LOVING FRANK
by Nancy Horan
"The perfect selection to jump-start some satisfying heated arguments within your book club."
—USA Today
In this ambitious debut novel, fact and fiction are brilliantly blended in the dramatic story of Mamah Borthwick Cheney and her lover, the renowned American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. More than a poignant and engaging love story, LOVING FRANK is a novel about breaking old rules and living new ideas. Nancy Horan portrays the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose among her roles as a mother, wife, lover and intellectual.
You'll have a lot to talk about after reading LOVING FRANK, including:
* Why do we need to feel connected to a person or a place?
* Love vs. loyalty; responsibility vs. passion
* Can a mother have a sense of self outside of her family?
These books clubs already love LOVING FRANK:
"From the first page I was hooked and could not put the book down. I was fascinated with the entire story and the ending was hard to read...that I was not expecting. I believe that Nancy Horan has a hit on her hands. Again thank you for a wonderful book. It is one that I will recommend to my book club and other friends and family."
—Gayle Cowles, Women Listening to Women Book Club, Hampton, VA
"Historical Fiction at its best...I enjoyed reading Nancy Horan's LOVING FRANK & look forward to spreading the word. During my summer vacation to visit my Highland Park, IL family, I will plan to drive through Oak Park as well as hunt out the lovely architecture & landmarks of Frank Lloyd Wright! Brava... 4 stars!
—Laurie Blum, Book Worms, Farmington Hills, MI
Read on for more of their glowing reviews!
Visit www.lovingfrank.com for special extras such as a photo gallery, trivia quiz and newspaper articles from the 1900s documenting the story behind LOVING FRANK.
Nancy Horan is on tour! Check out her schedule—she may be in a city near you!
Click here for an interview with Nancy Horan
Share this with your book club and use our reading guide to start the discussion!
Invite Nancy Horan to discuss LOVING FRANK with your book group.
Part of LOVING FRANK takes place in Oak Park, IL, where Frank and Mamah first met and it is actually the town where the author grew up. Does your town have any literary connection? Find out, and read a book that is tied to where you live!
LOVE MARRIAGE
by V.V. Ganeshananthan
In Yalini's globe-scattered, war-torn Sri Lankan family, there are two kinds of marriage: the Arranged Marriage, and the Love Marriage. As the American born daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants—themselves the first in their family to have a Love Marriage—Yalini is caught between the traditions of her ancestors and the modern world in which she lives. But when she is summoned to Toronto to help care for her dying uncle, Kumaran, a member of the militant Tamil Tigers, she understands that love must transcend many more boundaries.
Ganeshananthan's prose is innovative and richly textured, told in lyrical vignettes that span several generations, and she knits together the story's many threads with the universal themes of family, love, duty, and honor, making the exotic setting and foreign conflict accessible to readers everywhere.
The author talks about her personal stake in LOVE MARRIAGE:
"For a book to be good, from my point of view, it has to be necessary. LOVE MARRIAGE was very necessary. I started writing it as my senior thesis in college, but it actually changed quite a bit after that. It started as a story that was really about a family and it became a story that was about a family in politics and a family that was choosing to be active in politics as opposed to a family that had politics happen to them. Although both elements are still in the book and I do think that the political dilemma of the narrator is one that I personally think is important for me as someone who was born and raised in the U.S. but still, in classic ROOTS fashion, feels a responsibility to where my parents came from - Sri Lanka. It's important to engage politically. Even when it's extremely complicated. Even when it's inconvenient. Even when it's politically hairy. The more I learned about the war the more that I felt that I was compelled to say something about it, not in the voice of a activist, but in the voice of an artist."
—V.V. Ganeshananthan
Take a look at this exclusive interview with V.V. Ganeshananthan
Discuss LOVE MARRIAGE with your book club!
Invite V.V. Ganeshananthan to chat with your book club!
Read an excerpt from LOVE MARRIAGE
 THE DESCENDANTS
by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Matthew King was once considered one of the most fortunate men in Hawaii. His missionary ancestors were financially and culturally progressive—one even married a Hawaiian princess, making Matt a royal descendant and one of the state's largest landowners.
Now his luck has changed. His two daughters are out of control. His charismatic, thrill-seeking, high-maintenance wife, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat-racing accident and will soon be taken off life support. The Kings can hardly picture life without her, but as they come to terms with this tragedy, their sadness is mixed with a sense of freedom that shames them—and spurs them into surprising actions.
Before honoring Joanie's living will, Matt must gather her friends and family to say their final goodbyes, a difficult situation made worse by the sudden discovery that there is one person who hasn't been told: the man with whom Joanie had been having an affair, quite possibly the one man she ever truly loved. Forced to examine what he owes not only to the living but to the dead, Matt takes to the road with his daughters to find his wife's lover, a memorable journey that leads to both painful revelations and unforeseen humor and growth.
Click here for an interview with Kaui Hart Hemmings
Share this with your book club and use our reading guide to start the discussion!
Invite Kaui Hart Hemmings to chat with your book group
 OLIVE KITTERIDGE
by Elizabeth Strout
"Gorgeously crafted...perceptive, deeply empathetic...Olive is the axis around which these 13 complex, relentlessly human narratives spin themselves in Elizabeth Strout's unforgettable novel in stories...Miraculous."
—O Magazine
Crosby, Maine, may seem like nowhere, but seen through Elizabeth Strout's eyes, it's in essence the whole world, and the lives that are lived there are filled with all of the grand human drama—desire, despair, jealousy, hope, and love. Thirteen rich stories are linked through the presence of one larger-than-life, unforgettable character: Olive Kitteridge. A retired schoolteacher, Olive deplores the changes in her little town and in the world at large, but she doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance: a former student who has lost the will to live: Olive's own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life—sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty.
Click here to read an excerpt
 THE BRIGHT SIDE OF DISASTER
by Katherine Center
THE BRIGHT SIDE OF DISASTER received rave reviews from book clubs when it was first published in hardcover. Now it is available in paperback, with discussion questions inside!
Jenny Harris always expected that she'd fall in love, get married, and have a baby—in that order. Then one night her fiance Dean runs out for cigarettes and just doesn't come back. And the very next day, Jenny goes into labor.
In the months that follow, Jenny plunges into a life she never anticipated: single motherhood. At least with the sleep deprivation, sore boobs, and fits of crying (both hers and the baby's), there's not much time to dwell on her broken heart. And things start looking up. She learns how to do everything one-handed, makes friends in a mommy group, and even manages to give dating tips to her sweet, clueless father—who's trying to court her sassy mother again, fifteen years after their divorce. She also gets to know a handsome, helpful neighbor—with a knack for soothing babies—who invites her out dancing. But Dean is never far from Jenny's thoughts or, it turns out, her doorstep, and in the end Jenny must choose between the old life she thought she wanted and the new life she's been lucky to find.
Click here to read an excerpt
Discuss with your book club
Click here to visit Katherine Center's website
Last month, we asked you
what brings you together as a book club. Is it more than books? Here's a sampling of what you had to say!
Doris Kidd from Baltimore, MD: Our "Happy Endings Book Club" began as a means for a group of Boy Scout moms to get to know each other as our husbands took our sons on camping trips. Our troop has at least four camping weekends each in the fall and spring. That left us a lot of "free" weekend evenings, and a book club seemed a great way for some of us to get to know each other. While we always discuss a book at our meetings, we have become much more than "just" a book club. We have become a support system for each other as most of our sons have gone on to college.
Martha Stewart from Richmond, VA: My book club, The Salisbury Birdies, was formed with all members from the 18 hole lady golfers at Salisbury Country Club, Midlothian, Virginia. We had that common thread and decided since we all like to read this seemed like a good idea. After forming the book club, we went further and formed a birthday club. Whatever month is your birthday you have the privilege to pick the restaurant and the day and we all join in celebrating. If more than one have the same month they get together and decide. The book club and birthday club were both successful so next came a movie club. If anyone wants to see a current movie, they email the members of the book club; inform them when they are going and anyone who wants to join in meets in the lobby of the theater. You can tell it is a good group or all these "clubs" would not succeed.
Gayle Cowles from Hampton, VA: I took a 6 weeks class with 8 other ladies at our church that was called Women Listening to Women. This class was an opportunity for women to share their lives and experiences with one another and to develop a voice that could be heard in the church. After the class was completed we wanted to continue to meet regularly, so we formed a bookclub and we meet twice a month. We read anything and everything...as friends we appreciate everyones differences and their opinions.
Each month we'll ask you, our readers, to share something with us about your book club or about your personal
reading habits. By responding, you will automatically be entered to win FREE books.
PLEASE NOTE: you must include your mailing address in your response in order to qualify.
Your address will not be used for any promotions or shared with anyone else.
How does your book club keep up on the latest trends and new novels? Do you visit book blogs and websites? Do you find them helpful in making your next selection?
Submit your entries to: rhrc@randomhouse.com
And keep sending in your tips and suggestions for running a smooth book club meeting. Hints are always helpful, and always appreciated! Or if you have a specific problem or concern with how to run a meeting or how to start a club, write in and we'll try to help. Please write in about your experience and also, continue to write in with any more problems or suggestions!
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