Main Library Book Group
No meetings in July and August—this fall, we will resume meeting (mostly) on the second Monday of the month, starting September 13th.
2nd Monday of the month from 7-8:30 PM
Led by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) at Main Library – 361 Washington St. No sign-up is necessary. The book is available at the circulation desk one month before the discussion.
(See Rosalie's recent recommendations.)
Valerie Martin, Trespass
Sep 13, 2010 Main Library
From a prize-winning author, a novel of moral ambiguity, suspense, and family. A comfortable American mother of a college-age son is disconcerted when her son suddenly marries a mysterious young Croatian woman.
David Grann, The Lost City of Z: a Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
Oct 18, 2010 Main Library
A staff writer for the New Yorker gets caught up in one of the most famous of exploration mysteries. Biography, detective story and vivid travel writing.
Kate Grenville, The Lieutenant
Nov 8, 2010 Main Library
From a Commonwealth Prize-winning author, an historical novel about the colonization of Australia. An eccentric, endearing soldier/scholar learns about the Aborigine culture and new world and must make some choices.
Roddy Doyle, The Dead Republic
Dec 13, 2010 Main Library
An aging Irish rebel ends up in Hollywood collaborating on the script about his life. But in presenting his past, the protagonist wants to shape his legacy. Storytelling of Ireland's violent and sometimes farcical past.
Adam Schwartzman, Eddie Signwriter
Jan 10, 2011 Main Library
A lyrical first novel of a young Ghanaian who ends up in Paris. This coming-of-age story in evocative prose deals with travails, secrets, journeys, love, art and new experiences of an immigrant.
Katharine Weber, True Confections
Feb 14, 2011 Main Library
A young woman marries into a Jewish family of immigrant candy makers. A great American tale with humor, treachery, class struggle, racism, murder and the story of a marriage. A witty, sweet family saga.
Tom Rachman, The Imperfectionists
Mar 14, 2011 Main Library
A wry, vibrant debut follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English language newspaper in Rome as they struggle to keep it—and themselves—afloat. All Brookline Reads choice.
Elena Gorokhova, A Mountain of Crumbs
Apr 11, 2011 Main Library
An evocative memoir of a childhood in St. Petersburg during the Cold War and the path to immigration to the United States. The New York Times called this an "exquisitely wrought, tender memoir".
Marina Endicott, Good to a Fault
May 9, 2011 Main Library
A woman living alone provides shelter to a family after an accident. The consequences of her good deed are exhaustion, fury, hilarity, and unexpected love. Set in Canada, this introspective drama wittily renders a small community.
Helen Simonson, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Jun 13, 2011 Main Library
Update of an English village novel: a gentle read with a moral message. An old-fashioned gentleman and widower finds his village changing as he falls in love with a Pakistani widow over a shared love of literature. A domestic comedy of late-life romance and culture clash.