This blog first ran as a "beyond the book" article for BookBrowse's review of The Watcher by Charlotte Link

Thanks to authors like Jo Nesbo, Karin Fossum, and Henning Mankell, not to mention Stieg Larsson, American readers have become quite familiar with contemporary Scandinavian thrillers and novels of psychological suspense. As The Watcher demonstrates, however, the Nordic countries hardly have a monopoly on this genre, and in recent years several novels by contemporary German thriller writers have begun to hit the English-speaking market. Here are a few names to look for:

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This excerpt is from BookBrowse's July 2015 white paper on book clubs. You can download the full research report for free at bookbrowse.com/wp

National surveys confirm that men tend to read less than women. For example, a 2013 Pew Research Center survey of 1000 adults ("A Snapshot of Reading in America in 2013") found that 69% of men read at least one book a year compared to 82% of women. This white paper focuses in on frequent readers, defined as those who read at least one book a month - that is to say, people who read sufficiently to belong to a book club, whether they choose to or not. Even among frequent readers, it will come as no surprise that far fewer men report being in a book club than women.

To explore the topic of men in book clubs in more detail, and to minimize the bias from our own members (who were a minority in the survey but represented a disproportionate percentage of those in book clubs), we conducted a follow up qualitative survey of 130 men to ask about their experience and opinions of book clubs. The great majority of these were not BookBrowse members and 50 had not visited BookBrowse at all, having been randomly selected from a national sample of men aged 35+ who read at least one book a month.

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Based on recent research, in-depth interviews and extensive experience, BookBrowse's just published white paper provides an intriguing and insightful look at Book Clubs.

Download it at bookbrowse.com/wp

Find out:

• The two life stages when book club participation increases
• How many belong to book clubs, both in-person and online
• The five key attributes book clubs look for when choosing books
• Which media channels are used most to discover books
• The importance of libraries
• What men in book clubs think

and more

The white paper also contains links to advice on how to start and run a book club, and interviews with a wide variety of book clubs, with a particular focus on clubs that meet in public places such as libraries and bookstores, and have a mix of men and women.

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Looking for the perfect books for your book club to read this year and into 2016? Look no further!

In December last year we published the first half of our Top Reads for Book Clubs in 2015 list, covering books that had published (or were due to publish) in paperback from late 2014 to early 2015.

Now, here is part 2 - with the very best book club reads from Spring to Fall 2015. All books are available in paperback and ebook. All received 5 star reviews from BookBrowse, and almost all have reading guides.

Of course, these aren't just for book clubs, they make great reading for all who enjoy well written books that provoke good conversation, and tell you things about this wonderful world of ours you didn't before!

The books are categorized into:

• Moral Dilemmas
• Historic USA
• The Chinese-American Experience
• The Golden Years
• Historic Europe
• Generational Sagas
• Page-Turning Nonfiction
• Books for Younger Readers
  

Enjoy!

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I pre-ordered Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee some time ago. It arrived Tuesday evening. I read it yesterday, in one sitting. I've also read many, many reviews and commentaries. Here are my Thursday morning thoughts:

Although GSaW was actually written before To Kill a Mockingbird most reviewers have spoken about it as a sequel since it deals with events that occur decades later. They seem to feel betrayed by the fact that the Atticus Finch they had so revered is shown to be a racist. I'm really puzzled by this reaction. Style and point of view aside I would expect that readers -- people I hold in the highest esteem and who, because they are readers after all -- would be among the first to understand the concepts of cognitive dissonance and character complexity.

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Dear BookBrowsers,

We know you love books as much as we do. You read voraciously all year long. Why then should summer get all the reading love you ask?

Maybe it has something to do with the days that stretch on forever that feel indulgent enough for you to linger just a while longer in the pages of a book. Maybe it's because you can tote along three or maybe five books on your vacation, or even your entire library on an e-reader. Maybe it's because practically nothing else (with the exception of say, a dog) makes a better hammock companion. Maybe summer's the perfect time for a guilty reading pleasure or two.

The reasons for summer reading are plenty. And we've got a healthy set of paperback recommendations (which are, of course, all available as ebooks) to take you through the season. They're perfect to tote along to the beach and engaging enough to keep you there long after the sun has gone down. And for the next few weeks you can read our reviews and beyond the book articles for the full dozen for free. Cheers to sunshine and happy reading!

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