Thursday, July 12, 2018

Book groups: How to invite a Jungle Red Writer

Summer is upon us, and book groups are looking for summer reads. And what could be more fun than reading a book and then inviting the author to share with your book group. If you've been wondering how to set up a book group discussion with one of the Jungle Reds, here's how...,

HALLIE EPHRON: If you're in the Boston area, I might be able to visit with your group in person. If not, there's Skype! Or FaceTime. Just go to my web page and click on CONTACT and send me a message about when you were thinking of and what your group will read.

My latest book, YOU'LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR, just was featured on the New York Public Library's Summer Pick for Adults List.

Two suggestions from me, domestic suspense, all now in paperback:

YOU'LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR - Mary Higgins Clark Award finalist and Earphones Award winner. A little girl and the porcelain portrait doll her mother made for her went missing... 40 years later, the doll comes back. 

THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN - Mary Higgins Clark Award finalist, NY Times bestseller. A ninety-one-year-old woman, living on the water in the Bronx, thinks she may be losing her mind... a much younger woman, the daughter of her neighbor, could save her.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Thank heavens for Skype! I've used it to converse with small gatherings in peoples' homes and with large crowds at universities and libraries. Book club members, if you'd like to do a video chat with an author but are worried about the logistics - will we be able to see her? Will she be able to hear us? - I suggest you contact your local library. Many libraries are equipped with AV resources that make it easy for a group to interact online. And libraries love book clubs!

My picks? If you want to discuss current issues such as veterans reentering society and the effects of America's wars, ONE WAS A SOLDIER. On a warm September evening in the Millers Kill community center, five veterans sit down in rickety chairs to try to make sense of their experiences in Iraq. What they will find is murder, conspiracy, and the unbreakable ties that bind them to one another and their small Adirondack town. You can find a downloadable reading guide here.

If you want to escape the heat with an adventure in the frozen north, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, which won the Agatha, Anthony, Barry, Dilys, Macavity and Gumshoe awards.  When a newborn baby is abandoned on the church stairs and a young mother is brutally murdered, Reverend Clare Fergusson has to pick her way through the secrets and silence that shadow that town like the ever-present Adirondack mountains. Want a downloadable reading guide? Here!

RHYS BOWEN: I'm always happy to Skype with a book group. I'm not so comfortable attending in person, first because I really
don't have the time and second because I don't feel the members can be honest about the book if I'm there. (Imagine sitting in a room with twelve people who trash your book!) I am often asked to send discussion questions to a book club.

Two books of mine I can recommend are the latest big stand-alones: In Farleigh Field is a novel of
espionage among the upper class in World War 2 and The Tuscan Child is also set in WWII but has parallel stories that take place in 1944 and in 1973, mainly in Tuscany. It's more than a war story: it's about family, healing through food.

LUCY BURDETTE: I LOVE talking to book clubs, hearing readers' reactions and discovering questions I never considered about the books I've written.
The two I'd recommend as starting points are the first book in the series, AN APPETITE FOR MURDER, and the fourth, MURDER WITH GANACHE. APPETITE introduces Hayley Snow and her gang and the bigger character, Key West.

Here are some questions to jumpstart the discussion.

And here's the story of a whole Key West themed
dinner party that one club did for AN APPETITE FOR MURDER,

​And for Murder with Ganache, here are both questions and a recipe for noccialato fudge to feed your group while you talk.

INGRID THOFT: Book groups are one of the perks of the job, as far as I’m concerned!  I love talking to groups in person—in the Seattle area and also the Boston area, where I visit a few times a year. 

Skype is also a wonderful tool for connecting with readers.  To arrange a visit, IRL or virtual, just send me a line and you can check out the book group guides on my website

Given that my books are a series, I always recommend readers start with the first, LOYALTY.  The book introduces Fina Ludlow, a private investigator in Boston who tangles with the city’s criminal element and her family of personal injury attorneys.  Juggling family, business, cops and crooks is no problem for Fina, but when her sister-in-law disappears, she’s caught up in a case unlike any she’s encountered before.

Prefer to jump into the series?  BRUTALITY won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel and finds Fina immersed in the world of college sports and the debate about sports-related concussions. 

What price are we willing to pay for entertainment?  What happens when tradition collides with the prospect of serious injury?  What are we willing to sacrifice for personal glory?  Fina wrestles with these questions while uncovering a murderer and navigating the perils of her own family.

HANK PHILIPPI RYAN: Can you tell we are all about book clubs? What could be more wonderful? I love doing them, too, adore it, and am always completely wowed by the wonderful questions and terrific insight. Invite me!  On Skype or in person, I'm there.

The newest Jane Ryland thriller, SAY NO MORE , is a Library Journal Best Thriller of the year, and offers some wonderful book club discussions about very contemporary issues: campus sexual assault, eyewitness identification, and personal sacrifice. 

Here's the list of questions my editor and I came up with. But don't read it unless you've read the book. 

And, say no more, I can now help you with that, and give you a
bargain in the meantime! SAY NO MORE ebook is now $2.99  on all platforms. AND you get the first five chapters of my new standalone TRUST ME too!   (Here's the link for that short-term offer.)

Speaking of which, I would be honored for you to read and discuss TRUST ME. There is so much to talk about, from what makes a "good" mother, to what makes a "true" story, to how many versions of the same story can exist.

It's a psychological cat and mouse game between two strong women--but which one is the cat, and which one is the mouse?  I dare you to find the liar.  It comes out August 28, but, as we say, it is now available for pre-order! And one reviewer whose name you will recognize will soon publish a review saying: "It could be this summer's Gone Girl." (One can only hope.)

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, isn't Skype great?? I love talking to book groups and library groups on Skype! But as there are 17 books (so far) in my Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Scotland Yard detectives series, it's so hard to know what books to suggest.

It is always fun to start readers on the very first book in the series, A SHARE IN DEATH. This introduces Duncan and Gemma, who as partners are just getting to know each other, and is a proper British mystery set in a time share in the brooding Yorkshire Moors.

But for books that offer a little meatier book group discussion topics, I'd recommend two later novels in the series. WHERE MEMORIES LIE is set in west London, Notting Hill and Chelsea. The contemporary story, which centers around the auction of a rare Art Deco piece of jewelry, is interwoven with a historical backstory that deals with the difficulties encountered in London by Jewish refugees escaping Hitler's purges at the beginning of WWII.

Then, there is NO MARK UPON HER, a more recent book, that deals not only with the post traumatic stress suffered by a British army veteran, but with the sexual abuse of female police officers by a superior officer. It also has Olympic caliber rowing and search and rescue dogs, so there is lighter fare to discuss!

JENN MCKINLAY: Yes, I’ll Skype or show up in person! I love book clubs. It’s a meeting of book lovers - my people! - plus, there’s usually food.

A book I’d recommend? Trevor Noah’s BORN A CRIME. I just finished it and it is fascinating, wonderfully written, and if you do audio, Trevor reads it, which is a treat. For one of my own books,
I have no idea. I’ve written forty so you have plenty to choose from, mystery or rom-com. I have both happening. LOL.

HALLIE: So who out there's in a book group, and what are you reading?

34 comments:

  1. Well, I’m not part of a book group, so I end up enjoying books by myself. The latest include Sofia Grant’s “The Daisy Children;” ARCs of Nancy Bush’s “Jealousy” and Hank’s “Trust Me;” and Jenny Milchman’s “Wicked River” . . . .

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  2. I'm not in a book group, but also love visiting them. The food, the wine, the questions. All these recommendations make me want to go back and reread each Red's series in order!

    My new series - the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries - features a Cape Cod book group who helps the protagonist figure out the mysteries. ;^)

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    1. How timely! Thanks for letting us know Edith!!

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  3. Hallie, thank you for Skyping with my book club a year or so ago! Everyone enjoyed There Was an Old Woman, but one member, who chose to be contentious about it only when we were not connected. Having done this via speakerphone with Nancy Pickard with another group, I know there will always be one! We did have some technical issues, but you were lovely and gracious about it.

    And may I say, when a book club member delivers on the promise of arranging an author visit, that member's capital goes up! Readers, don't discount this as a side benefit. LOL

    I just finished reading Kellye Garrett's first book, Hollywood Homicide, which is a romp. I'll look forward to reading the next one. It's refreshing to have a more diverse character population, which Garrett does.

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    1. Karen, it was MY pleasure! And thank your member who was kind... the thing about books is that each has its own audience. That's what makes book groups fun. The discussion of precisely that.

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  4. I'm not in a book group but I have read a lot of those mentioned. Btw, I loved TRUST ME and I'm glad I had not seen the suggestion comparing it to GONE GIRL. That was one I did not like. See you can't please everyone!

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    1. Oh, that is so funny, Judi! You know, I wondered about that… But I know she meant it as the highest of compliments! And thank you thank you thank you for your wonderfully kind words! So excited about this…

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  5. I'm in an on-line crime writer's group. We're reading Evanovich's One for the Money, followed by WK Krueger's Iron Lake.

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    1. Evanovich is a classic funny mystery--no one does it better. I absolutely loved IRON LAKE and have read every book of his since then

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  6. Back when I ran a bookclub - you know, before I started the little side gig called BOLO Books - we would always have authors call in for the discussion. It really does make the experience just that much more special.

    I don't believe she does it any longer, but we had Louise Penny call in to discuss the second book in the Three Pines series and that is a night I will never forget.

    And twice, Kristin Hannah called in - for the discussion of Winter Garden (gosh, I so loved that book) and before that was our discussion of Firefly Lane (also wonderful and discussion-worthy).

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  7. I am not part of a book club. I think I have an independent streak that resents being told what to read! LOL But I'm nearly at the end of IN FARLEIGH FIELD and I'm loving it!

    Mary/Liz

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  8. I had never considered Skype or library AV rooms as a way of connecting with authors. This has been so instructional. Thank you. I must confess that I have dueling opinions regarding book clubs. On the one hand I love the concept as a way for authors to connect with the reader. On the other hand, as a reader, I'm very protective of the books I've enjoyed. I'm invested in the characters and their setting and I simply cannot abide listening to someone "bash" them for the sake of being contentious. And yes, there IS always one. So, for now, I will curl up in my favorite chair, lovingly open my current "favorite" and get lost in what you have all created for me.

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    1. I've been in and out of book groups. What I LIKE about them is that I read books I wouldn't ordinarily have chosen to read... some of which I liked very much. What I disliked is what you point out, Lyda.

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    2. I'm not in one right now either Hallie, but I did read things I never would have tried, back when the group was meeting. On the other hand, my tbr pile is a mountain, so I like to choose what I'm in the mood for when I have time to read.

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  9. Having the author present definitely changes the dynamic of a book group discussion. And speaking for authors everywhere, I am grateful for that!

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  10. Agreed! When I was in a book group, we each took turns choosing— they didn’t have to be newly published. . I chose one of my favorite books ever, Edith Wharton’s Custom of the Country. I cannot begin to tell you how vehemently some club members disliked it!

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  11. The only book groups I've known about and that meet at a time that's good for me read such thoroughly depressing books that I would rather forget about the books than have to discuss them after reading them.

    I know someone whose book group could never decide on a book. They now each read a book of their own choosing, and then when they meet, each person speaks for a few minutes about their chosen book. Sometimes other people in the group will try a book that a fellow book group member recommended.

    DebRo

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  12. I've never been in a book group. Like so many of us, my to-read pile is staggering, and being assigned something else I'm afraid would feel like homework. I do, however, love talking to book groups, although I am sometimes dismayed that they seem to know my books better than I do.

    I did a recent in-person book group in my home town. They'd read A SHARE IN DEATH, and they had so many detailed and complicated questions, quite a few of which I couldn't answer. The next time I'm speaking to a group that is reading an older book, I'll at least do a skim through it ahead of time!

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    1. It does feel a bit like homework! But as others have said, I have found new authors, like Neil Gaiman and Octavia Butler, I'd never have otherwise read.

      Also, I've become so fond of the other members that I can forgive the sci-fi leaning of about a third of them. I can choose not to read their choices, after all. However, this group is very democratic (in the capital D way, as well), in that they take turns.. Whoever hosts picks the next novel. I was in another group that I loved, all librarians but two of us, but the dynamics changed with a new member who decided she got to choose all the books ahead of time. Why she got to do this, I have no idea. She made a schedule, and that was that. I chose to bow out, since I never got a chance to have any say in what we read.

      I think it's a lot like a critique group: some are better than others, and personalities and reading/writing styles have to complement one another.

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  13. I had a funny experience meeting with a book group in person once. It was a delightful wine-and-dessert book club: they would meet once a month and bring wine and desserts (the deserts were for after the discussion period.)

    We had a lively talk about IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, and I enjoyed hearing their points of view, many of which were well-thought out and relevant. It was only after, when we were clustered around the hostesses kitchen island, scooping up yummies, that one of the ladies said to another, "You know, this is the first time we've actually discussed the book!"

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  14. I was invited to join a book group once, because one of the people in it was a quilter friend of my wife's and had been to the house and had seen our Plenty-O-Stuffed-Bookshelves. (technical term) It turned out, however, at the first meeting, that I was the only one who was interested in science fiction, fantasy, hard-boiled mystery or thrillers. They all leaned - heavily - to Gothic and Regency. I didn't return.

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    1. Oops, I don't think any of you writes Regency bodice-rippers, right?

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  15. I was speaking at a book group, and the woman on my left leaned over and asked the woman next to her if my book was any good. She whispered, but I was right there! I could hear her!

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    1. Oops!But I'm sure she told her....."yes, very good!"

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    2. I hope so, Helen! It was surreal!

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  16. Our book club, with 12 lovely women has been thriving and enriching us since our first meeting in November 2006. This month we will be discussing "A Gentleman in Moscow". Each fall we meet for half a day (including lunch)to nominate and choose all the books for the coming year. We each bring two books to present to the group, to "sell" our individual choices both fiction and non-fiction. After everyone presents we vote on each member's choices,to determine the 12 books out of the 24 presented that we want to read. This ensures that every member ends up with one of their books for monthly discussion and is responsible for facilitating that month for their own book. Since we are all voting, we have an investment and a say in what we choose to read, and the person nominating is not the only person on the "hook" if the book is thought to be less than terrific by some! A few years ago, we streamlined the discussion process by instituting "set" questions that are passed out for each member to use as a starter for lively discussion. This really helps us to delve into the content, rather than just going around the room stating our "loved it/hated it" opinion. One of our choices last year, "Jade Dragon Mountain" was made even more enjoyable as the Author,Elsa Hart, sent lovely bookmarks with red ribbon for the group, along with answering multiple email questions and sending promotional synopsis. Other times, we have invited speakers...friends, or friends of friends who have actually experienced what we are reading about, such as, A retired military officer who fought in both WW2 and Vietnam,or the daughter of a wholesale Nursery owner who told the story of her Dad taking over a Japanese owned nursery business, while the owner family was in an internment camp. He ran the business for them in addition to his own nursery and saved the income so that when they came back to Richmond California, they were among the few Japanese families who came back to what had been taken. We come from widely varying backgrounds, with different life stories and political and personal views, and have been blessed to have developed supportive close friendships along the way.

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    1. What a great group! No wonder it's had such longevity!

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  17. I'm not in a book club, but I often think I'd like to be. Of course, I then think of my list of TBRs for July and August has no wiggle room at all, so I don't know how I'd juggle another read that may or may not be something I want to read.

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  18. I can’t imagine being in a book club!!!

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  19. I'd like to be in a book club but...time or the lack thereof keeps holding me back. :(

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  20. One of the best parts of my job at the library was running and moderating the two book groups we had. I loved it! I'm still involved with the mystery group (10 years running now) as a volunteer. Just the best thing! We have talked with authors at times, but not so much in recent years. I will encourage people to talk with their local libraries about the tech things needed. Most of them would likely be able to help and also have the equipment.

    There are some good thoughts here. Book groups do take a certain amount of commitment, but I have always encouraged our members to not worry if they didn't care for the book, don't push themselves to finish it. I'm also interested in why it didn't work for them. I still select the books or themes. I keep telling them we could vote and they keep telling me they like what I pick. They are especially excited when I've attended a mystery conference and come home with lots of goodies. All that swag - yes, it is passed along to our group.

    Thanks for sharing all this info, Jungle Reds. It will be helpful to many, I'm sure. And we had Louise Penny as the first author we talked to in person - in 2008. She was not well known at the time. We all huddled around my phone set on speaker - her talking from Canada and us in Texas. Fun times!

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