Hello, Bookies:

So much to talk about today! First, of course: the December book poll. Have you voted yet? See the four choices below, take the long holiday weekend to mull over your pick, if you’d like. But make sure that you cast your vote by 11:59 p.m. ET this Sunday, November 25.

Second: Beginning with the next post, you’ll notice a slightly different look to our proceedings. By now, I hope, you’ve had a chance to check out our spiffed-up home page and blog. We’re going for a crisper design, and our refresh gave us an opportunity to rethink the way that we handle the No-Obligation Book Club. Long story short: Our club will now have a place on the site proper, with links to all of our previous discussions, author Q&A’s, and more. For easiest access, you may want to bookmark this landing page. It’s a work in progress right now—for instance, when our December book discussion gets going, you’ll find a link to it right up in the top area—but once we settle in, it should make finding everything you want to know about the book club, well, real simple. In the meantime, if you signed up for the e-mail or RSS feed notification of a book club update, you should receive it same as always.

Finally, Bookies, I just want to wish you all a very, very happy and safe Thanksgiving. There are so many things for which I am grateful in my life—a point that hits home especially hard with this holiday coming on the heels of a devastating hurricane—but one is the fact that I get to visit with all of you every month over a good book. Enjoy your holiday!

The Chaperone, by Laura Moriarty

Before she was a megawatt film star, before she was a Hollywood “It” girl, Louise Brooks was a 15-year-old from Kansas. But this rich, captivating novel is really about the woman who accompanies her to dance school in the wild New York City of 1922, and how a short five weeks altered her life.

The Cove, by Ron Rash

The Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina circa World War I is the setting for this haunting, engrossing love story by way of a mystery. Quietly beautiful.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan

In a debut called “dazzling” and “flat-out fun,” Sloan mixes new tech (the lead character is a Web designer…) with old tech (…who lands a job selling books at surprisingly odd hours) and adds a dash of mystery: Exactly what is going on at that store?

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

Don’t let the fact that this is a YA book—and a YA book about two teens who meet at a cancer support group, at that—put you off. Both hilarious and heartbreaking, The Fault in Our Stars is luminous. One of the best-reviewed books of the year.