Book Club

The Elkridge library, 6540 Washington Blvd., will hold a meeting of its Elks Parent-Teen Book Club for youngsters ages 11 to 17 and their parents from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. The book to be discussed is Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank B. Gilbreth. The 1950 movie based on the book will be shown at 6 p.m. Registration is not needed. Information: 410-313-5077. The Miller branch library's Tween Book Club, for middle-schoolers ages 11-13, will meet from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 27. The book is American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang.

On paper, Lisa Scottoline is a little intimidating. She's got more than 30 million copies in print of her books, including 20 best-selling novels. She writes a weekly column, with her daughter, for The Philadelphia Inquirer. She's a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and taught a class at the latter called "Justice and Fiction. " But ask her about any connections she might have to Baltimore, where she'll be visiting May 20 as a featured author in the Baltimore Sun Book Club, and you'll quickly discover her self-deprecating sense of humor.

An interview with Charles Fleming, co-founder of Tehuti Book Club. How did your club get started? A friend of mine who worked with me, whose name is Bobbe Frasier - we started the club. ... We wanted to have a men's book club. We just felt like men have their own perspective on things, and we wanted to deal with that perspective. What book are members reading this month? For March, we're having a joint book club meeting [with a women's book club], and [the women's club] selected the book, and the name of that book is "Men Cry in the Dark" by Michael Baisden.

For romance writer Suzie Carr, inspiration comes from everyday life. Through her lesbian romance novels, she tackles topics such as adultery, temptation, bullying and coming of age. She says she hopes those themes resonate with her readers and bring awareness to social issues. “Through my books, I feel like I'm touching lives. There's a positive message behind it,” says Carr, who lives in Elkridge. “It's more than just a love story. This literature could be mainstream because it deals with real-life issues.” Carr's first novel, “The Fiche Room” -- which is currently being adapted into a short film -- was published in 2007 by LavenderDoor.com, a website that sells e-books.

An interview with Jane Martello, founder of BLIPS (Book Lovers in Paradise), a mother/daughter book club. What book are members reading this month? "The Secret of Platform 13" by Eva Ibbotson. It's about creatures living under the London subway. Is there a book that members have especially liked? The first book that we did, "The BFG" by Roald Dahl. The giant, the main character in the story, talked in a really funny way, and it really got their attention. How did the mothers like the book?

An interview with Jane Parrish, 26-year member of Hopewell Book Club, named after a neighborhood in Columbia where the club is based. What book are members reading this month? Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. One of the members brought a list of the 100 most fascinating literary characters to a meeting, and both Lolita and the older man that was fascinated by her were on the list. Does your group read a certain kind of books? We jump all over. We do fiction, nonfiction, self-help, historical fiction.

An interview with Mary Axenfeld, coordinator of the Year 2000 Book Club. How did the club get started? Another woman and I - she had been in a book club, and she didn't like the books they were reading. I guess they were reading mostly classics. So we just decided to start our own club and read the books we wanted. We had decided that we wanted to read more of the best-sellers. What book are members reading this month? "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb. And the new Glenwood library was really good, and they got seven of them for us, so most of us could get them from the library.

An interview with Kevin Clement, facilitator of the Home-school Book Club at the Savage library. What are the ages of the participants? They are middle and high school students. We meet every fourth Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. They bring a bag lunch, and the library provides drinks. Whose idea was it to have this club? The Savage library had a program for homeschoolers, both parents and children, in the fall of 2003 and I put out several ideas of activities that the library could do for homeschooled children.

An interview with Kelli Shimabukuro of ECO Encounter Book Club What book are members reading this month? "Tuesdays With Morrie," by Mitch Albom. Additional books for this and other library book clubs can be found at www.howa.lib.md.us/books. Which books have members liked? "East of the Mountains," by David Guterson; "Into Thin Air," by Jon Krakauer. How often does the club meet? Once a month -- at 7 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month at the east Columbia library. The club is open to the public.

An interview with Peggy Moore, founding member of The Saturday Club book club. How did your club get started? I'm one of the original members. There are six members. ... We were friends, and we got together in September of 1992. It's called the Saturday Club, and we meet the last Saturday of each month from September to June. We do not meet during the summer. What book are members reading this month? Our latest is Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. How did you chose that book?

Chris Bohjalian's novel "The Sandcastle Girls" has many traditional elements of compelling fiction - people with secrets, shocking plot twists, compulsively likable characters and a rich love story. It also describes the 1915 mass killing of Armenians - "The Slaughter You Know Next to Nothing About," as one of the characters in his book calls it. Bohjalian, who is at work on his 17th book, was inspired to write this one by the story of his Armenian grandparents. The author will talk about the novel April 22 as part of the new Baltimore Sun Book Club (see details, Page 7)

Activity Pals For single seniors. Get together with others to attend events, shop, go sightseeing, dine out and more. 301-596-6385. The Bain Center 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia. 410-313-7213. •Acting Up! Thursdays, 10:30 a.m. A theater club. Call center to confirm attendance. Free. •AcuDetox. Thursdays, 10 a.m. $20. •American Indian Experience. Second Mondays, 1 p.m. •Another Way to See It Laughter Club. Mondays, 9 a.m. $2 instructor fee at class each week.

I was delighted to see the cover piece on the Howard County Library System in the Feb. 21 issue of your paper. The HiTech initiative and numerous other services and programs were deservedly praised. Howard County is home to many passionate readers, and the library system makes an extraordinary effort to accommodate them, especially when it comes to book discussion groups. The December - February edition of Source, the library's award-winning publication, lists 17 library-sponsored book discussion groups offering 47 book discussions in that  three month period.

Central Library 10375 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. 410-313-7800. •All Together Now. Saturdays, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m. All ages; 30 minutes. •Book Boosters. First Wednesdays, 7 p.m. •English Conversation Club. Mondays, 10 a.m.; and Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Practice speaking and understanding English in a group setting. Register before attending. •Lincoln Exhibit: "The Constitution and the Civil War. " Through Nov. 30. •Mean Girls. Nov. 29, 6:30 p.m. Learn how to negotiate the social world of female friendships with Deborah West.

Introducing the Baltimore Sun Book Club The Sun is launching a reader book club with Emily Giffin's "Where We Belong" (St. Martin's Press, $27.99). Participation is easy: 1. Read the book 2. Go to the Baltimore Sun's Read Street Facebook page and start chatting with us as we ask questions about the book. We'll be chatting right up until Sept. 29. 3. Come hear Giffin when she discusses her new novel 12 p.m., Sept. 29 at the Baltimore Book Festival. The Sun is sponsoring her festival appearance at the Bank of America Literary Salon ( map )

Marian Caldwell has it all. Kind of. At 36, she's the executive producer of a scripted TV show. She's dating the handsome CEO of her network. And she has an apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side. But Marian also has problems. Among them: The girl she gave up for adoption 18 years ago has just walked back into her life, and she has some questions - questions that will bring up secrets buried deep in Marian's past. So begins "Where We Belong," Emily Giffin's sixth novel, which debuted in late July and zoomed to the best-seller lists, just like her five previous works.

An interview with Fran Fanshel, a founding member of The Shirley ValentinesBook Club. How did your club come up with its name? It was inspired by the movie, which was about two women who run away from their everyday lives to seek adventure. So the book club name is a metaphor for seeking adventure through reading. Does the name inspire the kinds of books your club chooses? No, it was just a launching point. Part of the reason we were forming the club was to stay in touch with one another because I was changing jobs to work out of town, and most everyone else was working in Columbia.