcast of Stockett Talking about The Help

Good Book Club, Bad Book Club

Sometimes it happens --- a book club meeting just doesn't go well. And sometimes they're among the most memorable discussions. RGG.com contributor Heather Johnson's group, Storie delle Sorelle, recently experienced this in back-to-back meetings, and today she talks about these two extremes.


Most months my book club meetings are fantastic --- great friends, great conversation, everything goes smoothly --- but from time to time we have duds. Our August and September meetings are perfect examples of those two extremes.

Near the end of August we met to discuss The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Most of our members attended this meeting so we had a great crowd. The weather was gorgeous and we all enjoyed sitting around the pool. We even had three guests attend, all of whom fit in quite well.

The discussion couldn't have been better. We talked about the epistolary form of the novel --- who liked it, who didn't, and why. We discussed the characters --- were they fully developed, and who were our favorites? We talked about the history of Guernsey, an island in the English Channel --- what we'd known before versus what we learned from the novel. Near the end of the meeting I was able to share insight from an interview I conducted with co-author Annie Barrows that shed some light on our discussions. All in all, an excellent day.

In September we met to discuss C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold, the story of two princesses and the struggle between sacred and profane love. We were all looking forward to an outdoor Happy Hour complete with margaritas to help us celebrate the official end of summer. In reality, however, the weather was rather cool and so windy our napkins kept blowing away. Only five people made it to the meeting; of that number, one didn't finish reading and one didn't read at all. This has happened before, but it isn't common...and it is usually a sign that the book wasn't a hit.

Those of us who did read the book disliked it to varying degrees. We tried to discuss the plot, the characters and our reactions to it all, but every topic fell flat until we finally realized that we'd rather talk about anything else but this book. In part that was due to having too few fully engaged participants (more people who had read the book would definitely have led to a better discussion), but it was also due to the book itself; we were simply ready to be done with it.

So instead of book talk we sipped our drinks, chatted about our lives, got pulled into yet another conversation about whether Twilight is worth reading, and simply enjoying being together...until the black clouds rolled in about 15 minutes later. At that point we realized we hadn't gotten to the administrative issues were had planned to discuss at this meeting. It was too late to fix that, though; in the end we barely made it to our cars before the skies opened up on us.

I think every club has these kinds of meetings from time to time, meetings where all your careful preparation amounts to nothing in the end. Hopefully you also have great meetings where everything falls into place perfectly. My suggestion for the bad times is to make the best of the time you have together with your club and simply realize that your next meeting is bound to be better. Of course, if EVERY meeting is like this then you've got a real problem...

My club's next meeting is coming up soon and we'll be discussing Kevin Roose's The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University. Will this meeting be a success? We'll just have to wait and see...but I'm pretty confident it will be great.

---Heather Johnson