SV Moms Group holds monthly online book clubs, featuring
a range of topics and writing styles. Our bloggers do not write
traditional book reviews, but instead use the books we read as
inspiration for blog posts on our personal blogs that are about our own
experiences. The authors join in on the discussion as
well, to give their perspectives on the various posts. We invite you to
buy the books, read along with us and add your voice to the discussion.
Happy reading!
Click here to view all SV Moms Group book club posts.
If you are a publisher or author who is interested in providing a book for one of our book clubs, we would love to hear from you. Please scroll down to read the information for publishers and authors and send an email to info (at) svmoms dot com.
This Month's Book Clubs:
June 2010 Book Club - Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
About
the Book:
When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from
Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life:
exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the
evenings. Disguising the more difficult truths of her life-like the
staggering degree of her poverty, the weight of her family's future
resting on her shoulders, or her secret love for a factory boy who
shares none of her talent or ambition-Kimberly learns to constantly
translate not just her language but herself back and forth between the
worlds she straddles.
Through Kimberly's story, author Jean
Kwok, who also emigrated from Hong Kong as a young girl, brings to the
page the lives of countless immigrants who are caught between the
pressure to succeed in America, their duty to their family, and their
own personal desires, exposing a world that we rarely hear about.
Written in an indelible voice that dramatizes the tensions of an
immigrant girl growing up between two cultures, surrounded by a language
and world only half understood, Girl in Translation is an
unforgettable and classic novel of an American immigrant-a moving tale
of hardship and triumph, heartbreak and love, and all that gets lost in
translation.
Purchase your copy of Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok here.
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Upcoming Book Clubs: June 2010 Book Club - If You Knew Suzy by Katherine Rosman Faced with the loss of her mother, Suzy, to cancer at sixty, Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Rosman longs to find answers to the questions that we all wrestle with after losing someone we love. So she does what she does best: she opens her notebook and starts investigating. Thumbing through her late mother's address book, Rosman begins to discover a woman whose life was intricately connected to a host of characters her daughter hardly knew. Her reporting skills at the ready, she embarks on a cross-country odyssey, tracking down total strangers from whom she hopes to learn about a woman she once thought she couldn't know better. Venturing into the heart of some colorful communities, Rosman interviews friends and acquaintances of her mother's, as well as people whose relationships with her were more complex though no less potent—among them a former golf caddie, a legendary Pilates instructor, an eBay glass collector, and an immigrant doctor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. As Rosman attempts to fill in the blank spaces that may explain her mother's motivations and philosophies in building a life and in facing death, she comes to understand this woman as she never imagined she could. Blending humor, honesty, and old-fashioned reporting, Rosman grapples with the bittersweet reality that sometimes we can't truly know someone until after she is gone. At once comforting, candid, and very funny, If You Knew Suzy is a heartfelt memoir against which readers can consider themselves and the lives of all those they love. http://www.harpercollins.com/books/If-You-Knew-Suzy-Katherine-Rosman/?isbn=9780061735233 Purchase your copy of If You Knew Suzy by Katherine Rosman here. XXXXAbout the Book:
July 2010 Book Club - This Is Not the Story You Think It Is by Laura Munson
About
the Book:
When Laura Munson's essay was published, The
New York Times was so flooded with responses that they had to close
down the comment feature. Readers wrote in saying that they had sent the
column to all of their friends. Therapists wrote Munson to tell her
that they were passing it out to their clients.
What did Munson
write that caused such a fervor?
Laura detailed what happened
when her husband of more than twenty years told her he wasn't sure he
loved her anymore and wanted to move out. And while you might think you
know where this story is going, this isn't the story you think it is.
Laura's response to her husband: I don't buy it.
In this
poignant, wise, and often funny memoir, Munson recounts a period of
months in which her faith in herself-and her marriage-was put to the
test. Shaken to the core after the death of her beloved father, not
finding the professional success that she had hoped for, and after
countless hours of therapy, Laura finally, at age forty, realized she
had to stop basing her happiness on things outside her control and
commit herself to an "End of Suffering." This Is Not The Story You
Think It Is... chronicles a woman coming to terms with the myths we
tell ourselves-and others-about our life and realizing that ultimately
happiness is completely within our control.
Purchase your copy of This Is Not the Story You Think It Is by Laura Munson here.
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Past
Book Clubs have included:
May 2010 Book Club - I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui “I’m a simple village girl who has always obeyed the orders of my father and brothers. Since forever, I have learned to say yes to everything. Today I have decided to say no.” http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307589675 Purchase your copy of I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui here. XXXX
About the Book:
Forced by her father to marry a man three times her age, young Nujood Ali was sent away from her parents and beloved sisters and made to live with her husband and his family in an isolated village in rural Yemen. There she suffered daily from physical and emotional abuse by her mother-in-law and nightly at the rough hands of her spouse. Flouting his oath to wait to have sexual relations with Nujood until she was no longer a child, he took her virginity on their wedding night. She was only ten years old.
Unable to endure the pain and distress any longer, Nujood fled—not for home, but to the courthouse of the capital, paying for a taxi ride with a few precious coins of bread money. When a renowned Yemeni lawyer heard about the young victim, she took on Nujood’s case and fought the archaic system in a country where almost half the girls are married while still under the legal age. Since their unprecedented victory in April 2008, Nujood’s courageous defiance of both Yemeni customs and her own family has attracted a storm of international attention. Her story even incited change in Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries, where underage marriage laws are being increasingly enforced and other child brides have been granted divorces.
Recently honored alongside Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice as one of Glamour magazine’s women of the year, Nujood now tells her full story for the first time. As she guides us from the magical, fragrant streets of the Old City of Sana’a to the cement-block slums and rural villages of this ancient land, her unflinching look at an injustice suffered by all too many girls around the world is at once shocking, inspiring, and utterly unforgettable.
May 2010 Book Club - The Body Scoop for Girls by Jennifer Ashton, M.D., Ob-Gyn with Christine Larson Click h As an Ob-Gyn specializing in adolescent care, Dr. Jennifer Ashton understands better than anyone that being a teenage girl these days is fraught with a special kind of angst. But in her practice she talks openly and non-judgmentally to each of her young patients like a good friend, answering each of their questions respectfully and with candor, like all good doctors should. Covering questions about a girl's body, head to toe, The Body Scoop includes chapters on: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/specialinterests/hfb/2009/thebodyscoopforgirls.html Purchase your copy of The Body Scoop for Girls by Jennifer Ashton, M.D., Ob-Gyn with Christine Larson here. XXXXere to join the SV Moms Group book club discussion on The Body Scoop for Girls by Jennifer Ashton, M.D., Ob-Gyn with Christine Larson at DC Metro Moms Blog
About the Book: Writing in a funny and fresh, girl-to-girl voice, Dr. Ashton has created a totally up-to-date health book that speaks directly to young women and the unique pressures they face today. From a doctor who "gets it," The Body Scoop For Girls makes the road to womanhood an empowering one.
April 2010 Book Club - Just Let Me Lie Down by Kristin Van Ogtrop, managing editor of REAL SIMPLE Magazine
Click here
to join the SV Moms Group book club discussion on Just Let Me Lie Down by Kristin Van Ogtrop, managing editor of REAL
SIMPLE Magazine at Chicago Moms Blog
About the Book:
Kristin van Ogtrop knows she's lucky--fulfilling career, great husband,
three healthy kids, and, depending on the hamster count, an impressive
roster of pets. She also knows she is tired. Always.
Using
stories and insights from her own life, she provides a lexicon for the
half-insane working mom. Anyone who has left a meeting to race to the
Halloween parade immediately understands van Ogtrop's definition of "Kill
the messenger" as "The action you must take in order to
forget about the office for a time--that is, to remove your
Blackberry/Treo/iPhone/whatever from your person and store it as far
away as your neurotic self will allow." Filled with essays, lists, and
resonant observations, JUST LET ME LIE DOWN establishes van Ogtrop as
the Erma Bombeck of the new millennium.
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/books_9780316068284.htm
Purchase your copy of Just Let Me Lie Down by Kristin Van Ogtrop here.
Upcoming events with Kristin Van Ogtrop are listed here.
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April 2010 Book Club - National Geographic's Green Guide Families by Catherine Zandonella
Click here
to join the SV Moms Group book club discussion on National Geographic's Green Guide Families by Catherine Zandonella at Silicon Valley Moms Blog
About the Book:
When National Geographic published The Green Guide in 2008, Meryl Streep called it "the ultimate green living reference." Now, building on that success, here's a guide to eco-friendly parenting that's expertly organized and filled with practical advice, definitive explanations, and imaginative ideas.
Addressing the key environmental issues faced by parents of young children today, this book takes a straightforward approach to such urgent concerns as lead-painted toys; the risks and benefits of vaccinations, antibiotics, and vitamins; the potential side effects of plastic bottles and containers; how to manage food allergies and avoid fat- and sugar-filled snacks; and much more.
A trained scientist, seasoned writer, and mother of two small children, author Catherine Zandonella combines knowledge and experience as she helps parents guide youngsters through a society that doesn't always make green lifestyle choices easy. She also offers sensible advice on raising children who "think green" right from the start and shows how green choices can actually cost less.
Combining two trusted names with tried-and-true advice, this is sure to become the go-to guide for a new generation of green parents.
Purchase your copy of National Geographic's Green Guide Families by Catherine Zandonella here.
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March 2010 Book Club - Top 100 Finger Foods and Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel
Click here
to join the SV Moms Group book club discussion on Top 100 Finger Foods and Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel at Los Angeles Moms Blog
About the Books:
Top 100 Finger Foods
By the age of nine months, many babies want to start feeding themselves but can't yet handle a spoon, which is when finger foods come into their own. They're also great to offer to toddlers who are prone to go into 'meltdown' just before dinner.
This essential collection of tempting, nutritious finger foods features 100 quick and easy recipes, including fresh fruit ice lollies - perfect for soothing sore gums - goujons of fish and raw vegetables with dip, that will that will not only introduce your baby to new textures and tastes but will make for a healthy, happy and contented child.
Top 100 Baby Purees
Making your own baby food is not only more economical than buying commercial brands - you can be sure your child has only the freshest ingredients.
This essential collection of Annabel's best ever purees features 100 quick and easy new recipes that will make for a healthy and happy baby. From first tastes and weaning, right through to meals for older babies, all the recipes are suitable for children aged 6 months and above.
Purchase your copies of Top 100 Finger Foods and Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel here.
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March 2010 Book Club - The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman at New Jersey Moms Blog
About the Book:
In the autumn of 2000, Hope Edelman was a woman adrift, questioning her marriage, her profession, and her place in the larger world. Feeling vulnerable and isolated, she was primed for change. Into her stagnant routine dropped Dodo, her three-year-old daughter Maya's curiously disruptive imaginary friend. Confused and worried about how to handle Dodo's apparent hold on their daughter, Edelman and her husband made the unlikely choice to take her to Maya healers in Belize, hoping that a shaman might help them banish Dodo—and, as they came to understand, all he represented—from their lives.
An account of how an otherwise mainstream mother and wife finds herself making an extremely unorthodox choice, The Possibility of Everything chronicles the magical week in Central America that transformed Edelman from a person whose past had led her to believe only in the visible and the "proven" to someone open to the idea of larger, unseen forces. This deeply affecting, beautifully written memoir of a family's emotional journey explores what Edelman and her husband went looking for in the jungle and what they ultimately discovered—as parents, as spouses, and as ordinary people—about the things that possess and destroy, or that can heal us all.
http://thepossibilityofeverything.comPurchase your copy of The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman here.
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SPECIAL VALENTINE'S BOOK CLUB! February 2010 Book Club - The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex by Kristen Chase
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex by Kristen Chase at DC Metro Moms Blog
About the Book - from the author's website:
Whether your post-baby sex life suffered only minor speed bumps or you had to relearn how to drive, having kids does really change everything. It's not that your libido got stranded at the hospital but rather it just went on mini-hiatus – you know, after the kids are asleep, the laundry is folded, and you've lost the post-partum belly rolls. Or at least bought stock in Spanx.
The last thing you probably need are helpful hints from an expert who just wants to send you on date nights or make you name your husband's private parts.
The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex will help you get back what’s rightfully yours. No harsh judgments, boring commentary, or embarrassing exercises. Just a frank, funny discussion about sex after kids for new moms and seasoned veterans. From the nitty gritty on pregnancy and post-partum sex to spicing things up when the flame starts to burn out, even a chapter that's just for the dads, the Mominatrix takes on everything you need to know or want to ask.
So get ready to toss out those mommy jeans and dust off those handcuffs.
Purchase your copy of The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex by Kristen Chase here.
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January 2010 Book Club - Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky by Chris Greenhalgh
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky by Chris Greenhalgh at Silicon Valley Moms Blog
About the Book - from the publisher's website:
Coco Chanel and Composer Igor Stravinsky.
Their love affair inspired their art.
Their art defined an era.
In 1913, at the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the young couturiere Coco Chanel witnesses the birth of a musical revolution- one that, like her designs, rips down the artifice of the old regime and ushers in something profoundly modern. Seven years later, she invites Stravinsky and his family, now exiled from their Russian homeland, for a summer at her villa, and the powerful charge between them ignites into a deep love affair. As Stravinsky enjoys a new burst of creativity and Chanel brings forth her own revolutionary creation-the perfume Chanel No. 5-their love threatens to overtake work, family and life.
http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781594484551,00.html
Purchase your copy of Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky by Chris Greenhalgh here.
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December 2009 Book Club - See Mom Run by Beth Feldman
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind by Phillip Done at DC Metro Moms Blog
About the Book - from the author's website:
Get ready for heartfelt belly laughs with a See Mom Run collection of essays by the nation’s most talented authors, mom bloggers, television producers, parenting experts, entrepreneurs, grandmothers and even a retired senator! From labor pains to potty disasters, weight gain, holiday mayhem, teen angst, empty nest syndrome, home renovations and even colonoscopy exams, See Mom Run is the perfect prescription for today’s harried parents.
With contributions from Role Mommy, Lost in Suburbia, Momma Said, Mom 101, Melissa Chapman, SVMoms Blog & Tech Mama, Single Mama NYC, Chef Druck, Self Made Mom, Simply Organized Online, Jenna McCarthy, Ciaran Blumenfeld, Suburban Jungle, Crafty Mama, Because I Said So, From Hip to Housewife, Twinfatuation, Modern Jewish Mom, Ex Marks the Spot, Yentasentiments, NYC Moms Blog, Janie Lam Meyers, Andrea Forstadt, Danielle Dardashti, Jeanne Muchnick, Lenore Stoller
Purchase your copy of See Mom Run by Beth Feldman here.
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November 2009 Book Club - Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind by Phillip Done
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind by Phillip Done at Silicon Valley Moms Blog
About the Book - from the publisher Hatchett Group:
A twenty-year veteran of the classroom, elementary school teacher
Phillip Done takes readers through a lively and hilarious year in the
classroom. Starting with the relative calm before the storm of buying
school supplies and posting class lists, he shares the distinct
personalities of grades K-4, what he learned from two professional
trick or treating 8-year-old boys, the art of learning cursive and
letter-writing, how kindergartners try to trap leprechauns, and what
every child should experience before he or she grows up.
These
charming, sweet, and funny tales of Mr. Done's trials and triumphs as
an award-winning schoolteacher will touch readers' hearts and remind
them of the true joys of childhood. We all have that one special,
favorite grade school teacher whom we fondly remember throughout our
adult lives - and every teacher also has students whom they will never
forget. This is the perfect book for teachers, parents, and anyone else
who is looking for a lighthearted, nostalgic read.
Purchase your copy of Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind by Phillip Done here.
October 2009 Book Club - This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper at New York City Moms Blog
About the book - from the author's website:
The death of Judd Foxman's father marks the first time that the entire
Foxman family-including Judd's mother, brothers, and sister-have been
together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd's wife, Jen, whose
fourteen-month affair with Judd's radio-shock-jock boss has recently
become painfully public.
Simultaneously mourning the death of
his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the
Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch's dying request:
to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same
house. Like a family.
As the week quickly spins out of
control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old
passions reawakened. For Judd, it's a weeklong attempt to make sense of
the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked
into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of
which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd's
father died: She's pregnant.
This Is Where I Leave You is
Jonathan Tropper's most accomplished work to date, a riotously funny,
emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the
ties that bind-whether we like it or not.
Purchase your copy of This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper here.
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September 2009 Book Club - Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer at New Jersey Moms Blog
About the book - from the author's website:
A few years ago, Debbie Tenzer was feeling overwhelmed by all the
crises in the news. But rather than give in to despair, she thought,
Maybe I can’t solve our big problems, but I know I can do something.
She realized that helping doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive or
time-consuming. You can help simply by doing one nice thing. So that’s
what she vowed to do, one day a week. Not every day–she says she’s not
that nice–but once a week was a promise she could keep.
So she
started a website, DoOneNiceThing.com, and each week she posted an easy
way to help people around town or across the globe. Good news traveled
fast, and now Debbie is the leader of a worldwide kindness movement
with fellow Nice-o-holics in ninety countries. They’ve sent . . .
• cans of food to food banks and schools
• notebooks to soldiers who will give them to Afghan children
• gifts to foster children whose birthdays are overlooked
• and much more
Do One Nice Thing
has many new, easy ideas for small deeds that anyone can do (and
includes explicit information on how exactly to execute the ideas, so
you don’t have to go digging for information or resources). There’s
even a chapter of nice things you can do in minutes without leaving
your desk.
Join Debbie and her army of Nice-o-holics, and give
the world some help–and some hope. Best of all, the more help you give,
the more hopeful you’ll feel. And before you know it, you won’t be able
to stop.
Purchase your copy of Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer here.
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August 2009 Book Club - Birth Day by Mark Sloan
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on Birth Day by Mark Sloan at Chicago Moms Blog
About the book - from the publisher Random House:
I delivered twenty babies in the summer of 1977. I was hardly more
than a baby myself, just turned twenty-four and starting my third year
of medical school.”—from Birth Day
So began Mark
Sloan’s three-decades-long exploration of the wonders and oddities of
human childbirth. Pediatrician, husband, and father, the author has
attended nearly three thousand births since that long-ago summer,
encountering everything from routine deliveries to tense labor-room
dramas. In Birth Day, Sloan draws on his personal and professional
experience to weave the strands of memoir, history, science, and
culture into a fascinating—and often funny—tapestry of this fundamental
human passage.
Purchase your copy of Birth Day by Mark Sloan here.
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July 2009 Book Club - What Happened to the Girl I Married? by Michael Miller
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on What Happened to the Girl I Married? by Michael Miller at Silicon Valley Moms Blog About the book - from the author's website:
"What does she do all day?" That was the
question Miller and his corporate fraternity brothers often asked themselves
about their stay-at-home wives. Their ignorance about what seemed like
a simpler life at home shielded them from seeing or hearing the realities
of it. Embarking on a quest to find the girl he married - lost in that
life - Miller finds out the hard way just how very wrong they had been.
In What Happened to the Girl I Married?, Miller steps out of his corporate executive job and into his wife’s uncomfortable shoes at home. With no staff or administrative assistants to support him, Miller’s “ah hah moments” begin on day one and become more profound with each step down the path. Through his journey, Miller offers a new found appreciation for the tireless efforts of stay-at-home mothers and clues as to why women might lose themselves in the job. For the men they married, Miller lets them connect with his evolution through humor, man-isms and motivations for change that are hard to resist
www.whathappenedtothegirlimarried.com
Purchase your copy of What Happened to the Girl I Married? by Michael Miller here.
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June 2009 Book Club - Testimony by Anita Shreve
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on Testimony by Anita Shreve at DC Metro Moms Blog About the book - from the publisher Hachette Book Group:
At a
Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in Testimony a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.
Purchase your copy of Testimony by Anita Shreve here.
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May 2009 Book Club - Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
Click here to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club discussion on Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs at Chicago Moms Blog
About the book - from the author's website:
A letter to readers from author Kate Jacobs: How wonderful it is to sit down at the table with friends and with family to share a good meal! Perhaps a bottle of wine. Certainly, in my case, a slice of rich chocolate cake. The power of food to bring people together is something so central to our lives that the very act of eating can provide not only physical nourishment but emotional sustenance as well. And to these special dishes – some are regional, some are cultural, some are simply cherished tastes since childhood – we give a name: comfort food.
The idea of comfort
food creates a sense we are slowing down, nurturing ourselves, and
enjoying a treat. And it is that type of good feeling I hope readers
experience when they pick up my novel Comfort Food. Taking a few
moments to curl up and savor a little bit of relaxation as they share
in the characters’ lives. Everyone I know in the real world feels as
though they are too busy with the day-to-day business of life: They
have, as the saying goes, a lot on their plate. So what do we do when
we don’t feel like eating what’s on our emotionally overloaded plates?
That’s the challenge facing Comfort Food’s Augusta “Gus” Simpson, a
host of a television cooking program with declining ratings and a
widowed mom to two complicated twentysomethings. And Gus’s life only
gets busier with the addition of her sweet but reclusive neighbor
Hannah, her bold new rival Carmen, her daughter’s jilted boyfriend
Troy, and handsome sous-chef Oliver. But there is also fun in new
challenges, and excitement. And as much as Gus would hate to admit it,
the changes in her life do spice things up.
What interests me
most, as a novelist, is sorting out relationships: how we yearn for
each other and yet drive each other crazy! And, with Comfort Food, the
action is once again in the city that I love – New York – with a bit of
a branching out into the ‘burbs of Westchester. And the focus is all
about food. You know, when I was in high school twenty years ago, I
never could have imagined late-afternoon phone calls to my best friends
asking, “What are you making for dinner tonight?” and really caring
about the answer. But for many, food has become an expression of love,
of skill, of creativity. Personally, I’m no chef. I’m a home cook who
loves carbs and delicate flavors. But I married a gastronomic
adventurer (masquerading as a computer guy) and, with my husband’s
influence, I have tried all sorts of spicier foods. Similarly, the
characters in Comfort Food dare each other – sometimes their
motivations are sweet, sometimes bitter – to savor the varied flavors
in each bite of life. Even an overloaded plate, it turns out, can be
filled with wonderful, nourishing tastes. I do hope you'll take a bite of Comfort Food.
Purchase your copy of Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs here.
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Other past book clubs have included:
- Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guilette
- It Started with Pop-Tarts by Lori Hanson
- Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
- The White Trash Moms Handbook by Michelle Lamar
- Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues
- The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert W. Sears
- The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross
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Information for publishers and authors
How Silicon Valley Moms Group book clubs work:
On
the day of the book club, we have a discussion around one lead-in blog
post written by one of Silicon Valley Moms Group's writers. See an
example here.
We also do a summary post, where we aggregate links to blog posts done
across the blogosphere by our many great writers on their personal
blogs. See an example of a summary post here.
What is the process:
What
we do is to distribute books to the writers who would like to receive a
book - we have about 350 writers at this point and need about 30-50
books minimum in order to get a really good book club going. We like to
have as many books available to our writers as would like them. The
writers have about a month to read the book and prepare a blog post
on their personal blogs that is not a strict review (although they can do a separate review
post on their personal blogs if they would like to), but instead is a post about the writer's
own experiences that is inspired by the book. What we can bring to an
author/publisher is not only exposure for the author not only on the
Silicon Valley Moms Group network of sites, but also on our writer's
personal blogs across the blogosphere. It is a way to tap into a large
network very easily and to have a very authentic book club discussion.
We ask that the writer be available on the day of the book club to
participate in the discussion via commenting on the blog posts both on
the Silicon Valley Moms Group sites and on our writers' personal blog
posts.
How to submit your book for consideration:
If
you are interested in having your book featured as a Silicon Valley
Moms Group book club choice, please contact us at info (at) svmoms dot
com. Thank you!
