Book Discussion Group
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Shirley DiMatteis, Head
Our group began in April 1999 and has met monthly since that date. We read a variety of books chosen from the suggestions members offer for consideration. One reward is that we find enjoyment in a book or author we had not previously thought of reading. We also discover that our impressions of a book or character can give insight to a view other than our own.
Our purpose in meeting is to share a love of reading and to enjoy the fellowship of making new friends. It is not necessary to purchase books as we mostly borrow from the public libraries. Meetings are in the Family Life Center from 10am until noon on the second Monday of the month except for January. Members choose a month in which they provide light refreshments. Each month’s book selection is published in the bulletin and our website. Anyone can join us—just come and give us a try!
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This month...
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson is the topic for the Book Discussion Group meeting on August 8, 2022. The focus is on a nineteen year old librarian, Cussy Mary Carter, who with the aide of her mule, rides the rough terrain of rural Kentucky bringing books and much more to that populace. Cussy has a genetic condition that turns her skin blue. The author was inspired to write this book by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930's. Meetings are the second Monday of the month from 10 A.M. until noon in the Family Life Center at St. Thomas More Church. All are welcome. -
JULY 2022: The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington
Twenty-five young, mostly Jewish women used their sewing skills in the consecration camp of Auschwitz-Birkebau to design, cut and sew beautiful dresses for Nazi wives. Their hope was to avoid the gas chambers. They also played a part in camp resistance. Diverse sources and interviews with the last surviving seamstress chronicles the story of these brave women.
JUNE 2022: The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes
In 1946 Australian World War II Brides board a retrofitted war ship to take a voyage to England to join their husbands. Four of these 650 brides are featured in this historical novel which uses diaries, letters and historical documents to tell this story.
MAY 2022: Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
In 1938 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Mussolini, Hitler, Lou Gehrig, Clark Gable and others lacked newspaper column inches compared to an undersized racehorse.
APRIL 2022: Deception Cove by Owen Laukkanen
The novel is set in remote Washington state where a widow and recently discharged Marine take residence along with Lucy, her pit bull mix dog. An ex-con arrives to claim the dog which he had trained as a rescue dog. They join forces against a sheriff who has his own agenda.
MARCH 2022: The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore
Victorian housewife and mother of six, Elizabeth Packard, attended a Woman's Rights Convention in 1848 which inspired her to want more freedoms. She began voicing her opinions on politics and religion. Her husband did not share her beliefs and felt threatened. He therefore had her committed to the Illinois State Hospital because he declared her "slightly insane". She found other women at the hospital who were also incarcerated by their husbands. Her writings and other efforts made a giant leap in human rights.
FEBRUARY 2022: Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson
This novel was published in 1994 but is set in 1954 on the fictional island of San Pedro. The story centers around a murder trial of a Japanese man charged with the death of a local fisherman and a white reporter covering the trial.
JANUARY 2022: No meeting
DECEMBER 2021: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Murray
Wealthy J.P. Morgan hired a young Belle da Costa Greene to curate his recently built Pierpont Morgan Library. He thought he had hired a young white woman but Bella was only white by appearance. For decades she passed as white among the social elites in the U.S. and abroad.
NOVEMBER 2021: The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
A Florida librarian notes a newspaper picture of a book she has not seen in 65 years. She had entered a secret code into that book while being a French resistant worker. She returns to France hoping to reclaim the book she had thought was stolen by the Nazis.