Bust through summer doldrums with book-themed party
Shirley Ledbetter has a long list of new titles for her summer reading list — thanks to a clever 78th birthday tea her daughters hosted last month.
When invitations went out for the book-themed party, Linda and Chris Ledbetter requested a special, inexpensive gift for their mom: a book recommendation. The ideas poured in, providing Shirley, an avid reader and our first Book Lover of the Year back in 2014, enough stories to keep her reading until her next birthday.
If you’re tired of hot weather, storm worries or the same-old get-togethers, consider throwing a book lover’s party:
This idea can work for any age group and gender. You might host a baby shower and ask guests to bring a favorite children’s book or a child’s birthday celebration and suggest books instead of toys. For adults, invite a mix of people, avid readers or not. Nearly everyone has a favorite book to recommend.
If you have a favorite author or genre, enjoy playing with a theme around that. Maybe you love small-town Southern fiction or legal thrillers or inspirational nonfiction or adventure books or romance or NYT bestsellers or biographies. Let your reader imagination go wild.
Ask guests to wrap and bring a book they’re ready to get rid of and exchange these at the party.
Use books for centerpieces. The Ledbetters stacked books topped by flowers to rock their theme.
For a party game, play “reader trivia” with guess-who-wrote-this-book, what-famous-character-said-this, tidbits about authors or genres or any other book info you like. Looking for favors or door prizes? Barnes & Noble Booksellers has totes, mugs, journals and other gifts for readers—and the ever-popular gift card.
While the Ledbetters used china and crystal for a fancier tea, lots of book-themed paper products are available online and in stores for a casual vibe. For example, check out www.Etsy.com, where individuals sell all manner of creative book items. If you want to spruce up your table, the cute book tablecloth the Ledbetters used for a backyard table costs about $35 on Amazon and is one of several options available there. (Confession: I just ordered one for me with a gift card from a friend.)
Book recommendations
If you are looking for fresh author and book ideas during the hot days of summer, here is a sampling of lists guests brought Shirley with a few comments. One friend even wrote her list on the back of an earlier tea invitation.
From one guest came these thoughtful suggestions: "I love books that are written as letters or diaries, like the following: ‘A Woman of Independent Means’ by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey; ‘Oral History’ by Lee Smith; ‘The Train to Estelline’ by Jane Roberts Wood; ‘The Diary of Mattie Spenser’ by Sandra Dallas; ‘These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901” by Nancy Turner (cried when this one ended). If you like mysteries, my favorite authors are Michael Connelly and Harlan Coben. A series you would love (also technically mysteries, too) are books by Julia Spencer-Fleming. These books are best read in the order they were written. The main characters are a town sheriff and a female Episcopal priest."
And more to-be-read
“Testimony of Two Men” by Taylor Caldwell, Three Pines series (Chief Inspector Gamache novels) by Louise Penny, Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers, and “The Girls in the Stilt House” by Kelly Mustian, all novels, and an inspirational title, “When God Winks: How the Power of Coincidence Guides Your Life” by Squire Rushnell.
A reading idea for the whole family
One hundred and one years ago next week, the American Library Association awarded the first Newbery Medal, honoring the year's best children's book, and Shirley has been buying those books for more than 35 years: “I started reading and collecting the Newbery Medal books in 1986 when Chis was 10 years old. ‘Sarah, Plain and Tall’ by Patricia MacLachlan was the first one we bought and read. I bought it at the bookstore on Line Avenue in the same shopping center where Bon Appetit was located. Of course, both of those charming stores are gone now. I just got through reading the latest Newbery award book, ‘Freewater’ by Amina Luqman-Dawson.”
Let me hear from you
If you decide to host a book party, I’d love to hear from you. And, as always, eager to know what you’re reading these days.
Columnist Judy Christie is the author of 18 books, including the fictional “Gone to Green” series and the nonfiction “Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society.” Co-authored with Lisa Wingate, it is the true sequel to Wingate’s bestselling novel “Before We Were Yours.” For more about Christie, see www.judychristie.com or follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JudyChristieAuthor.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Bust through summer doldrums with book-themed party
