Our book this month was our own Novel Women. The support from the rest of our book club has been incredible. Women working and helping each other to be the best they can be. So inspiring!
Category: Book Club Events
Morristown Festival of Books 2017
Another year of joyous reading! What could be better?
I love to hear how an author creates his or her novel. Some of these stories are as good as the book itself. At the annual Morristown Festival of Books held on Friday, Oct. 13, and Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017, I got a chance to listen to Lincoln Child and Tess Gerritsen speak to a packed crowd at St. Peter’s in Morristown about their books and characters and about themselves. Gerritsen has been dubbed the “medical suspense queen,” by Publishers Weekly with 30 million books sold. Her 27 novels include the Rizzoli and Isles crime series, Gravity and her latest I Know a Secret. Child is also a New York Times bestselling author, both individually, and with his co-author, Douglas Preston, for the Pendergast series. His latest book is Full Wolf Moon.
Child began his career as an editor then switched tracks becoming a systems engineer at MetLife. After a few years of programming, Child began writing. He is a New York Times best-selling author of his own books as well as a co-author with Douglas Preston on the Pendergast series.
The series protagonist, Pendergast, is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. With his quirky traits and a surreal quality that almost defies logic, Pendergast is my type of superhero – a smart one. Child and Preston first collaborated on Relic which became the first in the series of novels. In Relic, Pendergast is an FBI agent who works with a NY detective to find out who or what is killing people in the American Museum of Natural History. (more…)
Oh, What a Night!
All those questions you have when you finish a book, imagine being able to ask the author, especially with a psychological thriller like “The Memory Box.” Alleluia! We started talking about the novel before the author arrived. We compared our notes as to all the twists and turns and together we came up with a collective understanding of the story.
By the time Eva arrived, we were ready, wine glasses in hand, for a lively conversation. As it turned out, Eva, herself, is a fascinating person. Her background in public relations at Estee Lauder could have been a novel, in and of itself. Then, her amazing adventure in the publishing world – all her highs and lows. Again, this is definitely material for a book. There aren’t a lot of success stories of self-published authors. The odds of breaking through all the white noise to be heard is quite low, but she did it. “The Memory Box,” is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling book, even bumping “The Girl on the Train,” from the top spot on the list. We were mesmerized by her story of publication and asked her a million questions about it.
We eventually started talking about the book. Everyone always wants to know where the author came up with the idea. Eva said, “Reading a New York Times article about people Googling themselves gave me the idea….” One article she read was about a young boy who had discovered he was abducted. “This idea of Googling yourself and discovering something so personal, that was previously unknown, was a thrilling concept to me.”
The protagonist in the book, Caroline, is at first relatable to women, especially mothers, before the reader understands that she is not a reliable narrator of the story. “I love the idea of facades in literature. How people or places can be facades and that’s what I believe the town of Farhaven represents for us. Also, I do love the idea of memory and what it is we remember about our past, and what we ‘choose’ to forget.”
We talked about Caroline’s therapy sessions. The client/therapist relationship between Caroline and Dr. Sullivan was the part of the novel that Eva researched to have a better understanding of what a therapist can and cannot disclose. “I wanted to be sure I represented the obligation of Dr. Sullivan and what he chooses to disclose or not disclose,” Eva said.
Finally, we asked Eva what was the hardest part of writing the book. “The hardest part for me, and maybe for most thriller or mystery writers, was how much detail to reveal without being condescending. I don’t want to connect the dots for the reader. It’s so much fun to do that on one’s own when reading suspense. But the risk will always be if enough has been disclosed for the majority of readers to get to the reveal.”
Well, we got it!
Eva is represented by CAA and is working on her next novel. She is also a self-publishing consultant. See her website at https://evanatiello.com/. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvaNateillo/ and Twitter: https://twitter,com/EvaNatiello
Authors interested in meeting with book clubs usually address it on their websites. Some authors will travel locally, some Skype, some will phone conference. There is a site called Book the Writer at bookthewriter.com that represents over 100 writers who will, for a fee, come to your book club, usually within New York City limits.
For us, hosting an author completes the experience of reading. Try it. You will definitely like it.
Drum Roll …… We Are Pleased to Announce Our New Website
Today is National Book Lovers Day. What a great excuse to curl up with a book and read! And, it’s also a great day to launch our new website.
Take a look around. When you mix friends, reading and wine – well, it’s just perfect. If you’re not in a book club – start your own. You’ll be so happy you did.
I’ve always loved reading and I started our book club in 2004. I’ve found that some books really touch a nerve and we’ll be up for hours talking about it, and other times we barely mention the book and spend the time catching up with each other. I just love it. I love the comradery and those times that move us, whether it be from our reading selection or one of our lives.
Speaking about reading – as always, I’m in the middle of a few books at the same time. One is “1776,” by David McCullough to get my history fix, another is “The Swans of Fifth Avenue,” by Melanie Benjamin to get my gossip fix and the last is “Executive Privilege,” by Phillip Margolin to get my mystery fix. So many books – so little time.
Let us know what you think about our new website and any books you’d like to share!
Be sure to tweet with #NationalBookLoversDay. It’s the top trending hash tag right now.
Holiday Cheer – December 2015
Between Friends Book Club enjoyed another holiday party at Son Cubano in West New York on Friday. What a view! Our lovely clubette, Fran, graciously hosted the pre-party with a festive signature drink. Quite tasty and strong. Then we boarded into a shuttle and were whisked away toasting the evening with champagne.
Always the best part of the night are the people you are with. A few of our clubettes couldn’t make it, but we soldiered on. Book club is always so much more than just reading. Over time you come to understand and appreciate everyone for the unique person they are.
I pray we have hundreds more amazing moments and that we all grow old together, reading and laughing.
October 2015
What a wonderful event for area readers!
I didn’t have book club this month to encourage my book club members to participant in the 2nd annual festival of books.
On Friday night Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn spoke to a packed house about getting involved and giving back.
Participating authors spoke at varying times during the day on Saturday. I enjoyed Kimberly McCreight speak about her writing journey. McCreight wrote “Reconstructing Amelia,” which was nominated for an Edgar Award. Her current novel is “Where They Found Her.”
We also listened to Hector Tobar who wrote “Deep Down Dark,” and Bryan Burrough who wrote “Days of Rage.”
My favorite part of the day was Gail Sheehy’s lecture. She was amazing. What a life – what a woman!
I can’t wait till next year!!!
July 2015
This month we did something different. We joined another book club for a discussion of the Morristown Festival of Books’ One Community, One Book (OCOB) selection “The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken,” by Laura Schenone. Book clubs and readers from all over the area were asked to read a single book and discuss it. (See my review under the author’s name to the right.)
We had met the lovely ladies of Long Valley at the Morristown Festival of Books’ kick-off reception in April and decided to try to join together for the OCOB pick.

It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it to other book clubs. Not only was it fun, but it was also enlightening.
December 2014
March 2014
We are please to announce that our book is complete and that we are sending it out to publishers and agents.
Wish us luck!