Book Group Voting Part 3

So I made it  5 minutes before I added two more titles. I finally decided on Agnes and the Hitman then I found a southern mystery by Karen White that made the list. No more researching. Done. No mas. Finished.

Fiction:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

Defending Jacob by William Landay

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Home by Toni Morrison

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (Local Author)

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

House on Tradd Street by Karen White 

Nonfiction:

Muddy Boots and Red Socks by Malcolm W. Browne84
Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Quest for Justice by Richard S. Jaffe (Local Author) 

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

It Worked For Me by Colin Powell 

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell

Book Group Voting Part 2

Remember that list I posted last week with possible 2013 titles for my library book club? Well, it is been beyond butchered. I took out several titles due to page length. I also started taking submission from the members so I removed titles so I could have room for theirs. I wanted 24 books on the list, since we will be selecting 12. I figured 24 was a good number because I could fit 24 books on one page, but I might have to make the font smaller because I am thinking of adding Agnes and the Hitman or Getting Rid of Bradley  by Jennifer Crusie. I have heard wonderful things about these books.

I wish this was as easy as adding any book I heard was really good, but sadly I have worked hours on this list. Why? I had to think about what my book club liked. Some of the members have been in this group for 6 or seven years. I know I can't cater to a few particular members, but for the most part, I have noticed that my group loves mysteries. Loves them. And since we are set in the South, they love southern mysteries or mysteries by southern writers. But if you give them too many, they start complaining about reading the same thing. Double edged sword. So the last list has been revised several several several times. I am not even sure this will be the final list. I have tried to add some mysteries, but I also added a little fluff in there. For the last 3 month, we have been in a reading slump and though our current Sept. read is going over well, I intend to pay more attention to the order I assign the books. My goal is to rotate from month to month with either a heavy read to maybe something a little more fun. No more slumps!

From this list I am going to let them pick 7. From there I will take the top 12 and start to work. Since I am the moderator, I do have some pull. I am not saying that I will full out rig the voting, but executive decisions must be made. I would like for there to be at least 3 nonfiction picks and one young adult pick. I know for a fact there one title will automatically be a pick because there is a movie that can be shown as a corresponding program. We did an author visit last year, which definitely had its pros and cons. Some loved meeting the author because they got to ask additional questions, but if the author is present then it is difficult to honestly critique the work.

Anyways, here is the list. Our next meeting is on Sept. 11th and I hope to have everything finalized for them to vote. By the Oct. meeting I will have everything selected, bookmarks and flyers made, along with extra copies of the titles ordered (including LP and audio), plus meet with the Adult Dept. Head about other programs she might like to pair with the readings (ie movie showings, author talks, lectures, etc. )

Fiction:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

Defending Jacob by William Landay

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Home by Toni Morrison

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (local author)

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Nonfiction:

Muddy Boots and Red Socks by Malcolm W. Browne 

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Quest for Justice by Richard S. Jaffe (Local Author) 

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

It Worked For Me by Colin Powell 

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell

Book Group!

Hello All,

     So I have forgotten to mention some pretty awesome news. I was allowed to take over for my library's book group. I have actually belonged to this book group for over a year. There are usually about 9 to 10 people there on average. I have always liked it because they read things that I would never really pick up (but then again I rarely pick up anything outside of YA).

    So how did I become in charge of the book group? Well, the head of the Adult Department runs the book group, but they have recently retired. For one month it was passed off to another librarian in Adult, but no one really wanted it. So the Director asked me if I would like to take over. She said that she had gotten permission from my department head. Since the book group belongs to the Adult Dept. and I am in Circ, my dept. head had to approve me using my time for something that is technically belongs to Adult. The former head of Adult had mentioned that he was going to nominate me to take over the book group since I already belong to the group. I am very excited about this awesome opportunity.

   So this all happened about a month ago. The first meeting that I was officially in charge happened on Valentine's Day. I didn’t schedule that day. Since the group meets at a standard day of the month, I was pretty much stuck with that day. Since I knew it was going to be difficult to get new people there on Valentine's Day I threw myself into promoting my first program!

What I did:
 - Signage. First I created some pretty nifty signs in publisher using the cover of the current book we were reading. The sign included the when, where, and other important information. I gave these signs to the Adult Department to showcase
 - Web. Next I asked our webmaster, who is a genius, to place the event on the library website. She created a pretty snazzy banner and placed it front and center on the website. She also placed the information on the blog and FB.
 - Newspaper. I invited two local newspapers to come to our Feb 14th meeting (it was too late to advertize in the paper) so I suggested they could come write and discuss this great and FREE opportunity that is available. I also submitted event listings for the rest of the book group meetings
 - Word of mouth. I told everyone I could about this book group meeting.

So Feb. 14th has come and gone, so how did it go? I am very happy to report that we had an unprecedented 14 people come to the book group! 5 brand new people. 2 heard about the event from the website, 1 from one of the Adult librarians, 1 was a coworker that I convinced to come, and the last person was my best friend who I 'convinced' to come or she would die. My director was stoked and everyone at my library was super proud of me. We ran out of chairs and name tags!

What book did we read? Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. We checked out a book kit from another library for this book. The book kit included 10 paperbacks, information on the author, and a list of discussion questions. I probably won't be doing this again. This is a great resource, but I do not like relying on people to be responsible. One of the members could not be there, so I have to wait almost a week before I could turn the kit back in (several days overdue)

I also brought several copies of the next month's read for patrons to check out right there. This went over very well and I plan to do this again.

Also, I got permission from my director to make the book group year round. Previously, they met from Sept to May, which is pretty rare in library book groups. From what I understand, the Adult staff had too much going on to keep this program up and running during the summer. Don't know if that is true or not but I plan to make this group a success. Several people have mentioned having a separate daytime group or a separate nonfiction group. I really like the idea of a daytime group, but I don't want to push my luck. I have to remember that my job is actually in Circ and not Adult. Maybe one day I can try. I really like planning programs.