Posts tagged as book discussion

When the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group met in February, we discussed David Baldacci's novel, The Camel Club.

This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on February 28, 2013. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book (and series) in a reply comment to this blog post, below.

For additional reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings and/or other announcements of interest to mystery fans, don't forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, if you're logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts! Our selections for future meetings are usually posted there months in advance.

What do you think of The Camel Club by Baldacci?

As we prepare to wrap up our 2012 season of Just Desserts meetings and look forward to 2013, we are faced with that inevitable question -- what authors should we read and discuss as a group in the next year?

Harlan Coben, our October 2012 selected author, is the 67th author we've tackled thus far. Our goal for the past 6+ years has been to not repeat an author if we could possibly help it. Here are the other criteria we've used when choosing past authors/titles:

• For the first several years of Just Desserts, we've alternated between "classic" authors and "contemporary" authors. We ended that practice after we ran out of "classic" authors for whom the library had sufficient copies to meet the group's needs.
• The libraries need to own at least 12 to 15 copies of whatever title we select, preferably in a variety of formats, including audio and/or downloadable.
• We've tried to avoid those authors that everybody already seems to be reading (such as Evanovich and Patterson), and focus on picking authors that may be new to a large percentage of the group's members.
• We've tried to alternate tone and writing style -- including a mix of cozies, police procedurals, amateur detectives, noirish P.I.s, forensic detectives, various time periods, etc.
• We've had some success with picking a few authors for whom we didn't select a specific title -- instead recommending that participants read whatever novel(s) they could for those authors (Louise Penny and Suzanne Arruda). We are certainly capable of trying this again! This makes for unusual discussions, as we try to discuss generalities rather than specifics of individual titles.
  

With all of these considerations in mind, what authors do you suggest that we consider for Just Desserts gatherings in 2013? Leave your suggestions as a comment to this blog post -- and feel free to elaborate on why you recommend particular authors in your comments!

Scott C. / Just Desserts coordinator

Here's a link to the Just Desserts archives, so you can see an entire list of all the authors we've used in the past.

When the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group met in July 2012, we discussed a 2010 volume in Anne Perry's popular "Thomas and Charlotte Pitt" series, Treason at Lisson Grove.

This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on July 26, 2012. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are  welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book (and series) in a reply comment to this blog post, below.

Join us next on August 23rd, at the South Branch Library (6:30 p.m.), as we discuss a volume in the Tea Shop mystery series by Laura Childs, Treason at Lisson Grove.

For additional reminders about upcoming  Just Desserts meetings and/or other announcements of interest to mystery  fans, don't forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, if you're logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts! Our selections for the September and October meetings were posted just recently.

What do you think of Treason at Lisson Grove and the Thomas and Charlotte Pit series by Perry?

When the Just Desserts mystery fiction group met in February 2012, we discussed a volume in Margaret Coel's popular "Wind River" series, The Silent Spirit.

This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on February 23, 2012. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book (and series) in a reply comment to this blog post, below.

Join us next on March 29th, at South Branch Library (6:30 p.m.), as we discuss the "The Last Coyote", an entry in Michael Connelly's popular and long-running Harry Bosch series.

For additional reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings and/or other announcements of interest to mystery fans, don't forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, if you're logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts!

What do you think of The Silent Spirit?

During our September 2011 meeting, the Just Desserts mystery fiction group discussed the first book in Nancy Atherton's popular "Aunt Dimity" series, Aunt Dimity's Death.

This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on September 29th, 2011. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book (and series) in a reply comment to this blog post, below.

Join us next on October 27th, 2011, at South Branch Library (6:30 p.m.), as we discuss the combined works of author Louise Penny, whose series featuring Chief Inspector Gamache has reached seven volumes as of 2011. Participants are encouraged to read ANY of Penny's novels -- we'll be discussing them all in a general sense. The series begins with Still Life. October is the final meeting of Just Desserts for 2011.

And, for additional reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings, don't forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, if you're logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts!

What do you think of Aunt Dimity's Death?