The next Books & Beyond (BAB) meeting will be on
Tuesday, January 31st at 6:30pm and the topic up for discussion is trains &
train travel. If you’re stumped for a
title, peruse the BAB section of the Shelf Care page: https://oneallibrary.org/adults---reading-recommendations
This week, BAB met for a reader’s choice meeting, where
there is no assigned topic, so group members shared what they've really been enjoying this year and recently.
The Omega Factor by Steve Berry
The Ghent Altarpiece is the most violated work of art in the
world. Thirteen times it has been vandalized, dismantled, or
stolen. Why? What secrets does it hold? From the tranquil
canals of Ghent, to the towering bastions of Carcassonne, and finally into an
ancient abbey high in the French Pyrenees, Nick Lee must confront a modern-day
religious crusade intent on eliminating a shocking truth from humanity’s past.
Success or failure—life and death—all turn on the Omega Factor.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam
& Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child
actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship
with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.
Reborn in the USA: An Englishman’s Love Letter to His Chosen Home by Roger Bennett
One-half of the celebrated Men in Blazers duo, longtime
culture and soccer commentator Roger Bennett traces the origins of his love
affair with America, and how he went from a depraved, pimply faced Jewish boy
in 1980’s Liverpool to become the quintessential Englishman in New York. A
memoir for fans of Jon Ronson and Chuck Klosterman, but with Roger Bennett’s
signature pop culture flair and humor.
Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang
A reimagining of Joan of Arc’s story given a space opera,
giant robot twist, the Nullvoid Chronicles is a story about the nature of
truth, the power of belief, and the interplay of both in the stories we tell
ourselves.
Cat Sebastian’s Seducing the Sedgwicks trilogy
The Sedgwick Series is about the sons of a radical, slightly unhinged poet.
Each book is a standalone, but this is the chronological order:
It Takes Two to Tumble
A Gentleman Never Keeps Score
Two Rogues Make a Right
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and
its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in
ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided
its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary
American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and
above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon
Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born
into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.
Silenced No More: Surviving My Journey to Hell and Back by
Sarah Ransome
For the first time ever, a survivor tells the shocking
inside story of her time trapped in Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex
trafficking ring.
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic,
and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer
Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across
American history. Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking
thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and
obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.
The Widow’s War by Sally Gunning
When Lyddie Berry’s husband is lost in a storm at sea, she
finds that her status as a widow is vastly changed from that of respectable
married woman. Now she is the “dependent” of her nearest male relative—her
son-in-law. Refusing to bow to societal pressure that demands she cede
everything that she and her husband worked for, Lyddie becomes an outcast from
family, friends, and neighbors—yet ultimately discovers a deeper sense of self
and, unexpectedly, love. Evocative and stunningly assured, The Widow’s War is
an unforgettable work of literary magic, a spellbinding tale from a gifted
talent.
Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series
This 18 book (and counting!) series is set around the life
of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Surete du Quebec, the provincial police
force for Quebec, Canada. The first in
the series is Still Life.
Janet Langhart Cohen's Anne & Emmett
This play was recently produced at the Birmingham Museum of
Art.
Till (this DVD is on order in the library system)
In 1955, after Emmett Till is murdered in a brutal lynching,
his mother vows to expose the racism behind the attack while working to have
those involved brought to justice.
Babylon (this film is currently in theaters)
A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces
the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence
and depravity in early Hollywood.
William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series
This 19 book (and counting!) series features a former
Chicago cop of mixed Irish and Ojibwe nation heritage living and working near an
Ojibwe reservation in the north Minnesota woods. This first title in the series is Iron Lake.
The story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects
three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to
deal with suicide in their lives.
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one
of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and
work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters
struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and
despair. The narrative of Woolf's last days before her suicide early in World
War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Samuel, a famous poet whose life
has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend
Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the
demands of friends, lovers, and family. Passionate, profound, and deeply
moving, this is Cunningham's most remarkable achievement to date.
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