Please join us for a live online book chat about Matthew Dicks’ Something Missing. Many of you had the chance to meet Matthew at the BOTNS retreat, or heard his retreat talk on this week’s podcast.

Update: Matthew will be calling in to join us at 9:30 — so we can discuss the book first and then pepper Matthew with questions about it when he joins in!

We will be using the service Talkshoe, which allows you to interact, either via computer or telephone.

Thursday, April 28th
9:00pm  EST

• Go to www.talkshoe.com and search for BooksOnTheNightstand (no spaces) or click here.
• Click on the “Join Now” button. A new window will open.
• If you have a computer headset with a microphone, or any computer microphone at all, you will be able to talk.
• You can also talk via telephone: the call-in info (724-444-7444, Call ID 87944) appears at the bottom of the new window.
• You can also click the widget that should appear below — you can use the same widget to listen to our last call (Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible).

The most fun way to participate is to be at your computer and on the phone (or headset) at the same time. Then you can see the chat window and hear join in on the voice conversation as well. However, if you prefer to just listen along, you can “Join Now” and then don’t call in. You’ll be able to listen to the audio portion of the call through your computer’s speakers. You can interact with us via the text chat window.

If you’re not near your computer, you can still call in by using the phone number and Call ID number shown above.

I hope that you have some time in your schedule to join us. We’ll have a great discussion!

Have you been reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay? As promised, we are going to host an online/phone chat to discuss the book.

Here are all of the details for those who would like to join us:

Thursday January 20th
9:00pm  EST

• Click here, or go to http://www.talkshoe.com and search for BooksOnTheNightstand (no spaces).
• Click on the “Join Now” button. A new window will open.
• If you have a computer headset with a microphone, or any computer microphone at all, you will be able to talk.
• Or, call in to talk via telephone: the call-in info (724-444-7444, Call ID 87944) appears at the bottom of the new window.

The most fun way to participate is to be at your computer and on the phone (or headset) at the same time. Then you can see the chat window and hear join in on the voice conversation as well. However, if you prefer to just listen along, you can “Join Now” and then don’t call in. You’ll be able to listen to the audio portion of the call through your computer’s speakers. You can interact with us via the text chat window.

If you’re not near your computer, you can still call in by using the phone number and Call ID number shown above. You won’t see the chat window, but will still be able to join in on the conversation.

I hope that you have some time in your schedule to join us. We’ll have a great discussion!

[Note 2: I was able to connect to the chat using this link: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=87944&cmd=tc]

[Note from Ann, 10/5 at 9:20pm EST -- it looks like Talkshoe may be down. I'll keep trying for a few minutes, be we may have to reschedule. If you can't get it to come up by 9:45, please consider the chat postponed. Sorry for the inconvenience.]

Michael was the brave one: last week he hosted the first ever Books on the Nightstand online book discussion. He did a great job, figured out all of the technical difficulties ahead of time, and we had a nice chat with 6 or 7 people. The only downside: none of the other people called in via phone or computer microphone, so poor Michael had to do all the talking while everyone else listened and then typed their thoughts into the chat window. I tried to help as best I could, but since I hadn’t read Middlesex, I couldn’t really participate all that much.

Well, now it’s my turn. On Tuesday, October 5th at 9:30pm EST, I’ll be hosting a live online discussion of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

Here are all of the details for those who would like to join me:

Tuesday, October 5th
9:30pm  EST

• Go to www.talkshoe.com and search for BooksOnTheNightstand (no spaces) or click here.
• Click on the “Join Now” button. A new window will open.
• If you have a computer headset with a microphone, or any computer microphone at all, you will be able to talk.
• You can also talk via telephone: the call-in info (724-444-7444, Call ID 87944) appears at the bottom of the new window.

The most fun way to participate is to be at your computer and on the phone (or headset) at the same time. Then you can see the chat window and hear join in on the voice conversation as well. However, if you prefer to just listen along, you can “Join Now” and then don’t call in. You’ll be able to listen to the audio portion of the call through your computer’s speakers. You can interact with us via the text chat window.

If you’re not near your computer, you can still call in by using the phone number and Call ID number shown above.

I hope that you have some time in your schedule to join us. We’ll have a great discussion!

…or at least it will be when I host the first ever Books on the Nightstand Live Call-in Show! We’ll discuss Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Here are all of the details for those who would like to join me:

Monday, 9/27
9pm  EST

• Go to www.talkshoe.com and search for BooksOnTheNightstand (no spaces) or click here.
• Click on the “Join Now” button. A new window will open.
• The call-in info (724-444-7444, Call ID 87944) appears at the bottom of the new window.

If you prefer to just listen along, you can “Join Now” and then don’t call in. You’ll be able to listen to the audio portion of the call through your computer’s speakers. You can interact with us via the text chat window.

If you’re not near your computer, you can still call in by using the phone number and Call ID number shown above.

I hope to hear a lot of voices on the call. We’ll have a great discussion!