I’m moderating a panel in New York in celebration of National Reading Group Month this Thursday evening, Oct. 20th. This is my third year doing this and I love it. The five authors on the panel, in no particular order, are: Julie Otsuka (just nominated for the National Book Award for The Buddha in the Attic), Scott Spencer (Man in the Woods), Nayana Currimbhoy (Miss Timmins’ School for Girls), Annia Ciezadlo (Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War), and Aine Greaney (Dance Lessons). The program is sponsored by the Women’s National Book Association and it should be a lovely evening.
I’ve read all the books and enjoyed them–they’re very different from each other in style, language, setting, character, so I’m hoping to get some good discussions going among the authors that evening of the panel. I’ve listened to podcasts and downloads of interviews with the authors where I could find them in preparation and now I’m really excited to meet them.
The titles above, with the exception of Scott Spencer’s Man in the Woods and Nayana Currimbhoy’s Miss Timmins’ School for Girls, are on the Great Group Reads list this year. They’d also work well for book groups–lots to talk about in both.
A Reader's Place 
And a very stimulating panel discussion it was . . .