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

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
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.
2 Comments » | Tagged Better World Book Club, book club
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.”
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
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
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.
Read more…
1 Comment » | Tagged Better World Book Club
June Book Club
Posted by Erin on 06.29.2011 at 10:04 am
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
About the Book
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.
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
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.
Stay tuned for details on a twitter discussion – and also feel free to comment right here on the blog!
Our January pick is AWAY by Amy Bloom and the local
discussions are taking place tonight at 7PM participating Whole Foods Markets.
Previous picks include:
OUTCASTS UNITED by Warren St. John
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
Have a book you’d like to suggest? Want to set up a live local meeting near you? Email me at bookclub@betterworldbooks.com.
Have your say » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Amy Bloom, Annie Barrows, Atlanta area, Away, Better World Book Club, Junot Diaz, Mary Ann Shaffer, Outcasts United, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, Warren St. John, Whole Foods Markets
- Aaron King africa ARC betterworld.com better world books fund Better World Books in the field blog book drive book drives book reviews books books for africa bookstore campus campus division in southeast asia chicago conferences dana barrett david murphy green festival green for all hilarious posts Impact invisible children library literacy literacy statistics massachusetts Natasha National Center for Family Literacy NCFL off-topic Our Partners partner updates Pat Plonski Phi Theta Kappa podcast Poll Wednesday press room to read Show Us Some Love social entrepreneurship Spooky Book of the Day worldfund Xavier Helgesen
- Africa 2010 (10)
- Antiquarian Ramblings (9)
- Author Podcast (48)
- Better World Book Club (18)
- Book & Author News (41)
- book club (4)
- Book Lists (83)
- Book Reviews (67)
- Books on the Big Screen (7)
- Company News (71)
- Contests (13)
- Dispatches from the Green House (46)
- Flabbergasted (15)
- From our Friends (58)
- holidays (17)
- Impact (164)
- Impact Vignette (2)
- In the News (12)
- LEAP (11)
- Literacy Trips (19)
- Our Partners (175)
- Poll Wednesday (19)
- Show Us Some Love (29)
- Social Enterprise (16)
- South America 2011 (6)
- The Man Behind the Curtain (22)
- Uncategorized (362)
- Video Impact Story (4)
- Week In Review (18)
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
-
Latest Comments
Erin, Thanks for this message. It means a lot....
Thank you! I appreciate your kind words. :-)...
I was drawn to your lead comment - no bathroom breaks! What other profession has...
right on! so thoughtful too....
We can never have enough beauty in this world,thank you Better World Books!! Si...













