Book Club Meeting

We meet again this Friday to discuss the book Bud not Buddy. Next month we will be discussing Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Reflections in the Nile by J. Suzanne Frank is the book for September.

A special welcome to Kathy who will join us at our meeting this week.

Also, take a peek at what these book club members will be reading. Link HERE.

Going on vacation so things will be a little slow on the blog. We will get back to regular postings in August. Keep reading!

McGowan's "Expected" controversy

Get ready for the controversy over The Expected One, another religious thriller. This one is by Kathleen McGowan. McGowan allegedly proclaims she is a descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. I mentioned McGowan in another post dated MAY 23, 2006. Is the writer a lunatic,just trying to sell her book or does she have solid evidence to back up her family lineage?

I stated in that post that Dan Brown did not invent this genre of writing but I am sure he will be blamed or praised if McGowan's book becomes a hit. Watch for it!

Dear Reader Book Selections

Take a look at Dear Reader's book selections for this week. Link HERE and join a book reading club of your choice.

Arizona Dreams by Jon Talton sounds interesting. It will be available in September.

Whitbread Book Award 2005

Read about the Malaysian writer, Mr. Tash Aw. Last year in the First Novel category Aw's novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, won the Whitbread Book Award, now known as the Costa Awards.

National Book Critics Circle 2005

See a list of the nominees for the National Book Critics Circle Awards. You may find something you want to add to your personal reading list.

Fat Girl by Judith Moore is among the nominees. READ AN EXCERPT.

Them: A Memoir of Parents by Francine du Plessix Gray is another nominee in the Autobiography category.

Best Genre Book Award 2005

The Library Journal's Best Genre Book Awardin the Thriller category went to David Ellis' In the Company of Liars. READ AN EXCERPT

Agatha Raisin series

Just finished reading another book by M. C. Beaton from the Agatha Raisin series set in a small village in England. Beaton is good with describing her characters. I like Agatha because she is a very realistic character. She obsesses and gripes about getting old, fat and arthritic and with being single. She is not perfect. She gets jealous and irritable. She drinks and smokes too much. She likes to be in the limelight almost publicity hungry where her detective agency is concerned. She is an amateur in the detective business. In the Perfect Paragon she employs amateurs in her detective agency. She and her staff basically use intuition and persistence to solve the murder cases. The tone of the stories is usually light and humorous.

Look out for the next issue in the series: Love, Lies and Liquor

The Devil in Fashion

Lauren Weisberger's first novel, The Devil Wears Prada is the number one book on the USA Today bestselling list. READ AN EXCERPT from Random House's site.

It's a big hit in the movie theaters too but what a negative message! The message I got, from the movie, is that you have to be mean spirited to be a successful business woman, that the fashion world is ruthless, that you can't be a success in business and be a successful wife. Entertaining movie though with first class acting.

Star Future

So with all this controversy with Star Jones Reynolds versus Barbara Walters and the network, will there be an increased demand for Star's book, Shine : A Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love? Link Here.

Will she write another book about life after the View? Does she have a future in television? Real life is life a soap opera for some folks, isn't it?

Reading Group Selections

Link to readinggroupchoices to see the profiles of three books: The Memory Keeper's Daughter, The Lost Mother, and the psychological thriller Eye Contact

Hot off the Press

Take a look at this new book, Venus Fix,by M. J. Rose featured on Author Buzz. Link here to read a letter from this author. Her novel is about the very relevant topic of teen boys addicted to internet porn.

Triangle by Katharine Weber also looks interesting. For more about this writer, click here.

WPL's Book Club Selections

I was looking at the Waterloo Public Library's homepage and came across the link to their book club blog. Waterloo is in Ontario, Canada. Take a look at their book selections for 2006. LINK HERE for the complete list.

These are their choices for the summer:

June 12 - Book of the Year, Saskatchewan Book Awards: Russlander by Sandra Birdsell
July 10 - Pullitzer Prize 1992: Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman
August 14 - First Aboriginal Book of the Year: Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

Old Flames and New Books

Link to Bookreporter.com for a review of the book, THE MEN I DIDN'T MARRY by Lynn Schnurnberger and Janice Kaplan. These ladies have also written bestsellers Mine Are Spectacular! and The Botox Diaries. Janice and Lynn have been speaking about opportunites open to women over forty at events all over the country. Their presentations are described as uplifting and humorous.

Writing about old flames is a popular theme in books these days. Remember My Boyfriend's Back: True Stories of Rediscovering love with a Long Lost Sweetheart by Donna Hanover, formerly known as Mrs. Rudy Guiliani?

Previous book club selections

People ask me from time to time about our past book discussions. Click on September 2005 in Archives and take a look at the posts for September 13, 2005 and September 15, 2005. You will see lists of our selections for 2002 -2005. Hard to imagine we have been meeting since 2002.

Another Magdalen book

I came across this review of a book titled, The Passion of Mary Magdalen: A Novel by an Interfaith Minister, Elizabeth Cunningham. This book is to be the first of a planned trilogy called The Maeve Chronicles. READ MORE The cover alone suggests this is going to be a controversial book.

Who is Elizabeth Cunningham? LINK HERE. Her first published novel was titled, The Return of the Goddess, a divine comedy