Come For the Book, Stay For the Company

I’m excited for the return of our East Grounds Book Club which premiered at CLP-East Liberty in March 2018. I hope to see readers from last year as well as new readers interested in joining our group.

While one of the oldest types of library programming, book clubs are still important for a variety of reasons. They offer a way for community members to connect over common interests (in person, might I add). They also provide a public forum for voicing opinions on different topics that emerge from reading. Above all else, I feel, book clubs provide an inclusive space for uniting those from different backgrounds and allow us to learn from different perspectives while also reading titles we may not have chosen for ourselves.

Check out this month’s selection for the East Grounds Book Club.

Brother

Coming of age during a sweltering summer in their Toronto housing complex, two boys, the sons of Trinidadian immigrants, dare to imagine better lives in the face of a violent shooting and the pulsing beats of 1990s hip-hop culture (from Novelist).


Janesville: An American Story

A Washington Post reporter provides an intimate account of the fallout from the closing of a General Motors’ assembly plant in Janesville, Wisconsin—Paul Ryan’s hometown—and a larger story of the hollowing of the American middle class (from Novelist).


Smile

Stopping at a local pub, Victor Forde meets a man who claims to have gone to school with him.  Trouble is Victor cannot remember him and for good reason.

The Caregiver

After an intense relationship with her single mother, Anna becomes involved with a rebel group in Rio De Janeiro which leads to their separation. Forced to flee the country, Anna takes a job caring for a young cancer patient and comes to terms with her turbulent childhood (from Novelist).


Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

Jon Krakauer chronicles the experiences of several college age women who were raped in Missoula, Montana, examining the traumatic physical and emotional repercussions of the act itself and detailing the exhaustive process of pressing criminal charges and prosecuting their attackers.


The Break

When a Metis woman sees a possible crime she telephones the police. Told from the perspectives of various people connected to this violence in a Metis community, readers hear their stories leading up to that fateful night (from Novelist).



Bread and Butter

Kitchen Confidential meets Three Junes in this mouthwatering novel about three brothers who run competing restaurants, and the culinary snobbery, staff stealing, and secret affairs that unfold in the back of the house (from Novelist).