October Is National Reading Group Month

National Reading Group Month is an initiative of the Women’s National Book Association.  Its aim is to foster the values reading groups encourage: camaraderie, enjoyment of shared reading, and appreciation of literature and reading as conduits for transmitting culture and advancing civic engagement.

The St. Charles Public Library offers a variety of resources to support local book groups, as well as offering two discussions each month that all members of the public are invited to attend.

Joining/Starting a Book Discussion

Often local book groups are found simply by word of mouth, so ask your friends and neighbors if they are aware of any groups that are open to new members. Two local groups that always are open to drop-ins are:

• St Charles Public Library 2nd Tuesday Book Discussions (held morning and evening)
• Town House Books Discussion Group for Adults

Two great resources for starting your own Book Discussion:

• Starting a Reading Group
• How to Start a Book Club

Choosing Titles & Leading Book Discussions

Reader Services staff are happy to work with you in choosing titles, finding author background information, and formulating discussion questions.  Please contact us or stop by the Reader Services Desk.

• Some basic tips & tricks
• Selected online resources
• Book Discussion titles from BookLetters

Selected Titles:

A Year of Reading: A Month-by-Month Guide to Classics and Crowd-Pleasers for You and Your Book Group
Elisabeth Ellington & Jane Freimiller
011.73 ELL

The Readers' Choice: 200 Book Club Favorites
Victoria Golden McMains
028.1 MCM

Read It and Eat: A Month-by-Month Guide to Scintillating Book Club Selections and Mouthwatering Menus
Sarah Gardner
028.9 SAR

The Reading Group Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Own Book Club
Rachel W. Jacobsohn
374.22 JAC

The New York Public Library Guide to Reading Groups
Rollene Saal
374.22 SAA

Many more resources are available in the Reader Services Reference collection, including:

Good Books Lately: The One-Stop Resource for Book Groups and Other Greedy Readers
Ellen Moore and Kira Stevens.

Reading Group Choices 2011: Selections for Lively Book Discussions (published yearly)

Online list of discussable titles (chosen by Readers Services at the SCPL)

A Few Titles Featuring Book Groups, Reading, etc..

You or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr

The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal by Sean Dixon

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

No Rest for the Wicked: A Jane Serrano Mystery* by Elizabeth C. Main

The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe

They Did It With Love by Kate Morgenroth

The Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love* by Beth Pattillo

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

Becca by the Book by Laura Jensen Walker

Big Girls Do Cry by Carl Weber

Summer Reading by Hilma Wolitzer

Book Sense Best Books: 125 Favorite Books Recommended by Independent Booksellers compiled by Book Sense  011.73 BOO

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch  028.8 SAN

The Polysyllabic Spree by by Nick Hornby 028.9 HOR

Book Savvy by Cynthia Lee Katona 028.9 KAT

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma   028.9 OZM

*part of a series

St. Charles Public Library

For help finding these or other books, just Ask Us! 

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