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Welcome!
Dear Readers,
We're thrilled to introduce the new look for the Reading Group Center, which was created entirely with you in mind. And we didn’t stop there—the RGC is now easier to navigate, more functional, and filled with great content and resources for your reading group. So browse around and let us know what you think!
And watch out for more exciting features to come!
Your Friends at the RGC
One Book, One Community
Community-based reading initiatives are a growing trend across the country, and we're pleased to support these programs with a wide range of resources.
Queen Elizabeth’s Astronomer: John Dee and Prophecy
Heresy by S. J. Parris introduced us to Giordano Bruno,a fugitive Italian monk who finds himself employed by Queen Elizabeth on an undercover mission. The character of Bruno was based on a historical figure—although the real Bruno probably didn’t solve mysteries for the queen. Now, Bruno is back in Prophecy, a thriller laced with black magic. Prophecy introduces a new character: John Dee, the queen’s astronomer, also based on a historical figure. Read on to find out more about the real John Dee!
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Meg Howrey’s Five Favorite Backstage Novels
The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey is the story of Kate Crane, a soloist in a celebrated New York City ballet company who is struggling to keep her place in a very demanding world. At every turn, Kate is haunted by her close relationship with her younger sister, a fellow company dancer who has recently suffered a breakdown and returned home. In honor of her behind-the-curtain novel, we asked Meg to come up with a list of her five favorite backstage books.
More >Author Chats
Request a Phone Call with
Meghan Daum
Or invite another one of our authors to your next book club meeting!
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Group Talk
Video: Maeve Binchy Discusses Minding Frankie
Maeve Binchy’s Minding Frankie is the story of a motherless girl collectively raised by a close-knit Dublin community. When Noel learns that his terminally ill former flame is pregnant with his child, he reluctantly agrees to take care of the baby girl—but as a single father battling demons of his own, Noel can’t do it alone. In the following video interview with Maeve, she discusses the book’s colorful characters (including Emily, Noel’s American cousin) and reveals what she likes most about Minding Frankie.
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Read Sandra Smith’s Introduction to Jezebel by Irène Némirovsky
Jezebel by Irène Némirovsky is a stunning novel about mothers and daughters, vengeance, and an aging, still beautiful woman on trial for shooting her lover. In her introduction to the novel, translator Sandra Smith discusses the parallels between Jezebel’s main character and Irène Némirovsky’s own mother. Read on for Smith’s introduction as well as an excerpt from the novel.
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Get Swept Away by Girls In White Dresses
Everyone loves a wedding. The dresses, the champagne, the romance—who can resist? But for Isabella, Mary, and Lauren, weddings are no longer a special occasion. It seems like everyone they know is getting ready to the knot. Bridal shower after bridal shower they coo over toasters and eat minuscule sandwiches. Amid the celebration these women have their own lives to contend with. Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close is a witty, wry novel that perfectly captures the wild frustrations and soaring joys of modern life.
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Run Away With Barbara Delinsky’s Escape
Emily Aulenbach is an idealistic young lawyer who once dreamed of representing victims of corporate abuse. Instead, she now spends her days in a cubicle arguing victims of corporate greed out of their rightful claims. One day, she snaps—without telling anyone where she is going, she heads north to Bell Valley, New Hampshire, the small town where she spent a life-altering summer during her college years. There, she will set out to forge new relationships with lovers, long-lost friends and the person she once wanted to become. Raising powerful questions about the paths we take in life, Escape by Barbara Delinsky will get your book club talking.
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Enter the Please Look After Mom Sweepstakes
Kyung-Sook Shin’s Please Look After Mom is a poignant, startling examination of motherhood and family. We’re giving away ten copies of the book—read on to find out how to enter!
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Recipe by the Book: Flan for Carolina de Robertis’ Perla
Perla by Carolina de Robertis is a coming-of-age story about a young woman who makes a devastating discovery about her origins with the help of an enigmatic houseguest. Set in Buenos Aires and based on a recent shocking chapter of Argentine history, it is an intimate and unforgettable portrait of one young woman’s search for truth. While your book club discusses Perla, why not treat yourselves to some homemade flan? Carolina de Robertis has provided us with her mother’s recipe, now translated into English for the first time!
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The Love of My Youth: A Reunion In Rome Raises The Ghost of the Past
From acclaimed author Mary Gordon, The Love of My Youth is a poignant novel about first love and the hopes and dreams of a generation. Miranda and Adam, high school sweethearts now in their late fifties, arrive by chance at the same time in Rome, a city where they once spent a summer deeply in love. At an awkward reunion, Adam suggests that they meet for daily walks and get to know each other again. Both have their own sense of who betrayed whom and long-held interpretations of the events that caused them not to part.
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Armchair Adventurer: Take a Walk in the Footsteps of Kurt Wallander
In Henning Mankell’s latest Kurt Wallander mystery, The Troubled Man, Wallander must come to terms with two baffling mysteries. First, his daughter’s father-in-law has disappeared. And second? Having turned sixty, and having long neglected his health, Wallander has become convinced that his memory is failing. In honor of the paperback publication of the book, this edition of the Armchair Adventurer is devoted to Wallander’s longtime stomping grounds: Ystad, Sweden.
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