Syosset Public Library owns sets of book that are exclusively for local book clubs to check out for their discussions. Discussion questions are included in the set, along with biographical and critical material. Readers’ Services has added the following titles to our Book Club in a Bag collection:
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
“A baseball star at a small college near Lake Michigan launches a routine throw that goes disastrously off course and inadvertently changes the lives of five people, including the college president, a gay teammate, and the president’s daughter.” (From the publisher)
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale I, My Father Bleeds History and Maus: A Survivor’s Tale II, And Here My Troubles Begin Graphic biographies written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman.
Maus I: “The author-illustrator traces his father’s imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp through a series of disarming and unusual cartoons arranged to tell the story as a novel.” (From the publisher)
Maus II: “A narrative sequel to Maus captures the experience of the Holocaust as it chronicles the continuing story of Vladek, who survives Auschwitz, is reunited with his beloved Anja, and sires young Art.” (From the publisher)
Next to Love by Ellen Feldman
“Follows the stories of three young couples whose lives are irrevocably changed in the years following World War II, a period during which they struggle with difficult losses and witness profound transformations in American culture.” (From the publisher)
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman
“Traces the author’s upbringing in a Hasidic community in Brooklyn, describing the strict rules that governed her life, arranged marriage at the age of seventeen, and the birth of her son, which led to her plan to leave and forge her own path in life.” (From the publisher)
Please contact Readers’ Services, 921-7161, ext 241 or 239
to reserve a book for your Book Club.
The revised Book Club in a Bag Pamphlet is available
at the Readers’ Services desk.
- posted by Evelyn, Readers’ Services
With thousands of books from which to choose, this might seem like an easy question to answer. But quite a few books clubs would say that it’s not. Methods used to find the next book to discuss are many. Some groups have one person who always decides on which books will be read and some have all of their members decide together. Other groups choose their books month by month while some set an agenda of books for a few months or a year ahead. Still others just trust that one of their members will come with a ready suggestion for the next month that will be acceptable to all. If the method that your book club is using has become monotonous or is not working well, your group might try one of the following ideas for use in scheduling the books to discuss in the months ahead:
Read a New Genre Each Month Your club might be concentrating (some might call it stuck) on just a few genres that members feel comfortable with. Why not step outside of your group comfort zone and deliberately schedule titles that are outside of those genres? If your group is mostly reading “Historical fiction”, try a Mystery, a Classic, a Science Fiction or a Thriller. There are discussable books in every genre and enough genres in existence to not repeat one for months.
Tour the World Your book club can choose books set in different countries or cities. Or you can pick books by authors from other countries. Perhaps you can stay in the United States and pick books set in different states.
Holiday or Seasonal Choose books by a holiday occurring during the month or by season – a mystery with a Halloween theme for October or a historical set in a cold climate for Winter (or to cool down in Summer), a poetry book in April for National Poetry Month or a book set in a school or college for September.
Award Winners Pick titles that have been nominated for a major book award such as the National Book Award or Pulitzer Prize. You might concentrate on one year and read books that won different awards for that year.
National Reading Group Month
The film The Time Traveler’s Wife is being released today, August 14, 2009.
Watch for Audrey Niffeneggers’ new book- Her Fearful Symmetry will be published on September 29, 2009.
