MCL Book Club Selection for July: The Good Lord Bird

Join us on Wednesday, July 15 at 10AM for a discussion of The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

Mistaken for a girl on account of his curly hair, delicate features, and sackcloth smock, 12-year-old slave Henry Shackleford realizes that his accidental disguise affords him greater safety and decides to remain female. Dubbed “Little Onion” by his liberator, abolitionist John Brown, Henry accompanies the increasingly fanatical Brown on his crusade to end slavery — a picaresque journey that takes them from Bloody Kansas to Rochester, New York, where they attempt to enlist the support of such notables as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman before embarking on the infamous, ill-fated 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. — from NoveList

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MCL Book Club Selection for June: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Join us on Wednesday, June 17 at 10AM for a discussion of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Spending the summers on her family’s private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer – from Novelist

 

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Book Club Discussion on Kindred

Today we met at the Morris County Library to discuss the sci-fi classic Kindred by Octavia Butler. We had several new Book Clubbers, and it was a really fascinating hour and a half. We started by talking about why Butler chose to take a modern (well, modern in the 1970s) woman and transport her back to the Antebellum south, instead of just writing a more straightforward slave narrative. Some people didn’t feel like that worked for them; they didn’t like the time travel because it wasn’t realistic. Once we discovered how she came up with the idea of this novel, however, most of the book club members appreciated her reasoning, even if they still didn’t necessarily think it worked. As she stated in an interview:

I wanted to take a character, when I did Kindred, back in time to some of the things our ancestors had to go through, and see if that character survived so very well with the knowledge of the present in her head.

Someone Discussion

This morning we had a very interesting discussion on the book Someone by Alice McDermott. Many of our regular Book Clubbers found it a great read. Even those who thought it somewhat disjointed gave it three stars (out of five), but for the first time, we had more than one person rating it a five star book! So congratulations, Ms. McDermott. Rave reviews!

A lot of the discussion revolved around the meaning of vision and sight. Marie has had problems with her eyesight her entire life. This lack of ability to see clearly is echoed in the many relationships Marie has – including her brother Gabe, her parents, and Walter, among others.

On a related note, we talked about the meaning of people falling throughout the book. Not only does the book begin and end with the story of Pegeen and her fatal fall, but several other characters take serious tumbles throughout the novel.

Book Club This Week!

Don’t forget to stop by the Morris County Book Club this Wednesday, April 15, at 10:00 am. We’ll be talking about Alice McDermott’s Someone.

This book has won a lot of awards, among them:

• Publishers Weekly Best Fiction Book of the Year
• Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2013
• New York Times Notable Book of 2013
• Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of 2013
• NPR Best Book of 2013

It’s going to be a great discussion. Once your taxes are done (they are done, aren’t they?), spend a little quality time talking with all of us about this extraordinary book about an ordinary woman.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts Discussion

Today we had a thoroughly engaging discussion of the nonfiction book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. Our discussion reached beyond the bounds of introverts and extroverts – we discussed education, politics (politely!), and parenting as well. All our discussions touched on the introversion/extroversion scale, however, as we considered the implications of being more introverted in a world that typically promotes extroversion.

We discussed how a good pairing of an introvert and extrovert can lead to amazing things – whether it’s Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, or a marriage between compatible types. We talked about some of our own experiences feeling introverted at times, but also how we pushed through to success. We also discussed some of our own career choices, and how they were influenced – consciously or unconsciously – by our level of extroversion.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts Book Trailer

On March 18, we are discussing Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. Check out the book trailer for this amazing book that all the introverts are talking about. And then take a look at the TED Talk in our previous post for a more in-depth look at this book.

We can’t wait for the discussion on this book. See you there!

MCL Book Club Selection for March: Quiet by Susan Cain

Join us on Wednesday, March 18 at 10AM for a discussion of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. 

“At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society. Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so.” from Amazon

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To learn more and read reviews of Quiet, click on the links below: 

• New York Times Book Review 
• More information about Quiet from Susan Cain’s website
• “Quiet Please: Unleashing the ‘Power of Introverts'” from NPR
• Review from The Guardian 

TED Talk by Susan Cain 

Burial Rites – The Setting

Burial Rites takes place in the northern part of Iceland in the area surrounding Thristapar. If you want to learn more about the stunning setting of Burial Rites, check out a photo collection taken by author Hannah Kent.

“This is what the houses described in Burial Rites would have looked like.” Click on the picture above to view the photo collection.

 

Burial Rites Book Trailer

Check out the book trailer for Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, our February book club selection.