Teaching an Old Book Club New Tricks

In today's post, contributor and book store owner Jamie Layton talks about the difficulties of keeping a book club fresh and fun and explains how our Advice for New Book Clubs can be just as helpful to reinvigorate a group that's been around awhile.


Wow! A big Thank You from this contributor to all you Reading Group Guide blog readers out there who responded so enthusiastically to Dana’s call for book club advice! I saw lots of great ideas I can’t wait to try at the next Duck’s Cottage Reading Group meeting!

Our meetings are held in the bookstore and, since I am the store’s manager, I have been the facilitator by default for the past seven plus years. The last year or so I have been feeling woefully inadequate and worry that my loyal members leave meetings dissatisfied, or feeling like something was ‘missing’. If I don’t do enough research about a particular topic or author, I feel guilty; if I focus too much on a peripheral tangent of a book, say, Salinger’s pacifism or the symbolism in Mercy, I feel guilty. If I remember to print out discussion questions for a book, and then find when we finally turn to them that we’ve pretty much answered them all already- I feel bad! If I forget to print out discussion questions, or can't find any, I feel bad! It's gotten to the point where I dread these very same meetings I once looked forward to because I am so sure of disappointing everyone. I knew I needed a 'shot in the arm' so to speak and leave it to Reading Group Guides to give it to me!

So to Bea Carroll- thanks for the end of meeting rating idea! Peggy Jebavy- great idea on shortening discussion questions and spreading them amongst the group to be be read! Kellie Tropeano- your group sounds like a hoot! I loved your games ideas! And to everyone else who took the time to add their two cents about what has worked (or not)- muchos gracias!!

I think I’m going to ease up on myself a little bit, try to relax and remember that I am not there to lead all the time, but to guide and encourage this group of smart, witty, deep thinking women as they discover new books, thoughts, authors and ideas.

If perchance you haven't had time yet to check out Advice For New Book Clubs, a five part post from earlier in the month, I strongly encourage you to do so! Whether your book club is brand spanking new or has been meeting for fifteen years, I promise you'll see at least one new idea to try at your next meeting!

Footnote: our group met last night and using the new tips I found we had a wonderful discussion of The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society. I handed out note cards with shortened or revised discussion questions and each person got to take a little ownership of the question they read aloud to the group taking some of the pressure off me! We also went around the circle and 'rated' the book at the end using a 1 - 10 scale, placing it against all the books we've read in our lifetime. A wonderfully re-energized meeting with which to start Oh-ten!

Read on!

Jamie Layton

Best of Lists: New Favorites

The ReadingGroupGuides.com list of New Favorites is my favorite list yet. Over the last week I’ve browsed the Enduring Favorites and Ongoing Favorites and had read a number of books on both lists and had at least heard feedback from friends and readers about most of the others. But the New Favorites List is really wonderful; so many new titles to contemplate.
As it stands, I’ve only actually read three of the titles on the New Favorites list, and though it may sound trite – two of the three are actually on my own personal list of new favorites. They are:

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
And Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

People of the Book is a sweeping, visual and personal tour through history via a rare book that has been saved and preserved and hidden and found again throughout time. It combines a modern day personal story with the many stories of the people who cared for and saved the book along its journey.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is also a modern story intertwined with a historical one, but in this case the history is of the Japanese interment in the US during WWII. The characters and scenery are so beautifully crafted. This is one of those books where you care so much about the characters that you cannot put it down.

The third book on the list that I have read is The Art of Racing in the Rain which I also really enjoyed. It was a quick read and should make for a good discussion. The story is told through the mind of the dog – which didn’t bother me at all, but I have heard from some readers that they didn’t like that.

Of the titles I haven’t read, I'm most curious about:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty and Oxygen by Carol Cassella and I will definitely read The Help by Kathryn Stockett (I was kinda trying to wait for the paperback to come out – but I may have to give in!)

So – now that I have reviewed all the lists, I am overwhelmed with the amounting of reading I really want to do. But that’s a beautiful thing, right? I hope 2010 is a great year of reading for you and I look forward to being able to contribute to the lists next year!

-- Dana

Jacqueline Luckett: SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER

In Jacqueline Luckett's debut novel, Searching for Tina Turner, Lena Spencer lives a life of luxury. But all is not as it seems. Her husband is emotionally distant, her son has a drug habit and her daughter is disgusted by her mother's overbearing behavior. Money, Lena realizes, can't solve her problems, and when her husband gives her an ultimatum she chooses a different path.

In today's guest post, Jacqueline shares some insights into Lena and her story, the writing process, how she hopes Lena will inspire readers...and why she wakes up in the middle of the night worrying about her characters.


I read for pleasure, for diversion, escape and the beauty of the words. For as much as I read, and for as much as everyone who knows me knows I love to read, I've never been invited to join a book club (and I don't know why I never started one). If I were in a book club, sitting face-to-face with an author whose book I just completed, I think I'd be most curious about process and characters.

For me, putting stories together combines writing, reading and watching. Everything and everyone around me inspires. I eavesdrop (politely inconspicuous) on conversations and watch strangers --- their body language, hand movements, how they walk or wait. I keep a list of books. Each time I finish reading one, I write a one-sentence summary. The summary forces me to be concise and to think about story, characters, style and approach. It takes longer to read these days because I'm studying accomplished authors. I read and reread phrases, sentences and paragraphs, dissecting each one to understand how the author captured ideas, emotions and descriptions. For writers, it's as important to read, as it is to write. My list helps me keep track of what I've read, and I'm studying craft.

Before starting my novel, I pulled books from my shelves and read first sentences. I wrote a few (no, many) of my own that I didn't like. My intention was not to copy, but to understand where and how to start --- with a person, in the middle of action, with a thought or an event. Stories start in all of those places and more, but reading those sentences encouraged me to think of my character and the best way to tell her story.

There are authors who speak of being inhabited by their characters. Mine worry me. They're pesky. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and wonder what they're going to do next, or I worry because they're taking a path different from what I would have chosen for them. Or I worry because they're stuck, or I'm stuck.

I've been asked if I'm the heroine of my novel. No. But I love this quote, almost an explanation, from James Baldwin's 1955 Notes of a Native Son:

"One writes out of one thing only --- one's own experience. Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from the experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give. This is the only real concern of the artist, to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art."

My divorce was an emotional nightmare. I share bits of those feelings with Lena, the main character of Searching for Tina Turner. Lena is part imagination and part inspiration; a fusion of women I met who were going through the pain and confusion of divorce, the release that accompanies it and the steps they took to reach the other side.

I love characters that live on after a story ends and wonder about them as I would a long lost friend. I'm hoping Lena Harrison Spencer will be a character who sticks with readers for a while and who inspires readers to be unafraid of new beginnings. I'm excited, and a bit intimidated, by the prospect of an intimate face-to-face with my readers. If there are disagreements with my story, characters' choices or personalities, I hope the differences of opinion will spark an entertaining and reflective exchange, not for what I could have written differently, but about choices and consequences.

---Jacqueline Luckett

Best of Lists: Ongoing Favorites

At the end of every year the editors of ReadingGroupGuides.com take a look back at the year and put together their best of the best in three categories; Enduring Favorites, New Favorites and Ongoing Favorites.

Yesterday I blogged about the Enduring Favorites list so today I’m perusing the Ongoing Favorites. We’ve got 20 titles on the Ongoing Favorites List as well and just as with the Enduring Favorites, I have by no means read them all. Which I think is great…it just means there are more highly recommended awesome books that I haven’t read yet. Who could complain about that? Of the ones I have read, my absolute favorites are:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon




All three of these amazing books have historical elements mixed with classic love and human interaction stories and even a bit of suspense. (And by suspense I mean you just have to keep turning pages until it is 3AM and you know you have to get up and go to work in 3 hours but you just can’t help it).

There are several books on this list that I either hadn’t heard of or considered (or if I’m being honest simply forgot about), but am now curious enough to try to fit them in. They are:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
and The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

And there are a few on the list that weren’t my favorites. Not that I didn’t value them for what they are, but everyone can’t love everything, right?

Though I admire Jodi Picoult’s work and admit she’s a page turner – I hated the ending of My Sister’s Keeper and that kind of ruined it for me. That said, both the subject of the book, and the ending I didn’t like will make for great book group conversation.

The Secret Life of Bees is also an excellent book but the problem for me is that I had heard soooo much about it that by the time I read it I was underwhelmed. Has that ever happened to you? (and did you ever admit it out loud?)

And then there’s Three Cups of Tea. An important story for sure – but I felt it got a little repetitive towards the end (as real life can sometimes do). I’m glad I read it, but might have gotten just as much out of a magazine article on the topic.

Any favorites from this list for you? Or un-favorites? Let us know. You may save someone a couple hours, or introduce them to a title they hadn’t thought about!

-- Dana

Best of Lists: Enduring Favorites

At the end of every year the editors of ReadingGroupGuides.com take a look back at the year and put together their best of the best in three categories; Enduring Favorites, New Favorites and Ongoing Favorites.

Since I’m new to the group, I thought I’d take a look at this year’s lists and share my personal favorites and the ones I’m just dying to read. In today's post I thought I'd take a look at the 20 titles on the Enduring Favorites List. I have to admit that I’ve only read about half of them, but of those, my absolute favorites are:

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.


I think the thing these three books have in common is that while I was reading a compelling story I also felt like I was learning something about a world I knew very little about.

The Devil in the White City might be my favorite non-fiction book of all time, I think in large part because of its narrative style. The story and characters were fascinating and I really liked tying all of it to products, places and things that are familiar in my own world.

Though fictional, One Thousand White Women also gave me insight into a time period and culture I knew very little about. Being able to “experience” the late 1800s through the eyes of women and the Cheyenne people on such a personal and human level rather than just as facts in a textbook was as important as it was heart-wrenching.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a much smaller canvas in the sense that the world we get to experience as readers is our own but as seen through the eyes of an autistic boy.

The books on the list that I really want to read and intend to get to this year are:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Gorgeous cover (and I admit sometimes I DO judge a book by its cover!)

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
For some reason I keep putting this one off, but now I really want to read her new book and I feel like I should read this one first.

and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve never read this one so I’m officially resolving to get this done so I won’t have to be embarrassed any more!

But of course, it’s not just about me -- I’d love to know which ones touched you, which ones are on your list for this year and which you just couldn’t get excited about so feel free to share right here on the blog, or email me at dana@bookreporter.com

-- Dana

Talking with Janice Y. K. Lee about THE PIANO TEACHER - Part 2

For today's post, my conversation with Janice Y.K. Lee, author of THE PIANO TEACHER continues.

As Janice and I continued to chat, we got into a little bit more about her experience writing the book and how it has been received by readers and book clubs.

Previous Post: Talking with Janice Y. K. Lee about THE PIANO TEACHER - Part 1

RGG: This book took you a long time to write, didn’t it?

JYKL: It took 5 years.

RGG: And 4 kids I think, right? So does that mean for every book you’re going to spend 5 years and have 4 more children?

JYKL: I hope not! Though with 4 kids at home, it might mean that my next book will take 10 years to write!

RGG: After that much time, is it strange to have the book out of your hands and out in the world?

JYKL: It’s very odd. It’s very funny to have a discussion about my characters with people. It’s very fun, but it’s also quite surreal. I was living with these characters by myself and developing them and now people are asking questions about them and forming their own opinions and ideas. You know, I never imagined the book would become public in this way.

RGG: Have you been to many book clubs and had feedback in that type of group environment?

JYKL: I have. In Hong Kong where I live there are a lot of book clubs of expatriate women. So I went to a few. It was lovely. It was very intimate. They asked a lot of good questions. They obviously all had a very strong connection to Hong Kong and so they basically would just drill me!

RGG: Are you in a book club yourself?

JYKL: I am. I hadn’t been in one ever, and then when I moved to Hong Kong, a friend asked me and I thought “ugh”. I used to read books for a living, much as you do, so I never thought I would want to be in a book club. I had this weird resistance against it. But as it turns out I love it. We have busy schedules so we meet every 6 to 8 weeks. But really it is just wonderful.

RGG: So is it weird to be on the receiving end of the critiques and comments? Since you are in a book club AND did review books for a living, how does it feel to be the one being critiqued?

JYKL: It does feel weird. Because you know I joined this book club while I was writing my book but it wasn’t something most of the group knew about because it wasn’t something I necessarily told people about. And we did several books and then around two years into the book club I sold my book and then a year later we did my book for book club. In my own book club…it was really funny.

RGG: And I’m sure no one said a bad word about it.

JYKL: No. It was a love fest in my book club of course.

RGG: I think it’s almost always a love fest when the author is there. I think most people have a hard time criticizing and author’s work to their face.

JYKL: Yes – that’s probably true.

RGG: What is the most interesting theme book clubs are pulling out of your book and talking about do you feel?

JYKL: They love hearing about the historical detail and the research that went into it. They are also interested in talking about the characters, Will, Claire and Trudy and how I conceived of them and how I wrote about them. We also end up talking about themes and what I wanted to people to go away with.

RGG: So what is it that you want people to go away with?

JYKL: As I mentioned earlier, I think it is that in times of great stress you make decisions that are not really yours but then people will always label you with those. I find that very interesting.

RGG: I’ve heard the book compared to the The English Patient. Do you find that to be true?

JYKL: Oh I wish. I think Michael Ondaatje is such a genius. That was such a beautiful book and such a beautiful movie. So I think it’s similar in that they have war time settings, love affairs and idea of the British everywhere.

Talking with Janice Y. K. Lee about THE PIANO TEACHER - Part 1

I had the privilege of sitting down for a chat with author Janice Y.K. Lee while she was in Atlanta on tour to promote the trade paperback release of THE PIANO TEACHER. In today's post I thought I'd share Janice's comments on the story, the setting and her wonderful characters.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post where she talks about her experiences writing the book as well as sitting down with book clubs to discuss it.

RGG: The book takes place in Hong Kong where you actually grew up and live now. So, I understand why you wanted to write a story that takes place there, but what made you choose to write about the WWII era?

JYKL: Growing up in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 80s and living there now even, I never heard anyone talk about the war. I happened upon a book or two about the war and I just loved the world I saw there. It was this world out of merchant ivory film. It was British expatriates living in Hong Kong, sort of in a bubble with lives of enormous privilege. They went from party to party drinking and I thought “What a wonderful world” and then juxtaposed that with the war and the fact that all this came crashing down so suddenly and these same people were interned in a matter of days or weeks was just so interesting. I had never heard anyone talking about it and I wanted to explore that world.

RGG: I want to talk about the title. The book takes place in two time periods and the piano teacher who is Claire is in the second time period, but Will is the character who is in both time periods, so why name the book after Claire?

JYKL: You meet Claire in the 1950s and you see Will during the war and a decade later, but he’s not the main character. Many people find that Trudy, who he as a love affair with during the war is the main character. But for me, this book was an exploration of Claire’s journey. It was about her development as a person. The book begins and ends with her. I just felt she underwent the most change. There was some talk about changing the title but I just felt THE PIANO TEACHER was the right title. I didn’t want something so obvious. I wanted something elusive.

RGG: All three of the main characters changed in some way throughout the course of the story. Do you think that each of the characters got to know themselves better?

JYKL: Will’s journey was more of a tragedy, I think. He couldn’t move on from what he had done in the past, so he was just stuck and couldn’t evolve. Trudy just is who she is and she is unapologetic about it. But Claire really is a very different person at the end of the book than the person you meet in the beginning.

RGG: You mention that Will’s journey was sort of tragic. Do you feel that Will’s story was the most tragic in the book?

JYKL: Trudy is sad for me. There was another ending there for her that could’ve happened but didn’t. I felt a lot of loss for her. Will’s fate is almost his own fault because he chooses not to change.

RGG: There are many smaller characters in the book who also have sad, tragic stories. Can you talk about some of them?

JYKL: I think in every war there are these stories. What I was interested in was the civilians’ war, not the military war. Not what happens militarily, but what happens to the people who are there and are not involved directly but who are impacted. There are so many repercussions on so many levels and I was interested in exploring that.

RGG: When you think about war you think about cowardice and bravery as it applies to soldiers but those terms very much apply to many of the civilian characters in THE PIANO TEACHER. What made you want to explore those traits?

JYKL: I was really interested in this idea that in times of great danger and great stress, people do things that may not be generally characteristic of them. For example, if you are a brave and noble person but in this moment of great stress you run for your life and don’t save anyone else…how does that action come to define you later on. This is the case for Will who defines himself by what he did before the war and cannot move on.

RGG: If Claire and Trudy had met what do you think that would have been like? Would they have liked each other?

JYKL: I think Trudy likes everyone. I think Trudy is kind to everyone she meets. And Claire I think would have been intimidated by Trudy and shy around her. I don’t think they would have had any great connection.

RGG: Many of the smaller characters in the book had the chance to make interesting choices from a literary standpoint. Many of them were just doing what they had to in order to survive, some however, were profiting, some were moral above all else and some were not. Of these moral and immoral characters, who was your favorite?

JYKL: Edwina was very fun to write. When I first conceived of her she was this lovely old lady who lived in Hong Kong and it took me a long time to realize she was not this lovely old lady that I had initially pictured in my head. She became malevolent quite suddenly to me and held the key to a lot of what happens with the novel which I was discovering as I wrote. So she was fun. Not my favorite, but fun.

Ad Hudler: Guy at a Girlfriend Weekend

Today's guest blogger is Ad Hudler is a novelist, essayist, stay-at-home dad and small-space landscaper who frequently gets into trouble for the things he writes and says. New York Post called his latest book MAN OF THE HOUSE "required reading."

Ad had a chance to be one of just a couple dudes hanging out with The Pulpwood Queen's Book Club at their annual Girlfriend Weekend. Check out the great photos and his report:


Okay, book-club members, get ready to drool with jealousy.

I just returned from Jefferson, Texas, a historic river town of quaint 19th-Century houses, many with porches that lean to the left or right, bowing to gravity and age. It's also home to the annual Girlfriend Weekend, which occurred Jan. 14-17.

Explanation: For many years, book lover and beautician Kathy Patrick has owned what might be the world's only beauty salon/bookstore, and she has started a chain of book clubs called The Pulpwood Queens that has grown into a nationwide network of clubs so large she's been on Oprah and in many national magazines and newspapers. (Go to Beautyandthebook.com for more details) There's nary an agent or publisher who doesn't strive to get his/her authors' books on her list. All of we authors in attendance will have our books read by Pulpwood Queens in 2010 (Thanks, Kathy!) She's also written a book herself: The Pulpwood Queen's Tiara-Wearing Book-Sharing Guide to Life.

Each year, Kathy puts on what is known as Girlfriend Weekend. She invites some authors and Pulpwood Queens from throughout the South to get together and mingle for two days of readings and parties. Most of the Queens come dressed in tiaras and animal-print or bright-pink clothes. This was the 10th anniversary of the Girlfriend Weekend, and Kathy went all out. Some of the highlights:

• Pat Conroy and Melissa Conroy, his daughter who is a children's book author, sat together on stage and talked about their family dynamic and history. Kathy has a lifelong fascination and love of the elder Conroy's work, and she was nearly breathless with excitement when introducing him.


• Jamie Ford, author of the huge-hit novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, read from his work and talked about the research behind the book. Incidentally, Jamie also is a pretty good dancer, and he took a liking to one of the Pulpwood Queen's red feather boas during a raucous dance one night. We couldn't get it off of him.


• Barbie and Ken Fashion Show. Each author and Pulpwood Queen dressed up as a themed Barbie or (in the case of Jamie and me, the only males in attendance) a Ken. Costumes, all of them clever, ranged from cute to naughty: Alpha-female Bitch Barbie, Backwoods Barbie and Three-way Barbie, in which a trio of women came dressed as blond-bombshell triplets.

But Kathy outdid us all:

Don’t worry; we weren't sure what she was, either: Alfred-Hitchcock’s-Tippi-Hendren-from-The-Birds Barbie.

Over two days, author after author was interviewed, a la Johnny Carson, by Kathy and perennial host Robert Leleux, author of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy. Just to name a few: Elizabeth Berg, Patti Callahan Henry, Ron Hall, Mary Kay Andrews and Nicole Seitz.





The climax of the weekend was the Great Big Ball of Hair Ball. Theme was Wizard of Oz, also one of Kathy's favorites as she is a Kansas native. You would not have believed the thought and effort that went into the costumes. Take a look at these:

Not all the authors dressed up. Here's a shot of me as The Great and Powerful Oz (costume designed and executed by my wonderful daughter, Haley), along with, left to right: author Jenny Gardiner, who dressed up as Judy Garland in her later, sadder years (note the pill bottles); soon-to-be-author Karen Harrington as young Dorothy; and Jamie Ford and Patti Callahan Henry as themselves.



--AD HUDLER (AdHudler.com)

Book Clubs in the News

In this month's round up of Book Clubs in the News checkout the slowest book club on record, a new book club TV Show in the UK and some novel ideas for showier kinds of book clubs.

Boston Globe: Cheers to the End of ‘Finnegans Wake’
And you thought you were slow? A Boston book club takes 13 years to finish James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and marks the end with a celebratory toast.

Public Opinion: Book Club at School Encourages Reading at Home
Elementary school kids are learning to love reading and bringing their parents along for the ride.

Bookseller.com: New British Book Club TV Show A Bit Disappointing
The UK has just launched a new book club TV show to some rather lackluster reviews. Hopefully the show will tune things up and get some legs and then maybe the idea will jump the pond to the US!

The Wire (New Hampshire): Portsmouth boasts a new Page and Stage Book Club
Looking for a way to expand the traditional book club? The Page and Stage Book Club compares similar works on the stage and in book form.

KCET.org: Southern California Non-Profit TV Station Starts Online Book Club
Their first selection is Jane Austen’s EMMA, chosen to coincide with Masterpiece Classic's January 24th premiere of a new, three-part interpretation of the book. The TV station encourages everyone to join and comment away!

Barbara O'Neal: A Breakfast Story

Barbara O'Neal, today's guest blogger and bestselling author of THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS tells us how she fell in love with breakfast and how that love inspired her latest novel, THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING.

PANCAKE KISSES, BACON HUGS
Why breakfast is the secret of everything
by Barbara O’Neal

I suppose I should confess upfront that I am a morning person. I wake up cheery, chatty and at the very first fingers of sunlight creeping over the horizon. I know you find this annoying. I know you wish I’d stop humming under my breath as I crack eggs and start the coffee, but I can’t help it. I was born this way; a singing lark who simply loves breakfast.

Though I love the morning, my passion for breakfast arrived in a roundabout way, I must admit. My mother, who is a very good cook under many circumstances, was born an owl, who finds early morning painful, especially when her lark child rose well before sunrise and was known to dust siblings with flour or lipstick or explore—well, never mind. It was early, that’s all.

Because she loved us, my mother did manage to get up and fix us breakfast. She believed in a hot breakfast, but cooking anything much would have been dangerous considering her eyes were barely open. So she made hot cereal. Endlessly. Malto-Meal and Ralston, Cream of Wheat and a colorless, gluey oatmeal I loathed with the considerable passion of a toddler foodie. Thankfully, she left us to our own devices once we made it to late grade school and we never had to choke down porridge again.

Not the best circumstances to fall in love with breakfast, I know. The happy accident is that my mother briefly took a job at a manufacturing plant when I was about seven. The other three children went to my grandmother’s house for the day while I stayed home with my father and walked to school on my own.

Once in awhile, my father got dressed and took me to a little café downtown, where there were individual jukeboxes along the counter and at the tables, and we ate pancakes and eggs and tea. We sat at the counter on round stools. I flipped through the jukebox offerings as if I knew what they were while he flirted with the waitresses and they flirted back, and there was usually music playing, and cigarette smoke hanging in the air with heady notes of bacon and coffee and frying onions. I loved the food—little balls of cold butter on top of my French toast, glass pitchers of syrup, tiny tubs of jelly—but mostly I loved the time with my dad, having him all to myself. Afterward, my dad would drop me off at school and I’d head up the stone steps feeling warm and special, a girl who had extraordinary experiences.

I fell in love with breakfast then and there. All good breakfasts, but especially a good café breakfast. And from that love was born a book.

At the heart of my new book, The Secret of Everything, is a restaurant called 100 Breakfasts, where a lark of a woman cooks to heal the hearts and souls of the people in her town.
It is to 100 Breakfasts that the protagonist, Tessa Harlow, comes to explore the questions that have been haunting her. She is heart sore and weary, recovering from a freak accident and trying to find answers to questions that have only just now bobbed to the surface. When she sits down at the long counter at the 100 Breakfasts Café, she unwittingly sets in motion a tangled array of connections and reveals secrets that have been hidden for a long, long time.

It is also at 100 Breakfasts that Tessa gets to know widower Vince Grasso, who is trying to heal his own family, including the troubled Natalie, a 9 year old who takes food very seriously, and is working her way through the entire list of 100 breakfasts on the menu.

The Secret of Everything was born out of my passion for breakfast, for the power it has to heal and renew, to nourish and ground. It’s a book that was born out of those days when I was a child hating oatmeal and loving the French toast at the local café; when I fought with my sisters and the mornings when my father took me out to breakfast, just the two of us, because this is, at the heart of it, a story about fathers and daughters and how that connection can make or break a woman’s spirit. Tessa’s father is nothing like my own, of course, but a father who is devoted to his child gives her permission to be as mighty as she can be.

Ironically, Tessa’s favorite breakfast is oatmeal, because in my adulthood, I learned to love great oatmeal. It is my own breakfast of choice most days. Whole grain oats served with butter and my own spiced apples that are cooked to a deep, dark flavor. Because I am that lark, so smugly and cheerfully alert at the first glimmers of dawn, it falls to me to get up and make the tea and start the coffee so it fills the air with its fragrance. I set the water boiling and set the table with cloth napkins and the good sugar bowl and the milk pitcher. I set the stage for my sleepy headed partner, sometimes a child, to come blinking to the table and fill his belly and drink his coffee.

In this small act, I am offering the most solid secret I know: breakfast is the secret of everything.

Breakfast is love.

Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 5

Book club members offer advice on formulating a game plan, not getting too personal during discussions, why it's important to agree to disagree and more.

Previous Posts:
Advice for New Book Clubs
Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 2
Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 3
Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 4


Provide Added Information
"I have been the discussion leader for my book group for more than ten years. I would suggest that the discussion leader have questions concerning the book ready to get the conversation going. Also, look up the author so you can share some information about him/her. Many books have discussion questions included or you can find them online. They can be very helpful.

Sometimes the conversations can get "off track," so be ready to steer it back to the book. My group is large so I have a little bell which I ring to get us back to the discussion. Also, make sure that everyone who wants to talk about the book gets the chance to do so.

At the end of our discussion I ask everyone to rate their enjoyment of the book with 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. I also ask them if they would read another book by this author. Asking them to rate the book gives everyone a chance to speak. Most of all, enjoy the discussions." ---Anna Robinson

Make Sure Everyone Has a Chance to Be Heard
"I started a book club in my neighborhood a few years ago. It's had its ups and downs. First, you need someone to manage (nicely) the meeting. Guide the meeting to be sure you talk about the book. Using a reading group guide is helpful. If one person is always monopolizing the conversation, try to ask questions of some of the quieter members. We write a summary of each meeting which we send to each member via email and also post it to our website. Not a book report, a summary of the meeting. Comments from members, who hosted, what was served etc. We foster friendships by having outings and at least two dinner celebrations during the year. We also keep in touch via email. Try to give different people a chance to suggest books. Accept that some members will not be as committed as others." ---Bonnie, Brandywine Book Club

Have a Sizeable Group
"Whatever you do, don't do it with only five people...or even six...or even seven! From experience I speak. My group started with five. I convinced them that we needed more. They agreed and added one more friend. Then when another friend retired from teaching, she joined the group. And still it doesn't work well. If anyone is going to be away, as on a vacation or spending the month in Florida, we always change the date. Sometimes it takes weeks to come up with a date. Wouldn't you rather know what day and with what frequency your group will meet?
The reason that my group doesn't want more people is that they insist that we have a luncheon at each other's homes, and six or seven people makes it easier to prepare. If you are more interested in lunch, or whatever meal, then keep the group the size that best suits you. But if your purpose is to read and truly discuss a book then have at least ten members --- even more would be better. Plus you can meet the third Tuesday of every month, or every other month at x o'clock. Everyone knows in advance what is going to happen when and can plan schedules accordingly." ---Inga K. Willner

Have a Sense of Humor
"The group I lead has been meeting for more than 20 years. Because it is done through our public library (and therefore is open to anyone who might want to attend), we have had as few as six and as many as 28 at various discussions.

My advice is to keep your sense of humor. If a book is a looser --- and some will be --- the discussion can still be a success if you keep your sense of humor. I always come with a set of questions and discussion starters, but the best nights are the ones when I don't even have to open my notebook." ---Laura Luteri

Chart New Territory
"It is so easy to fall off track and turn the book club into a chat session. We try to take care of old business first and then new business, i.e. what books we recommend etc. Most of us like to know the books we are planning to read for six months in advance so we can get free shipping or shop at used book stores or have time to borrow from friends.

Then we have one person who publishes the list and emails it to each member and also brings copies of it to our next meeting where it becomes old business. We also meet at a different person's home each month and as we meet during the day, we do a salad lunch where the hostess provides salad greens and we each bring toppings and our favorite dressings to share. We eat after a thorough discussion of the book we read. We usually find out a lot about each other as well. And we laugh a lot, as well as get into some very deep discussions as women usually do. From lunch on there is free discussion. We have a great turnout every month and our membership consists of women of a variety of backgrounds.

The idea is not to read the same old same old but to go where you might not normally go. Read material that is a stretch and discuss. This keeps it fresh and keeps us learning. I joined a book club because I am not by nature a reader, and I wanted this challenge as I entered into my fall years shall we say. I have always been around readers, and my children were readers growing up. A book a month is a difficult task for me if it is something that I may not be interested in, but I have found it does help me grow.

Good luck to new clubs. The worst thing that should happen is they will have the fun of sharing, and nobody does that better than us girls!" ---Kathleen Thomas

Enjoy It
"Take a deep breath, relax and enjoy. One of the best things about being in a book club with a group of women is having the chance to just be yourself, share your thoughts and feelings on the topic, and know that you are in a safe place where everyone respects each other. (Sometimes a nice glass of wine helps this process!) ---Nicole Buell

Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 4

Book club members offer advice on formulating a game plan, not getting too personal during discussions, why it's important to agree to disagree and more.

Previous Posts:
Advice for New Book Clubs
Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 2
Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 3


It's Okay to Argue
"Agree to disagree. Not everyone is going to 'love' the same book, and it makes for a much more interesting discussion if you're not all in total agreement. The ladies of my book club still argue the merits of books gone by in a fun and friendly manner." ---Karen Ferguson

Stay Organized
"Our book club, Local Bookies, is just over a year old. Here are the things we have learned. Appoint the strongest organizer as the club 'librarian.' You need a strong organizer for contacting members, keeping track of book lists, member information, birthdays, etc. Make lists of books along with synopses so the group can always have something to choose from.

Our group decided to meet the first Tuesday of each month. Try to keep same day and time, as it helps members remember when planning the rest of their family/work time. Where you meet is not nearly as important as whom you meet with. Be sure to bring a reading group guide just in case you all get way off on other items of interest; this reference will help bring the group back to the book. Ask your members for suggestions for the following meeting. Once our group each picked a biography and then gave the group a report on our choice, and it was one of our best meetings. Another time, we choose a book which was coming out as a movie and our meeting was going out to the movies.

There is no right or wrong way to have a successful book club. The main ingredient is the members --- if that mix is right the club will be a success." ---Deborah Griffin

Don't Get Too Personal
"My advice for new book clubs would be to stick to the book. It's so easy to get off the subject. We try very hard to discuss the book! We have refreshments first and chit chat, getting caught up with each other and then we do our discussion. It is always interesting to add personal comments that relate to the book, but we do have to be cautious to not 'solve' personal problems instead of discussing our book. That is probably the most difficult part of facilitating a book discussion. We have gotten better, but we still have a tendency to get too personal." --- Juanita Adamson, West Salem Book Discussion Group

Be Respectful, and Diversify Selections
"Though our book group is informal and fun, we did set up 'rules' in the beginning and modified them as the group grew. It is important for etiquette that the speaker has the floor and people respect that instead of having mini-side conversations. We also tried to diversify with our books, choosing topics we would not normally read. The person who selected the book is the moderator and reads the questions. This helped take the burden off the one who started the book club. We are now up to 12 people and decided that for us this is big enough --- so no more members. We meet every four to six weeks, and at the end of the evening we take a photo with our group and the host holding the book. We also keep a list of what we have read and a rating system." ---Deb B., PJB Book Club (Pajama Book Club)

Designate a Meeting Day
Our book club has been together for nine years. Two things I would tell a new group --- pick the day of the month you are meeting and stick with it. There will be times when not eveyone can make it. Don't change the date to meet everyone's schedules. We meet the third Monday of the month unless it falls on or near a holiday and then it's usually the fourth Monday. This has worked for us for nine, going on 10 years!

The second thing is to keep it simple with food and drinks. That way the hostess isn't overwhelmed and can enjoy the night, too. We stick with wine, cheese, fruit, maybe a dip or two, some chocolate and more wine!" --- Jennifer Geraghty

For Those Who Don't Finish the Book Selection...
"While you don't need a lot of rules, I would suggest that if a person chooses not to read a book yet still wants to come to the meeting that they listen quietly and not have what I call side bar conversations.

I also think it helps if someone has read the book they are recommending, especially after the group is established. Groups get to know what they enjoy or are interested in reading.

It really helps to have a leader who keeps the group on task especially if it is a group of friends. It's very easy to get side tracked." ---Karna Bramble

Lori Armstrong: My Favorite Type of People

Today's guest blogger, author Lori Armstrong talks about her wonderful book club visits, her new book NO MERCY, and her upcoming virtual book event.

As much as I love to read, I’ve never belonged to an official book club—mostly due to time constraints with writing deadlines for my own books. But I love hearing what books my friend’s clubs choose. So I was beyond flattered when a local group picked my very first book as their monthly selection, and they invited me to their club meeting to participate in the discussion. When I showed up on the stranger’s doorstep, nervous as all get-out, I was immediately whisked inside, seated in the center of the room, handed a glass of wine and a plate filled with delectable chocolate desserts.

And to think the night went uphill from there!

In the years since the publication of my first book, I’ve been invited to speak at different types of events. I always say yes to book clubs because the members are my favorite type of people. They love to read. They love to talk about reading. They love to talk about books. They love to hear how authors create the books they stand in line to buy. Sure, I’ve attended book club meetings where I know several members haven’t cracked the spine of my book. But I’ve also been to meetings where readers have bought multiple copies for family and friends because they refused to share their personalized copy. I’ve even attended one or two meetings where I’ve been told—to my face—that my book was unrealistic and my heroine offensive. On occasion I’ve been reamed for rough language and dark themes in my mysteries. Yet I’ve also been to book clubs where the members ask insightful questions that blow me away. Sometimes the readers seem to know more about the books than I do.

My most memorable book club experience happened a year after the publication of BLOOD TIES. A woman from Minot, North Dakota, contacted me after her book club, The Ragged Edges, had chosen it for their monthly read. All the members loved it and she asked if I’d be interested in talking to their book club, if they made the eight-hour trek to Rapid City during the summer months.

I was stunned—and humbled. This club would drive all that way to meet with…me? Really?

Coincidentally, one member had a sister who lived here; so ten members piled into two cars and toured Rapid City and the Black Hills. The cool thing was they drove around looking for specific places I’d named in my book. Still, I was nervous as once again I found myself standing on a stranger’s steps. What if they drove all that way and ended up disappointed because my entertainment skills were sorely lacking? I needn’t have worried. These gracious, well-read, well-traveled, funny and fabulous women treated me like a…celebrity. They dragged out their tattered copies for me to sign. They convinced me to read them a section of my next book. They even bought me a gift—a beautiful coffee mug made out of North Dakota clay by one of their members. Easily one of the best experiences I’ve had as a writer.

With the launch of NO MERCY, once again I’ll be embarking on a new experience with book clubs and libraries: a Skype virtual book event. I’m really excited about this venture—although I’ll have to spiff up my office since the attendees will be able to see every mess behind me, live via webcam. This is a perfect solution for an author like me, who wants to connect with as many readers as possibly, but who basically lives in the middle of nowhere. Travel, especially this time of year with raging blizzards and sub-zero temps, can be problematic whether I’m driving or flying. And then there’s the pesky detail that I am under deadline for the second book in the Mercy Gunderson series and I need to spend time working.

I’ll also be doing live appearances during this book tour (check the appearances section of my website to see if I’ll be in your town!) If you’re interested in jumping on the technology spaceship and hosting a Skype book club discussion with me, please email my publicist at Simon and Schuster for details. Also click here for a detailed reader’s guide into the creation of my character Mercy Gunderson and her world.

Amy Bloom: Bookclubs: The Good, The Bad, The Still Hard to Believe

Amy Bloom, today's guest blogger and bestselling author of AWAY and other highly-praised books, talks about her experiences meeting with book clubs over the years. I always wonder what it must be like for authors to hear directly from their readers that way, and Amy lets us in on just how it feels. Has your book club met with authors? Have they been as honest as some of these were?

Amy's book club reflections are timely as her newest book, Where the God of Love Hangs Out, a collection of short stories is in stores today and she'll be getting to hear what readers think all over again.

My very first book club event: a fancy book club of forty years duration flew me to their big city to join them for a luncheon (you other book clubs, please take note!). I was picked up at the airport and driven to the private dining room of the kind of private club I would never dream of entering. Every other woman in the room had on ropes of pearls. A tall good-looking young woman with a strong chin stood up and welcomed me. “I just loved this book,” she said. I smiled. There was silence. Another tall, good-looking, strong-chinned woman, about 25 years older, stood up, at the other end of the long table. “I didn’t,” she said. Her diction was impeccable. “I hated it.” Silence. The woman to my right dipped a spoon into her tomato soup and everyone else followed suit. We ate the soup, the sandwich, the salad and the quivering custard, in silence. At the end of the interminable lunch, the mother and daughter rose, faced off baring their teeth and thanked me for coming.

At another book club gathering (this one was a consortium of five book clubs from the region), a woman sidled up to me—in a very spy novel manner and whispered, “Watch out for the woman in the red suit. She thinks you’re immoral.” She discreetly passed me her book to sign. “The rest of us disagree,” she said, “but she has cancer and no one wants to argue with her.” She melted away and I took the usual questions and then the lady in the red suit stood up. She said, “In this book, you have every kind of perversion in the world.” Oh, not so, I wanted to say. I can think of three, right off the bat, that never make an appearance in this book. She was in pain and she was furious and I kept my mouth shut. She then took out her notes, on a legal pad and described—not warmly—every sex act that took place in the book and managed to make even the most affectionate and sedate act sound repulsive. She sat down and sipped her water, trembling. I thanked her for her thoughts and mentally, I regretted that anything I had written should add to her pain.

At one of my favorite gatherings, one man said that he was distressed to see that several female characters had found themselves acting like prostitutes—or even being prostitutes. In his experience, he said, those situations simply did not occur to nice young women. An older woman, dressed beautifully, for a more formal age, said, “Really? I think that one does not have to be a professional, to find oneself, as a young woman, with not much power except your attractiveness, no money, no friends and in a desperate situation, in which one must use what one has, in order to survive.” Another lady, a little older, and also dressed to the nines, stood up and waved her wine glass, “Hear, hear,” she said.

It’s a privilege to meet readers and it is wonderful to meet my readers. Book clubs have introduced me to people who thought about my work in new and insightful ways, who helped me see that something might be clear to me but ambiguous to people-not-me. Book clubs have given me a warm place in a new city and offered new friends and much-appreciated support. Most writers are also readers; to sit in a room with my own kind, talking about words and stories, has been an unexpected and happy part of book tours.

Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 3

Book club members offer advice on formulating a game plan, stimulating discussion by rating reading selections, why you should check your ego at the door and much more.

Previous Posts:
Advice for New Book Clubs
Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 2


Rate It
"I belong to Words and Wine Book Club in Liberty Lake, Washington, with about 10 people showing up for each meeting. One of the things that really keeps our discussion going is: after everyone seems to be about talked out, have each member present rate the book. We rate on a scale of 1 to 10. Sometimes it seems like there's nothing to talk about, but when people start giving their opinions about why they rated the book the way they did, it sometimes opens up the discussion again and keeps it going a while longer. I even tell people to e-mail me their rating if they can't make it to the meeting and read those at the meeting, too. We keep a log of all the books we have read and the average rating." ---Bea Carroll

No Egos (or Side Conversations) Allowed
"Check your ego at the door, keep your heart and mind open and just take in everything the other members have to share with you. We are a group of nine women and have become very close and dear friends. When we discuss a book, there is not an ego in the room. It's a great bunch of women who respect each others' opinions and love to learn where each other is coming from. There never has been a moment where any one person was 'right' or 'wrong.' Enjoy your club. I look forward to our meetings every month. And oh, yes. No talking over each other and no side conversations. Everyone wants to hear what you have to say." ---Judy Silver

Invite Authors to Offer Insight
"Whenever we can, we invite an author of our books to call in. We recently talked to Kathryn Stockett when we discussed The Help. Our group is in Birmingham, Alabama, but comprises a number of members from all over the country. Our northeasterners and midwesterners were skeptical about the accuracy of the novel until some of our locals described their own experiences.

Both groups select books by consensus or voting, four to six months at a time. Any longer and we miss new issues, any shorter and we are discussing selections every meeting rather than the current book. We try to stick to books available in paperback for cost reasons." ---Becki Reardon

Focus on the Discussion
"We've been meeting for three years, and no one wants to miss a gathering. The discussion questions are always the focus of our meeting. The biggest disappointment that I hear from people in other book clubs is, 'We never even discussed the book.' Based on this, my suggestion would be to ALWAYS use your time for the book discussion. Visiting can be done at another time. The hostess is responsible for starting the discussion. We go around the circle and discuss each question in order. We have come to know and respect and care deeply for one another because of what the discussions reveal about one another." --- MaryAnn Jasken

Introduce Yourselves...and Make a Game Plan
"My book group has been meeting for six years, but when we get new members we try to introduce ourselves and what we like to read. I would recommend to a new group to get the 'particulars' out of the way such as leadership responsibilities, who will lead, how the books will be selected and any particular genre. Also where the meetings will be held and refreshments, as well as how the books will be obtained: order in bulk, individual purchase or library. Once you have a solid game plan, I think the group will flow easily." --- Heather James

Follow the Leader
"It is best to have a leader, but not one who thinks they have to do all the talking. We always let each person say what they think about the book, then go on to the information we receive from our regional library about the book, then the discussion guide. We meet in a library for an hour. It depends, I am sure, if you meet in a home or restaurant type of place. Be friendly, and do not expect everyone to like the book. In fact, when they don't, you get a better discussion.

Discussion about the book and the author are what it is all about. Our group has been going for more than 30 years. One person started out being the leader, but now we rotate. It is surely a fun thing to do." --- Coral Harrison

Advice for New Book Clubs, Part 2

We're continuing with our series of book club wit and wisdom --- words of advice for those looking to launch a reading group, from veteran members willing to share what has worked for them and what hasn't. Today we hear from Joan Leader of the 14-year-old NJABC (Not Just Another Book Club), Ann Maxwell of the BonBons Book Club in North Carolina and Peggy Jebavy, Information Specialist at the Pungo-Blackwater Library in Virginia.

Previous Post:
Advice for New Book Clubs



Joan Leader Says:

We are in the midst of our 14th year and enjoying each meeting, so I guess we must be doing something right. We meet once a month, on the fourth Thursday of the month for lunch. There are 15 members in our group, so it's only necessary to host one meeting about every year and a half, not too big an undertaking! We average about 12 women at each meeting and while we encourage everyone to read the book selection (duh!), we invite those who haven't read it to come anyway. I read about a group that doesn't allow you to come unless you've read the book, and that turned me off completely. It's a book club, not brain surgery!

We ask our members to bring in book selections each month, and then we pick the books for the next two months. The hostess acts as the facilitator for the meeting, and she tries to get information on the author, questions about the book and any other material she can find.

Our last book was The Help, and the discussion was phenomenal. We're all women who lived through the civil rights movement and school segregation so there were loads of stories to share. We discussed the book for about an hour and fifteen minutes. Some books don't lend themselves to such great discussions, but each meeting is special.

I send an email notice to all the members after each meeting with information about the next book and a short synopsis of the gathering just concluded. We ask each member to notify the hostess on the Monday before the Thursday meeting to let her know if they'll be there. I also include any important news (births, weddings, graduations, etc) for the members and their families.

I also made and continue to update Rosters of Members, which I distribute on colored paper (easier to find) about once a year. I also keep a continuous list of the books we've read, as it continues to grow! ---Joan Leader


Ann Maxwell Says:

I would strongly suggest that:

1. Agree to have a standard meeting date, i.e., the first Thursday of the month. If you don't, you will spend all your time trying to find dates to meet everyone's "busy" schedules.

2. Assign a month to each of your members for the entire year. The member assigned to a particular month should read the book before she picks it as her selection for that month. You will avoid bad selections this way.

3. The member responsible for the next month's meeting should provide info on her selection at the end of the current meeting. That way, there is no down time in finding out the book selected for the following month.

4. It is difficult to engage everyone in conversation if your membership is over 10 people.

5. Meet at each other homes, or pick restaurants that are quieter and/or have rooms to meet. ---Ann Maxwell


Peggy Jebavy Says:

Every group is different with different goals and ideas of what they want. I took over a group at my library about 6 years ago. I had little direction as far as what to do. At first I sort of let the group run itself. I got their books in plenty of time at the library so each member could read the selection, but that's about all I did other than sitting in on their meetings. After watching them and listening to them for a few months, I began searching for reading guides. They needed direction for their discussions. I wasn't even reading the book at first, which now I do religiously.

Once a year or so, we look at a list of books, many that I take from what other groups are reading from various web sites including ReadingGroupGuides.com. I ask members to bring in a favorite read that they think would work for the group as well. Of course, I have to make sure we have enough copies in various media to satisfy everyone in our group. It has grown to 20-25 people a month. We had a few choices that weren't particularly good for a discussion last year so I went over guidelines from other book groups about what makes a good discussion book with our group. Now we try to make sure our choices will create a lively discussion in the end.

I have begun to play around with our guides to shorten some of the questions which often seem long and redundant to make them more interesting for us. Don't get me wrong, we love the guides. It's just that some of them have five or six questions in one question and we felt they were often repeating the same thing. We've just tried to simplify the questions a little. Also, in the beginning the group expected me to read all the questions and then have them speak up to answer as they wished. I found (by accident once when I had an extremely sore throat) that with a group this size it works better to let them take turns reading the questions with the idea that everyone can give their opinion, and the reader doesn't necessarily have to answer at all. It helps keep the extraneous chatter to a minimum and gives everyone a feeling of ownership that is necessary, I think, to keep things flowing smoothly.

We also try to include some author chats via speakerphone. The group loves talking with authors! We've even had a couple here in person, but they were sponsored by the library for various other promotions. Judging from the size of our group and the length of time they have been together (more than 10 years), I think we've hit upon a winning formula at least for us.

Advice for New Book Clubs

Are you thinking of starting a reading group this year? We asked book club members to share tips and advice for first-timers. (There are plenty of great suggestions for existing groups, too.) We’ll be posting their wise words over the next several weeks, starting today with a slew of suggestions from Kellie Tropeano of the Massachusetts-based book club Mom’s Reading. You can learn more about them at their website, MomsReading.com.


Kellie Tropeano's tips for starting your own book club:

- Establish a meeting schedule early on. Everyone in the book club needs to know what kind of a time commitment this is. We recommend a monthly meeting on the same night. For example, we meet the last Friday night of every month.

- Establish a facilitator-led book club. The facilitator basically keeps everyone on topic and does her best to engage everyone into the discussion.

- Elect a "President" or "Owner" to handle the business side of the book club. Kerrie is our President. In the beginning, she picked all the books and hosted many of the meetings. Then she scheduled the rest of us to host and organized book recommendations and voting. It's a big job to do, so she passed her presidency on to Kellie in 2006.

- Use the internet as a resource. You can find book recommendations, discussion questions and study guides.

- Establish a rotating hostess and facilitator schedule. Our schedule is that one month's hostess is automatically the facilitator for the next month.

- Try to get book recommendations from every member of the group. Everyone wants to be heard. Even if it's a book you're not interested in, the book club can still read it. Some of our best discussions have been about books we really didn't like.

- Be committed to attending all of the meetings.

- Be committed to reading all of the books. Don't just pick and choose your favorites. The book club is an opportunity to broaden your horizons!

- Invite a few more people than you would like in the group. There will always be someone missing for one reason or another. You want to make sure you have a good size group, even if two or three members are missing. We recommend 10-12 members.

- Some book clubs like to stick with one genre, such as mystery, memoir or science fiction. We've found that it is most rewarding to read a variety of books.

- Plan fun games to keep your book clubs entertaining. Click here for some of our ideas.

- Keep a record of the books you read. We keep a journal that is brought to every meeting. Each member writes their opinion. We've also started keeping track of our favorite quotes.

- Take pictures! Your group may be around for a while. It will be fun to see how you all change over time. Check out our photo gallery.

Robin Antalek: A Family Tale

Today we talk with Robin Antalek about her debut novel, The Summer We Fell Apart --- what inspired the idea for the story about four siblings, discussion-worthy topics and themes and what she found most intriguing about telling a family tale.


ReadingGroupGuides.com: For readers who aren't familiar with The Summer We Fell Apart, how would you describe it to them?

Robin Antalek: The Summer We Fell Apart is a story about four siblings that have been battered and bruised by a childhood of benign neglect, yet, they manage to overcome their collective experiences and learn to love each other, despite making some tragic and costly mistakes, in the way only family truly can.


RGG: What inspired the idea for the novel?

RA: I wanted to write a big family novel, and at the heart I saw the very special relationship that developed between the youngest sibling, Amy, and her oldest brother, George. They cared for each other like no other, and that shielded them in a cocoon that buffered and somewhat protected them from their childhood. Originally, I had thought the book would be told from Amy's perspective, but as I continued to write I realized that each of her siblings wanted, no, demanded, a voice that they had never had as children. As they each told their story, the overlapping layers of experience, only then did I see the family come to life before me as I had originally intended. It was a pretty exciting thing --- none, certainly, that I had experienced in previous drafts.


RGG: The story follows four siblings over the course of 15 years. Do you expect that the topic of sibling relationships will generate some lively conversations among reading group members?

RA: Absolutely! The sibling relationship, whether you have one, many, or whether you are an only child who longed for a brother or sister, is atypical of ANY relationship you will ever have in your entire life. A sibling can be your truth; they can also be your nightmare, depending upon where you are in your life. But one thing is for sure: they are your living history --- knowing you more intimately than a husband/wife or even your parents...and if life goes as planned, they will be your longest living blood relative that remembers every single thing you ever did for and against them.


RGG: What are some of the other topics and themes book clubs could discuss?

RA: Abandonment and neglect are strong themes in the book. I think for some the fact that a mother does not exhibit the classic "mothering" instincts will be difficult and quite a topic for discussion. The search for love in all its many forms is another. There is also the idea of forgiveness, which ultimately leads back to all members of the Haas family, even their mother and father.


RGG: Author Jessica Anya Blau described your novel as "a thoroughly entertaining and often heart-breaking romp through the chaos and comforts of a large and extraordinary family." What did you find most intriguing about telling a family tale?

RA: How the voices of the siblings took on a sort of Rashomon effect; their perceptions of events that occurred during childhood all differed, causing allegiances to shift within the family. It is only as they reach adulthood and must deal with the carnage of their lives that they realize they have all experienced the same thing, but differently, and I think that was a real revelation for them, and for me. I couldn't change the outcome even if I tried.

Gail Godwin: Abiding Haunts

Gail Godwin, today's guest blogger, talks about the latest of her thirteen novels, Unfinished Desires. She reveals her personal connection to the story's setting and why she bided her time until she "found the right cast of characters to live in it."

Unfinished Desires begins in 1951 at Mount St. Gabriel's, an all-girls school in the North Carolina mountains. Two students form a friendship that fills a void for both of them but also sets in motion a chain of events that profoundly affects the course of many lives --- including the girls' young teacher and the school's matriarch, Mother Suzanne Ravenel, who fifty years later reflects on one pivotol night to try and reconcile past and present. Click here for a discussion guide.


Of my thirteen novels to date, two have been inspired by places that haunted me, places that were in themselves characters. The first place was the deep countryside of Stone Ridge, N.Y., which became the village of "Old Clove" in The Finishing School. The second was an 84-bedroom rambling Victorian structure set on a hill in Asheville, N.C., which had been a mountain resort in the 1890's, then a tuberculosis sanitarium, and later an orphanage before it became St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines, the school I attended through ninth grade, which became the "Mount St. Gabriel" of Unfinished Desires.

The staying power of any novel I am writing depends on an intriguing mix of characters who will change one another for better or for worse, and in the process change me: the cerebral couple and the husband's silent child in The Perfectionists; the widow and her two grown daughters in A Mother and Two Daughters; the lonely fourteen-year-old girl and a middle-aged brother and sister in The Finishing School; the two oddly-matched couples in The Good Husband. Usually, their desires and dreads come first, and then they settle into their landscapes. But with both The Finishing School (1984) and Unfinished Desires (2010) the setting bided its time until I found the right cast of characters to live in it.

When I was in my mid-teens, I first tried to "fit" a story into the setting of St. Genevieve's. "The Accomplice" centers on a second grade girl's fear and hatred of the rigid "Mother Blanche" and culminates in the girl's act of rebellion for which the whole school is punished. (For anyone curious enough to track it down, this story appears in First Words, a collection of early writings by contemporary authors, edited by Paul Mandelbaum, Algonquin Books, 2000.)

My second attempt was in 1994. After I finished The Good Husband, I wanted to write a novel about an American nun being considered for sainthood. But very soon I got bogged down in all the reasons she wasn't a saint, and so the school and convent setting went back on the waiting shelf.

Then in late 2004 I was completing Queen of the Underworld, set in the Miami of 1959, and Paul Mandelbaum was preparing another anthology, 12 Short Stories and Their Making (Persea Books, 2005) He had chosen my ghost story "Dream Children," and we were doing an online interview in which I formulated my "favorite level of dread," and cited the ghost stories that best fulfilled that level for me. All of them were psychological, having to do with powerful internal forces in the mind. (Chekov's "The Black Monk," Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, A.M. Burrage's "Playmates.") They all hinged on unfinished business of one kind or another and often had their roots in the thwarted desires of family members or friends --- including the dead.

After that interview, things coalesced. That same day I began a notebook on the cover of which I pasted a drawing of a medieval nun praying in her study. I found an old photograph of St. Genevieve's, photocopied it until it was faint enough to paint over it and swath it in mists and it became my visual inspiration. (To see the picture, go to my "Red Nun" art works on my web site: GailGodwin.com.) Then I made a list of characters, the students and nuns and mothers, and began choosing names for them. At this point I began to see the blessings of a cloistered setting. A limited, concentrated environment operates like a pressure cooker: the conflicts and fears of individual characters intensify and knock against one another. There are bound to be explosions --- and transformations.

Several days later, I woke up with some lines of verse that set the mood I wanted: If you go out walking in our dark wood/When the hawk's face is tucked beneath his wing/And mist has risen in the hollows/And the owl shrieks:/Do not shrink if one your path/You meet a solitary ghost./ Ask it, "What did you love most?/And what have you left undone?"

All the characters in Unfinished Desires have ghosts. And, having written this book, I know the questions I need to ask mine.

Do you have ghosts? Are there parts of yourself you suspect someone else planted in you? Are parts of you acting out the life of someone else? Don't be afraid to address your ghosts. Write out their answers. Coax them to invite you into their haunts.

---Gail Godwin

Happy New Year --- And The New Year Means....

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a very relaxing holiday.

I am stealing a few extra days on the Outer Banks to get some paperwork and reading done before I head back to the office on Thursday. It's nice to have a few days of utter quiet before I get caught back up in the swirl of things.

I wanted to give you an update on the blog. Those of you who read the ReadingGroupGuides.com newsletter know that as we waved goodbye to 2009 we also waved goodbye to Shannon McKenna Schmidt who has shepherded and guided this blog as our Contributing Editor since we started it. Shannon leaves in the spring on a long-term trip around the country in an RV. After years where she traveled for the research and writing of her book, Novel Destinations, she realized that she wanted to take some time to see America, not just as a vacationer in short spurts, but as a traveler who could spend as long as she wanted in places to truly absorb them.

Along the way, I am sure she will be poking around some bookstores and dropping us a guest post or two. I really look forward to seeing what she has to share about this adventure. Shannon has been a part of The Book Report Network for more than a decade, and it's really tough for me to see her leave. I know you join me in wishing her all good things and thanking her for all she did in what I call "setting the table" here by finding terrific contributors in authors, readers, booksellers, librarians and others. Throught these varied voices we were able to bring news about what is going on for --- and about --- book clubs. It's been fun watching our audience grow --- and reading the pieces each day.

Today I welcome Dana Barrett as our new Contributing Editor. I met Dana at a dinner a few years ago when I was at a conference in Atlanta. At that time Dana owned a bookstore called Coffee Buy the Book in Roswell, Georgia. Later that trip I stopped by her store and had a great time shopping there. On a subsequent trip I went there with my sister and my son. Dana and I kept in touch through the years and we always have been trying to figure out a way to work together. And with this position managing and coordinating the blog I finally found one.

Dana is in a book club, and also facilitates a book club for Better World Books, where she works in their marketing department (her bookstore closed a couple of years ago). I look forward to seeing her add her own special voice to this blog in the weeks and months to come. She's already shared some ideas with me and I think you will continue to be in for quite a treat here.

If you have an idea for a blog post, or just want to say hi, you can reach Dana at Dana@bookreporter.com.

Please join me in welcoming her. We'll be back with a regular update tomorrow.

Here's to a great 2010.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)