.: A Review of Book Club Recommendations

By:Morgan Hamilton

Category:Home / Culture and Society / Books / Reviews

You find that you're nowhere near the friends and share your literature tastes. It's been a Stone Age since you've been in school and you don’t have access to a hip librarian or brick-and-mortar bookstore or informative publications like the New York Times Book Review. But it dined the oldest of quality literature. So what do you do?



A really great way to find excellent books to read is to look at book club recommendations. Of course, you might want to nose around a little too get an idea as to which book club profile fits your tastes first, so the following are a few descriptions of the clubs and the kinds of recommendations they put forth, whether direct suggestions or indirect tips:



MAIL ORDER BOOK CLUB RECOMMENDATIONS



When I was a kid, Mom—a voracious reader—belonged to a mail-order book club. Later, when I was old enough to have my own account, I joined with her. I don't remember exactly which club that initial one was, but these are the most popular:



Book-of-the-Month-Club



Quality Paperback Books



The Literary Guild



Each mail-order set up is unique, but does have a common, tedious trend: they send you a notification of the recommended title (based on the information you signed up with about your reading habits) and or whichever bookends the hat at the time. If you get the card first and do not refuse the offer, you get the book…and have to pay for it. If the books are automatically sent to you, you have to return it within a relatively short period of time after getting it or you will be charged. This is the main complaint of these clubs, though a close second complaint is the title listings aren’t all that inspiring. These aren't always the current bestsellers and they're obviously inventory that they want to clear out.



TV BOOK CLUB RECOMMENDATIONS



On TV there to television shows that discuss books that I can think of. Charlie Rose’s author interviews and Oprah’s Book Club. Both are, in my case, American offerings, the former showing only on public broadcasting, but 214 of them throughout the country.



Charlie Rose runs the gamut by covering just about any kind of literature. The authors that he usually speaks are contemporary fiction and nonfiction writers. A few of the authors that I've seen on these very shows include such literary luminaries as the embarrassingly liberal Maureen Dowd, action man Tom Clancy, James Risen, Toni Morrison, and Seamus Heany.



Oprah is a horse of a different color. She generally interviews authors, too, but her book club goes a bit further, she is an avid reader and because of that she finds the authors of books she loves, which is of course completely understandable. She first introduces the book and then panels a book discussion session on the book. If you find, as I did, that Oprah's recommendations mirror the kinds of work that you enjoy reading, or what you once read and agree is a must-read, then it only makes sense to follow her recommendations in the future. She has been dead-on about such titles as Wally Lamb’s She’s Come Undone; Kaye Gibson’s Ellen Foster; and, of course, all (or most) of Toni Morrison’s works—books that you must read, as Morrison is one of the most prolific authors of our century.



INTERNET BOOK CLUB RECOMMENDATIONS



The Internet is a great place to find niche books sites. That is, if you are an adolescent seeking highly recommended books, you will find TeenInk.com to be a wonderful destination for locating the best books for your age group. If you are Christian who enjoys reading fiction, you will find like-minded individuals on FocusonFiction.net to be most helpful in listing and detailing the best books for Christian fiction lovers.



And single genre sites and top 100 book list sites serve do pretty much the same thing. These include the following:



Nextbook.org – a gateway to Jewish literature (comprehensive archive)



Storycode.com – book recommendations made by way of a unique search tool



Random House’s List of 100 Best novels [of all time] – at http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html



These are more than a half to keep you happily reading for many, many years to come.

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: book club recommendations

Article Source: http://www.articles32.com

Morgan Hamilton offers his findings and insights regarding the world of books. You can get interesting and informative information here at Book Club Recommendations





.: New Reviews Articles

1). The Alchemist Lurking In The Audio Book
When you get into this story you will be hooked on Alchemist and the adventures of the central figure in it

2). Al Jazeera - the novel?
Profile, Interview and Review - new literary quartet published this year by award-winning Al Jazeera and BBC Today Programme journalist, Afshin Rattansi.

3). The revival of the audio book.
A short history of the audio book In 1920 the Royal National Institute for the Blind in England was allready doing research on how to create audio books for the blind. At that time there were a lot of ex World War 1 soldiers who had gone blind as a result of the fighting. In 1926 the RNIB started to use LP’s to record audio books which could be played on record players (the kind with the big horn, you had to swing a handel a couple of times befor it would play).

4). Proof Evident - Book Review
Proof Evident is a newly released crime fiction novel by lawyer and controversial psychologist, John Dicke. The story line is based around a criminal case for Judge Avery Jackson who coldly murdered Sheriff Hardacre during his speech to 150 city officials. The problem is, Mr. Jackson has no memory of the event at all… Jack Maine leaves the public service and starts up a private practice with the assistance of his talented wife while taking on this difficult and seemingly doomed case.

5). Book Review - Marley and Me : Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog
Looking for a heartwarming frolic through the life of a dog? John Grogan new bestselling book Marley & Me : Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog delivers. This story of a young family making their way through life with the help of a neurotic dog will have you laughing out loud one moment, and then wiping a tear the next. Maybe your thinking "I don't like dogs.

6). Rich Dad Poor Dad
A lot of people have read Robert Kiyosaki's books (and he has a lot of them), but this is the one that started them all. I think what endears people to Rich Dad Poor Dad is the story. It seems to me that whenever a non-fiction book teaches with stories, it does very well. So, if you're going to write a non-fiction book, weave your info into a story.

7). Book Review - Net Entrepreneurs Only
Everyone loves to read other peoples success stories. It provides us with evidence that amazing things do happen to normal people. By learning what they did to succeed we come one step closer to success ourselves. Such is the case with the ten stories told in Net Entrepreneurs Only – 10 Entrepreneurs Tell the Stories of their Success by Gregory K. Ericksen and Ernst & Young.


.: Top Reviews Articles

1). Playing The Game: Review of Neil Strauss' "The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists"
A story about a guy who knows next to nothing about girls, then not only meets a secret society of pick-up artists who teach him how to score loads of beautiful women, but also becomes THE master pick-up artist himself, who both his students and his teachers go to for tips on how to deal and score with women. Sounds great, doesn’t it? The best part about it is, It’s true, and documented in Neil Strauss’ excellent book, “The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pick-up Artists.

2). Ebook Review: An Interview with Sara Brown
EBOOK DETAILS File Size: 455kb Zipped, 513kb Unzipped. Number of Pages: 36 Format: Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) Subject: Interview Ebook with Sara Brown (see about the author for more details) Other Information: Also comes with "Internet Marketing Success: Off the Record" - An interview with Tony Shepherd" who is author of 'The One Month Magnate.' This interview ebook is 18 pages long.

3). Book Review - Marley and Me : Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog
Looking for a heartwarming frolic through the life of a dog? John Grogan new bestselling book Marley & Me : Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog delivers. This story of a young family making their way through life with the help of a neurotic dog will have you laughing out loud one moment, and then wiping a tear the next. Maybe your thinking "I don't like dogs.

4). The Jewish Pilgrimage - Book Review
The Jewish Pilgrimage – An Exploration of Reality, Mainly in Verse The Jewish Pilgrimage by Geoffrey Hoffman is clearly written to inspire philosophical discussion. This book depicts the author’s personal journey to find some form of understanding about man, our various versions of God and how this effects society and the use of its knowledge. He debates moral issues and provokes deep thinking in several areas that will never leave my mind as I travel along my own road.

5). Book Review - Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss
"No wonder it's so hard to lose weight- our bodies are designed to keep weight on at all costs; it's a matter of survival. It's embedded in our DNA." In essence, we are designed to gain weight, expounds Mark Hyman, M.D. in his new bestselling book Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss. This books follows on the heels of his previous bestseller, UltraPrevention: The 6-Week Plan that Will Make You Healthy for Life that he coauthored and proves to be every bit as informative.

6). The Plight of Queen Bee - Book Review
This is a children’s book that will keep readers glued to the pages right to the end. The Plight of Queen Bee by Simone Fairchild entails forty pages of gorgeous, bright fun illustrations with vivid detail and glorious lilac flowers in full bloom. Illustrator Pamela Marie Key masterfully creates real-life illusions right down to the bark on the lilac tree.

7). Silent Lies - Book Review
Silent Lies is an action romance saga, that takes the reader through decades of a tumultuous time between the end of World War I and the beginnings of World War II. Excellent and intelligent use of actual historical events makes this piece both educational and entertaining. Leo, a young Hungarian boy who sees too many horrors and deceit, barely survives while family and friends are slaughtered.


Page loaded in 0.420 seconds.