By Roz Reisner, Chair, Reading Committee, Great Group Reads
“We are always looking for the book it is necessary to read next.”
–Saul Bellow
If you’re an avid fiction and memoir reader and a member of a book group, you may be the right person to join the2013 Great Group Reads reading committee. Great Group Reads is part of National Reading Group Month, which is sponsored by the WNBA. Now that 2013 has arrived, we’re gearing up for the new round of reading, commenting, and voting.
As chair of the Reading Committee for Great Group Reads, I had the pleasure this past year of working with 22 dedicated readers, all WNBA members, who graciously put up with the bundles of books delivered to their doors and dove into our project. Each member of the committee read 25 books between April and August, thought about whether they could recommend the books for discussion groups, and posted their thoughtful comments on our private blog. We voted in August and the list was announced in time forNational Reading Group Monthin October.
You can view the 2012 GGR list of titles by clicking this link:
National Reading Group Month – 2012.
We are now heading into the fifth year of Great Group Reads, and interest in the program increases, as publicity expands and publishers become more aware of the value of their books appearing on the list. We’re anticipating that more publishers will want to submit books and become sponsors and more media outlets will want to publicize the list.
Many of last year’s readers have indicated that they’d like to continue—a tribute to their stamina, but also to the excitement of reading and discussing good books! We would like toadd a few new readers to the committee.
We are looking for thoughtful readers who:
- Read widely, particularly in literary fiction and memoirs
- Can commit the time toread up to 25 books in 4-5 months
- Are currently involved in a bookdiscussion group—and have a sense of what titles will spark discussion
- Feel comfortableexpressing an opinionabout what they’ve read beyond “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it,” and posting it on a group blog
This is a “recommendation” and not a “review” task. We’rethoughtful readers, not literary critics.
If this sounds exciting to you, please contactRosalind Reisneratroz@thereisners.net for more information and answers to any questions you may have about Great Group Reads and the reading committee.
