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Book Group Buzz - Discussion of Book Clubs, Reading Lists, and Literary News - Booklist Online
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Fifty Years of Cuckoo
February 1st was the 50th anniversary of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ken Kesey was just out of the Stanford creative writing program, trying to make ends meet, when he took a job as a night orderly at a mental ward. The time there inspired Cuckoo, his epic novel of individualism and oppression that [...]
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A bookish nightmare?
I love to see books in art and this image was captivating. I believe the photographer/artist is Stephen Beadles. The suspension of the books is masterful, as is the lighting.
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Analyzing the ABBC: Speculative Fiction 2011
Let’s continue looking at the top vote-getters in the 2011 ABBC, today examining the speculative fiction category. I’ll focus on the top four, perhaps returning to this category at a later date, as it seems to be receiving more attention than ever in this year’s best-of-the-year lists and awards. As usual, the latest full ABBC [...]
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What we’re reading in 2012: Downtowners
The Downtowners book group at Kansas City Public Library is the fastest growing book group at Central. The group members do a great job of talking up the group among coworkers and friends, and they are very welcoming to new readers. They are an eclectic group of readers and have always been open to anything [...]
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Adults can play, too
I should have known that some of the most creative, educational, and fun ideas involving books and book groups would come from Youth Services Librarians. Especially the ones at the Galloway Township branch of the Atlantic County Library System. Book Adventures is their offering for children in first through sixth grades to enhance the kids’ [...]
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Discussing “Cutting for Stone”
Has your book group discussed Abraham Verghese’s big, drama-stuffed novel, Cutting for Stone, yet? From what I’ve been hearing, it’s currently a very popular choice with book clubs, even though it weighs in at well over 600 pages. Because of the book’s length, I assigned it to my group in November for our January selection [...]
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Stewart O’Nan’s “The Odds”
Some writers manage to capture our present in a timeless way and one such writer is Stewart O’Nan. Last Night at the Lobster envisioned America’s economic collapse and celebrated the quiet, unsung struggle of so many to make their way in a time of uncertainty before the recession really hit. Stewart O’Nan’s latest novel, The Odds, is [...]
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Gaudy Night
Knowing that many readers today have been trained by our societal clock to never luxuriate in any enterprise, I almost hesitate to recommend a book for discussion that took me a week to read. But when the book is Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, it is easy. The basic plot of this murderless detective [...]
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Is It Time for Some Drama?
John Lithgow’s memoir, Drama: an Actor’s Education, is a refreshingly frank and focused take on the familiar actor biography. While there are a few tidbits here about the many famous people he’s shared a stage or screen with, and a little bit of backstage gossip, the bulk of Lithgow’s book is not about name dropping [...]
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Analyzing the ABBC: Historical Fiction 2011
Here are the top five vote-getters so far in historical fiction from the 2011 All-the-Best-Books Compilation. You can see all 91 titles in this genre that have received votes or review any of the other genres by downloading the full ABBC spreadsheet via Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library. Tied for fourth [...]
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