Consumer Reports ShopSmart gives our DearReader online book clubs a "We Love It"

This piece of news just passed on to me from DearReader.com, the company that provides the Harford County Public Library online book clubs:

"Our online book clubs passed the Consumer Report test! The September issue of Consumer Reports ShopSmart gave DearReader.com a "We Love It" cheer for our library sponsored Online Book Clubs."

Access to the online book clubs is through ReadersPlace on the HCPL website. The book clubs send you daily e-mails of excerpts from a book so that you can decide whether or not you want to check it out from the library. Click here for more information or to sign up.

ThrillerFest 2008

I was reading Suzanne Beecher's Dear Reader column this morning and she mentioned this year's International Thriller Writers' ThrillerFest coming up in July in NYC.

Click on the ITW website for more info on ThrillerFest, the largest event of its kind, a meeting place for authors, readers, budding writers, and publishing industry professionals. This year features two special add-on events, CraftFest and AgentFest, where authors of all levels can meet the professionals.

Thriller fans can also go to the ITW website to sign up for the BIG THRILL email each month. Get news and information on the latest thrillers being published that month along with in-depth stories and interviews.

By the way, Suzanne's column appears in the Harford County Public Library Fiction Book Club. Interested in having this online book club delivered to your e-mail? Go to Readers Place Online Book Clubs, sign up and every day, Monday through Friday, you will receive in your email a five-minute selection from a chapter of a book. By the end of the week, you’ll have read 2-3 chapters. Every Monday we start a new book. Sign up and start reading.

Free Online Book Clubs

If you like to talk books, there are a number of new venues online where you can participate in a book club without leaving your computer. In my last blog I suggested a few websites where book group leaders and members might go to get suggestions for titles for future discussions. The sites I am suggesting this time go beyond recommending good books and providing discussion guides and author interviews to allowing members to post their own comments and be part of an ongoing book discussion.

Booklist Online Book Club is a partnership between Booklist and the Downers Grove Public Library in Downers Grove, Illinois. Every month they add new book discussions moderated by Downers Grove staff. They post a short critique of each book and one or two comments or questions to spur discussion. Then members or guests can go online and add their comments or view what other people have said.

Bookspace at Hennepin County Library has a book clubs blog. Registration is required, but it is free. A new feature of Bookspace allows readers to add their own booklists to the website. Book clubs can view what other clubs have been reading. Readers can also post their own comments on the blog.

Barnes and Noble has introduced a new service: free online book clubs. This is intended as an online community of writers, literary experts, and readers. There are over 25 discussions happening right now, including conversations with authors, expert-led book groups, writing advice, discussions on topics such as Mystery, History, Romance, and more.

And finally, there is Harford County Public Library! BlogaBook is your very own opportunity to find out what book groups in your community are reading and thinking. Your editor and your book group leaders will be posting critiques of books just read by HCPL book groups, plus discussion questions, and sometimes comments on how the discussions went and what participants felt.

Join Blogabook with your comments and enrich the dialog! All you have to do is click on “post a comment” and then type in the box, then “publish your comment.” You can be anonymous if you wish. Though the comments may be edited for things such as bad language, generally your opinion will stand as you write it. We welcome a chance to talk with you about books!

Elizabeth