Take our Annual Favorite Books Survey and be entered to win books and $100 for your next book club meeting!
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Fresh Fiction Ideas for Discussion
In Certain Circles by Elizabeth Harrower
 Set amid the lush gardens and grand stone houses that line the north side of Sydney Harbour, In Certain Circles is an intense psychological drama about family and love, about tyranny and freedom. The manuscript of In Certain Circles lay buried in the archives of the National Library of Australia for decades. Completed in 1971, five years after Elizabeth Harrower’s The Watch Tower appeared to great acclaim, this long-lost novel is the work of a major writer.
Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck
 Part atmospheric mystery, part historical-meets-occult tale, and part female-driven survival narrative, Wolf Winter is a debut novel sure to be embraced by fans of many literary genres. Set in Swedish Lapland in 1717, author Cecilia Ekbäck captures a distinct mixture of isolation, terror, and perseverance that has not been put to the page before.
The Jaguar's Children by John Vaillant
 From the best-selling author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce, this debut novel is a gripping survival story of a young man trapped, perhaps fatally, during a border crossing. Both an outstanding suspense novel and an arresting window into the relationship between two great cultures, The Jaguar’s Children shows how deeply interconnected all of us are.
 Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day.
 The bestselling author of Somewhere in France returns with a sweeping second novel—a tale of class, love, and freedom—in which a young woman must find her place in a world forever changed. As Britain seethes with unrest and post-war euphoria flattens into bitter disappointment, Charlotte must confront long-held insecurities to find her true voice and the courage to decide if the life she has created is one she wants.
 Walking on Trampolines is a story about the thrill of first loves, the crushing pain of betrayal, and how to put the pieces back together after heartbreak. In the small town of Juniper Bay, Tallulah and Annabelle are inseparable. When Tallulah meets Joshua Keaton, a love triangle begins that will shape the rest of their lives, inextricably linking these three friends together even as their paths diverge and the years fly by.
 Anna is at a crossroads. Recently divorced, she's done a lot of emotional housecleaning, including a self-imposed dating sabbatical. But now that she's turned forty, she's struggling to figure out what her life needs. Brainstorming to win over a new client, she discovers a self-help book—Be the Heroine, Find Your Hero—that offers her unexpected insights and leads her to a most unlikely place: a romance writers' conference. |
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Fresh Nonfiction Idea for Discussion
My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead
 New York Times Bestseller
New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
A Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A captivating combination of biography, reporting, and memoir, My Life in Middlemarch traces a New Yorker writer’s passion for George Eliot’s masterwork—the eight-volume “study of provincial life” that is regarded by many as the greatest English novel. With its complex portraits of love and marriage, aspiration and failure, and the foundations of morality, the novel proved to be a lush source of self-discovery for Mead. The result here is an homage to the joy of fiction and the gifts bestowed by our best-loved fiction writers. A wise and revealing exploration of the ways in which literature shapes our lives, My Life in Middlemarch will delight your reading group.
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Fresh YA Idea for Discussion
The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley
 Michael L. Printz Honor Book 2015
The Carnival at Bray is an electrifying story of loss and triumph, family and adventure, and of the earth-shattering power of music and love from newcomer Jessie Ann Foley. It’s 1993, and Generation X pulses to the beat of Kurt Cobain and the grunge movement. Sixteen-year-old Maggie Lynch is uprooted from big-city Chicago to a windswept town on the Irish Sea. Surviving on care packages of Spin magazine and Twizzlers from her rocker uncle Kevin, she wonders if she’ll ever find her place in this new world. When first love and sudden death simultaneously strike, a naive but determined Maggie embarks on a forbidden pilgrimage that will take her to a seedy part of Dublin and on to a life-altering night in Rome to fulfill a dying wish. Through it all, Maggie discovers an untapped inner strength to do the most difficult but rewarding thing of all—live.
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Frenzy for Ferrante!
“Elena Ferrante will blow you away.”
—Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones
"The Neapolitan novels by the Italian writer Elena Ferrante are a series of three books about the lifelong friendship between two women, and when I read them I find that I never want to stop. I feel vexed by the obstacles—my job, or acquaintances on the subway—that threaten to keep me apart from the books."
—Molly Fischer, The New Yorker
From one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors comes this ravishing and generous-hearted series about a friendship that lasts a lifetime. The story of Elena and Lila begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on those tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else, as their friendship, beautifully rendered in its every detail, becomes a not always perfect shelter from hardship.
Ferrante has created a memorable portrait of two girls becoming women, but My Brilliant Friend is also the story of a nation. Through the lives of Elena and Lila, Ferrante gives her readers the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country undergoing momentous change. This trilogy is destined to delight her fans and win new readers, and proves herself to be one of Italy’s great storytellers.
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24 Winners will each receive a copy of
He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter's Quest to Know Him!
A mid-century doctor's raw, unvarnished account of his own descent into madness, and his daughter's attempt to piece his life back together and make sense of her own.
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20 Winners will each receive a copy of
My Brilliant Friend!
One Grand Prize Winner will receive
all 3 Neapolitan Novels:
My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, and Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay!
With this stylishly plotted novel, the first in a trilogy that is destined to delight readers, Ferrante proves herself to be one of Italy’s great storytellers.
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20 Winners will each receive a copy of
Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children!
The extraordinary journey that began in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world.
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20 Winners will each receive a copy of
Love by the Book!
A laugh-out-loud debut novel. Love by the Book charts a year in the life of Lauren Cunningham, a beautiful, intelligent, and unlucky-in-love twenty-eight-year-old American.
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At Reading Group Choices, we are committed to promoting and recommending books and authors that represent and celebrate the diversity of people, ideas, places, beliefs and stories that exist in our world.
In this spirit, we celebrate Black History Month by presenting a list of books that illuminates the issues of race, class, gender, art, and leadership through the prism of the black experience in the United States.
As always, we tried to select a variety of genres, topics, styles, and points of view so we hope you find at least one inspiring read!
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 Just in time for Valentine's Day!
Love by the Book's Book Club Kit
provides the makings for a fun Valentine's Day (or anti-Valentine's Day) Book Club Party, including snack and cocktail recipes, dating bingo, a party playlist, a conversation with the author, and more!
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The Daily Grind's Lending Library
After being featured in the Reading Group Choices’ Spotlight and receiving our books, our book club needed to come up with an idea on how to share the nine books we received. We brainstormed and decided that the best way to share our win would be to make a table with the book's title, the borrower's name, and the date the book was borrowed. At the following month's book club meeting, we return the borrowed book and choose a new book.
This lending idea gave us another wonderful idea. We brought in our own books and added them to the "lending" library list. As you can see from the photo, we have a wide variety of books to choose from and share. All members have enjoyed mystery, memoirs, general fiction, and historical fiction. One of our members is a book blogger and receives Advanced Reader Copies from publishers and authors. Those books are special treats since we can read them before the publication date.
How does your book club share the books your Spotlighted Book Club has won? Curious minds want to know. :)
~The Daily Grind Book Club
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Our book group, Hooked on Books, has about 20 active members. We are one of several book clubs within a women's club of over 300 members. The club is about 13 years old. We try to read 1-2 classics and fill out the rest of the year with more modern writings. We also love to read a local author when possible. At our December meeting we do a book gift exchange of a new or gently used book we've previously enjoyed. Each of the members leads a book discussion every 18-20 months or so always providing background information about the author and facilitating the discussion. Most years, the umbrella organization runs a one-day book sale and charity fundraiser. Hooked on Books often donates a basket of books from our reading list along with readers’ other needs (book marks, gift cards, etc). It's a very welcoming group. We can discuss anything, disagree, and still leave as friends, and look forward to returning to the next month’s meeting.
Become one of our Spotlight Book Clubs:
Email us at info@readinggroupchoices.com with a picture of your book group and description of what makes your reading group unique. If your book club is chosen, we will send you and your group a box of books to share!
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 Reading Group Choices 2015 is available for purchase as an ebook or print book on our website. We hope you enjoy the variety of books we have recommended this year. As always, thank you to our readers for your continued support, interest, and passion for books!
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