Discussible Choices: What Are You Reading?
August 2007

Congratulations to Karen and The Mirasol Book Group from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, for winning the random drawing for this month's Discussible Book Choice!

We enjoy getting emails from book club members and sharing their choices with everyone. Please email us with your group's discussible choices, and you may win a book-related prize for every member of your reading group. Please remember to include your group name, number of people in your group, and a mailing address to send the prizes.

"The last book we read and discussed was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It was a book that everyone in the group enjoyed reading which is not always the case with our selections. The discussion leader gave us biographical information about the author as well as historical information about the Depression era which served as the setting of the book. We were all able to relate stories about going to the circus as kids since most of the story revolves around circus life. After a very interesting discussion, we were able to access an on-line video interview with the author. Water for Elephants was a great book which resulted in a great meeting. "

Karen, The Mirasol Book Group, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

More Discussible Book Choices

"The Victoria Avenue Reading Group has about ten members.  We generally include an organizational component quarterly where we select the next three books.  While we were all proposing various titles piling up by our bedsides, we decided a common theme would be a nice change from a common title.  This month we read biographies, which we stretched to include autobiographies and memoirs.  It allowed me to read Katherine Graham's Personal History which I'd been holding onto; and it allowed us all to introduce titles to one another that I'm sure will spawn future discussions.  It also fostered an interesting discussion on the political differences in the nature of the genres included."

Tammy, The Victoria Avenue Reading Group, Windsor, Ontario

"This month, The Preschool Moms Book Club read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. We unanimously agreed that it was a great read — and that doesn't always happen with us! The book is written first person by a teenage boy who is autistic. We all felt the author did a very credible job of conveying the thoughts of someone with autism. We were also very impressed that Mr. Haddon could include so much humor in what is a rather depressing story. The discussion was extremely interesting as we talked out autism and how it would affect us as parents."

Julie, Preschool Moms Book Club, Mechanicsburg, PA

"The Chesapeake Bay Book Club recently gathered to discuss Sweetness in the Belly and to celebrate another great season of reading by taking up their other favorite pastime, wine! The CBBC gathered at Lola's on Maryland's Eastern Shore to watch the sun set over the Chesapeake Bay. The women in this group come from unique backgrounds and all have diverse interests and hobbies. From left to right are Daring Debbie, Vocal Victoria (and our photographer), our fearless leader Boom-Boom Barbara, Resilient Rozan, Sassy Susan, Especial Evelyn, Moonlight Melanie, Jazzy Jodi and Darling Darlene. The CBBC meets monthly to discuss books of interests and participates in author chats and social events throughout the year." 

Debbie, The Chesapeake Bay Book Club, Stevensville, MD

"The Rock Canyon Book Group is reading The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier for our discussion on July 26th.  We plan to show a few film clips as well." 

Jean, The Rock Canyon Book Group, Provo, UT