Each week, we're sharing cultural experiences you can access from home during the pandemic, such as online concerts, theater and art. This week we suggest:

• Alan Bennett's The Madness of George III at London's National Theatre (available June 11 - 18).
• Marine biologist Alasdair Harris's Ted Talk, How a handful of villages sparked a marine conservation revolution.

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This is week two of our new "Culture Corner" feature, in which we suggest up to five ideas to keep your cultural horizons expanding during the pandemic:

• Watch The Royal Opera House's performance of The Cellist, "a lyrical memoir of the momentous life of the cellist Jacqueline du Pré."
  (available May 29 - June 11)
• Listen to a 6-minute Ted Talk on the importance of shopping at farmers' markets.
• Register for an exclusive advance reading from Elena Ferrante's upcoming novel, Our Brilliant Friends (June 9).

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Culture Corner

This week we're launching a new feature on the BookBrowse Blog. The idea behind "Culture Corner" is that during the time of COVID-19 (with the accompanying restrictions of movement and social distancing, and with most libraries, museums and theaters closed) cultural activities have been restricted for all of us. So, how do we cross this cultural abyss?

Books provide a wonderful escape, and an opportunity to learn and grow - and we have plenty of recommendations at BookBrowse! But there are other ways to keep our cultural horizons expanding during this difficult time. So for at least the next couple of months we will provide you with three to five weekly suggestions beyond the immediate world of books. Without more ado, here are this week's ideas:

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Are you in a book club or thinking about starting one? I was recently interviewed by the lifestyle magazine Verily about common book club misconceptions and BookBrowse's 2019 report, The Inner Lives of Book Clubs. Check out the article, which features insights and information on many book club topics.

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Kathleen recently wrote saying, "My book group is at a stalemate during the COVID-19 pandemic because it's hard for our members to get the next book. We read in print and most of us prefer to borrow books from the library, but we can't at the moment because the library building is closed. How can we keep our book club going?"

Step one is to temporarily move your in-person book club online. Our previous post, Safe Book Club Ideas in the Time of Social Distancing offers tips on this (and it's much easier to do than you might think!)

Step two is to find creative ways to keep discussing, even though you might not have access to the library. Here are 15 suggestions which will be particularly relevant to groups that normally borrow print books from the library, but most could be used at any time by any book club that's looking for ideas to keep their group fresh.

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A friend of mine recently contacted me because her in-person book club is moving online during the COVID-19 pandemic and she's worried about making the transition, particularly as, while she loves her group, their discussions have a tendency of devolving into friendly chit-chat at the best of times.

I asked her if her group had considered designating a facilitator - someone who, generally speaking, helps the group get the most out of their discussions by being prepared, keeping things on track and making sure that everyone's voice is heard. She said they had, but that she felt some trepidation as to how to be an effective facilitator, particularly while also navigating an online discussion forum - did I have any suggestions?

Here are the tips I shared with her:

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