Join a Book Club!

Expand your reading horizons this year by joining one of our four

book discussion groups. Book discussion groups are a great way for book-lovers to enjoy reading and the pleasure of each other's company. They can be a useful discipline for encouraging you to read more, to read outside the genres you normally read, or simply as a way to make new friends and meet like-minded readers.

The current book discussion groups cover a wide range of topics and cross between fiction and non-fiction books. The groups are geared towards different lifestyles and therefore meet at various times and locations. Working individuals can attend our evening book discussion group newly named All Over the Page on the second Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. alternating our meetings between Village Inn and Panera Bread.  Our newest group, Unshelved, meets on the second Wednesday of each month; beginning in August they will meet at 12:30 and alternate between My Koog and Great Debate Books.  This group is taking book discussions to new horizons with their selected titles.  If you have free time during the day you can participate in the Bookies daytime group, which meets at 1:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month.  Or, join the Literary Angles book discussion group; this group meets at 1:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month and often has a film presentation following the discussion. 

Call 223-1309 ext. 502 to sign up for an Adult Book Discussion Group or ext. 220 for a Children's or Teen book discussion group.

What we're reading...
 

Unshelved

Meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month.  Beginning in August, Unshelved will alternate meetings between My Koog (234 N. 12th St.) and Great Debate Books (535 Maine St.) at 12:30 PM.

September 22, 12:30 PM--The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

*Meet at Great Debate Books, 535 Maine St.*

Nick Carraway is from Minnesota, attended an Ivy League university, served in the U.S. Army during World War I, moved to New York after the war, and questions—even while participating in—high society.

Having left the Midwest in the summer of 1922, Nick settles in West Egg, Long Island, among the nouveau riche epitomized by his neighbor Jay Gatsby. A mysterious man, Gatsby is the subject of endless fascination to the guests at his lavish parties. He is rumored to be a hero of the Great War. Others say he served as a German spy. Gatsby claims to have attended Oxford University, but the evidence is suspect. As Nick learns more about Gatsby, every detail about him seems questionable, except his love for Daisy Buchanan.

Jay Gatsby's decadent parties are thrown with one goal: to attract Daisy, who lives across the bay. From the lawn of his mansion, Gatsby can see the light on her dock, which becomes a symbol of an unreachable treasure, the "future that year by year recedes before us."

Though Daisy is a married socialite and a mother, Gatsby still worships her. They first met when she was a young lady from an affluent family and he was a working-class military officer. Daisy pledged to wait for his return from the war. Instead she married Tom Buchanan, a wealthy classmate of Nick's. Having obtained a great fortune, Gatsby sets out to win her back again.

A profound indictment of class privilege in the Jazz Age and beyond, The Great Gatsby explores the conflict between decency and self-indulgence. In the novel's conclusion, the characters collide, leaving human wreckage in their wake.

October 13, 12:30 PM-- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak  

*Meet at 12:30 PM at My Koog, 234 N. 12th St.*

Liesel Meminger is only nine years old when she is taken to live with the Hubermanns, a foster family, on Himmel Street in Molching, Germany, in the late 1930s. She arrives with few possessions, but among them is The Grave Digger’s Handbook, a book that she stole from her brother’s burial place. During the years that Liesel lives with the Hubermanns, Hitler becomes more powerful, life on Himmel Street becomes more fearful, and Liesel becomes a full-fledged book thief. She rescues books from Nazi book-burnings and steals from the library of the mayor. Liesel is illiterate when she steals her first book, but Hans Hubermann uses her prized books to teach her to read. This is a story of courage, friendship, love, survival, death, and grief. This is Liesel’s life on Himmel Street, told from Death’s point of view.

Literary Angles

Meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month.  Beginning in August, we will meet at Great Debate Books, 535 Maine St.  

September 21, 1:30 PM--The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

*Meet at Great Debate Books, 535 Maine St.*

Nick Carraway is from Minnesota, attended an Ivy League university, served in the U.S. Army during World War I, moved to New York after the war, and questions—even while participating in—high society.

Having left the Midwest in the summer of 1922, Nick settles in West Egg, Long Island, among the nouveau riche epitomized by his neighbor Jay Gatsby. A mysterious man, Gatsby is the subject of endless fascination to the guests at his lavish parties. He is rumored to be a hero of the Great War. Others say he served as a German spy. Gatsby claims to have attended Oxford University, but the evidence is suspect. As Nick learns more about Gatsby, every detail about him seems questionable, except his love for Daisy Buchanan.

Though Daisy is a married socialite and a mother, Gatsby still worships her. They first met when she was a young lady from an affluent family and he was a working-class military officer. Daisy pledged to wait for his return from the war. Instead she married Tom Buchanan, a wealthy classmate of Nick's. Having obtained a great fortune, Gatsby sets out to win her back again.

A profound indictment of class privilege in the Jazz Age and beyond, The Great Gatsby explores the conflict between decency and self-indulgence. In the novel's conclusion, the characters collide, leaving human wreckage in their wake.

October 19, 1:30 PM-- Selected Poems and Letters of John Keats by John Keats

*Meet at Great Debate Books, 535 Maine St.*

In his tragically short life Keats wrote an astonishing number of superb poems; his stature as one of the foremost poets of the Romantic Movement remains unassailable. The poetry presented illustrates the staggering speed with which Keats's work matured. Further insight into his creative process can be gained by reading his poems published posthumously.

Keats's letters are admired as much as his poetry and were described by T. S. Eliot as "the most notable and most important ever written by any English poet." They provide the best biographical detail available and shed invaluable light on Keats's poems.

All Over the Page

Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM.  Meeting locations alternate between Panera Bread (3720 Broadway) and Village Inn (200 N. 36th St.).  

September 14, 7:00 PM at Panera Bread -- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Nick Carraway is from Minnesota, attended an Ivy League university, served in the U.S. Army during World War I, moved to New York after the war, and questions—even while participating in—high society.

Having left the Midwest in the summer of 1922, Nick settles in West Egg, Long Island, among the nouveau riche epitomized by his neighbor Jay Gatsby. A mysterious man, Gatsby is the subject of endless fascination to the guests at his lavish parties. He is rumored to be a hero of the Great War. Others say he served as a German spy. Gatsby claims to have attended Oxford University, but the evidence is suspect. As Nick learns more about Gatsby, every detail about him seems questionable, except his love for Daisy Buchanan.

Though Daisy is a married socialite and a mother, Gatsby still worships her. They first met when she was a young lady from an affluent family and he was a working-class military officer. Daisy pledged to wait for his return from the war. Instead she married Tom Buchanan, a wealthy classmate of Nick's. Having obtained a great fortune, Gatsby sets out to win her back again.

A profound indictment of class privilege in the Jazz Age and beyond, The Great Gatsby explores the conflict between decency and self-indulgence. In the novel's conclusion, the characters collide, leaving human wreckage in their wake.

October 12, 7:00 PM at Village Inn, 200 N. 36th St. -- The Ghost at the Table by Suzanne Berne

Different since childhood and leading dissimilar lives, sisters Frances and Cynthia have managed to remain "devoted" -- as long as they stay on opposite coasts. But with the reappearance of their long-estranged father they find themselves united for a snowy Thanksgiving week-- a reunion that awakens tensions and old sorrows.
Frances envisions a happy family holiday with her husband and daughters in her New England farmhouse. Cynthia, a writer, doesn't understand how Frances can ignore the past, a past that includes suspicions about their mother's death twenty-five years earlier. Adding to her uneasiness is her research for a book on Mark Twain's daughters, whose lives eerily mirror her own and Frances's.
As Thanksgiving Day arrives, the sisters struggle with different versions of their shared past, until a warning issued by Cynthia's friend Carita that “families are toxic" proves prophetically true.
The Ghost at the Table reveals what happens when one person tries to rewrite another's history, and explores the mystery of why families try to stay together even when it may be in their best interests to stay apart.

Bookies

Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month.  Beginning in August, the Bookies will hold their meetings at Great Debate Books, 535 Maine St.  

September 1, 1:30 PM--Oh My Stars by Lorna Landvik

*Meet at Great Debate Books, 535 Maine St.*

Violet Mathers is growing up in the Great Depression, which could also define her state of mind. Abandoned by her mother, mistreated by her father, and teased by her schoolmates, she finds solace in artistic pursuits. Only when she's hired to work the night shift in the local thread factory does Violet come into her name, and bloom. Accepted by her co-workers, she enters the happiest phase of her life, until an accident causes her to retreat into her lonely shell.
Violet boards a bus heading to California, but when the bus crashes in North Dakota, it seems that Fate is having a laugh at Violet's expense. This time, Violet laughs back. She and her fellow passengers are rescued by two men: Austin Sykes, the blackest man to ever set foot in North Dakota, and Kjel Hedstrom, who inspires feelings Violet never before has felt. Kjel and Austin are musicians; with pluck, verve, and wit, Violet becomes part of their quest to make new music together.

October 6, 1:30 PM-- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

*Meet at Great Debate Books, 535 Maine St.*

Nick Carraway is from Minnesota, attended an Ivy League university, served in the U.S. Army during World War I, moved to New York after the war, and questions—even while participating in—high society.

Having left the Midwest in the summer of 1922, Nick settles in West Egg, Long Island, among the nouveau riche epitomized by his neighbor Jay Gatsby. A mysterious man, Gatsby is the subject of endless fascination to the guests at his lavish parties. He is rumored to be a hero of the Great War. Others say he served as a German spy. Gatsby claims to have attended Oxford University, but the evidence is suspect. As Nick learns more about Gatsby, every detail about him seems questionable, except his love for Daisy Buchanan.

Though Daisy is a married socialite and a mother, Gatsby still worships her. They first met when she was a young lady from an affluent family and he was a working-class military officer. Daisy pledged to wait for his return from the war. Instead she married Tom Buchanan, a wealthy classmate of Nick's. Having obtained a great fortune, Gatsby sets out to win her back again.

A profound indictment of class privilege in the Jazz Age and beyond, The Great Gatsby explores the conflict between decency and self-indulgence. In the novel's conclusion, the characters collide, leaving human wreckage in their wake.