Better World Book Club - Better World Books Blog - Book Reviews, Author Interviews, Community Outreach & more

$10,184,799.20

63,271,794

What he learned from an illiterate homeless man who became a NY Times bestselling author

Posted by Erin on 01.19.2012 at 12:56 pm

Last night 45 Better World Books staff, friends, family and fans gathered together at Atlanta’s City of Refuge. We served dinner to the women and children residents and also out on the streets of downtown Atlanta. After an eye-and-heart-opening shared experience, we ate together from the social enterprise kitchen at the shelter and discussed one of my favorite books (and true stories) “Same Kind of Different as Me”. You can view photos from the event on Facebook.

Below is a guest post by Ron Hall, Co-Author of “Same Kind of Different as Me” and “What Difference Do it Make?”

This is the season when most of the world is focused more on giving than receiving, on blessing or helping those who cannot help themselves. In an excerpt from our book What Difference Do It Make, I’d like to share a story that hopefully will bless you, the reader of this blog, about serving without judging.

After Denver and I struck up our unlikely friendship at the mission, we had a bargain. I was going to show him how to get along with the country-club set, and he was going to show me how to get along in the ‘hood. When Deborah first dragged me down to serve at the mission, my biggest worry was catching a disease or some kind of creepy-crawly infestation. But after a while, my heart toward the homeless softened up to the point where I actually started going out into the streets with Denver to reach out to the homeless. Read more…

2 Comments » | Tagged Better World Book Club, book club, From our Friends, Impact

November Book Club & Winter Event

Posted by Erin on 12.01.2011 at 9:18 am

We hope you enjoyed this month’s read! You are cordially invited to discuss the book through the comment thread below. Thank you so much for taking part.

About the Book

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

January 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

October Book Club: In the Time of the Butterflies

Posted by Erin on 10.31.2011 at 4:25 pm

This serious and significant historical fiction story is enmeshed with a light and lovely romantic comedy novel feel. It’s a winner for lovers of history, social justice, and stories of undying love and dignity.

Better World Books’ own Catarina Gutierrez recommended the book and has this to share:

“It’s one of my favorite books by my favorite author because the story of sisterly love and devotion to social justice is told so well. I really enjoyed reading from the perspective of each sister and getting a better understanding of their involvement in a historical time during Latin American history. It’s undeniable how strong-willed the sisters were and how much of an inspiration they serve to the Dominican Republic.”

Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Better World Book Club

September Book Club: A love letter to author of “The Help”

Posted by Erin on 09.30.2011 at 12:00 pm

This is a love letter to Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help by Better World Books employee, Erin Levin.

As a book company that funds and promotes literacy and education at home and all over the world, we love many authors and books. Recently, however, I have been particularly inspired by a series of love letters our fans have written to us, Better World Books, on their blogs. In this spirit, I felt led to write a love letter to one of my favorite authors.
Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Book & Author News, book club, Books on the Big Screen

A Blue Sweater Changed Her Life… and Her Book Changed Mine

Posted by Erin on 09.02.2011 at 9:15 am

On Facebook, Twitter, at Better World Books events and even on this blog I have asked you if any book has ever completely changed your life. The answers that you’ve sent in have been fascinating and fruitful.

The Blue Sweater changed mine.

Out of Africa

“Like a volcano, Africa can stun you in an instant. It can throw floods and drought and disease at you, sometimes all at the same time. In the next moment, it will tease you with its magnificent beauty, so even if you don’t forget, you can find a way to forgive. Ultimately, it keeps you coming back for more,” I read this sentence 125 pages into the book while still in my first sitting with it.I could not put the stories down.

Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Better World Book Club, book club, Our Partners, Social Enterprise

July Book Club

Posted by Erin on 07.26.2011 at 3:02 pm

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

About the Book

In his first novel since The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen has given us an epic of contemporary love and marriage. Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. In charting the mistakes and joys of Freedom’s intensely realized characters as they struggle to learn how to live in an ever more confusing world, Franzen has produced an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time.

June Book Club

Posted by Erin on 06.29.2011 at 10:04 am

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

About the Book

Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman’s sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer’s disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University.

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what’s it’s like to literally lose your mind…

Reminiscent of A Beautiful Mind, Ordinary People and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Still Alice packs a powerful emotional punch and marks the arrival of a strong new voice in fiction.

Read more…

4 Comments » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Uncategorized

May Book Club: The Middle Place

Posted by Erin on 05.29.2011 at 6:10 pm

May’s Better World Book Club pick was The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan.

Have your say » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Uncategorized

Discussing MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS

Posted by admin on 08.06.2010 at 4:51 pm

Last night my chapter of the Better World Book Club got together to discuss MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS at the Whole Foods on Ponce de Leon Ave in Atlanta.

I personally liked the book, but overall the group’s reviews were lukewarm.

The book, a memoir by Rhoda Janzen, is about her returning to her Mennonite family after her husband leaves her for a man he met on gay.com. If that wasn’t enough, she can’t afford the mortgage on her house and she ends up with a nice collection of broken bones from a pretty bad car wreck.

We all agreed that the premise was good, but generally the feeling was that Rhoda didn’t really give us the truth. Either that or she somehow doesn’t feel pain. We enjoyed her humor and loved her Mom, but wondered how she really felt.

She generally seemed pretty nonplussed by things that would’ve sent most women into years of therapy or to the bottom of big box of wine.

And as for the title, though she did go back to her Mennonite family – her Mennonite-ness wasn’t really an issue. Going back didn’t seem to bother her and no one really seemed bothered that she had left the fold in the first place. Janzen did include a really good primer on the religion at the end of the book but we would have liked to have seen more of that woven throughout. And while we’re talking about the title, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a black dress at all. I know I’m being literal here, but I think the point is that what could’ve and maybe should’ve been something like a clash of cultures was more like a dull thud of cultures.

Alas Rhoda really does have impeccable comic timing in her writing along with a biting wit and I really did enjoy getting to know her through the book.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Wondering what the heck the Better World Book Club is? Check it out at http://www.betterworldbooks.com/bookclub. Join us. Next month we’re reading SOUTH OF BROAD by Pat Conroy. (Want 10% off and free shipping, use the code BOOKCLUB10 at checkout and save!)

Have your say » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Atlanta, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, Rhoda Janzen, Whole Foods, Whole Foods Market

Book Club Update

Posted by Dana on 01.14.2010 at 3:49 pm

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged about the Better World Book Club and a lot has happened since August! We’ve been reading some great books and we are starting some live meetings at participating Whole Foods Markets in the Atlanta area.

We’re now announcing books a month ahead of time so that you can participate in our online and local discussions. Our newest pick – which we’ll be discussing the first week in February is THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz.