Resources for book club organizers and discussion leaders.
Discussion Questions
If you're looking for book club discussion questions on the internet, try these sites first.
- ReadingGroupGuides.com
- Reading Group Guides is the most complete and comprehensive site for discussion questions for your book club. To locate a guide on the site you can browse by Title or by Author. If you find a guide on Reading Group Guides, there's a good chance that all of the other sites you find will be linking to the same guide.
- BookBrowse.com
- Book Browse also offers discussion questions, author biographies, and book reviews for your discussions. Their site is easy to search and well organized.
- Bookreporter.com
- Book Reporter has a good search tool for searching their site as well as a few others. If you're stumped and can't find a discussion guide, try Book Reporter search for these other sites:
authorsontheweb.com
readinggroupguides.com
faithfulreader.com
teenreads.com
kidsreads.com
You have to search them individually but you might get lucky. - Barnes & Noble
- Barnes & Noble and Amazon both have links to discussion questions, I find that Barnes & Noble's are easier to find when I need them. If you find the book that you're looking for on Barnes & Noble and they have discussion questions associated with the book it will be listed on the right side. There may also be links to author biographies, interviews, and reviews.
Try Google
It's not uncommon to end up empty handed when searching for discussion questions. If you're stumped try searching Google. Using the book's title and the word 'guide' might give you something you didn't find before. I've found questions using this search from the book's publisher and school groups that have published information online.
Generic Guides
If you still can't a guide then you can use Reading Group Guide's list of generic guides. These guides are arranged by type of book including biography, fiction, and current events. They can be a great last resort of questions if you come up empty handed.
Library Resources
Through your local library, try searching these databases for author biographies, book reviews, author interviews, or articles.
- FirstSearch
Using the book's title you may find something interesting in these FirstSearch databases. Remember to choose a "full text" search, FirstSearch does not default to these automatically.
* ArticleFirst
* Reader's Guide Abstracts
* Wilson Select Plus
* ECO - FirstSearch Biography
Using the author's last name you may find something interesting in these FirstSearch databases.
* Biography Index
* Wilson Select Plus - InfoTrac
Try one search using the book's title and try another using the book's author. A lot of what you will find in InfoTrac will be short reviews but you may find some substantial articles too. - Biography Resource Center
If your library subscribes to this database you might find a good biography entry on the book's author here.
More on the Internet
More book club resources that might be helpful.
- Biography Base
- Biography Base offers wide selection of biographies and related resources. To find a biography you need use their search form or browse biographies in their alphabetical index.
Popular Book Club Selections on Amazon
Death of a Red Heroine (Soho Crime)
Amazon Price: $11.20 (as of 10/11/2008)
The Kite Runner
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 10/11/2008)
Winesburg, Ohio (Bantam Classic)
Amazon Price: $5.95 (as of 10/11/2008)
The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness: A True Story
Amazon Price: $10.36 (as of 10/11/2008)
