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In The Club

In The Club – Nov 14

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read.

The midterms are over and though I’m still sore over Beto, I sure did raise a glass for all the amazing women and people of color elected to office. This is a club, after all. Let’s pour one out and do a little dance!

Oh and then talk about books.

Let’s commence.


This newsletter is sponsored by Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom by Ariel Burger.

The world remembers Elie Wiesel—Nobel laureate, activist, and author of more than forty books—as a great humanist. He passed away in July of 2016. Now, in Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, we see him as never before—not only as an extraordinary human being, but as a master teacher. Written by Wiesel’s devoted protégé and friend, Ariel Burger, Witness takes us inside the classroom, where listening and storytelling keep memory alive. Witness provides a front row seat to these lessons in compassion, teaching us that listening to a witness, makes us all witnesses. In this book, Wiesel’s legacy lives on.


Don’t Forget to Enter the All The Books Giveaway! We’re celebrating 200 episodes of All the Books by giving a lucky reader a $250 Barnes & Noble gift card. Enter here!

Club Style Quiz – No, this ain’t a fashion consult, although TBH that skirt with those shoes is supes last year. Let us help you find your book club style with just a few simple questions. 

Picture Perfect Reads – Stressed at work? Dating life a bust? Feeling crushed by the weight of the patriarchy and of living in a country run by a pompous pile of Cheeto dust? Then make sure to get your self-care in wherever you can, like with these spirit-lifting picture books for quick and delightful reading.

  • Book Club Bonus: Set the Lit Fic and tear-jerker memoirs down for just a second and bring picture books to book club. Have every member pick one or two with a feel-good message and read them aloud at your meet-up. Pick ones with a solid storyline as opposed to just pretty colors, shapes, and rhymes. Use a sign-up sheet to avoid repeats among the group and agree to try and select books that aren’t super common (Corduroy, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, etc). In a mommy/daddy + me club? BYOB (bring your own baby) and make it a real party.

Nature-Happy Book Pairs – Nothing feeds my soul like curling up with a good book, except perhaps a little forest bathing among big beautiful trees. Treat yo self to the best of both worlds with these five books to read in some of nature’s masterpieces.

  • Book Club Bonus: Pick a book on nature and take book club outside! If you don’t live near a national park or have time to get to one, fret not. That Terry Tempest Williams you’ve had your eye on pairs just as well with a nice brisk hike or walk in whatever nature spot is near you. If it’s feasible, hold book club at said nature spot – pack a picnic and some blankets and talk nature in nature.

Post-War Crime Reads – November 11th, 2018 marked the 100 year anniversary of Armistice Day, the end of World War I. LitHub recommends these nine titles from the Golden Age of mystery; set in the half decade immediately post-war, they speak to the “lingering desire to see the destructive intrusion defeated and the world made right again.”

  • Book Club Bonus: I confess I’d never given much thought to how mystery fiction changed from before the war to after. Pick two mysteries for book club: one pre-war and one post. Discuss the changes in content, tone, character development, etc. as informed by their place in the war’s timeline.

5 books bearing witness to America’s carceral state – Last month the National Book Foundation launched Literature for Justice (LFJ), a three-year campaign that seeks to encourage  the reading of literature that “contextualizes and humanizes the experiences of incarcerated people.” This initiative includes the curation of a 15-book list of titles about the American prison system, five of which are highlighted by LitHub here.

  • Book Club Bonus: There is so, so much to learn from reading up on the American prison system, from the school-to-prison pipeline to for-profit prisons and everything in between. Pick these important reads, then do a little good afterwards by donating your past reads to a local prison. Check with the prison to see if they accept direct donations or if it’s best to go through a charitable organization, and also check to see which types of books are accepted.

Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter for tips and latest listens and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa