Throw a book club blast!!!

In the early months of planning, especially in clubs that choose topics month to month or quarter to quarter, there’s an opportunity to slate a guest speaker or activity that will stimulate conversation and really make a book memorable.
West Brook Crossing in Shrewsbury, an over-55 community, has an active book club. Members invited all of the residents to meet author John O’Toole of Worcester when he visited on Oct. 4. O’Toole is the author of “Tornado!” (about the disastrous Worcester tornado in 1953) and “Return to Zion,” a novel of the American Revolution. Club members were surprised when 40 guests—“even some of the men”—showed up. Member Janette Comeau made it a point to contact all of the residents, not just club members, and served coffee and refreshments. “Everyone was very, very pleased,” she said. “It was supposed to end at 11, but everyone stayed after to ask questions.” They were still doing so at Noon, she said.

With such a large group, the event was held in their community club house. “He was very pleased,” she said. “He couldn’t believe how many came.” Several members brought O’Toole books they already owned and he signed them.

Grub Street, the writers’ center in Boston, recently posted writer Nichole Bernier’s recommendations for a “book party.” Bernier gave me permission to refer to that information here. “Our book parties are such fun,” she said; “everyone loves to share a glass of wine with the author.”

A Massachusetts resident, Bernier (www.nicholebernier.com) becomes a published author in June, when Crown/Random House releases her novel, “The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.” But she’s already a professional, having written extensively for Condé Nast’s Traveler magazine and magazines such as Elle, Self and Boston. Her writing is also on Beyond the Margins, a literary blog by 12 writers (http://beyondthemargins.com). As a reader, she too enjoys book parties: “I’m a geek about connecting people with new writers, and I love talking books,” she said.

Vermont author Chris Bohjalian (“The Night Strangers” is his latest) has already mentioned in this column that authors enjoy feedback from book clubs. Like many popular authors, though, he has only so much time to devote to readers, dividing it between Skype and actual visits. Your club might be better served—and equally interested—by a newer, local or regional author. You may know some already; if not, contact Grub Street (www.grubstreet.org) or your local librarian for recommendations. You can also sometimes find this information on publishers’ websites and at the back of a book. Sisters in Crime, representing New England crime writers has a very active visiting schedule among its members, all mystery writers (www.sincne.org).

Meanwhile, here are some tips, along with a synopsis of what Bernier has to say about throwing a great book party.

** Teens are avid readers of Young Adult books, and you might be surprised how many children of members and friends of your club will sign up to meet a “real, live author.” E-mail, spread the word, maybe get the library involved. Younger children have their favorites as well. First line up the appropriate authors for age level, she says. And plan to serve refreshments. Let the writers bring books to sell (or order them through a local bookstore and re-sell them on the spot, autographed). “There were about 45 children sitting on my living room floor,” Bernier said. “The kids were thrilled … and they asked smart questions.” The three YA writers at Bernier’s party, by the way, were pleased at total sales of more than 100 books that night.

** To get a very willing author, plan your adult book party around the release of a novel if possible. Guests help celebrate the event, meet the author, and buy a signed copy. But any author, new release or not, is glad to talk about what’s gone into the books they’ve written.

** Invite more folks than you can fit readily, and bring in folding chairs. The more the merrier, she says, and conversation gets far more lively.

** She found independent bookstores very helpful. In one case, Wellesley Books not only provided books but stayed to sell them. “They have gotten us books that are no longer on shelves, and even some titles that aren’t widely available from smaller presses. And they take away the extras for you.” If you can’t do that, try assigning a member to re-sell books you’ve preordered.

** As any good book club member knows, food matters. The best cook in my home club provides the treats for Lancaster’s “Off-Track Bookies” (because the conversation veers widely). What you serve depends on the nature of your members. Appetizers, crisp veggies, sweets are all good. You can keep it simple, and folks will be happy. “Mostly they want to mingle, listen and talk, and would just as soon have their hands free,” Bernier said. She recommends wine and bite-size munchies.

** You can e-mail or mail invitations. Visual reminders do help. Bernier has them made up through an online printer and copies the author’s photo, a book cover image, and a short description of the book or an excerpt.

** To sell books, you’ll need a coffee table, kitchen table or rented oblong table. Think of the author’s comfort in signing books.

** Bernier also recommends a podium or black metal music stand for the author to use in reading aloud. Most guests will read for about 10 minutes, then take questions. Plan on 90 minutes minimum for your event.

** Let your kids greet guests and take coats, or pass snacks. It’s a good chance for them to experience writers as real people, not just photos on book jackets.

** Extend an invitation to any author your members will enjoy, not just someone who has “just published.” Massachusetts is rich with writers, and they like nothing more than talking about what they’ve written.

“The beauty of book parties is that they exist outside of the trendiness and timeliness of shelf life,” Bernier said.

Just ask!

Ann Connery Frantz, journalist, fiction writer and avid reader, participates in several Lancaster area writers’ groups through Thayer Memorial Library. Her short story, “Samaritan,” won the 2010 Dr. Neila Seshachari Award for best fiction published during 2009 in Weber: The Contemporary West. Send questions, comments or club info to ann.frantz@gmail.com

Look beyond the obvious in book club choices

By now, book club members know that many popular reads contain a guide offering background, author interviews and questions for discussion. They’re always helpful, but do represent a narrowing of the field of books being read. Book groups are creating best-sellers these days, but they’re also courted ambitiously by publishers, marketing agents and authors anxious to sell books. Lazy selection puts too little imagination into the choice of upcoming books, and gives marketers, rather than authors, the success they deserve.
This is not to dissuade you from these choices, but to remind you that options exist.
Remembering that variety is the spice of life, search high and low, choosing several categories as you go outline selections: biography, historical fiction, contemporary nonfiction, a classic, etc., in addition to more standard choices. Some bookstores guard against the popularity contest by trusting a well-read leader to make choices, in conjunction with members’ interests. Others consciously go beyond the best-seller lists (notorious for catering to quick reads and hot authors) to web sites for readers (there are thousands), libraries and trusted sources.
As you choose books, keep in mind the potential for companion books, or field trips to authors’ residences, geographic locations, movies or plays from the books.
Members usually have a book or two to recommend, although here again I find repetition of the most obvious books too often. Ask them to look on their shelves for hidden gems.
Before making the list final, I recommend a day at the library, sitting down with a couple dozen books for ideas, and talking with the staff. Librarians are avid readers, too, and often a source of unexamined possibilities.
On the web, check out these sites—and, again, they are among thousands:
At www.bookmovement.com you’ll find a gathering place for 30,000 book clubs, all sharing what works for them. Unfortunately, the list of top reads, updated weekly, reveals little that’s new. Yet, some ideas are there and others are linked to the site.
Publishers are happy to provide book previews, and have set up informative, enjoyable websites for readers, among them: http://readinggroups.simonandschuster.com/ and www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/rc/. For others, just google publishers and readers groups. HarperCollins comes up, along with Harcourt, Bloomsbury and others. It’s even possible to get a free book at some of these locations.
There’s an interesting bird’s eye view of Americans in the recommendations made by Singapore’s National Library Board. Check out http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/highbrowseonline/ and click on the list of recent posts for Fiction Alert: Read Your Way Around America.
Despite its sexy name (and, hey, books are sexy too!), www.bookslut.com contains voluminous material on books and authors, making it well worth viewing. Also has links to current reviews and articles by or about authors.
The Massachusetts Library’s Associations list of “must-read books” for 2011 can be found at www.massbook.org/massbooks2011.html and it includes Massachusetts-linked selections such as Sarah Blake’s “The Postmistress,” set in Cape Cod, and Kathleen Kent’s novel, “The Wolves of Andover.”
Another way to range further is to check www.indiebound.org, which sets out new books that are being promoted by independent bookstores. It’s always a good idea to help support these smaller stores (though not all are small), and keep the bookstore thing going.
To preview emerging authors, go to http://fictionwritersreview.com/, which provides a synopsis and links to reviews of new fiction.
The Midtown Review (http://midtownreview.com/) provides author interviews, new book info, links to reader guides and lots of book talk. Some are predictable choices; others surprise.
The American Library Association’s annual list of books most challenged by the public sector is always a good source for books that have something important to say. The current Top Ten Baddies includes Aldous Huxley’s always relevant “Brave New World,” Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed,” an important nonfiction portrait of those who serve diners in the U.S., and—surprise—Stephanie Meyers’ “Twilight.” Find a link through http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned.
Finally, Mickey Pearlman, author of “What to Read,” online book club maven and an editor who reviews books for the Boston Globe, proffers unconventional choices. She recommends Andrea Levy’s “Small Island” as the best book she’s read all year, and tips the hat to Steve Almond, Kathryn Harrison, “Hester Among the Ruins” by Binnie Kirshenbaum and (especially for book clubs) Sharon Wyse’s “The Box Children.”
Ann Frantz blogs at www.readitandreeap.blogspot.com and is the author of short stories, book reviews and a novel. Contact her at ann.frantz@gmail.com

T. C. (Coraghessan) Boyle | Head Butler

T. C. (Coraghessan) Boyle | Head Butler

Read It and Reap: Cleaning out the bookshelves

Read It and Reap: Cleaning out the bookshelves: Starting with four bags of books removed from my husband’s antiques space–he has no room for them now–I began to cull out the books I no lon...

Cleaning out the bookshelves

Starting with four bags of books removed from my husband’s antiques space–he has no room for them now–I began to cull out the books I no longer need to have. Notice, I didn’t say “want” to have, because I generally want them all. But I’ve watched enough episodes of ‘Hoarders’ to recognize that my connection to books is a little unhealthy, and that I won’t likely live long enough to read them all either.
So I’m thinning out the shelves, selecting some for re-sale elsewhere, a bunch for the library and a bagful for a friend who likes mysteries of a certain kind.
Such paring down will barely dent the collection, but it’s a good start.
I get rid of popular novels and paperbacks first. They have the shelf life of bread, and they sell fast. To the consignment store go old Nora Roberts and Mark Higgins Clark books, two barely touched cookbooks (my family is snickering now), “Islands,” a great beach read by Ann Rivers Siddons, a hardcover of Amy Tan’s “Saving Fish from Drowning,” good–but I can part with it, Sandra Dallas’ “Prayers for Sale,” a touching story about a young mother-to-be and the old woman who befriends her in a mountain town during the Depression. The “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” is going too… I have no real prospects of giving that to a friend in the near future.
And there are a handful of books I hoped to read, but don’t believe I’ll get to in the press of more compelling possibilities. My taste changes every few years, and these haven’t made it. But someone else will enjoy them, I’m sure.
To the library go a couple of dozen thrillers my husband whips through like dessert–Connellys, Ludlums, Cussler, King, Lecarre, Baldacci, Clancy and the like. He pulled back a James Lee Burke, whose writing he loves. He doesn’t part with anything by Ivan Doig, either. Doig’s, I agree, is a unique voice spanning genres.
The library also gets cookbooks, master works I bought but couldn’t really enjoy because of style or content, top-sellers I read but won’t keep, like “The Lovely Bones” and “Life of Pi.” Nothing wrong with them–just won’t read them again.
Sorting through books forces one to prioritize, bowing to the real needs and preferences when there are simply too many books to house. I have a dozen bookcases of varying shapes, each packed to the edges with classics, signed editions, favorite authors, best-sellers, histories, biographies and special interest nonfiction.
I would dearly love to trade them for new ones.
But sadly, there isn’t enough time to organize something like that and, even sadder, books are easy to get and lose monetary value as soon as they leave the store.
I love books. I disdain mass-produced cheap paperbacks in favor of the larger, more attractive editions so many authors are published in today. Hard covers don’t have much appeal unless they’re truly beautiful, or signed, and I keep only the ones I will read, re-read or share.
Of course, this may sound very austere. Realize that I have more books than a small bookshop. If I had my druthers, that is also what I would be doing, offering free wi-fi, coffee, tea and tidbits, and lots of books. And if we ever buy a place with retail space for my hubby’s antiques and my books, that is what I will do, setting up my own computer on a nearby desk to keep at my own fiction.
And I would stop writing freelance articles about things that don’t really interest me, and write only about the things I love. Like my T.C. Boyle book review (“When the Killing’s Done”) just published on the Head Butler blog.
Bookshelves hold books, but more than that, they hold lives, inspiration, and dreams. Not for me the Nook, or anything like it. They’re good tools, but not the stuff of imagination.
I hope for a long, healthy life, so that I can enjoy them all, and write to my heart’s content.

Deep discussion and good food... invite an author to your book club meeting

Book groups are a boon to writers—so they’ll visit when they can.
They say book clubs give important feedback and inspiration. Just as importantly, they like talking about books with readers, and book groups provide a vital critical eye. I contacted a few writers, and here’s what they had to say:
Author Ann Packer, (“The Dive from Clausen’s Pier,” “Songs Without Words,” “Swim Back to Me”) says a great book group experience springs from the interaction. “What works best will vary from author to author and group to group. I’ve had great experiences when the group has assembled on its own first, so the members can have their customary book group discussion without the pressure of having the author there. They can also use this time to think about what questions they want to ask to get the ball rolling … it can be like an interview or a conversation, whatever the chemistry dictates.”
Concord resident Kate Flora, whose non-fiction, “Finding Amy” was nominated for the prestigious Edgar Award, has also written two series, based on characters Thea Kozak and Joe Burgess—the next Burgess, “Redemption,” comes out in February. She loves book groups. “Unlike library or bookstore talks, I get a chance for a deeper discussion of the book. It gives me insights I might not otherwise get into what readers are seeing and wondering about. Sometimes, they’re surprising.” Request a visit at www.kateflora.com. When inviting writers, be supportive of them, she reminds: “It is critical, since these events do take time, that the club members commit to buying the book. Selling books, after all, is what keeps us alive and readers often don't understand that. Readers sometimes don't understand that a writer is not flattered by a group that proudly announces they've bought three copies of the book and passed them around.”

Hallie Ephron, a Boston Globe columnist and author of several suspense novels (“Never Tell a Lie,” “Come and Find Me”), says “I know I’m speaking for most authors when I say we would love to hear from you. All they have to do is email me.” (http://hallieephron.com/events/.) “I confess I love talking with book groups in person. There’s usually wonderful food!” When the group isn’t close enough to her Massachusetts home, she has used both Skype and Gmail video conferencing. They work great, she says. “I’d love to do more. It’s one of the best ways to meet readers. With fewer and fewer independent bookstores to host events, and publishers being very careful about how they spend their promotional dollars, speaking with book groups is a no-brainer. It's a win win win.”
Romantic comedy writer M. Kate Quinn (“Summer Iris,” “Moonlight & Violet”) can be reached at www.mkatequinn.blogspot.com. “To me, it’s like giving back to those who’ve taken the time to buy and read my work. I love their questions about the book, their interest, their hopes for future works. I get great ideas ...” She’s offering a book group visit through a random drawing among groups that submit a request on her website (www.mkatequinn.com) and she’ll bring an Italian dinner along as a treat. These people have way too much fun!
Quinn suggests that club members prepare by, of course, reading the book. Also, “it would be great if they had a little preliminary discussion as to what they’d like to hear from me. For example, do they want to know if the story stops there, or if there’s a planned sequel, do they agree with the protagonist’s decisions, the antagonist’s? What’s helpful to me is learning how the reader relates. In each circumstance where I’ve visited… I took away valuable insight as to why my stories resonate with people. That’s gold!”
Author Chris Bohjalian allows a free 20-minute conference via speakerphone. Or, groups can read interviews about his 13 books at www.chrisbohjalian.com. His books include “Midwives,” “Before You Know Kindness” and the upcoming “The Night Strangers.” “I speak to book clubs all the time via speakerphone or Skype,” he said. “I average three or four … a week, and have been doing this since 2000.” He limits personal visits. “I only visit book groups in person when the group is the highest bidder in a non-profit fundraising auction.” (Close to his Burlington, Vt. Home, the opening bid is $500.)
Bohjalian relishes book group interaction. “It isn’t work to talk about books,” he said. “It wasn’t all that long ago that my books sold briskly, but only among people related to me by blood. I try never to lose sight of that reality. Consequently, I will communicate with readers in virtually any fashion they like.”

The popularity and variety of book groups proves serious reading is not dying out, he says. He once attended a book group made up of judges debating the merits of a trial involving his lead character in “Midwives.” (See www.chrisbohjalian.com/whyreadinggroups.html)
He shares one tip for the groups: “Make sure the technology—speakerphone or Skype—is working ahead of time. Few book groups do. The result is a lot of wasted time when we could be discussing books.”

So don’t miss out on a great opportunity to add dimension to your reads in this way.

Check this out

Today, on Boston public radio station WGBH, Emily Rooney hosted authors in the studio and by phone, recommending summer reading. It was a wonderful one-hour session you can listen to at this link, http://www.wgbh.org/programs/The-Emily-Rooney-Show-854
Andre Dubus III, Alice Hoffman, Hank Philippi Ryan and others joined listeners in making recommendations of great summer reading - contemporary and older.
Read It and Reap recommends this show. And the list is also on WGBH's website.