discussion

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers is the 2010 Tulane University Reading Project book selection. 

Since its inception in 2002, The Tulane Reading Project has created a shared intellectual experience for the entering first-year class through the reading and discussion of a selected book. With a variety of events scheduled throughout the fall semester, the Reading Project creates a campus-wide dialogue on a variety of themes. 

This year is the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and Zeitoun is a perfect choice for discussion.

July 11 is the 50th anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic. Featuring some of the most memorable characters in literary history—attorney Atticus Finch, his children Scout and Jem, and of course Boo Radley—To Kill a Mockingbird is the indelible story of race, class, and growing up in the Deep South of the 1930s. Great reading group discussion topics!

To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, and been made into an enormously popular movie.

Author On the Bookcase

Emily Gray Tedrowe

With pleasure, I welcome Emily Gray Tedrowe, author of Commuters. Emily's novel traces a year in the life of two families thrown together by the sudden marriage of their oldest members. Commuters is a tale of love, family dynamics, money, and surprising alliances. And food! Emily writes about her character Avery's obsession with food, how it  guides his some of his decisions, and how memorable meals can define one's life. 

Author On the Bookcase

Eloisa James
(Mary Bly Vettori) 

I'm thrilled to welcome Eloisa James to On the Bookcase.

Off to BEA (NYC) via Acela Express train from Baltimore Washington Airport Station to Penn Station. On the train up, I am finishing up My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Olivera. Great reading group pick -- American Civil War, the horrors of war, medical history, nursing, women's lives, a little romance.

Then, onto Damaged: A Maggie O'Dell Mystery by Alex Kava (July, 2010)  Here a summary supplied by the publisher.

On Pensacola Beach, the Coast Guard prepares for a Category 5 hurricane that has entered the Gulf of Mexico. When the air crew patrols the waterways, they spot a huge fishing cooler about a mile offshore. Drug traffickers have been known to dump coolers with smuggled product to avoid detection and pay fishermen to retrieve them. But when the crew open this cooler, they’re shocked by what they find: body parts tightly wrapped in plastic.

I always like Penelope Lively's work. The Photograph, Making It Up, Family Album, Consequences, and her over 20 other fiction and nonfiction titles. She is a great children's books writer, as well, -- over 25 titles. But my favorite is Moon Tiger, winner of the Booker Prize, first released in 1987. Great characters and many lively topics to discuss in a reading group.

I'm home from the whirlwind of the Virginia Festival of the Book (VABOOK). What an exciting and fun time! I met so many authors, reading group members, book bloggers. people working in the book business and loving it! What a great weekend. Here is my post on the awesome panel I have the pleasure of moderating.

The American Booksellers Association unveils the finalists for the 2010 Indies Choice Book Awards.

Literary conversation while riding the train to work?

Jacqueline Novogratz, author of The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World, shares her thoughts on global interconnectedness and reading groups and book clubs in a