Online Book Discussions Delivered Right to Your Email!
Welcome to BOOKreMARKS, Lake County Public Library's online book discussion.
Join the BOOKreMARKS Discussion Group!
- Send an email to remarks@lcplin.org from your email account.
- Type 'subscribe' in the subject line.
- In that first email, you may inform the moderator about your reading tastes if you wish. This information will not be posted to the group.
Join the BOOKreMARKS Discussion!
- Reply to the discussion message from BOOKreMARKS sent to your email.
- Email your comments to remarks@lcplin.org
Please sign your comments with a first name or a chosen name. Some members prefer to have messages identified with a consistent user name for a more personal connection among the participants. Your privacy will be protected. Email addresses will not be included in the posted comments or released to third parties.
Each book will be open for discussion for one month with the most activity in the latter half of the month. We want to give everyone a chance to read the book without disclosing the plot too early. Feel free to send comments or questions to remarks@lcplin.org at anytime, however, if the remarks are too revealing they may be delivered to the other members later in the discussion.
We look forward to reading your reactions and opinions. See the books!
Books may be borrowed through the library. When possible, versions will be available in regular print, large print and audio on a limited basis. Have your Library Card & PIN number ready and place your reserve on the Library Catalog or by phone at 769-3541.
Some Q&A from BOOKreMARKS members:
Would you mind explaining how this online book club works?
During the course of one month you will read the book designated. Comments and questions will be sent to your email account during that time. You may read those emails and respond at your convenience by choosing 'Reply' to the email.
Do we have discussion questions?
Comments and questions will be posed to the group as the month progresses. Feel free to respond to any of those emails or jump in with a comment of your own at anytime by emailing remarks@lcplin.org. As was mentioned previously, if a comment reveals too much of the plot early in the month, it will be delivered to the others at a later time. We don’t want to spoil anyone’s enjoyment by giving away the storyline prematurely.
Are we supposed to read a certain amount by a given time?
It would be ideal if everyone could finish the book by the third week, but it is not mandatory. If you are afraid of something being revealed before you finish reading, then you might want to wait until you are finished before opening any of the emails. It is your choice.
Ease and flexibility are two of the advantages of joining this online discussion group.
Check Out and Discuss These Titles
| 2012 | January | The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends and One Unexpected Adventure by Rachel Friedman |
| Discussion | Have you ever wanted to break out of your "normal" and try an adventure? Read how good girl Rachel acted on a whim and did just that. | |
| February | Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin | |
| Discussion | Unlikely boyhood friends, Larry and Silas, are torn apart when a girl disappears while on a date with Larry; she is never found and he is not convicted. Twenty years later another girl disappears. Silas, now a constable, is forced to confront the past they've buried and ignored for decades. | |
| March | The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West | |
| Discussion | An Indiana native wrote this warm and humorous tale about the daily life of a Quaker family living in Southern Indiana around the time of the Civil War. | |
| April | The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett | |
| Discussion | Cheeky and charming; this novella features the Queen of England herself as its protagonist. When her yapping corgis lead her to a mobile library, Her Majesty develops a new obsession with reading. With a young member of the palace kitchen staff guiding her choices, it’s not long before the Queen begins to develop a new perspective on the world - one that alarms her closest advisers and tempts her to make bold new decisions. | |
| May | West With the Night by Beryl Markham | |
| Discussion | Beryl Markham (aviator, racehorse trainer, adventurer, and beauty) wrote about her life and love of Africa from her early childhood through the 1930s. Hemingway declared this "a bloody wonderful book." | |
| June | Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy | |
| Binchy is back with a tale of joy, heartbreak and hope in a close-knit Dublin community. When Noel learns that his former girlfriend is terminally ill and pregnant with a child she claims is his, he agrees to take care of the baby girl once she's born. But he can't do it alone -- it takes a village and one persnickety social worker. | ||
General Book Discussion - Find here a collection of comments not necessarily tied to the book being discussed during the month.
Previous Discussions
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth SteinAt Christmas the Heart Goes Home: A Holiday Treasury by Marjorie Holmes
Belle Weather: Mostly Sunny with a Chance of Scattered Hissy Fits by Celia Rivenbark
Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
Christmas in Harmony by Philip Gulley
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
A Cup of Christmas Tea by Tom Hegg
Death of a Cozy Writer: A St. Just Mystery by G.M. Malliet
Dewey:The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
Don’t Look Behind You by Lois Duncan
Faith and Betrayal: A Pioneer Woman’s Passage in the American West by Sally Denton
First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives by Bonnie Angelo
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts
The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan
A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Haunted Indiana 2 by Mark Mariman
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nat Philbrick
Into the Forest by Jean Hegland
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J. Fox
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel by Helen Simonson
Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan
Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy
Montana 1948: A Novel by Larry Watson
Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman
Murder in the Sentier by Cara Black
Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody
The Old Buzzard Had It Coming by Donis Casey
Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt
Pomegranate Soup: A Novel by Marsha Mehran
Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Ride of Our Lives by Mike Leonard
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers by Elizabeth Edwards
Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of WWII by Robert Kurson
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
That Summer in Sicily by Marlena De Blasi
There's Nothing in this Book That I Meant to Say by Paula Poundstone
The Thin Woman by Dorothy Cannell
This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman
Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann
Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn
A Tree Full of Stars by Davis Grubb
Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters by Jean Shepherd
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Welcome to the World Baby Girl by Fannie Flagg
When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner
When the Dead Speak by S.D. Tooley
Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences by Leonard Sax
Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons by Tim Russert