Reading Groups

READING GROUPS:

If you are a reader and have not joined your local summer reading group that is ususally sponsered by the local library please consider doing so in support of the library plus they usually have fabulous prizes and fun events for families and people of all ages.

Do you belong to any reading groups? If so tell us about them and I will say that I belong to a few online reading groups and one or two that are Facebook reading groups.

It's a very good way to plow through your to be read piles and it's a social network for authors. Nothing new as I am sure all of us know about reading groups but the thing I find interesting is the different perspectives that readers have and how unique each author's voice is how they can create characters that we can relate to one way or another.

I've noticed that when I read a book then the movie comes out and I attend movie night that this will bring a discussion of books verses movies and did the author really intend for the movie to be a little different, far different or spot on from the book?

I like readers and reading groups because they catch all the suttle differences in a plot. This is especially true for mystery readers. We train ourselves to look for the red herrings and the clues but we do not overlook the character and what might be happening in the mind of the killer.

Some of my favorite books that have killer plots are....

The Victoria Vanishes my Chistopher Fowler

Murder Can Crash Your Party by Selma Eichler

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline

These three books are very different one from the other but with them I did walk away in awe of the author and their work. As you know from my previous blogs is that lately my big thing is that I like to find new authors or new series and to help fill in the gaps of reading while my list (a very large list) of authors I regularly buy are busy penning the next book. Reading groups can help with this along with blogs because there is always a new author waiting to be discovered by our reading groups. I like books with a lot of atmosphere and I think Mary Stewart is one of those authors I could read over and over again because her books have atmosphere. I want to be transported to the main character's world and see things through that character's eyes. I love to read Carolyn Hart's bookstore mystery series DEATH ON DEMAND because the first time I read the books in the series I am too busy devouring how fun the book is to read that I go back every summer and reread a lot of the books in the series so I can savor the series I always find something I've missed the first time. I think sometimes the markings of a great author is that you can go back and reread the same books and walk away with another layer of what the author is trying to say and with book discussion groups you always walk away thinking about a few more points of view and maybe something you missed entirely. I admit I am on the quiet side so not often express myself but when I find a good book you can't shut me up at a book discussion group. Okay so I might be borderline annoying but the thing is aren't books meant to be discussed and what better way to spend your time than to read and discussing all the wonderful books that are out there.

Pamela