"Authors revealed" for book groups

Simon and Schuster has launched a new website, according to Craig Morgan Teicher in PW Daily Report for 1/14/09: www.simonandschuster.com.

Teicher writes, "The completely redesigned site replaces the old www.simonsays.com and features an array of new capabilities, including in-depth author and book hubs, author blogs, multimedia and interactivity... A main feature of the new site is the “Author Voices” section, a series of blogs by S&S authors, each of whom is given access to a dashboard through which they can post at will (subject to S&S approval). Other author-related features include “Authors Revealed,” for which authors answer a standard set of non-book-related questions to give readers a broader impression of who they are. S&S also built an in-house digital studio, where the company films author videos for use on the site. All author content is woven together on each author’s page, and also appears in other relevant places on the site."

Check this site out as a resource for your book discussions.

Harford County Public Library Book Group News

The Harford County Public Library in-house book discussion groups have been having some extra fun lately. The following is a round-up of news from the June 2008 library branch reports.

"The Fallston daytime discussion group, "Fallston Critics Without Credentials," took their yearly bus trip on June 4th. Faced with a day predicted for rain, they set out properly prepared for a downpour; they had a wonderful rain-free day at Winterthur Mansion and Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware and the fact that the bus driver got lost didn't deter the 32 attendees one bit. The skies let loose on the drive home and by the time they pulled into the Fallston library parking lot at 5:00 pm, it had just about stopped. All in all, it was voted as one of the best bus trips ever. Now, of course, they have to do even better next year!"

Fallston also has a group that meets in the evening: the Friends Evening Group. On June 2 a group of 10 people discussed In an Instant by Lee and Bob Woodruff.

Books By Night, a group that meets in the Havre de Grace branch met in June at the Bayou Restaurant. According to their group moderator, "Nine people attended to discuss Jane Eyre over a brilliant repast."

In the Jarretsville branch, said their facilitator, the Novel Ideas book discussion group, "loved our June selection of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. The lifelong relationship of the two women in the novel and the many details of Chinese culture were of the greatest interest."

According to the Bel Air branch, attendance at their book groups is in the high teens and twenties. These successful groups are Betsy's Books @ the Center (meets at the Senior Center) Amy and Nancy's Mysterious Minds and Bob's Fiction. Recently Mysterious Minds members toured Tudor Hall, the boyhood home of John Wilkes Booth, and discussed not only the “mystery” of a conspiracy, but also assassinations in general.