"In book groups, like-minded souls gather; what they have in common seems to be that a) they can read b) they like to read, and c) they like to talk about what they've read." Margaret Atwood

Your summer reading suggestions were great. We've listed them, some with comments, some without, at the end of this newsletter. Enjoy!

Congratulations to the twenty five of you who were chosen to receive a free copy of Walter Mosley's new book (or audio) Fearless Jones. We'll post Muse Notes on this excellent detective novel in a month or so. We'll also host other book giveaways soon, so keep reading Amusements.

What's New?

Again this month, we've expanded the resources section. We've added a section for our exclusive author interviews. Check out Patricia's interview with Australian novelist Peter Carey. And BookMuse personals have started coming in. We've started a new partnership program with a few independent bookstores around the country and feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Go to bookstores to find out more, and tell your local independent about us.

There's a new interview in Kids' Corner with a mother-daughter book group in Connecticut. The interview might inspire you or give you some pointers for your own group. Check it out.

Home page featured books are Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang, a page-turning, vivid imagining of the life of Australia's most famous outlaw, and Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. For kids, our feature I was a Rat! by Philip Pullman would be a good start to a summer reading program.

Coming Up

Over the next couple of months we'll feature Homestead by Rosina Lippi, a beautifully written series of linked stories set in the Austrian Alps during the first three quarters of the twentieth century, Fearless Jones, the new detective novel by Walter Mosley, and Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, a sci-fi novel about life on Mars that will make you think differently about life on Earth.

Kids' features will include Weslandia by Paul Fleischman (K-2), about an outcast boy who starts his own civilization, At the Sign of the Star by Katherine Sturtevant, about a 17^th-century bookseller's daughter, Artemis Fowl, the hot new fantasy by Eoin Colfer, and more.

Book Group Tip

If your group doesn't have a professional facilitator, chances are that someone in your group volunteers to prepare the book for your meeting (often it's the person who chooses the book).

How should you prepare for the meeting? Here are a few ideas:

• Your library probably has access to Gale databases called Contemporary Authors and Contemporary Literary Criticism, both fabulous resources.
• Book reviews (New York Times is perhaps the best) generally include interesting author and background information, as well as ways of thinking about books within a context of others.
• Many authors have their own web sites with biographical information, interviews, editorial comments on their books and more.
• For older books, you can find books of criticism on the authors and their work. There are dozens of books, for instance, on Toni Morrison (and on our feature, The Bluest Eye).
• Better yet (and less time consuming) pick books that we feature here on the site and work with our Muse Notes.

Summer Reading
Never at a loss for books, our staff has these recommendations:

Vicki (BookMuse editor and webmaster): I have great hopes of reading Proust's Remembrance of Things Past this summer (though this has been a goal before). I've just finished (and loved) de Berniere's Corelli's Mandolin and am now beginning Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer. Chocolat is awaiting a few spare hours, and my sister has a new stack of books to hand over to me! My five year old and I are reading through all of Judith Caseley's, Tomie dePaola's, and Patricia Polacco's books. A smart and exquisitely colored summer fantasy for 5-7 year olds is Paul Fleischman's Weslandia. Our favorite author is Marisabina Russo, and not only because we love to say her name (When Mama Gets Home, Trade-In Mother, and many more). My two year old never gets enough of Joanna Harrison's When Mom Turned into a Monster.

Anji (BookMuse Kids' Editor): Having grown up near the Atlantic Ocean, I believe there are few combinations as enticing as the ocean and reading. There is nothing quite like pulling your beach chair right up to the shore, digging your toes into the wet sand, and hearing the waves crash around you as you immerse yourself in a good book. These days, I've forsaken the warmer waters of the Atlantic for the cooler Pacific. My beach bag is packed but is already exploding with the weight of too many books: Anne Frank: A Hidden Life by Mirjam Pressler, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison, Troy by Adele Geras, Daniel's Walk by Michael Spooner, and Witness by Karen Hesse. Let me urge parents to free their kids of the pressures and expectations of what and how much to read. Make books available by regular visits to the library or bookstore and provide a good role model by reading yourself. Offer suggestions if asked, but let your kids pick and choose what they want to read. This summer, give your kids a break, and let the true joy of reading happen.

Kristine (BookMuse founder): I just got back from BookExpo America in Chicago where publishers give away LOTS of great new, often not-yet-published books, so I have my summer reading cut out for me. At the top of my list is Thomas Savage's The Power of the Dog, The Fig Eater by Jody Shields, Loving Pedro Infante by Denise Chavez and Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. In the kids' department, I look forward to reading Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer if I can pry it away from my 10-year-old daughter. She's made me promise to read her recent favorites Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan and The Wanderer by Sharon Creech. I also plan to read Avi's new book (not yet available) called The Good Dog to my 8-year old son.

BookMuse Readers' Recommendations:
Our request for summer reading suggestions provoked a lot of response. Some people offered reviews, while others did not. So here's the list, pretty much as we received it:

Carry Me Across the Water by Ethan Canin. He is one of my favorite authors and has written two other novels and two books of short stories. This new one is wonderful!

Two of my all-time favorite books are T. C. Boyle's Tortilla Curtain and Janet Fitch's White Oleander. Both are compelling stories, difficult to put down, and excellent for book discussion groups!

Just finished the novel Letters From Yellowstone. Great read! The correspondence style is such a joy to read. The language is so rich and reflective.

Fup by Jim Dodge is brief but hysterical.

The Notebook of Lost Things by Megan Staffel provoked a lot of interesting discussion.

Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. I loved the whole "history" of Vermeer and the setting in Delft. It was told so poignantly. Girl In Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland is also about a Vermeer painting. It follows the different lives and stories of the people who owned the painting. I loved reading the two books together, because they gave a rich picture of how art deeply touches people's lives.

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro. He also wrote Remains of the Day. Orphans is a very interesting story of an English boy, born in Shanghai in the early 1900's, orphaned there, and brought back to England to live and go to school. He carries with him the disappearance of his parents in Shanghai, and vows to become a detective, so he can return to find them. Very interesting story full of psychological twists.

Waiting by Ha Jin. A Chinese doctor in a loveless, traditional, marriage meets and falls in love with a Chinese nurse while in the Army. The cultural aspects, given the societal and political climate, make for an interesting story.

Gods Go Begging by Alfredo Vea is a very imaginative tale of a Vietnam vet who is still haunted by the war, and his cathartic climb back to salvation. He is a defense attorney in San Francisco, who is faced with defending someone who commits a crime that ties all his nightmares together.

My son's favorite book this year was Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel. It is the story of a young bat (the runt of his colony) and his adventures to save the colony. This book was assigned for his fourth grade book club. The other favorites were the House of Dies Drear and Mystery of Drear House, written by Anne Hamilton. They are historical fiction novels that take place in a house that used to be part of the Underground Railroad.