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I am back another time to sing the praises of Emily St. John Mandel, this time for her second book, The Singer’s Gun (2010).  Back on July 12th here, I promoted her first book, Last Night in Montreal.  This second book shares some of the same characteristic of that title and that is high praise for the appeal factors of this book.

St. John Mandel is brilliant at creating seemingly bland simple plots that begin the book by placing the reader on a path in one direction.  I guarantee you that those readers are not in the same place of expectations when the stories are resolved.  I am not sure how she quite pulls off having a reader stay so loyal to a book when you never really know what they are about, but she does.

The characters are always interesting but not in a spectacular way.  They are thinkers, introverts and mostly failures who on occasion need to have some common sense slapped into them.  They are compelling to read about as they are constructed in such a way that you sympathize yet often feel frustration at their inability to get where they want to go.  Here is a line about the lead character in this novel, Anton, that I think particularly shows that distinction:  “The worst thing about having an affair was that he was naturally good at it.”  (p. 50)

To St. John Mandel’s credit, the plots are difficult to summarize without giving away the joy of discovering what the events are going to be.  Let us leave it at this for The Singer’s Gun:  Anton Waker was born to parents who spend their lives reselling stolen goods.  His conscious makes him reject that life yet right out of high school he finds himself selling fake Social Security cards and forged passports with his dangerous adopted cousin Aria.  After leaving the business he gets pulled back in one more time by Aria when he is asked to deliver a package to a man on an Italian island while Anton is supposed to be on his honeymoon.

This novel, as is the previous one, is a voyage of discover for both the characters and the reader.  I think book discussion groups will love this one as much as the first.

I’ve got to take a moment to celebrate the wedding of Carolyn and Rich, two of the regular attendees of my Science Fiction/Fantasy Group in Williamsburg. It’s a happy occasion for two lovely people whom everyone in the group adores, and most of us were there last Saturday to help them celebrate in a beautiful ceremony and lively reception.

In case you haven’t noticed, book groups, as portrayed in movies like the film of Karen Joy Fowler’s The Jane Austen Book Club, are quite the hotbed for romantic liaisons. In my experience, this is one romantic cliche that is based in truth. While great romantic works of literature might provide some enticement, they’re not the only reason why book groups work better than speed-dating. Relationship building is part of the great draw that book groups have for their participants, and I don’t just mean romantic allure. In talking about the feelings that books create in us, we reveal emotions and beliefs, express vulnerabilities, and experience a kind of public discovery that is rare. Literature opens a path to the heart, soul, and mind that we can use to make important connections: friendships, romances, and sometimes even marriages.

This isn’t the first couple that has emerged in a book group in which I’ve participated. I’m curious, do others out there have stories about relationships forged in book groups?

I just wanted to jump in today and share some info from yesterday’s Booklist webinar, “In the News and On the Shelf: Fiction & Nonfiction in your Book Groups”. If you missed it, no worries, the link will be up on the Booklist Webinar Archives page next week.

Reps from Random House and W.W. Norton presented several backlist and upcoming titles that would make great discussion choices, and our 2 library experts, Lucy Lockley and BGB’s own Kaite Stover, have shared their notes with us, selections below.
From Lucy:

• Once you have chosen which title to use for a book discussion, the next step is usually to find title-specific discussion questions.
  Some places to check are:
  • Author and publisher websites – either may have a prepared list of questions which can be printed off and are ready to use
  • Print resources such as:
    • The Reader’s Choice: 200 Book Club Favorites by Victoria Golden McMains has older titles but ones which have been enjoyed by numerous book groups
    • Read ‘Em Their Writes: a Handbook for Mystery and Crime Fiction Book Discussions by Gary Warren Niebuhr
    • Reading Women: a Book Club Guide for Women’s Fiction by Nanci Milone Hill
    • Fellowship in a Ring: a Guide for Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Groups by Neil Hollands

•  If you can serve food during your discussions, you might be interested in:
  • The Book Club Cookbook: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors, 2nd edition by July Gelman and Vicky Levy Krupp

• To add some appeal to you discussion or set the stage for the next book title, leaders may want to set up a display with read-alikes or other tools such as:
  • Primary Documents – for a discussion on the book The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, one discussion leader found newspaper articles and pictures which were specific to the  subject and the time period
  • Props – spruce up a display by using anything which might make it more appealing; for example: for a display on the book Homer & Langley (infamous hoarders) one discussion leader used stacks of newspapers, an old lantern, a beat-up fan (from the 1940′s), old spoons – things that might have been packed away in an attic

• Using technology to enhance the discussion:
  • Laptop / WiFi Access / Projector – these can expand a book discussion to reach beyond the meeting local. For example: a recent book discussion on Born to Run by Christopher  McDougall (the book contains no map or photos) used a laptop during the discussion to access the author website to find pictures of the runners mentioned in the book, to search Google  for a map of the Sierra Madre mountains to ‘see’ where the Tarahumara people live, and find the product website for Vibram Fivefingers or barefoot shoes (one of the individuals discussed  in the book is “Barefoot” Ted, the ultrarunner who actually runs marathons barefoot!)
  • Conference Call – for a live interview with the author during your book discussion,contact the publisher, author’s representative or the author to try and arrange one for the date and time   when your group will be discussing their book
  • Video Chat: use Skype or Google Voice and Video Chat to have a live, in-person (visual and audio) interview with the author or with an expert on the topic of the discussion title
  • Book Trailers: use YouTube or BookRiot to find a video book trailer for the upcoming discussion title or for some of the read-alikes.  Many publishers are now producing book trailers for their titles, especially their book discussion suggestions so leaders wanting to try using book trailers should check their websites.

• Do your meetings keep going outside the current discussion topic?  Members want to talk about something else?  You can offer a program for that! Let’s Talk About It!: A News & Current Events Discussion Group is a group we do in the St. Charles City-County Library District.  It provides the perfect forum for anyone who enjoys talking about current events and headlines in the news.

From Kaite:

In this advanced technological age where we are all bombarded with the news, current affairs, and issue of the moment 24/7, it’s no wonder that our readers want to sort out the miasma of info in book groups. Most book groups have a tendency to avoid these types of books because usually one one title is being discussed and it’s important the library and the programs is supports appear unbiased. But there’s a way to let readers explore their own beliefs and opinions and keep the conversation on an even keel with current events.

You may be wondering why would any book group choose to read any of these pairings if conversation could turn into a shouting match. Readers gravitate towards these types of books because they want more details and understanding than the news can provide. They want to feel informed with sound opinions. They want to understand why people and society behave the way they do.

People want to feel in-the-know and on top of the news and this is why they pay attention to the books of the moment. These are also the books getting media attention so book group leaders need to be aware of them, too.

What appeal elements should selectors be looking for? Can’t escape the popularity of some of these books, but you can look at them with a questioning eye. Most readers will enjoy the learning aspect of books about current affairs. The tone and story line adopted by the author with an air of expertise. The author’s intent is also important. Is the author supporting or refuting an established position. Is the author tracking the development of an issue, investigating, persuading. Is the argument skewed? Reasoned? Merely explanatory? Is the author looking to provide insight or just incite a reader? Writing style, amount of detail and pacing will be working with the above concerns.

Balance the selections—opportunity to offer two readings—confirm and explore. This gives readers the opportunity to consider a differing viewpoint in the interest of understanding the opposition to their own. Some readers may hold a viewpoint and need further support or education. Don’t need to ask which is a readers preference, and in some cases, it’s better for the conversation if readers are unaware of participant’s particular stance on an issue.

Bring some background—If time allows, have some additional background information on the topic at hand. Recent accounts in the news, other books, a quick history of the topic with facts. Having this info can be helpful if conversation gets a little heated. Can use it as a “cooler” and then steer dialogue in another direction.

Managing the conversation—keep it focused on the books and be ready for animated conversation from participants who may usually be on the quiet side. Discussing these books, I feel, requires a little more preparation from facilitators and more awareness of the body language and moods of the readers around the table. The point is to generate a good discussion and you don’t want to drive any reader away because conversation became too heated or personal.

• For understanding the appeals of nonfiction, particularly books about social, political, economic, cultural issue, consult The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Nonfiction by Neal Wyatt. Each chapter on a popular nonfiction subject area comes with reading lists. Chapter 11 will be the most useful for book groups looking to explore readings in current events.

• The Real Story and The Inside Scoop, both by Sarah Statz Cords, an RA expert in nonfiction are treasures of discussable titles. Lists of titles to start with, fiction readalikes, and solid essays on the characteristics and elements that draw readers to a particular subject. The Inside Scoop has a chapter devoted to political reporting and a subsection on Hot Button Issues. Great resource for finding titles that balance each other.

Controversial topics in a book group can generate a little apprehension, but don’t let this stop you from introducing reading that could generate a lively conversation. Your readers may surprise you with their discussion and will welcome the chance to apply their own world view to their reading and share it with others. Book groups as arena for public discourse. What a civilized place to start.

Kaite will showcase some of her favorite pairings in upcoming BGB posts.

This month my book group discussed Maggie O’Farrell’s The Hand That First Held Mine. I brought in my hardcover that has an overlay of one face underneath another, a nice layering effect that mirrors the parallel stories told of the two main women in the novel. The U.S. paperback only features one of the women on its cover.

It’s always fun for me to revisit a book that I read and even wrote about here years ago. We started by talking about the title which most of them liked for the ways it resonated with the themes of the book while others found it simplistic and a give-away.

The Hand That First Held Mine tells two parallel stories. Lexie Sinclair is young, brash and headstrong as she makes her way in love and life in 1950s London, while Elina Vilkuna is a painter and new mother in present day London, haunted by the traumatic birth of her child from which she has disassociated. Elina’s husband, Ted, also finds himself adrift in hazy, troublesome memories after the birth of his child. O’Farrell weaves these stories together in an engaging way while London also takes center stage as setting and character.

By and large the group enjoyed the book a lot, but the discussion got tangled as we moved between the parallel stories. The group confused the two stories at times and many readers confessed that they found Lexie’s story in the past more compelling for them; Elina and Ted are in a bit of a fog for most of their section and there were some mild complaints about this.

We talked about how naming seemed important in the book. Some of the women in the group responded positively to the themes of motherhood in the novel and others did not. Some time was spent talking about some secondary characters and one reader felt quite sorry for and identified with Margot, a character who comes off as pretty despicable a lot of the time. I said this was a testament to O’Farrell’s talent, that she made her unsympathetic characters complex enough to allow for a difference in opinion.

One reader posed an excellent question at the end: “What did everyone think about the construction of the book?” It was a perfect way to come full circle and discuss the book’s strengths and weaknesses.

The Hand That First Held Mine would be sure to create lively, nuanced discussion with any group. Do check out the discussion questions and the fantastic book trailer O’Farrell has posted on her site!

In my last post, I made the case that a good review aggregation website is needed for books. As pointed out, there are plenty of booksellers and social media sites that aggregate amateur reviews, but options for widescale aggregation of professional, or at least published, book reviews are more limited.

What would such a tool look like? First, it would aggregate the reviews for many new books, at least those that were widely reviewed, covering both fiction and nonfiction and as many subject matters and genres as possible. As with Rotten Tomatoes, the film review site that is the best example online, aggregation would have three components: a statistical component in which the percentage of positive versus negative reviews was calculated; a text description that summarizes the general critical response; and finally, links to the full text of the reviews on their original sites.

I’m aware of two competitors that attempt aggregation of professional reviews, each succeeding on some levels and failing on others. Bookmarks Magazine has been publishing since 2003 and in their print version, they aggregate reviews, noting an average review score on a five-star scale (although without a particularly clear method of reaching this score.) They include a nicely summarized annotation of reviews for each book. On the downside, it isn’t entirely clear which reviews they are aggregating for each book, and the content is handled differently on their website, without including the aggregate scores for most books. You can “friend” Bookmarks Magazine on GoodReads and see aggregate results as they make them available, but the puzzle is still incomplete.

A new competitor is iDreamBooks. Its strengths reverse those of Bookmarks, providing a percentage score for each book and links to each aggregated review, but not a good summary annotation. They cover books of all kinds, although the books covered do not yet appear to be close to comprehensive. At first glance many of their percentage scores appear to be distorted, perhaps by too many minor review sources (perhaps they ought to follow the model of Rotten Tomatoes, and separate some top review sources from the rest of the field, with different average scores recorded for each.)

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Overbooked. Librarian Ann Chambers Theis has been working on this labor of love since 1994. While not intended to aggregate all professional reviews, Overbooked has steadily fulfilled its main mission, to highlight notable new books, for many years now. In particular, Overbooked does list all of the books that receive starred reviews in the major library review journals: Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews.

Hopefully, one of these tools or a new website will soon offer a complete package of book review aggregation. In the meanwhile, book groups looking to select great titles, librarians aiming to purchase the best books, or readers in search of the collective word on new books will continue to cull their own aggregate opinions from the plethora of good sources in print and online.

Am I missing any major book review aggregators in these two posts? If so, please share them in the comments.

Reviewers don’t always get much love. It’s not hard to figure out why. We invest a few hours to experience works that have taken thousands of difficult hours to create, and that disparity in investment makes it hard to take when, inevitably, we get a review wrong. Add in the subjectivity of evaluating anything for the incredibly diverse viewpoints of this crazy species we call the human being, and it’s not hard to see why reviewers don’t get much love. I’ve been a reviewer myself for many years now, but I don’t hesitate to curse a fellow critic roundly when they entice me to read a book that stinks or stay away from a film that I later discover I loved.

That’s where review aggregators come in. These handy websites make an attempt to collect reviews from multiple sources in one place and provide an average score. The logic is pretty simple: look at multiple reviews instead of just one or two, and you’re much less likely to fall victim to the whims of taste. Amazon was one of the first sites to aggregate amateur reviews, and while reading all of those consumer reviews is a great advance, especially for classes of materials like certain fiction genres that didn’t previously get many reviews, the inconsistency of approach from amateur reviewers distorts many of the average scores: One-star reviews from consumers who thought Amazon delivered their item too slowly; five stars from readers excited about the forthcoming release of a book they haven’t yet read; arbitrary reviews from writers who can’t manage a sentence without a grammar or spelling mistake; or great books creamed by legions of students forced to read them in school. Amazon reviews are full of pitfalls, and the company seems to be stepping back, de-emphasizing consumer review options in recent interface changes.

Sites like GoodReads, Shelfari, and LibraryThing do a better job. They focus on books alone and aren’t trying to sell the books under review. As a result, the average amateur reviewer on these sites seems to have a little more skill. Savvy consumers will still learn to read between the lines on reviews, but the average score here is more dependable. Still, wouldn’t it be better if the reviews came from professionals, or at least from critics who have passed some kind of vetting process?

For films, professional aggregator sites have long been in place. The best is probably Rotten Tomatoes, a regular online stop for the cinerati, where one can see not only what the average approval rate is for any given film, but also find links to the full reviews, excerpted quotes from each review aggregated, and an average score (on a one-to-ten scale) for each film.

The next major online aggregator to come along was Metacritic, a site which does a fine job of aggregating reviews for music, video games, film, and television. Again, links to each collected review are provided, and an average score (this time on a one-to-one hundred scale) is aggregated. When the site first opened, books were aggregated as well, but it was obvious that there was never as much love for literature among the Metacritic staff as for the other media formats. To be fair, it’s much more difficult to aggregate book reviews, the number of books published is much larger than the number of films released or even albums produced.

Novelist and other online databases often provide links to multiple professional reviews for a particular book, but there isn’t any kind of score aggregating provided. The reader has to do this work for her or himself, and in addition, these databases have fees associated and are only available if you’re lucky enough to have access through a subscribing library.

There are, however, two significant competitors of which I’m aware in the professional book review aggregation business. Later this week, I’ll return to the subject and describe the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Each year the Mystery Writers of America cooperate with Minotaur Books to pick a winner of the First Crime Novel Award.  Whenever I read one of these award winners I always go into the process with a chip on my shoulder that is inscribed, “Oh, yeah—I’ll be the judge of you!”

What made this year’s entry even more intriguing was that it is written by Goshen (NY) assistant public library director Eleanor Kuhns.  Now my chip has changed to boxing gloves because I am thinking, “Why can’t I write a mystery novel like Eleanor did?”

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that Kuhns is a very talented writer.  For her first novel, she has decided to set her story in post-Revolutionary War Maine, a task that always implies a great deal of research and the worry about carrying an aura of historical accuracy throughout.  No worries there as the book reads seamlessly as a historical novel.

Kuhns also decided on a male protagonist—William Rees, a Revolutionary War veteran who has managed to become a part time investigator.  His real job is as a traveling weaver, a choice that has meant he no longer has a wife, has thoroughly alienated his son David, and has lost the farm he inherited to relatives who are not maintaining it.  He is a strong and sympathetic character for this novel and appears to be interesting enough to carry a series.

The plot of A Simple Murder shows that murder is never simple.  When trying to connect with his son David at the Shaker community of Zion, William is asked to put his skills to the test and solve a murder.   The victim is a woman who like many of the residents of this utopia, arrived with baggage from her previous life that may have caught up with her.  During the investigation, William finds himself linked Lydia Jane Farrell, another woman with a checkered past who is allowed to live in the community out of loyalty for past actions.  It seems multiple characters have to carry guilt for past sins and therein lies the underlying theme of the book.

What do we have here:  a historical, weaving, Shaker communities, male-female relationships, familial relationships and greed.  The perfect gumbo for a classic traditional mystery and plenty of ingredients to have a book discussion on.  I hope you will consider giving this book a chance with your group and support one of our own.

When a big man with a hot temper goes to warn his sort-of girlfriend’s ex-husband away, he suddenly finds himself arrested by three undercover cops who jumped into the resulting fight. To avoid paperwork and overtime, the trio instead take Pepper to a Queens mental health facility called Northwest, where he is shuffled into the system as involuntary, 72-hour commitment.

That’s just the start of The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle (Big Machine, The Ecstatic,  Slapboxing with Jesus). Pepper’s brief sojourn turns into a much longer visit, as the combination of his anti-authority streak, disorienting medications, lack of outside contacts, corrupt staff, and his surprising involvement with some of the other patients keep him locked up in Northwest. In particular, Pepper becomes involved with three other patients and their effort to end the reign of a mysterious, bloodthirsty patient who lives in seclusion, is protected by the staff, but occasionally climbs down through the ceiling tiles and takes another patient as a victim. Dorry, the mother figure of the facility believes that he’s just an extremely ill man, but to everybody else, he’s the Devil.

Victor LaValle’s forthcoming novel (August 21st) is unlike anything you’ve read before. Saying that it’s a combination of Ken Kesey’s classic One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and a monster story like Stephen King’s It will get you in the right neighborhood, but that doesn’t do the book justice. LaValle’s style is unusual, usually employing an omniscient third-person narration, but occasionally jumping into the skull of one of his characters for just a paragraph or two for the sake of an argument, a bit of insight, or a loopy joke. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s infuriating, and which side of the balance his loose, sassy style falls on in any given instance will probably depend on each reader’s taste. What it is, however, is undeniably vivid and involving.

LaValle’s sense of character is fantastic. Pepper is a great protagonist, a man who’s his own worst enemy but still easy to get behind. The other residents and staffers at Northwest are equally interesting and distinct, a couple of dozen folks with backgrounds as diverse as the demographics of Queens who are each distinguishable and human. There’s Coffee, Pepper’s roommate who spends most of his time on the pay phones trying to reach authority figures. Loochie, a skinny, young black woman, has been in mental health facilities her entire teenage and young adult life, but she has surprising humor, spirit, and fight. Xiu is a Chinese national with an admitted need for meds but an otherwise manageable life whose been trapped in the system by immigration authorities. Miss Chris is the staff enforcer, all about the rules, while Josephine still hopes to get through to the patients but ultimately fears them. Yes, they’re crazy; yes, they’re corrupt; but you’ll care about them and want to know them anyway.

Is the Devil, a monster or a man? You’ll have to read the book yourself to find out. Although this novel plays with known tropes and touches on familiar genre territory, it’s something entirely its own, and a book group that chooses to read it will find no shortage of discussion topics: the mental health establishment; the corruption that comes from authority without oversight, from people put second to rules, budgets, and technologies; the interactions that result when people from different races, classes, genders, and backgrounds are forced to live at close quarters; the dangers of temper and violence, of timidity and obsession; the power of faith and belief; and the nature of madness  to name just a few.

LaValle has got something, and while you can certainly argue that he’s not always a fantastic writer, he’s put together one hell of a book.

Yesterday I met with Other Realms, a science fiction and fantasy book group, to discuss the 2012 Hugo Awards nominees for best short story. Jared, the group facilitator and a member of SFWA, talked with the group about how Hugo selections are nominated and voted on by SFWA members.

Then we dove into discussing the short stories and sharing our opinions about them. Here are the nominees:

Best Short Story

• “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld)
• “The Homecoming”, Mike Resnick (Asimov’s)
• “Movement”, Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s)
• “The Paper Menagerie”, Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
• “Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue”, John Scalzi (Tor.com)

The group had a fantastic time hashing through the strengths and weaknesses of each story. Then, the group got a chance to vote. There was some discussion over what story the group thought might win based on the history of what the Hugo often chooses.

I thought that reading the short story nominees was a brilliant idea for a book group. Anyone else done this? Anyone else voting?

One of the questions that I am asked often is whether or not there are quality crime novels that do not have a murder.  The pat answer for this is Dorothy L. Sayers did a pretty good job with Gaudy Night. 

Now I can add one more to the list.  It is Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel.  Misha Stone discussed this novel previously here on Book Group Buzz, and everyone’s reading advice columnist, Nancy Pearl, led Misha to it.

Because I am always living in the past when it comes to reading, it takes me awhile to discover the new discoveries.  Speaking of living in the past, I got nothing on the characters in this book.  The crime central to this story is a child abduction that sets a father and a daughter on a nine year journey avoiding anything, staying no more than a day or two in any town in which they find themselves.  The contemporary story is about a man named Eli who is living in New York with his lover Lilia when one day she walks out the door and never returns.  The connection between these two stories is how the book creates its magic.

It bends time, reveals character and wallows in guilt, neurosis and angst.  While  novels of character can sometimes lack a narrative drive, the skill of St. John Mandel’s storytelling ability and artistic talent keeps this one moving forward.

I would like to list this one on my crime fiction book discussion’s list.  It is just the type of book that they would enjoy.  I agree with Nancy and Misha—read this one.

Per Petterson’s 2003 novel (translated to English in 2005 and published in the U. S. in 2007) Out Stealing Horses has been mentioned before on Book Group Buzz, but it’s the kind of book that’s going to leave a reader ruminating whether they like it or not. Having just finished it, I’ve got to contribute my two cents to the discussion.

In Horses, 67 year-old Trond Sander chooses the contemplative life, leaving behind the world after the deaths of his wife and sister to return to the quiet Norwegian countryside where he spent his youth, in particular the site of events in 1944 and 1948 that would forever change him and his family, reverberating through him when other significant events of his life occurred. The short novel tells its story slowly, switching back and forth between the present and events from the past that are told out of chronology. It’s a novel that will send one back to reread scenes, as their true significance are often not revealed until one discovers the context later in the book.

I listened to this on audiobook, and while the narration by Richard Poe was adequate, I would recommend that this book be read in print, and not rushed. The audio format makes confusing jumps in chronology even more bewildering and the style and setting, sparse and quiet, may enhance any tendency one has to wander off during audio narration.

Still waters run deep here. Several scenes take on much more weight when one discovers what happened to one of the characters before, and while reading it, I found myself pondering the unknown experiences that might contribute to the behavior of the people I encounter, particularly when they act in ways that are hard to understand. It’s also a book that leaves one thinking about how a few events can imprint a person forever. Trond and the other aging man who lives near him in the countryside, Lars, both carry unseen scars and shared history that have led them away from other relationships, back to solitary lives of manual labor and quiet contemplation. Full of the fallout of wars, family tragedies, and unexplained betrayals–their pasts are fixed in their memories in detail–but still ultimately hazy and unknowable. Petterson says much by leaving much unsaid, and his setting, the sparsely populated forests and rivers of the Norwegian countryside, provides the perfect underscoring for his style. It’s a book that was sometimes frustrating, but one that I know will stick with me for some time to come.

Last month my book group discussed Tea Obreht’s critically acclaimed debut, The Tiger’s Wife, and the discussion started with a bang. I usually try to steer any I loved/I hated statements until the end, but they unleashed themselves early. I will confess that my own conflicted feelings of admiration and frustration with the book contributed to the early blow-up.

One woman in my group announced, “If this is the future of storytelling, then we’re in trouble!” This ignited a side conversation about what young writers and readers and the whole rise of overly clever writing, meta-fiction and books that confuse timelines as to be incomprehensible. They asked–is this really what’s hip/popular/the future of fiction?

Another faction in the group appreciated Obreht’s writing and storytelling style. They liked the interweaving of stories and the balancing of the old and new world elements. But there was some confusion and consternation over the many loose ends and strands that Obreht introduces throughout. I confessed a disappointment in the scant character development of the ‘main’ character and narrator, Natalia. Clearly, her grandfather is the main character, and the narrator as authorial device is nothing new, but I and others noticed the lack.

My book group’s discussion of The Tiger’s Wife illustrated a number of things for me: that it can be hard to guide a discussion when you are feeling ambivalent or unresolved about a book yourself and that it is doubly hard to discuss a book that elicits strong emotions. In retrospect, a lot could have been solved by reviewing facilitation techniques which encourage neutrality. But, then again, you need a breakdown every now and then.

A book group looking for some serious scholarly conversation should consult Promised Land: Thirteen Books that Changed America by Jay Parini.

Parini is one of those renaissance writers who moves fluidly from one literary province to the next. He is a novelist, poet, essayist, reviewer, critic, and biographer. Reading Parini feels like a warm and leisurely conversation with one of your smartest, most erudite, friends who is completely unsmug about his brain power.

Promised Land explores a fascinating premise, there are thirteen books that had indelible impact on the way America thinks and lives. Parini was inspired by a lecture he attended in London, “Twelve Books that Changed the World.” Further musing led him to choose thirteen books that were watershed titles.

All the titles should sound familiar to students who have taken Western Civ 101. Parini breaks up each book’s chapter in four parts, discussing the book’s place in its time and American culture overall, a detailed description of the book with thought provoking analysis, and finally, concluding with the book’s enduring appeal to American readers.

The expected fiction classics make the list: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, On the Road, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. But so do some nonfiction classics: The Federalist Papers, The Feminine Mystique, Walden, and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Imagine the chat, however, if the selection were How to Win Friends and Influence People or The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.

Facilitators of discussion groups demanding a little more meat to the conversation will find lively and stimulating talking points in Promised Land. Certainly there will be at least two or three books the more serious book group hasn’t yet discussed.

I had my doubts about The Coroner’s Lunch. First was the setting: I love books in international settings, but my taste in exotic locales usually follows my desire to travel and frankly, Laos isn’t high on my list, particularly during the war-torn years of the 1970s. Second, the book has supernatural elements, which to me don’t mix well with mystery. To me, a good mystery must follow some rules of logic, or the detective’s puzzle quickly slides into a swamp of the arbitrary from which it never returns. Finally, some have described this series as cozy, and for me, cuteness and crime don’t mix. So though I’d heard raves, I began Colin Cotterill’s first Siri Paiboun mystery with caution.

The year is 1976 and Laos has recently undergone a communist revolution. Seventy two year-old Siri Paiboun is appointed national coroner although he is a regular doctor and has no training for the work. He misses his dead wife and wants to retire, stay out of the political power struggles, but his appointment is a demand, not a request, and so he reluctantly goes to his ill-equipped office each day, where his only co-workers are a smart-alec young woman and a pleasant Mr. Geung, who has Down’s Syndrome. He spends his lunch hour trading ironies with Comrade Civilai, his only ally in the political bureaucracy.

It’s in these rich characters and back story that I began to fall under the spell of The Coroner’s Lunch. Siri’s wry wit is pitch perfect. He’s a charming wag who takes chances with his words because he doesn’t feel he has much left to lose. He’s surrounded by a dotty but believable crowd of secondary characters about whom the reader immediately wants to know more.

The mysteries are almost secondary here, but they’re not bad. Over the course of this book, Siri must riddle out the sudden lunch table death of a powerful woman with an even more powerful husband without getting himself sent to re-education camp or worse. He must figure out the strange killing of Vietnamese nationals who begin popping up from underwater without causing an international incident with the neighboring country. And he must travel to remote southern region where a military project to “aid” the Hmong minority is continually blocked by the bizarre deaths of commanding officers. While some of the crimes and solutions may stretch credibility, the tongue-in-cheek tone and sheer fun of the tale will overcome most readers’ skepticism.

In the end, this isn’t a cozy, the content is quite graphic and while the story is loaded with humor, there is real struggle and pain underlying the jokes. Siri and company turn to humor because it beats crying and because they’re faced with totalitarian bureaucratic absurdities at every turn. Cotterill pulls the whole thing off with such aplomb and charm that the reader escapes the ugliness in the same way the characters do.

This book is the perfect series starter, interesting in its own right but setting up a rich cast of characters with enough unresolved personal dilemmas to leave readers itching to come back for more adventures. There are seven more Siri Paiboun mysteries to date and a second series, featuring Jimm Juree, a former crime reporter forced to relocate with her eccentric family to rural Thailand. That means we can keep enjoying the quirky voice of Colin Cotterill for many books to come!

Well, the small screen at least. Public television station WNET is creating a new series, The Book Club Show. The producers are looking for input from book groups across the nation and are also interested in casting the show.

Take the survey about content here and then submit your book club for the casting call here.

Imagine a book group full of Snookie bookies, Boston Rob readers, and Situations who can actually discuss the situation. Finally, a reality show for the rest of us.

Have a book group that likes to read outside the box? Look at the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards for some intriguing selections. This year included a new category, Visionary Fiction.

There are some other categories that book group selectors should take a closer look at as well: Performing Arts, Architecture, and Anthologies. The popular fiction and literary fiction have always provided titles for thought provoking discussions. The Visionary Fiction titles look especially promising. This fairly new genre is defined by its shifting viewpoints, complex plots, and other mind bending elements. The winner this year is A Brief Moment in Time by Jeane Watier who talks about her genre-bending novel here.

Don’t forget to take a look at the genre fiction and the award-winning young adult titles, too.

Politics are book group dynamite.

Many groups studiously avoid all nonfiction, not just political works. Others will attempt it, but only in its narrative variety, most often choosing memoirs or other stories that “read like a novel.” Even if one negotiates this hurdle, controversial subject matter–subjects like religion and politics–are even more taboo. Personality conflicts  lead to more failed meetings than any other problem, and can rear their ugly heads often enough in groups without being invited. Choosing controversial topics can be a big mistake.

These aren’t bad guidelines. They’re worth following for new groups and those with a history of internal conflict. One group in which I was a member had met for years and considered itself relatively bulletproof until the night that a political book was selected and two long time members nearly came to fisticuffs when the argument got heated. That conflict never was entirely resolved, and the relationship between two former friends never healed.

All of that said, I’m not a believer that any book or subject matter must be completely forbidden to all groups. Some debate is healthy, and an overly bland group can fail just as drastically as a contentious group. At the end of the day, it’s about putting together an interesting meeting with a juicy discussion, just not a discussion that’s so extreme that people go away feeling bad. The first law for book group leadership is this: Know Your Group. Know it well enough, and you won’t need any other rules. Some groups can buck conventional wisdom and discuss almost anything. Others require the kid-glove treatment every time a selection is made.

If you do decide to tackle political books, select your first attempt carefully. Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World 2.0 is a good example of a book that will probably work. His primary premise is that the world has changed and that America is not so much underperforming as other countries have matched and in some aspects surpassed our pace. In particular, he looks at how the emergence of China and India, but also to some degree Russia, Brazil, Southa Africa, and other nations, has changed the rules of the game.

There are several reasons why this book could work in a group. First, Zakaria doesn’t frame the debate as a competition between liberals and conservatives, between Republicans and Democrats. He’s not likely to set off a battle along these traditional lines of conflict. He has good things and bad to say about leaders from both parties. Second, despite the changes in the world, he’s relatively optimistic about America’s future. Nothing’s as likely to raise hackles as an angry doomsday prophet, but Zakaria will send readers home thinking, not depressed. Finally, this book will work because it’s diverse. Zakaria blends statistics with anecdotes, theory with practice, economics with history and culture.

In honor of the Fourth of July, I’ll suggest a revised rule for book group discussion of politics: Go ahead, allow a few fireworks in your discussion, just set them off with care and don’t burn your book group down.

I am poetry impaired.  If I needed any proof of that it came this week when I decided to read outside my box and selected the collection Space, In Chains by Laura Kasischke.  Space, In Chains was selected as a New York Times Notable Book, Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.

With all my impaired eagerness I dived into the book, reading the dedication, reading the acknowledgments and the first poem.  The second poem, called “Contents”, appeared to be a list of words followed by some sequential numbers and I pondered over that poem for awhile until I realized it really was the table of contents for the collection.

Hmmmm…this poetry stuff is always so challenging.

Eventually I did actually find the real first poem in the book and read the entire work in two sittings.  While it does not take a long time to read a poem, I found myself re-reading most of the poems at least a second time.  What often befuddles me about poetry is I feel like there is a knowledge base I am not privy to and therefore my mind is constantly reminding me that I sit outside the circle.  I am not worthy.

While the structure of and the narrative flow within Kasischke’s poetry still challenged me, the images created by the words did not.  In fact, they made me read these poems and read them again.  I kept coming back to individual phrases that stood out.  Here are a few examples:

The kind of song a quiet man might build a silent house around – from “Song”

The daughter of the owner of the Laundromat has washed my sheets in tears -  from “Time”

War rolls down the side of the Mountain of Grief so peacefully – from “Recipe for Disaster”

It was relatively easy to determine the theme of most of the works with the topics of regret and grief being the standouts.  Here is a sample of how that was displayed:

You’ll always remember me, my mother said, but someday you’ll no longer be sad about me – from “Atoms On Loan”

When I built my luminous prison around you, you simply lay down at the center of it and died – from “You”

And perhaps my favorite of the work:

Who knew those bees making
honey of our grief? Who knew
that the workmen,
hired to be fair, would knock down the airy
wall one morning
between us
and neither of us would be there? – from “Four Men”

If you are looking for a work of poetry to discuss, this award winning effort proved to me that the issue of the approachability of the form may best be solved by reading the right poet for the reader.  Just as with prose, the group will decide but for me, a found a beautiful place to retreat to in the poetry of Space, in Chains.

Penny Vincenzi is a popular author in her native Britain and for good reason—she writes the kind of semi-trashy, entertaining novels that are like bon-bons.

In Another Woman, a bride disappears on the eve of her wedding night. And this is no small wedding—two wealthy doctor families with a lot of money to splash around had planned this event to the nines. It’s narrated by a different character every chapter and secrets and plot twists abound.

If you’re looking for a nice, trashy soap with upper-crust Brits with lots of sex, secrets and deceit, then this is a nice diversion.

Don’t let the sweet nature of this first novel fool you into thinking there’s not much to talk about. Patricia Wood’s debut, The Lottery is based on some personal experience and she’s done a great deal of research about lottery winners and life after winning.

After readers get past the initial discussion about what life would be like after winning the lottery, they can start talking about how much better life would be like without winning the lottery. They can also talk about the ‘important’ things in life and what they cost, both financially and morally.

Wood’s guileless hero is Perry. He may be a little slower than the average person, but he’s got his Gran’s wisdom to guide him. Perry has a very good friend, Keith, who lives on a boat and has his own brand of earthy philosophy. Perry has a job and a girl he likes and very soon, he has more money than he can comprehend and it’s not making life any better. In fact, it’s making all the people around him, especially family, rather unpleasant.

Once readers have finished talking about how money changes everything, have them discuss Wood’s distinctive use of voice in her novel. Lottery will encourage readers to think about the daily lottery that is life in addition to windfalls of good fortune. Here’s the link to the reading guide. A smart selection for book groups who like gentle fiction.