books@random
   alfred a. knopf

Often reading groups choose to focus on specific themes or types of books, and with that in mind, we've broken down our list into categories to help you select the right books for your group. You can search our list below, or visit our featured category pages for more detailed information and suggestions from other readers!

View an alphabetical list of guides, as well as a brief synopsis of each book.

To order additional copies of Vintage Reading Group Guides, call 1-800-793-BOOK, or better yet, print them right here!

FEATURED CATEGORY PAGES

Interested in learning more about the books in a specific category? Visit the following category pages for recommended titles, reader's reviews, and suggestions from other readers--and add your own reviews and suggestions. Stop back soon for more category pages!

• Award Winners
  
• Memoir
  
• Mystery and Suspense
  
• Love and War
  

FEATURED GUIDE

• Dear Exile by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery
  A funny and moving story told through the letters of two women nurturing a friendship as they are separated by distance, experience, and time.

GUIDES BY CATEGORY

• New
  
• Fiction
  
• Nonfiction and Current Events
  
• Memoir
  
• Award Winners
  
• National Bestsellers
  
• Mystery and Suspense
  
• Love and War
  
• African-American Interest
  
• Women's Interest
  
• Classics
  
• Short Stories
  
• Teacher's Guides
  

NEW

• Dear Exile by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery
  
• The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman
  
• Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
  
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
  
• Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
  
• The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
  
• The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David Kertzer
  

FICTION

• Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
  
• All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
  
• Altered States by Anita Brookner
  
• American Pastoral by Philip Roth
  
• Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson
  
• As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  
• Asylum by Patrick McGrath
  
• Babel Tower by A. S. Byatt
  
• Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
  
• Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
  
• The Club Dumas by Arturo P#&233;rez-Reverte
  
• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
  
• Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
  
• The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
  
• Dancing After Hours by Andre Dubus
  
• Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
  
• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
  
• The First Man by Albert Camus
  
• Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
  
• Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
  
• I Was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn
  
• Independence Day by Richard Ford
  
• The Information by Martin Amis
  
• The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman
  
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  
• Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
  
• The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
  
• Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler
  
• Last Orders by Graham Swift
  
• A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
  
• Life Estates by Shelby Hearon
  
• Light Years by James Salter
  
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov
  
• The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
  
• The Lost Father by Mona Simpson
  
• Love Invents Us by Amy Bloom
  
• The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett
  
• The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
  
• Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser
  
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
  
• Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
  
• The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
  
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
  
• My Life, Starring Dara Falcon by Ann Beattie
  
• Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
  
• Open Secrets by Alice Munro
  
• Paradise by Toni Morrison
  
• Possession by A. S. Byatt
  
• The Professor's House by Willa Cather
  
• Push by Sapphire
  
• The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
  
• Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane
  
• A Regular Guy by Mona Simpson
  
• Remembering Babylon by David Malouf
  
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
  
• The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
  
• Straight Man by Richard Russo
  
• To the Wedding by John Berger
  
• The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
  

NONFICTION and CURRENT EVENTS

• The Body Project by Joan Jacobs Brumberg
  
• A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  
• Daisy Bates in the Desert by Julia Blackburn
  
• Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean
  
• Dear Exile by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery
  
• God: A Biography by Jack Miles
  
• Hitler's Willing Executioners by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
  
• The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David Kertzer
  
• My Own Country by Abraham Verghese
  
• Our Guys by Bernard Lefkowitz
  
• The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal
  
• Tracks by Robyn Davidson
  

MEMOIR

• All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
  
• First Comes Love by Marion Winik
  
• Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
  
• Personal History by Katharine Graham
  
• The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
  
• Shadow Man by Mary Gordon
  
• Sleeping at the Starlite Motel and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home by Bailey White
  
• True North by Jill Ker Conway
  
• An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
  
• When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
  
• Women's Memoirs
  

AWARD WINNERS

• All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (National Book Award)
  
• American Pastoral by Philip Roth (Pulitzer Prize)
  
• A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr (National Book Critics Circle Award)
  
• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
  
• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (Booker Prize)
  
• Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels (Lannan Literary Fiction Award)
  
• God: A Biography by Jack Miles (Pulitzer Prize)
  
• Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner (Booker Prize)
  
• Independence Day by Richard Ford (Pulitzer Prize)
  
• Last Orders by Graham Swift (Booker Prize)
  
• A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines (National Book Critics Circle Award)
  
• Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser (Pulitzer Prize)
  
• Personal History by Katharine Graham (Pulitzer Prize)
  
• Possession by A. S. Byatt (Booker Prize)
  
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (PEN/Faulkner Award)
  

NATIONAL BESTSELLERS

• All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
  
• All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
  
• Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
  
• A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  
• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
  
• Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
  
• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
  
• Hitler's Willing Executioners by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
  
• I Was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn
  
• A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
  
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
  
• Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
  
• Personal History by Katharine Graham
  
• The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
  
• Sleeping at the Starlite Motel and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home by Bailey White
  
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
  
• An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
  

MYSTERY and SUSPENSE

• Asylum by Patrick McGrath
  
• A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  
• The Club Dumas by Arturo P#&233;rez-Reverte
  
• The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
  
• The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
  
• The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
  
• Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
  
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
  

LOVE AND WAR

• Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
  
• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
  
• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (Booker Prize)
  
• The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
  
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (PEN/Faulkner Award)
  
• Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
  

AFRICAN-AMERICAN INTEREST

• Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
  
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  
• A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
  
• Push by Sapphire

WOMEN'S INTEREST

• The Body Project by Joan Jacobs Brumberg
  
• Daisy Bates in the Desert by Julia Blackburn
  
• Dear Exile by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery
  
• Life Estates by Shelby Hearon
  
• Personal History by Katharine Graham
  
• The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
  
• Tracks by Robyn Davidson
  
• True North by Jill Ker Conway

CLASSICS

• Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
  
• As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov
  
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
  
• The Professor's House by Willa Cather
  
• The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

SHORT STORIES

• Dancing After Hours by Andre Dubus
  
• Open Secrets by Alice Munro
  
• Sleeping at the Starlite Motel and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home by Bailey White

TEACHER'S GUIDES

• All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
  
• Black Ice by Lorene Carey
  
• The Diary of Latoya Hunter by Latoya Hunter
  
• Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
  
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
  
• In Spanish: La casa en Mango Street por Sandra Cisneros
  
• In My Place by Charlayne Hunter-Gault
  
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  
• A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
  
• Mama Day by Gloria Naylor
  
• Maus: A Survivor's Tale I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
  
• Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
  
• Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Heart by Opal Whiteley, Adapted by Jane Boulton
  
• A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
  
• The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
  
• The Schocken Bible, Volume I: The Five Books of Moses A New Translation with Introductions, Commentary, and Notes by Everett Fox
  
• When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
  
• In Spanish: Cuando era puertorriqueña por Esmeralda Santiago
  

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