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Adding New Members to Your Book Group

new members

Sometimes the question arises in book groups: Should we keep our current numbers limited, or open up the group to new members? Some members want to introduce someone new, while others want to keep the core intact.

It’s a tricky subject for book groups, and it all depends on your goals. Reading Group Choices offers these thoughts on when and how to decide if opening your group is the best next move.

Reasons for keeping a group closed:

Space limitations
Sometimes groups meet in restaurants, coffee shops, small apartments,

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The February Spotlight Group Is…

February 2019 Spotlight: Fact, Faith, and Fiction Book Group

Our February Spotlight Group brings a spiritual touch to their choices!

The Fact, Faith, and Fiction Book Group of Northfield, Minnesota meets monthly in the homes of members. We choose our books as a group three to four months ahead of time. Many are nonfiction, often The Reading Group Choices Spotlight Group for February 2019 is Fact, Faith, and Fictionwith a spiritual bent.

Half of our group is new to the community, while the others are long-term residents of Northfield. It’s a great group that is always respectful of others’ thoughts and opinions. Wonderfully, we all have spouses so we can have couples social events.

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The January Spotlight Group Is…

January 2019 Spotlight: Circle of Readers

Our January Spotlight Group celebrates its first year!

The Reading Group Choices January Spotlight Group is Circle of ReadersCircle of Readers, our book club, formed a year ago at the Broken Arrow Senior Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. We read historical fiction, memoirs, history, and fiction. We meet monthly and have a lively time discussing the books. In December, we had a Book Speed Dating event that was great fun and we all left with new titles to read. Everyone brought four books and we examined one another’s choices and exchanged them, and we enjoyed Christmas cookies as well!

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Best of the “Best of” Books 2018

Reading Group Choices presents these best of the best books for 2018

It’s that time… At the end of each year, people gather to celebrate that grand tradition: best-of book lists! But with so many amazing titles on so many lists, how is a reader to decide?

Reading Group Choices has made it easier for the overwhelmed book lover. We’ve combed through the lists and compiled our own — a best of the best books list! Here are the titles we’ve recommended in 2018 that showed up on one (or more) favorite lists from trade journals, indie bookstores, and media sites, including:

New York Times,

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Book Group City Tour: Chicago

The Reading Group Choices book group city tour travels to Chicago.

Reading Group Choices travels to Chicago for our next Book Group City Tour!

Chicago is known for its architecture, blues and jazz, deep dish pizza, and beautiful lakefront. It’s also fast on the rise as a major literary city, boasting a growing number of author residents and indie bookstores, plus the new American Writers Museum. And it’s a great place for readers to discuss books!

In our continuing Book Group City Tour series, Reading Group Choices strolls the streets of the Windy City in search of the best (and unexpected) places to join a book club.

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Reading Group Choices Interview with Blair Hurley

One of our recommended books is The Devoted by Blair Hurley

Blair Hurley explores Buddhism, Boston, faith and power in her debut novel The Devoted.

In her novel The Devoted, Blair Hurley tells the story of Nicole Hennessy, a student of Zen Buddhism who comes under the influence of her powerful master — and struggles to escape. Blair answered some questions from Reading Group Choices about her book, her Boston and Catholic upbringing, her role as a teacher, and how we come to terms with our pasts.

Reading Group Choices: The main character, Nicole, moves from being a student of Zen under a powerful master to a teacher of others.

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