January: Choices by windysisters: The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne Discussion date 30 Jan
February: Choices by suzann2 : The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd Discussion date 5 March
March:  Choices by wyres: Star Gazing by Linda Gillard Discussion date 2 April
April:  Choices by annecater: Dark Matter by Michelle Paver Discussion date 30 April
May: Choices by neverendings:Was by Geoff Ryman & The Illusionist by Jennifer Johnston Discussion date 28 May
June:  Choices by eightlegs: My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young Discussion date 2 July
July:  Choices by jobar:  The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt  Discussion date 30 July
August:  Choices by janetandjohn: Annie Dunne by Sebastian Barry & La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith Discussion date 3 Sept
September:  Choices by scarlet21: Welcome to Rosie Hopkins Sweet Shop of Dreams - Jenny Colgan Discussion date 1 Oct

October:  Choices by natsplatt:  Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult Discussion date 5 Nov

November:  Best of the Rest: Salt by Jeremy Page Discussion date 3 Dec

December: Christmas Books:Winter's Children by Leah Fleming and Winter Warmers by Carole Matthews Discussion date: 17 Dec

Substitutes:  annie130 and emzbez1

Tips for those providing selections: 

The books should be readily available for swap/2nd hand purchase, have no more than around 400 pages so they can be read in the time frame and have enough literary content to provide a discussion. Also, please check the lists below to see which books have been discussed previously.

When doing the poll, please provide a short synopsis for the books so that everyone can easily see a bit about them - you can get these from Amazon, Waterstone's websites etc.

 RiSi Reading Group Past Titles:

2008:
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Out by Natsuo Kirino
Under the Skin by Michel Faber
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Gathering by Anne Enrights
Misery by Stephen King
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
Second Glance by Jodi Picoult 
Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham 

2009:
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak
A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Outcast by Sadie Jones
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brokmeier
The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller 
1984 by George Orwell 
The Raw Shark Tests by Steven Hall
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry and The Girls by Lori Lansens
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

2010:
The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
New York Trilogy by Paul Auster 
Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
The Drowing Girl by Margaret Leroy
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Confessions of a Fallen Angel by Ronan O'Brien and A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
Shade by Neil  Jordan
The Secret life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Guernica by Dave Boling
One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner
Miss Garnet’s Angel by Salley Vickers
The Christmas Train by David Baldacci

2011:
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Road Home by Rose Tremain
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
The Various Flavours of Coffee by Anthony Capella
When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman
The Taking by Dean Koontz
Mercy by Jodi Picoult
Sister by Rosamund Lupton
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley

 OK, I've drawn up the timetable.  Can all selectors please check that the dates chosen for them are convenient.  I've tried my best to avoid school holidays for the mummy-members.

Remember - you need to be available on or around the poll date to start the poll and also you will be required to start the discussion for your book on the Discussion Date.

Thanks for all the volunteers - I'm looking forward to seeing all the choices.

Thanks Wendy, ooh I have a whole year to think up some choices!!  

Nat

Thank you - I shall add July to my diary

Is it wrong that I'm soooo excited to be a 'picker' for the first time????  Thanks for doing this Wendy x

annecater:

Is it wrong that I'm soooo excited to be a 'picker' for the first time????  Thanks for doing this Wendy x

No I loved it too and think its great when people get excited about book stuff

That's great Wendy, this is my second go but the first was quite a while ago. As Nat says, plenty of time to choose a few which is great.

annecater:

Is it wrong that I'm soooo excited to be a 'picker' for the first time????  Thanks for doing this Wendy x

I'm excited too I'm an RiSi Reading Group selector virgin too.  Thanks Wendy.  March is good for me.  xx

Thanks Wendy, Feb is fine for me.  Is there somewhere on the forums that tells you how to set up a poll?

suzann2:

Thanks Wendy, Feb is fine for me.  Is there somewhere on the forums that tells you how to set up a poll?

Possibly, somewhere................in any event, I'll send you a reminder about a week before your poll date and will include instructions in that message.

 That's fine for me too, thank you very much

Ooh, I will have to get thinking.  (April/May is fine for me.)

 August is good for me too!

One of my new years resolutions for next year is to be more active and read the books on time as I have often aquired the reading group book for each month but not read it in time for the discussion.

I've been having great fun over the last couple of days making provisional selections for the May poll.  I know there aren't really any rules (excepting availability via swap or 2nd hand purchase) but out of curiosity, I just wondered what criteria other selectors use(/have used) when making their choices?  

Do you choose books from your own TBR, or ones already on your shelf (you will have to read whichever is chosen, after all)?  Do you choose books you have already read, that you think will make for a good discussion?  Do you try to choose across a range of genres/styles/etc for the sake of variety, or if (for example) you are a crime reader, will this month's selection reflect your own reading preferences?  If you have been selector more than once, have you used the same criteria on each occasion?  Just curious!