I love the trivia that I can find on the Internet. There is no lack of material to enable procrastination. A few weeks ago I was on Art Garfunkel's website and saw a listing there of all the books he has read since June 1968. Then this week I saw an article in The New Yorker called "The King of Reading," which is all about his list. Now I wonder if The New Yorker writer tripped over this list online while procrastinating, or where the tip for this piece came from. Well, I confess that Art and I do not have the same reading taste, but reading his list gave me more insight into him. And it got me to wondering about the “college essay” and “job interview” question --- “What are the books that define me?” I never could answer that one.

A few months ago I realized that while we update ReadingGroupGuides.com monthly, there always is news or interesting tidbits and ramblings that I want to share with our readers throughout the month. I also recognized that, over the last eight years since we launched this website, we have come to know a very interesting group of readers, authors, book club facilitators, librarians, booksellers and publishing contacts who have shared their own ideas for what make a reading group something that gives people both joy and satisfaction.

January means a lot of things: a new year, chilly weather, both of my sons’ birthdays…and award season! Everybody knows about the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards (The Golden Compass, based on the book by Philip Pullman, was nominated for two Oscars!), but did you know that January is also the month that the American Library Association (ALA) announces the best books of the year for kids and teens? See the winning titles and honor books later in this newsletter. As always, there were lots of surprises.