Wouldn’t you like a cup of coffee or some tea? Go ahead: Eat something sweet along with it, a pastry or cookie. Most of all, say hello to a friend, a neighbor, the person in the next cubicle, the parent on the playground. Take a few minutes to relax and catch up.
The concept is called fika (fee-ka), and it’s practiced in Sweden at least once or twice a day—a moment to stop, take a break, have a hot drink and a nibble,
Reading Group Choices is pleased to share the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) Great Group Reads 2017 list, part of their National Reading Group Month initiative!
This annual month-long celebration provides an opportunity for reading groups worldwide to celebrate their accomplishments and plan for the future. It’s also a perfect time to join or start a reading group! Every October, WNBA organizes events nationwide and announces an annual list of book selections for reading groups: Great Group Reads.
The Best of Us: A Memoir by Joyce Maynard
The Clay Girl by Heather Tucker
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
The Hearts of Men by Nickolas Butler
Kinship of Clover by Ellen Meeropol
Last Things: A Graphic Memoir of Loss and Love by Marissa Moss
The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran
Mothers and Other Strangers by Gina Sorell
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
One Good Mama Bone by Bren McClain
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Redemption of Galen Pike: Short Stories by Carys Davies
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
Smoke by Dan Vyleta
So Much Blue by Percival Everett
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
The Velveteen Daughter by Laurel Davis Huber
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso
Discover more of the WNBA’s Great Group Reads lists on our blog!
Pairing a classic title with a more contemporary read can expand and enhance the reading experience. Check out these books that belong together for twice-as-nice reading—and discussing.
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
A Secret Sisterhood by Emily Midorikawa, Emma Sweeney, and Margaret Atwood
Male literary friendships are the stuff of legend; think Byron and Shelley, Fitzgerald and Hemingway. But the world’s best-loved female authors are usually mythologized as solitary eccentrics or isolated geniuses.
It’s a time-honored tradition among readers to watch in shame, delight, or horror as the books they love arrive on the big screen. For book groups, film adaptations can add another dimension to the discussion: one meeting about the book, and then a field trip to the theater for another chat. Seeing where a movie went right, better, or wrong might deepen—or change—your impressions about a book. And the outing can add a social element to the group, helping members connect outside of your usual meeting space.
Thankfully,
Being in a book group can mean more than a monthly discussion around a living room or coffee shop table. Some groups have found ways to reach beyond the reading circle to share their love of books and literacy in the community. Curious about how? Here are some creative ideas suggested by our reading groups:
Donate Books
Weeding is hard for any book lover. Fortunately there are great organizations out there looking for donations. Your group can have a “donation” day to pool together your used books and deliver them to a good cause.
Emily Dickinson didn’t become a household name in poetry until long after her death, and it seems like the world is trying to catch up with its attention. Given the number of new books, exhibitions, and opportunities out there celebrating the (now) famous poet, this year might be justly called the Year of Emily.
Why the renewed attention? First, because her work is considered masterful, bold for its time in structure and subject. And then there’s her staggering output: over 1800 poems, with fewer than a dozen published during her lifetime. But above all, Dickinson is surrounded in mystery.
