Hi everyone, the July SSCL Book Club for Adults gathering took place at the library on Friday, July 14, 2023.

We had a good time discussing our July read, Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.

Lessons in Chemistry relayed the story of chemist Elizabeth Zott as she struggled to maintain a scientific career in the nineteen fifties and sixties when, ahem…to say the least, America was a patriarchal society. And as happens in real life too, her life took several unanticipated turns including the unexpected death of her lover & fellow chemist Calvin Evans, the birth of her daughter Madeline and her side career as a TV cooking host. Elizabeth uses chemistry and the scientific method of reasoning in to make sense of her life, to assist her in cooking and, by extension, through her TV show to empower other women of the era.

The general consensus of book club members is that Lessons In Chemistry is a thumbs up, recommended read.  

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And as usual, at the end of our session, club members discussed books/movies, TV shows & podcasts they had enjoyed in the past month, and that they recommend.

Here is the list!

Book Club Members Recommended Reads:

Apex Hides The Hurt by Colson Whitehead

This “wickedly funny” (The Boston Globe) New York Times Notable Book from the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys is a brisk, comic tour de force about identity, history, and the adhesive bandage industry.

The town of Winthrop has decided it needs a new name. The resident software millionaire wants to call it New Prospera; the mayor wants to return to the original choice of the founding black settlers; and the town’s aristocracy sees no reason to change the name at all. What they need, they realize, is a nomenclature consultant. And, it turns out, the consultant needs them. But in a culture overwhelmed by marketing, the name is everything and our hero’s efforts may result in not just a new name for the town but a new and subtler truth about it as well.

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Cracking India: A Novel by Bapsi Sidhwa

The 1947 Partition of India is the backdrop for this powerful novel, narrated by a precocious child who describes the brutal transition with chilling veracity.

Young Lenny Sethi is kept out of school because she suffers from polio. She spends her days with Ayah, her beautiful nanny, visiting with the large group of admirers that Ayah draws. It is in the company of these working class characters that Lenny learns about religious differences, religious intolerance, and the blossoming genocidal strife on the eve of Partition.

As she matures, Lenny begins to identify the differences between the Hindus, Moslems, and Sikhs engaging in political arguments all around her. Lenny enjoys a happy, privileged life in Lahore, but the kidnapping of her beloved Ayah signals a dramatic change. Soon Lenny’s world erupts in religious, ethnic, and racial violence.

By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this domestic drama serves as a microcosm for a profound political upheaval.

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Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

From the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero’s unforgettable journey to maturity

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.

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The Fourth Enemy by Anne Perry

Working his way up at the London law firm fford Croft and Gibson, Daniel Pitt is named junior counsel on a fraud case with the potential to make or break his—and the firm’s—reputation. The trouble is, Malcolm Vayne, the man on trial, has deep pockets, and even deeper connections. Vayne’s philanthropic efforts paint him a hero in the eyes of the public, but Daniel’s friend Ian, a police officer, has evidence to suggest otherwise. Nervously working alongside Gideon Hunter, the new head of his firm, Daniel must find a way to prove that Vayne is guilty.

Meanwhile, Daniel’s new bride, forensic scientist Miriam fford Croft, befriends Rose Hunter, Gideon’s wife, and the two become engrossed in the women’s suffrage movement. Miriam finds herself among women who are brave and determined enough to undergo hunger strikes and prison sentences. Vayne’s image is improved by his support of their cause, but Miriam is not deceived.

Vayne’s trial reveals his deep political ambitions, and it heats up further when a crucial witness is found dead. When another witness is kidnapped, Daniel must set out on a rescue mission that puts his life—and the case against Vayne—in peril.

Anne Perry delivers another pulse-pounding mystery in her latest stand-alone Daniel Pitt novel.

Reader’s Note: This is the sixth book in the Daniel Pitt series; the successor to Perry’s Thomas Pitt series.

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Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series of linked personal essays that will lead general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods and rednecks. Kimmerer clearly and artfully explains the biology of mosses, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us.

Drawing on her diverse experiences as a scientist, mother, teacher, and writer of Native American heritage, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book, the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world.

Gathering Moss will appeal to a wide range of readers, from bryologists to those interested in natural history and the environment, Native Americans, and contemporary nature and science writing.

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Home Front Girls by Suzanne Hayes and Loretta Nyhan

Dear Glory,

Loneliness is built into the fabric of this war, isn’t it? I say a little prayer before I stick my hand in the mailbox. The “Rockport, Massachusetts” stamp on the front of an envelope means the clouds will part, revealing a brilliant sun….

It’s January 1943 when Rita Vincenzo receives her first letter from Glory Whitehall. Glory is an effervescent young mother from New England, impulsive and free as a bird. Rita is a Midwestern professor’s wife with a love of gardening and a generous, old soul. These two women have nothing in common except one powerful bond: the men they love are fighting in a war a world away from home.

Brought together by an unlikely twist of fate, Glory and Rita begin a remarkable correspondence. The friendship forged by their letters allows them to survive the loneliness and uncertainty of waiting on the home front, and gives them the courage to face the battles raging in their very own backyards. Connected across the country by the lifeline of the written word, each woman finds her life profoundly altered by the other’s unwavering support.

Filled with unforgettable characters and unbridled charm, Home Front Girls is a timeless celebration of the strength and solidarity of women. It is a luminous reminder that even in the darkest of times, true friendship will carry us through.

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Independence by Chitra Divakaruni

Set during the partition of British India in 1947, a time when neighbor was pitted against neighbor and families were torn apart, award-winning author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel brings to life the sweeping story of three sisters caught up in events beyond their control, their unbreakable bond, and their incredible struggle against powerful odds.

India, 1947.

In a rural village in Bengal live three sisters, daughters of a well-respected doctor.

Priya: intelligent and idealistic, resolved to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a doctor, though society frowns on it.

Deepa: the beauty, determined to make a marriage that will bring her family joy and status.

Jamini: devout, sharp-eyed, and a talented quiltmaker, with deeper passions than she reveals.

Theirs is a home of love and safety, a refuge from the violent events taking shape in the nation. Then their father is killed during a riot, and even their neighbors turn against them, bringing the events of their country closer to home.

As Priya determinedly pursues her career goal, Deepa falls deeply in love with a Muslim, causing her to break with her family. And Jamini attempts to hold her family together, even as she secretly longs for her sister’s fiancé

When the partition of India is officially decided, a drastic—and dangerous—change is in the air. India is now for Hindus, Pakistan for Muslims. The sisters find themselves separated from one another, each on different paths. They fear for what will happen to not just themselves, but each other.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni outdoes herself with this deeply moving story of sisterhood and friendship, painting an account of India’s independence simultaneously exhilarating and devastating, that will make any reader—new or old—a devoted fan.

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Murder on Bedford Street by Victoria Thompson

Midwife Sarah Malloy and her private investigator husband, Frank, must stop a killer lurking among a young family in the newest installment of the USA Today bestselling Gaslight Mysteries.

Hugh Breedlove is far from the most agreeable client private investigator Frank Malloy has ever had, but his case is impossible to refuse: his young niece, Julia, has been wrongfully committed to an insane asylum by her cruel and unfaithful husband, Chet Longly. Though Breedlove and his wife seem more interested in protecting the family reputation than their niece’s safety, Frank and Sarah agree to help for the sake of Julia and the young son she left behind.

Frank and Sarah’s investigation reveals a dark secret—a maid at the Longly home died suspiciously under Chet’s watch, and now it seems Julia’s son might also be in danger. The Malloys fear they are dealing with a man more dangerous than they had anticipated, one who will do anything to defame his wife. But all is not as it seems in the Longly family, and perhaps another monster is hiding in plain sight….

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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

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Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel by Shelby Van Pelt

For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow’s unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

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The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is on the cusp of womanhood—where greater pain awaits. And so when Caesar, a slave who has recently arrived from Virginia, urges her to join him on the Underground Railroad, she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him.

In Colson Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next, encountering, like Gulliver, strange yet familiar iterations of her own world at each stop.

As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the terrors of the antebellum era, he weaves in the saga of our nation, from the brutal abduction of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is both the gripping tale of one woman’s will to escape the horrors of bondage—and a powerful meditation on the history we all share.

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The Unknown Errors of Our Lives by Chitra Divakaruni

From acclaimed and beloved author Chitra Banerjee Divakarunicomes a new collection of moving stories about family, culture, and the seduction of memory. With the rich prose and keen insight that made Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart national bestsellers, these tales of journeys and returns, of error, of loss and recovery, all resound with her unique understanding of the human spirit.

“Don’t we all have to pay, no matter what we choose? “a young woman asks in “The Love of a Good Man,” one of the unforgettable stories in Chitra Divakaruni’s beautifully crafted exploration of the tensions between new lives and old. In tales set in India and the United States, she illuminates the transformations of personal landscapes, real and imagined, brought about by the choices men and women make at every stage of their lives.

“The Love of a Good Man” tells of an Indian woman happily settled in the United States who must confront the past when her long-estranged father begs to meet his only grandson. In the acclaimed “Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter,” a widow, inadvertently eavesdropping, discovers that her cherished, old-fashioned ways are an embarrassment to her daughter-in-law. A young American woman joins a pilgrimage of women in Kashmir and, in the land of her ancestors, comes to view herself and her family in a new light in “The Lives of Strangers.” Two women, uprooted from their native land by violence and deception, find unexpected comfort and hope in each other in “The Blooming Season for Cacti.” And in the title story, a young woman turns to her painting and the wisdom of her grandmother for the strength to accept her fiance’s past when it arrives on her doorstep.

Whether writing about the adjustments of immigrants to a foreign land or the accommodations families make to the disruptive differences between generations, Divakaruni poignantly portrays the eternal struggle to find a balance between the pull of home and the allure of change.

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The Women’s Room by Marilyn French

“With The Women’s Room, Marilyn French joined Simone de Beauvoir, Ralph Ellison, and that very small group of writers whose words spark a movement.” —Gloria Steinem

In the 1950s, many American women left education and professional advancement behind in order to marry, only to find themselves adrift and unable to support themselves after divorcing their husbands twenty years later. Some became destitute; a few went insane. But many went back to school in the heyday of the Women’s Liberation movement, and were swept up in the promise of equality for both sexes.

The Women’s Room tells the story of one such woman: a suburban 1950s housewife named Mira who divorces her loathsome husband and returns to graduate school at Harvard. Loosely based on Marilyn French’s own life, the story of Mira and her friends offers wry, piercing insight into the inner lives of a generation of American women. A powerful indictment of the patriarchal social norms of the time, it caused an uproar when it was first published in 1977, changing the course of the feminist movement forever. Today, it remains timely and eerily relevant—a courageous novel infused with revolutionary fervor that examines the world of hopeful believers looking for new truths.

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Media:

Videos (of old cooking TV Shows – clips found on YouTube)

The Galloping Gourmet with Graham Kerr | Apple Barnhoff

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Julia Child | Boeuf Bourguignon | The French Chef Season 1

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The Bear TV Series, Season 1 & 2 (Hulu)

The Bear is an American comedy-drama television series created by Christopher Storer. It premiered on Hulu on June 23, 2022, and stars Jeremy Allen White as a young, award-winning chef who returns to his hometown, Chicago, to manage the chaotic kitchen at his deceased brother’s sandwich shop. The supporting cast includes Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Abby Elliott, and Matty Matheson

The series has received widespread critical acclaim (particularly for the directing and performances of its cast) and numerous accolades. The first season earned 13 Emmy nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series and acting nominations for White, Moss-Bachrach, Edebiri, Jon Bernthal and Oliver Platt. – Wikipedia

The Bear, Season 1 Trailer

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Podcast:

Fresh Air (NPR): Getting To Know Co-host Tonya Mosley – Terry Gross interviews the new Fresh Air co-host Tonay Mosley:

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/11/1186958273/getting-to-know-co-host-tonya-mosley

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Moving on to August:

The SSC Library August Book Club for Adults gathering will be held at the library on Friday, August 11, 2023 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. and we’ll be moving into the Community Room where we will have more room to spread out and drink coffee.

The August Read is Killers Of A Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn.

In a nutshell, the book tells the tale of four friends and co-workers who were recruited by a shadowy government agency known as The Museum, forty years ago to become assassins. They are now about to retire and have been sent on a bon-voyage cruise by the head honchos of the Museum, and the cruise has only just begun when they discover someone from the Museum has decided to assassinate them! They must, of course, find out who wants them out of the way and why, and counteract that person or persons.

Copies of the book were picked up by several book members after our July meeting and we ran out. Additional copies of the book will be available at the library next week. If you have a challenging time obtaining a copy; or would like me to set one aside for you – let me know.

Have a great day,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Email: reimerl@stls.org

Hi everyone, just a quick reminder the July Southeast Steuben County Library Book Club for Adults gathering it this Friday, July 14, 2023, from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

We’ll be gathering in the Conference Room and will be be discussing Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.

Looking forward to August, our August read is Killers of a Certain Age by Deana Raybourn.

And we’ll be meeting on Friday, August 11, 2023 at our usual time, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m., to discuss the mystery, which by the way features a cast of female middle age spies – I haven’t read the book yet but it got good reviews and sounds cool!

Stay cool & I hope to see everyone this Friday, July 14,

Linda

Hi everyone, our June gathering will be a week later than usual, so yours truly can attend staff training.

So we’ll be meeting at the library, in the Conference Room, one week later than usual, on Friday, June 16 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Our June Read is:

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama, copies can be picked up at the Circulation Desk at any time.

And here are the notes for our May meeting:

Our May Book Club gathering was held on Friday, May 12, 2023.

Our May Read was Fox Creek by William Kent Krueger.

Fox Creek is the nineteenth book in the Cork O’Connor mystery series, which starts out with the mystery Iron Lake.

The main cast of Fox Creek includes:

The Good Guy Team:

The landscape – the mysteries are set in and around Aurora, Minnesota, which the author describes as being “A stone’s throw from the Canadian border.” And the author offers compelling descriptions of the landscape, almost as if the landscape is another character, in the mystery novels of the series, including this one.

Cork O’Connor, former police chief of Aurora, a private investigator and owner of Sam’s Place, a burger joint, at the edge of Iron Lake. Notably, Cork’s grandmother was a member of the local Iron Lake Ojibwe tribe. So Cork has a connection to the local Native peoples, including his wife Rainey and the elder healer Henry Meloux.

Henry Meloux, a Ojibwe elder, a member of the Grand Medicine Society, and a healer and spiritual advisor who has a home on the edge of the wilderness, between Aurora and the local Native American Reservation. 

Rainey Bisonette, Cork’s second wife a great-niece of Henry Meloux who assists Henry in his medicinal/healing ceremonies.

Stephen O’Connor, 21-year-old son of Cork and his late first wife Jo. Stephen has inherited Ojibwe spiritual gifts from his paternal great-grandmother and catches glimpses of future events in dreams. Stephen has previously had a dream showing Henry Meloux laying spread eagle on the ground as if he were dead. When Stephen told Henry about his prophetic dream, Henry replied that he had had the same dream.

Jenny O’Connor, Cork and his late wife Jo’s eldest child. Jenny is married to Daniel Bisonette, a nephew of Cork’s wife Rainey. She is also the mother of Aaron Small Dog O’Conner also know as Waabo or “Little Rabbit.”

Delores Morriseau, a woman looking for guidance, who as the book opens is with Henry and Rainey at Henry’s house, on the edge of the wilderness, is participating in a healing ceremony. Dolores’s husband Lou is currently missing.

Louis Morriseau, a real estate agent and a person of European and Native ancestry who has chosen to forgo forging a connection with his native heritage. Louis travels for work and frequently travels to Canada.

Anton Morriseau, Louis’s brother and a tribal policeman.

Bell Morriseau, Louis’s younger sister.

And in opposition, the Bad Guys Team:

An imposter Lou Morriseau who shows up at Cork’s burger stand looking for Delores

Kimball the man in charge of the bad guys.

And most prominently, on the bad guy side, the brains of the operation,  a former military man named LeLoup who has Native American heritage, a sixth sense about tracking prey and people, but who did not know his parents and has thus far led a wandering life, never putting down roots, simply becoming a mercenary for hire who is most comfortable in a wilderness setting.

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With those characters in mind, the basic plot of this adventure tale, briefly introduces Cork and Stephen who are flipping burgers at the family burger stand and meet a man who introduces himself as Louis Morriseau. This imposter tells Cork that he thinks his wife, Dolores, is having an affair with a local man, Henry Meloux. Cork doubts the man is who he says he is, is suspicious of his motives and clandestinely takes a photo of the man to show Henry and Dolores whom he believes is at Henry’s house.

The trio at Henry Meloux’s place, include Henry himself, aged about 100, Rainey and Dolores. Henry, has a spiritual sense about the world and has spent much time over the years in the woods that border his home – he is an outdoorsman of exceptional skill with dashes of Native spiritualism mixed in. And Henry leads Rainey and Dolores into the wilderness  and away from the danger he senses is coming; basically, away from the bad guys that are tracking Dolores. Readers learn that the bad guys are after Dolores as a means to making her missing husband Louis give them information they believe he has; what the information is, isn’t disclosed until readers get near the end of the book.

Cork visits Henry’s home to show Henry and Dolores a photograph of the fake Louis, and Dolores confirms the man in the photo isn’t her husband. Everything seems fine at Henry’s place, so Cork goes home, expecting Rainey to come home later – when she doesn’t arrive, he returns to Henry’s house and discovers the trio is gone, that bad guys are pursuing them; and he, in turn, and with the assistance of Louis’s brother Anton, pursues the bad guys hoping to bring Henry, Rainey and Dolores home safely.

And then Stephen goes on a side trip to visit Louis and Dolores’s home, and eventually Louis’s parent’s home on a quest to gather more information on Louis and what he has been working on. While on this mission he meets Louis’s sister, Belle, who joins him on the trip and they gather information that leads them to believe Louis is hiding out at the family’s cabin in remote Canada.

Returning to the other characters, Cork and Anton are still in the wilderness tracking the bad guys pursuing Henry, Rainey and Dolores.

And as one of the bad guys, LeLoup continues tracking the Henry/Rainey/Dolores trio he experiences a gradual spiritual awakening and eventually comes to the conclusion that the tracking mission he was paid for – to find Dolores – isn’t important – understanding the spiritual road he has found himself on, becomes his goal; and with Henry’s assistance and a spiritual ceremony that allows him a greater understanding of who he is – LeLoup, becomes known as The Prophet and switches sides from the bad guys team, to the good guys team.

Cork is eventually able to find Rainey, Henry and Dolores and is followed by a local recue team. Everyone, sans Henry, who intends to return to his home on foot, goes back to Aurora.

Longer rest-of-the-story short, Cork and Anton join Stephen and go to the Morriseau family cabin in Canada, where they find the real Louis who has been injured.

While the Cork-Anton-Stephen team are looking for and finding Louis, LeLoop, now the Prophet, goes to Cork & Rainey’s house in Aurora, where Rainey, Jenny, Daniel and Waboo are currently residing; because he realizes the head bad guy, Kimball, will break into the O’Connor family home to try and get information from Rainey and will likely kill her and other members of the family in the process.

LeLoop/The Prophet arrives at the Connor family home just in time, saves Rainey and then travels to Canada to assist the Cork-Anton-Stephen team in defeating the bad guys and getting Louis back to civilization safely.

And in the end, it turns out the big secret that Louis has been hiding and is ready to make public, is a secret international conspiracy to divert water from the wilderness, and lands of native tribes in the region and, in essence, leaving the local populations, in the impacted area, without an adequate supply of water.

LeLoop become The Prophet and goes on his now much more altruistic way into the wilderness. Louis is taken to a hospital for treatment and subsequently released and reunited with Dolores and the Cork-Stephen-Anton team returns home.  

Then the locals, and family members, gather at Henry Meloux’s cabin waiting to see if the ancient, and beloved, healer will return from the wilderness, or if the vision Henry and Stephen experienced means that his long-life is over and he will not return. Days and nights go by, Cork, Rainey and other locals wait around the campfire at Henry’s house. And…Henry returns saying that he is pleasantly surprised to find that his time to leave the physical world is not yet at hand.

End of book!

Several book club members loved the book and said they would like to read more titles by William Kent Krueger

The Cork O’Conner Mystery Series book order can be found here: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/william-kent-krueger/cork-oconnor/

Other book club members didn’t care for the book finding it a bit long, the switching of stories from Cork & Anton to Henry, Rainey & Dolores, to Stephen and Belle, distracting. And others said that the ending, having the locals and Cork, Rainey & family wait around the campfire for Henry to return, or not return – seemed superfluous.

And the book club hostess has thought about it, and decided that perhaps reading a book in a series, isn’t the best pick for a book club as there are story threads and character development that you might not be aware of if you only read one book in the series – but that you would be fully aware of if you read all the books in a series, making the reading experience much more fun. So we’ll skip reading any future series books for our book club; unless, of course, someone in the club recommends a series book that they think is outstanding.

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Book Club Members Recommended Reads & Views for May:

Catharine, Queen of the Tumbling Waters by Cynthia G Neale: A story of another strong woman, a real life Native American with French blood who lived in the 1700s in Pennsylvania and New York during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. Catharine Montour, obscure, but a heroine in our history, meets Benjamin Franklin and leads her people to safety when the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign to destroy all Iroquois villages is enacted. Another strong woman who breaks the lock on history’s understanding of Native American women. The author lives in the Finger Lakes region.

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Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964): Director Robert Aldrich’s all-star shocker concerns a Southern family with several skeletons in its closet. Believed by many to have murdered her lover over 30 years earlier, aging, reclusive-and wealthy-spinster Charlotte Hollis (Bette Davis) begins to lose her grip on sanity just as distant cousin Miriam (Olivia de Havilland) comes to live with her. Could it be a coincidence, or is something more sinister taking place? Joseph Cotten, Victor Buono, Mary Astor co-star in this macabre suspenser.

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The Kate Burkholder Mysteries by Linda Castillo

Book One is: Sworn To Silence: This is an exciting new thriller set against an English/Amish backdrop. Some secrets are too terrible to reveal… Some crimes are too unspeakable to solve… Painter’s Creek, Ohio may be a sleepy, rural town with both Amish and ‘English’ residents, but it’s also the place where a series of brutal murders shattered the lives of an entire community over a decade ago. When the killing stopped, it left in its aftermath a sense of fragility, and for the young Amish girl, Katie Burkholder, a realization that she didn’t belong. Now, 15 years, two dead parents and a wealth of experience later, Katie has been asked to return as Chief of Police.

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Psycho (1960): The Alfred Hitchcock’s landmark masterpiece of the macabre stars Anthony Perkins as the troubled Norman Bates, whose old dark house and adjoining motel are not the place to spend a quiet evening. No one knows that better than Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), the ill-fated traveler whose journey ends in the notorious “shower scene.” First a private detective, then Marion’s sister (Vera Miles) searches for her, the horror and the suspense mount to a terrifying climax where the mysterious killer is finally revealed.

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Three Pines TV Series (2022): Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team investigate a series of perplexing murders in the mysterious Eastern Townships village of Three Pines, uncovering the buried secrets of its eccentric residents and in the process forcing Gamache to confront buried secrets of his own. Based on the Louise Penney mysteries.

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The Tony Hillerman Leaphorn And Jim Chee Series: Book One is: The Blessing Way (1970): Witchcraft appears to be involved in the death of an Indian, whose body is found in Many Ruins Canyon, and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is charged with the task of solving the crime.

Viewing Note: There is a TV series based on the Hillerman western Leaphorn & Chee mysteries, titled Dark Winds, starring Zach McClarnon on AMC – that has received great reviews.

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Have a great day!

Linda

Hi everyone, as attendees know at our March 2023 gathering we discussed the book The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. The novel offered a fictionalized account of the true life story of librarian Belle da Costa Greene. And there is so much to learn and say about the life of de Costa Green that I found it difficult to write an overview of her story, as relayed in the book, and keep it short.

So I have finally edited my notes a bit and typed up a reasonably short overview the book, and will now move on to typing up the notes for the May meeting – which I promise to have out before June 1st!

And speaking of June, just a reminder that our June book club gathering will be on Friday, June 16, 2023 at the library, and we will be discussing Michelle Obama’s new book The Light We Carry. You can pick up a copy of the book at the Circulation Desk at any time.

And without further ado, here is the overview of The Personal Librarian:

The March Southeast Steuben County Library Book Club of Adults was held on Friday, March 10, 2023.

Our March read was: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray

And on a neat reader’s note: the two authors, Benedict & Murray, who worked together for the first time on The Personal Librarian; greatly enjoyed working together and have collaborated on a second book The First Ladies that is coming out on June 27, 2023.

The first paragraph of the publisher’s overview describes the book as: “A novel about the extraordinary partnership between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune—an unlikely friendship that changed the world, from the New York Times bestselling authors of the Good Morning America Book Club pick The Personal Librarian.” So that too should be a good read!

And back to the March Read: The Personal Librarian.

The Personal Librarian offers a fictionalized account of the life of librarian extraordinaire Belle D. Greene that hits the high notes of the life the real Belle D. Green lived.

Today, we can’t know for certain what was said in conversations had between Belle D. Greene and the legendary financier J. P. Morgan, nor can we know for certain the details of Belle’s relationship with art historian Bernard Berenson. But we can learn the outline of Belle Da Costa Greene’s life by reading the book, The Personal Librarian.  

From the real Belle’s New York Times obituary, dated May 12, 1950, we learn that outline of important dates in her life are also used in the book, and are right on the mark. Belle was a librarian in charge of the Morgan Library, today the Pierpont Morgan Library; the library J. P. Morgan founded to house his collection of rare books and manuscripts, from 1905 – 1924. She was later promoted to Director of the Library and held that position from 1924 – 1948. Her obituary noted that she was “one of the best known librarians in this country. As a young woman, well before the First World War, she was already a somewhat fabulous figure at auction sales and had the power to spend $40,000 or more for one book – and exercised it.”

The fictionalized account of her life uses this framework of dates and dives deeper by offering details about a fact whispered by some during Greene’s lifetime, but a fact that was not public knowledge until decades after her death. Belle da Costa Greene was in fact born Belle Marion Greener the daughter of Richard Theodore Greener, the first African American graduate of Harvard (1870) and Genevieve Ida Fleet. Her father was the first African American professor at the University of South Carolina, and her mother was from a prominent African American family based in Washington D.C.  Bell’s parents had a difficult time living with the racism of the Reconstruction Era; and times became even more difficult when reconstruction was abandoned and the Jim Crow Era began. From the difficulties of these times, Belle’s father Richard and mother Genevieve came to hold opposing beliefs. Richard believed that equality and civil rights could be obtained through activism; and Genevieve came to the conclusion that racism and inequality were unlikely to ever be eliminated from American society. The couple eventually split over these ideological differences; and Genevieve took her children to New York City, cut ties with her mixed race family, changed the family name to Greene, created a false Portuguese genealogy and had the family, sans Richard, pass for white.

As a youth, Belle developed a love of learning and of rare books and manuscripts from her father. And after moving to New York, and beginning her life passing for white, she obtained a library degree and began working in the library field.

Thus the two biggest things in Belle da Costa Green’s life, can been seen a two faces one public, her fierce love of rare books and manuscripts, epitomized by her positon as the librarian in charge of the Morgan library, and one private, the importance of keeping the secret of the family’s passing and related origin at all costs.

Readers of The Personal Library get to hear the thoughts of the fictional Belle and discover, in essence, that thinking about passing and keeping the secret of her African American ancestry was like a blanket she threw over herself whenever leaving her home, a layer that she was always aware of and caution about taking care of.

Despite the challenges of passing, Belle da Costa Greene, became one of the most powerful and influential women of her day. In an era when it was almost unheard of for a woman in any field to hold a position of power, Belle did. J. P. Morgan trusted her as his personal librarian to the max and allowed her to bid on rare books and manuscripts. Belle da Costa Green worked at the Morgan Library Library from 1905 until her retirement in 1948.

And, in a nutshell, the fictionalized life of Belle da Costa Greene, is well told in the book The Personal Librarian and makes the reader wish to know more about the librarian herself.

Readers are advised to check out the biography An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene’s Journey from Prejudice to Privilege by Heidi Ardizzone Ph.D which may be requested from the Alfred Library.

And for a brief overview of Belle’s life check out her obituary, which was published in the New York Times in 1950:

Have a great day,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

SSCL Adult Book Club Meeting Schedule & Reading List: May – December 2023

The SSCL Adult Book Club meets at the library the second Friday of each month at the library.

Reading List:

Friday, May 12, 2023 Fox Creek by William Kent Krueger (388 pages)

Friday, June 16, 2023 The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama (318 pages) (Third Friday of month!)

Friday, July 14, 2023 Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (390 pages)

Friday, August 11, 2023 Killers Of A Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (353 pages)

Friday, September 8, 2023 Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (369 pages)

Friday, October 13, 2023 The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (376 pages)

Friday, November 10, 2023 Mamme by Jessica George (312 pages)

Friday, December 8, 2023 Recitatif: A Story (39 pages) by Toni Morrison

Adult Reading Club Contact:  Linda Reimer | Tel: 607-936-3713 x 212 | Email: reimerl@stls.org

Revised 5 1 23 LR

Our April read was The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams. The book is set in Wembley, U.K. and framed by reading lists created by a lady named Naina in 2017. Naina, loves reading, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and wishes to leave behind reading lists for some of people she encounters in her daily life, including family, friends and people she has encountered at the local library.

Naina is a book lover who knows that reading a good book can enrich a person’s life by taking that person out of his/her daily life and dropping that person into the lives of the characters found within books. Reading can be comforting, enlightening, offer the feeling of a gothic setting as in Manderley Hall in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, a joyful family as in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women or even chronicle the lives of characters from other parts of the world and different classes in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner which relays the experiences of young Afghan boys Amir and Hassan. Novels can also take one to other worlds, or times a situation encountered by Henry in The Time Traveler’s Wife by Niffenegger.

And so Naina, who is unnamed when introduced at the very beginning of The Reading List, places several of her reading lists where her intended readers find them; thus recruiting new readers and encouraging a few discouraged persons to find connections to other people, and other books, by reading the books on her lists. The readers are introduced both in an overview story that follows Naina’s husband/widower Mukesh and Aleisha a library clerk working at the local Harrow Road Library; and in six stories-with-the-story that give that spotlight people that have been inspired to read by encountering a copy of her reading list, or in the case of library patron Chris, were left a book to read that she believed would help him through a difficult time in his life.

The final Reading List section, and the last section of the book, reveals who the writer of the reading list was – the lade Naina, wife of newly inspired reader Mukesh. And Mukesh discovers via note she left that she was the writer of this list and hoped he’s be inspired to read and form a deeper connection with their bibliophile granddaughter Priya.

The Books on Naina’s Reading List:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Little Women by Louise May Alcott

Beloved by Toni Morrison

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

And a bonus recommendation, the book her daughter’s found under their parent’s bed and which Mukesh read before he read the books on her list: Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

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The author, Sara Nisha Adams also included a list of her favorite reading titles, and they are:

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Strange Weather in Toyko by Hiromi Kawakami

The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Sunlight on a Broken Column by Attia Hosain

There But For The by Ali Smith

We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian

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The May 2023 Book Club for Adults will be meeting on Friday, May 12, 2023 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m., in the Conference Room at the library.

Our May Read is Fox Creek: A Novel by William Kent Krueger. Copies of the book will be available to pick up at the library by the end of next week – if you’re dropping by to pick up a copy before then – call the library first to make sure we have a copy for you – tel. 607-936-3713.

If you can’t find a copy of the book, let me know and I’ll make sure you get one!

And on a related note, William Kent Krueger recently gave a (LSC) author talk & discussed his latest novel – Fox Creek. The recording of the talk is accessible via the following link:

https://libraryc.org/ssclibrary/archive

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Other Great Books Recommend by Book Club Members This Past Month:

A Man Called Ove: A Novel by Fredrik Backman

Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Faith Still Moves Mountains: Miraculous Stories of the Healing Power of Prayer by Harris Faulkner

Recitatif: A Story by Toni Morrison and Zadie Smith

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

Switchboard Soldiers: A Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini

We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian

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If you’d like to request print copies of books, using your library card and PIN, just click on the following link to StarCat (the print book catalog for all Southern Tier Library System member libraries)

https://starcat.stls.org

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And if you’d like to search for digital content check out:

The Digital Catalog (for eBooks & Downloadable Audiobooks) (Companion app: Libby)

https://stls.overdrive.com/

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And Hoopla (for on-demand eBooks, audios, TV shows, movies & comic books) (Companion app: Hoopla)

https://www.hoopladigital.com/

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Have a great day,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Email Address: reimerl@stls.org

Hi everyone, the March SSCL Book Club for Adults gathering is today at 3:00 p.m.

You can attend in person at the library, and due to the weather I have also created a Zoom meeting – so feel free to stay at home, where it is warm and cozy, and Zoom.

If you need the Zoom link, just send me an email:

REIMERL@STLS.ORG

I hope to see everyone who is available today at 3:00 p.m., virtually or in person.

I thought the book, The Personal Librarian by Benedict & Murray was a great read and look forward to discussing it!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Hi everyone, just kicking things off with a reminder, our March book club gathering will be on Friday, March 10, 2023 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

And our March Read is:

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray

(Copies of the March Read are available at the Circulation Desk)

And here is the plot: A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

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SSCL Book Club for Adults: February 2023

First Off: Great Reads Recommended by Members:

Barker and Llewelyn Mystery Series by Will Thomas (Books in series, to-date, 13 with a 14^th title, Heart of the Nile coming out in April 2023)

Book One:

Some Danger Involved: An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar in London’s Jewish ghetto.

When the eccentric and enigmatic Cyrus Barker takes on the recent murder case of a young scholar in London’s Jewish ghetto, he realizes that he must hire an assistant, and out of all who answer an ad for a position with “some danger involved,” he chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man with a murky past.

As they inch ever closer to the shocking truth behind the murder, Llewelyn is drawn deeper and deeper into Barker’s peculiar world of vigilante detective work, as well as the heart of London’s teeming underworld. Brimming with wit and unforgettable characters and steeped in authentic period detail, Some Danger Involved is a captivating page-turner that introduces an equally captivating duo.

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Bryant & May Mystery Series by Christopher Fowler (Books in series, to-date, 18.5; most recent full book in series London Bridge is Falling Down (2021).

Book One: Full Dark House: Edgy, suspenseful, and darkly comic, here is the first novel in a riveting mystery series starring two cranky but brilliant old detectives whose lifelong friendship was forged solving crimes for the London Police Department’s Peculiar Crimes Unit. In Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler tells the story of both their first and last case—and how along the way the unlikely pair of crime fighters changed the face of detection.

A present-day bombing rips through London and claims the life of eighty-year-old detective Arthur Bryant. For his partner John May, it means the end of a partnership that lasted over half-a-century and an eerie echo back to the Blitz of World War II when they first met. Desperately searching for clues to the killer’s identity, May finds his old friend’s notes of their very first case and becomes convinced that the past has returned . . . with a killing vengeance.

It begins when a dancer in a risque new production of Orpheus in Hell is found without her feet. Suddenly, the young detectives are plunged in a bizarre gothic mystery that will push them to their limits—and beyond. For in a city shaken by war, a faceless killer is stalking London’s theaters, creating his own kind of sinister drama. And it will take Arthur Bryant’s unorthodox techniques and John May’s dogged police work to catch a criminal whose ability to escape detection seems almost supernatural—a murderer who even decades later seems to have claimed the life of one of them . . . and is ready to claim the other.

Filled with startling twists, unforgettable characters, and a mystery that will keep you guessing, Full Dark House is a witty, heartbreaking, and all-too-human thriller about the hunt for an inhuman killer.

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Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James Mystery Series by Deborah Crombie (18 books, with a 19^th scheduled for publication in 2023; the most recent book in the series is A Bitter Feast (2019).

Book One: A Share in Death: In this “thoroughly entertaining mystery with a cleverly conceived and well-executed plot” (Booklist), Edgar Award-nominated author Deborah Crombie introduces us to Duncan Kincaid of Scotland Yard and his partner, Gemma James.

A week’s holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland Yard’s Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But the discovery of a body floating in the whirlpool bath ends Kincaid’s vacation before it’s begun. One of his new acquaintances at Followdale House is dead; another is a killer. Despite a distinct lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid’s keen sense of duty won’t allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised dramatically when a second murder occurs, and Kincaid and James find themselves in a determined hunt for a fiendish felon who enjoys homicide a bit too much.  

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The Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack. 
 
New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.
 
Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse—one studying the stallion’s bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.
 
Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.

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Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America by Dahlia Lithwick:

When it comes to legal challenges to human rights in general and women’s rights in particular, it is sobering to note that threats against them are coming from inside the house. From the lowest rung of the judicial ladder to the Supreme Court, legal decisions that protect fundamental freedoms are under assault in existential ways. Since the mid–twentieth-century, more and more women have been attracted to law as a career, and a stellar cadre of social-justice-focused lawyers has recognized the courts as the linchpin in protecting fragile rights. The battles have been arduous, the defeats aggravating, and the victories often disconcertingly ephemeral. Lawyer and legal journalist Lithwick, a self-described “professional court-watcher,” profiles the best-of-the-best women lawyers whose dedication, drive, and determination have led to monumental changes. Some are household names, such as Sally Yates, Stacey Abrams, and Anita Hill. Others are less well-known, although their advocacy is equally pioneering, including Latinx vote strategist Nina Perales and ACLU reproductive rights attorney Brigitte Amiri. Whip-smart and wickedly acerbic, Lithwick shines a reassuring light on the essential interconnectivity between women and the law and champions the vital role women lawyers must continue to play if American democracy is to persevere. – Booklist Review  

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The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner

From the author of the sensational bestseller The Lost Apothecary comes a spellbinding tale about two daring women who hunt for truth and justice in the perilous art of conjuring the dead.

1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike.

Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves…

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Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (and the corresponding move was good too: A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks)

Here is an overview of the plot: Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

Fredrik Backman’s beloved first novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. “If there was an award for ‘Most Charming Book of the Year,’ this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down” (Booklist, starred review).

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The Winners by Fredrik Backman

Billed as the conclusion of the Beartown series, the new novel by the award-winning Swedish author Backman (A Man Called Ove, 2014) is set two-and-a-half years after the town of Bjornstad was torn apart by the rape of a teenage girl by a junior hockey player. Readers unfamiliar with Beartown (2016) and its sequel Us against You (2017) need to know one thing: Bjornstad and the nearby Hed are, above all, hockey towns. After the tragic events recounted in the first book, Bjornstad’s hockey team faltered, allowing Hed’s to rise to prominence. Now, as the town still struggles to put itself back together, things happen that will force each resident to confront his or her darkest thoughts. This is a dramatic and highly satisfying novel, building on themes introduced in the first two books and brilliantly drawing the reader deeply into the story. The translation by Neil Smith (who has also translated novels by Lars Kepler and Liza Marklund) is nimble and idiomatic, perfectly conveying Backman’s love of language and his wonderful sense of humor. If this really is the last Beartown novel, it’s a hell of a conclusion to an outstanding series. – Booklist Review

The Winners is third book in the Beartown trilogy, preceded by Beartown (2017) & Us Against You (2018)

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Secondly, here is the February Read Overview:

The SSCL Book Club for Adults met on Friday, February 10 and discussed our February Read:

The Matrix by Lauren Groff.

The book, despite the modern science fiction connotations of the title, is set in the 12 Century, the protagonist a fictionalized version of a real historical person, the poetry writing nun Marie de France.

The protagonist Marie was born in France, the illegitimate daughter of a French noblewoman and a member of the French Royal Family. She spent her early years surrounded by her widowed maternal grandmother, mother and aunts who lived together on the family estate. In that era, women were usually treated as property so the freedom Marie and her female relatives enjoyed in those years was not typical.

After Marie’s mother died, she spent several years managing the family estate before it was discovered a young woman was managing the estate, which wasn’t allowed; and then the French, and future English Queen, Eleanor called her to court and told her she was too awkward, tall and uncouth to be an acceptable bride and instead, she was being sent to an English convent.

Marie, who as the novel opens was not especially religious, was intelligent, hardworking and industrious. When she arrived at the convent she found a small number of nuns at the abbey; and those nuns were starving for a lack of gathering resources.

Over time Marie worked her way up in the ranks at the abbey, implementing more efficient ways of doing things and the abbey prospered. Marie also had religious visions that she used to get her own way when implementing changes and improvements at the abbey. And she created a female-centric place at the abbey where women were able to prosper. Marie was eventually promoted to the top position at the abbey, becoming the abbess, a position she held until her death.

The Matrix was a detailed historical fiction novel but without any mysteries or major league surprises in the plot. The novel was liked by some members of the book club, while others thought it was too detailed and contained too many descriptions that needed to be looked up to comfortably carry on reading the in-depth historical plot.

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Have a great day!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

Hi everyone, I don’t know how time flies as a fast as it does – but it certainly does!

January has flown, February has arrived and our next book club gathering is in just over a week, on Friday, February 10, 2023.

We’ll be meeting in the Conference Room at the library from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. and copies of the February Read: Matrix by Lauren Groff, may be picked up at the Circulation Desk at any time.

And as the word “Matrix” sounds like science fiction – I’ll just note briefly, that the novel is historical fiction with a large dose of female empowerment. Set during the twelve century the novel relays the story of Marie de France; a young noble woman who was deemed by Queen Eleanor to be unsuitable for married or court life, and was thus sent away to an abbey, where she rose through the ranks and thrived.  

I hope to see everyone next Friday!

Linda

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Pasted below are the notes from our December 2022 and January 2023 gatherings where we read and discussed, respectively, Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout and The Secret Life of Bees by Eileen Garvin.

The book club attendees liked our December Read Oh William!

And the response to our January Read: The Secret Life of Bees was mixed. Some readers liked the lighter, feel good, intelligent-but-with-a-Hallmark-vibe to it novel and others felt it was more of a cozy read, with less in-depth character development than they desired.

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Our December 2023 Book Club for Adults Read was held on December 9, 2022

And our December Read was: Oh, William! By Elizabeth Strout

Oh, William! Is the third book in Strout’s Amgash series and relays the story of two main characters: the protagonist of the series: 64-year-old Lucy Barton and her philandering, semi-retired scientist ex-husband William. The novel features scenes both in the present and the past; basically, relaying basic information on the couple, including what their childhoods were like, how they met, married and divorce and are still connected in the present even though they both remarried after their divorce.

It transpires that Lucy had a very difficult, poverty-stricken childhood. Her parents were dysfunctional. Her father had PTSD and her mother was abusive. Lucy grew up with a limited view of the world and found that simply trying to get through each day in the emotional minefield that was her home was a difficult, cringe worthy challenge.

As a youth, Lucy was a good student and worked hard at her studies. She was awarded a scholarship at “that college right outside of Chicago.” Lucy was petrified of going to college because she couldn’t imagine a world other than the small one, she grew up in. She was greatly assisted in getting ready for college by her school counselor Mrs. Nash, who took her shopping for clothes and luggage to replace the few threadbare changes of clothes she took with her from home and carried in a paper bag. Mrs. Nash also drove her to college where Lucy did well as a student. And in her sophomore year she met a fellow student named William Gerhardt.

Turning to William, he too had a difficult childhood. His mother was a bit distant, and his father was a World War II era German soldier who was captured by the allies and wound up a prisoner of war working in the U.S. during the war.

After college, Lucy went on to become a writer and William a scientist in the field of parasitology. They married and had two daughters Becca and Chrissy. And when their daughters were in college, Lucy discovered William was having an affair with a family friend, and she first left him and then divorced him, though they remained in touch.

After her divorce from William, Lucy remarried a much different man a kind, faithful cellist named David. When the book opens readers discover David has died and Lucy is still grieving for him two years after his death.

Early in the book readers discover that William has married twice since his divorce from Lucy. First, he married Lucy’s former friend, Joanne, the woman he had an affair with which caused the breakup of his marriage to Lucy. And then he married a younger woman, Estelle, and had a daughter with her named Sophia. One night he came home from work and discovered Estelle had moved out, taking their daughter and much of their home furnishings with her and leaving him a note announcing the breakup of their marriage.

Readers additionally discover that Lucy has a nervous disposition. In fact, her counselor describes Lucy’s anxieties as being a part of post-traumatic stress disorder she obtained while growing up in a very dysfunctional household. Lucy’s PTSD may be one of the reasons why she stays connected to William as his presence offers her a feeling of safety since she knows what expect from him, most of the time, due to their many years of marriage.

Despite Lucy’s nervousness, it is William who is going through a mid-life crisis in the book. While Lucy is dealing with the death of her second husband David, William winds up dealing both with the breakup of his third marriage to Estelle and the discovery, ironically via a search inspired by the results of a DNA Ancestry kit Estelle gave him for Christmas and that he ignored for months, that his mother, Catherine, left her first husband, Clyde Trask, a Maine potato farmer and their toddler Lois to marry William’s father. William’s father, Wilhelm as a German World War II era POW was sent to Maine, to work on the same potato farm owned by Catherine’s first husband Clyde Trask.

Thus Lucy and William are dealing with the after effects of how they were raised. Lucy with an abusive mother and a father with PTSD; and William with a mother who kept her previous family a secret, and a father who had a haunted past due to things that happened during his service in the German Army. William’s father even admitted to him that the German Army did terrible, unconscionable things during the war and those things haunted him ever afterwards, and he inevitably, inadvertently passed that history and some of those haunted feelings on to William.

And it should also be noted that despite having been divorced for many years that Lucy and William are still connected to each other and still factor into each other’s lives; this is true to such a degree that when William wants to take a trip to Maine to track down his newly discovered half-sister Lois, he takes Lucy with him.

Perhaps needless to say, Oh William! Offers a character study of the two main characters – Lucy and William.

Oh William! Ends with Lucy preparing to take a vacation to the Cayman Islands with William.

Oh William! Is the third book in Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy Baron series; and the story of Lucy and William continues in the fourth book of the series, 2022’s Lucy By The Sea which follows Lucy and William as they take refuge from the COVID-19 pandemic in a secluded house by the sea.

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Books Recommended by Book Club Members: December 2022:

Brighter By The Day: Waking Up To New Hopes and Dreams by Robin Roberts

From the beloved host of Good Morning America and New York Times bestselling author Robin Roberts, a guide to instilling hope and optimism into readers’ lives, infusing their days with positivity and encouragement.

Over the last 16 years as the esteemed anchor of Good Morning America, Robin Roberts has helped millions of people across the country greet each new morning, gracing our screens with heart and humility. She has sought to bring a bit of positivity into each day, even in the most trying of times. Now, she shares with readers the guidance she’s received, her own hard-won wisdom, and eye-opening experiences that have helped her find the good in the world and usher in light—even on the darkest days.

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The Burgess Boys by Lucy Barton

Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a sleek, successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in stride. But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan—the Burgess sibling who stayed behind—urgently calls them home. Her lonely teenage son, Zach, has gotten himself into a world of trouble, and Susan desperately needs their help. And so the Burgess brothers return to the landscape of their childhood, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed their relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.

With a rare combination of brilliant storytelling, exquisite prose, and remarkable insight into character, Elizabeth Strout has brought to life two deeply human protagonists whose struggles and triumphs will resonate with readers long after they turn the final page. Tender, tough-minded, loving, and deeply illuminating about the ties that bind us to family and home, The Burgess Boys is perhaps Elizabeth Strout’s most astonishing work of literary art.

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Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

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Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life by Haley Stewart

Stewart draws fascinating connections between Austen’s novels and real life and introduces Austen as a capable life coach by how she guides her readers to understand virtue and vice through friendship, love, community, and God’s grace. Austen’s characters reveal how virtuous habits transform us and help us become who we were meant to be.

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Light To The Hills by Bonnie Blaylock: A richly rewarding novel about family bonds, the power of words, and the resilience of mothers and daughters in 1930s Appalachia.

The folks in the Kentucky Appalachians are scraping by. Coal mining and hardscrabble know-how are a way of life for these isolated people. But when Amanda Rye, a young widowed mother and traveling packhorse librarian, comes through a mountain community hit hard by the nation’s economic collapse, she brings with her hope, courage, and apple pie. Along the way, Amanda takes a shine to the MacInteer family, especially to the gentle Rai; her quick-study daughter, Sass; and Finn, the eldest son who’s easy to warm to. They remind Amanda of her childhood and her parents with whom she longs to be reconciled.

Her connection with the MacInteers deepens, and Amanda shares with them a dangerous secret from her past. When that secret catches up with Amanda in the present, she, Rai, Sass, and Finn find their lives intersecting—and threatened—in the most unexpected ways. Now they must come together as the truth lights a path toward survival, mountain justice, forgiveness, and hope.

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Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It by Richard Reeves: A positive vision for masculinity in a more equal world. Boys and men are struggling. Profound economic and social changes of recent decades have many losing ground in the classroom, the workplace, and in the family. While the lives of women have changed, the lives of many men have remained the same or even worsened.

Our attitudes, our institutions, and our laws have failed to keep up. Conservative and progressive politicians, mired in their own ideological warfare, fail to provide thoughtful solutions.

The father of three sons, a journalist, and a Brookings Institution scholar, Richard V. Reeves has spent twenty-five years worrying about boys both at home and work. His new book, Of Boys and Men, tackles the complex and urgent crisis of boyhood and manhood.

Reeves looks at the structural challenges that face boys and men and offers fresh and innovative solutions that turn the page on the corrosive narrative that plagues this issue. Of Boys and Men argues that helping the other half of society does not mean giving up on the ideal of gender equality.

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January 2023 Book Club for Adults:

The January Book Club for Adults gathering took place on Friday, January 8, 2023.

Our January Read was: The Secret Life of Bees by Eileen Garvin

There are four main characters in this intelligent general fiction cozy:  Alice Holtzman a middle aged widow and part-time beekeeper, Jake a paraplegic teenager and recent high school graduate, twenty five year old Harry Stokes who has a criminal record for going along with “friends” as a driver while they attempted and failed to steal electronics; and, of course, the bees.

Each chapter of the book begins with a short quote about the life of bees from written works by a man considered the father of modern bee keeping L. L. Langstroth.

And the bees are a counterpoint to the three human characters, who despite the differences in their ages and background are all trying to find themselves; in large part by trial and error while simultaneously trying to manage their emotional responses to difficulties they have experienced in their lives, and initially, by trying to remain unconnected to other people.  The bees, on the other hand, each have very specific roles and they all work together for the sustainability and health of their hive.

The trio of main characters Alice, Jake and Harry do eventually find themselves and wind up with their feet solidly on new and better paths in their lives. The trio learns something that the bees know instinctively, that if humans connect with others and help each other, as needed, then their lives are richer and run more smoothly than if they try and live their lives all by themselves.

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Books Recommended by Book Club Members (and the Eileen Garvin) : January 2023:

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamont

An unforgettable novel about a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century, told “with humor and optimism…through the eyes of an irresistible heroine” (People)—from the acclaimed author of The Red Tent.

Anita Diamant’s “vivid, affectionate portrait of American womanhood” (Los Angeles Times), follows the life of one woman, Addie Baum, through a period of dramatic change. Addie is The Boston Girl, the spirited daughter of an immigrant Jewish family, born in 1900 to parents who were unprepared for America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End of Boston, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine—a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, to finding the love of her life, eighty-five-year-old Addie recounts her adventures with humor and compassion for the naïve girl she once was.

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Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee, A Bee Keeper’s Manual by L. L. Langstroth

(This is the book that author Eileen Garvin quotes from at the beginning of each chapter of The Music of Bees)

This influential guide by the Reverend L. L. Langstroth, “the father of modern beekeeping,” revolutionized the practice of beekeeping. Originally published in 1853, his work constitutes the first descriptive treatise of modern bee management — its innovations allowed people to engage in actual beekeeping, rather than simply handling bee domiciles and extracting the honey. This book explains and illustrates techniques still employed 150 years later — including the author’s patented invention, a movable frame hive that quickly spread into common use around the world.

In his reader-friendly, nontechnical style, Langstroth addresses every aspect of beekeeping: bee physiology; diseases and enemies of bees; the life-cycles of the queen, drone, and worker; bee-hives; and the handling of bees. An infectious sense of wonder and enthusiasm suffuses Langstroth’s accounts of natural and artificial swarming, the production of honey and wax, and the best methods of feeding bees and maintaining an apiary. The manual abounds in practical and intriguing insights attained through the years of observation and experience, including “the kindness of bees to one another,” “their infatuation for liquid sweets,” and “the warning given by bees before stinging.”

This version of Langstroth’s ever-popular manual is the fourth and final edition; it incorporates the author’s own revisions and remains an unsurpassed resource for beekeepers.

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The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an October evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet’s body swinging from a rope. The next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has removed the dead man’s heart.

Augustus Landor—who acquired some renown in his years as a New York City police detective—is called in to discreetly investigate. It’s a baffling case Landor must pursue in secret, for the scandal could do irreparable damage to the fledgling institution. But he finds help from an unexpected ally—a moody, young cadet with a penchant for drink, two volumes of poetry to his name, and a murky past that changes from telling to telling.

The strange and haunted Southern poet, for whom Landor develops a fatherly affection, is named Edgar Allan Poe.

The basis of the new Netflix series of the same name.

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Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule

Ty Seidule grew up revering Robert E. Lee. From his southern childhood to his service in the U.S. Army, every part of his life reinforced the Lost Cause myth: that Lee was the greatest man who ever lived, and that the Confederates were underdogs who lost the Civil War with honor. Now, as a retired brigadier general and Professor Emeritus of History at West Point, his view has radically changed. From a soldier, a scholar, and a southerner, Ty Seidule believes that American history demands a reckoning.

In a unique blend of history and reflection, Seidule deconstructs the truth about the Confederacy?that its undisputed primary goal was the subjugation and enslavement of Black Americans?and directly challenges the idea of honoring those who labored to preserve that system and committed treason in their failed attempt to achieve it. Through the arc of Seidule’s own life, as well as the culture that formed him, he seeks a path to understanding why the facts of the Civil War have remained buried beneath layers of myth and even outright lies, and how they embody a cultural gulf that separates millions of Americans to this day.

Part history lecture, part meditation on the Civil War and its fallout, and part memoir, Robert E. Lee and Me challenges the deeply-held legends and myths of the Confederacy, and provides a surprising interpretation of essential truths that our country still has a difficult time articulating and accepting.

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Podcasts: For The Ages, a variety of popular historians and historical figures are interviewed, published by the New York Historical Society; accessible online: https://www.nyhistory.org/for-the-ages-podcast

Hi everyone, the January 2023 book club gathering for adults is this Friday, January 13, 2023.

We’ll be meeting from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. in the Conference Room and discussing the book The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin.

Looking ahead, our February gathering will be on Friday, February 10, 2023, when we will again be meeting in the Conference Room from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Our February read, copies of which will be available at the Circulation Desk on Friday, is:

Matrix by Lauren Groff (272 pages): A National Book Award nominated title which tells the fictional tale of a real-life character – a 12th Century Abbess named Marie de France.

Hope to see everyone on Friday!

Have a great day,

Linda