Archives: Book Clubs

Stranger than Fiction (10/05/2021): Unidentified: mythical monsters, alien encounters, and our obsession with the unexplained

September 8, 2021
Stranger than Fiction (10/05/2021): Unidentified: mythical monsters, alien encounters, and our obsession with the unexplained
Stranger than Fiction (10/05/2021): Unidentified: mythical monsters, alien encounters, and our obsession with the unexplained

Unidentified: mythical monsters, alien encounters, and our obsession with the unexplained by Colin Dickey

In a world where rational, scientific explanations are more available than ever, belief in the unprovable and irrational—in fringe—is on the rise: from Atlantis to aliens, from Flat Earth to the Loch Ness monster, the list goes on. It seems the more our maps of the known world get filled in, the more we crave mysterious locations full of strange creatures.

Enter Colin Dickey, Cultural Historian and Tour Guide of the Weird. With the same curiosity and insight that made Ghostland a hit with readers and critics, Colin looks at what all fringe beliefs have in common, explaining that today’s Illuminati is yesterday’s Flat Earth: the attempt to find meaning in a world stripped of wonder. Dickey visits the wacky sites of America’s wildest fringe beliefs—from the famed Mount Shasta where the ancient race (or extra-terrestrials, or possibly both, depending on who you ask) called Lemurians are said to roam, to the museum containing the last remaining “evidence” of the great Kentucky Meat Shower—investigating how these theories come about, why they take hold, and why as Americans we keep inventing and re-inventing them decade after decade. The Unidentified is Colin Dickey at his best: curious, wry, brilliant in his analysis, yet eminently readable.

Next Meeting:
October 5th @ 7:00 PM at Virtual

Register for online meeting here

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK

Spinecrackers (10/01/2021): The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

September 4, 2021
Spinecrackers (10/01/2021): The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
Spinecrackers (10/01/2021): The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she’s always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they’re as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families.

One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor’s handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn’t felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind—and Patricia has already invited him in.

Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia’s life and try to take everything she took for granted—including the book club—but she won’t surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong.

Next Meeting:
October 1st @ 10:00 AM at Virtual

Register for online meeting here

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE CHECKOUT ON HOOPLA
AUDIOBOOK

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

Oh, the Horror! (09/28/2021): At the Mountains of Madness

September 1, 2021
Oh, the Horror! (09/28/2021): At the Mountains of Madness
Oh, the Horror! (09/28/2021): At the Mountains of Madness

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

At the Mountains of Madness first appeared in 1936, in the February, March and April editions of the American magazine Astounding Stories. One of H. P. Lovecraft’s most chilling works, it draws on Edgar Allan Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, as well as Lovecraft’s deep fascination with the Antarctic. The sinister discoveries made by a group of explorers in At the Mountains of Madness are testament to the author’s enormous powers of imagination.

Next Meeting:
September 28th @ 7:00 PM at Eastgate Library

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE CHECKOUT ON HOOPLA
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

Library Reads (09/16/2021): Time After Time

August 20, 2021
Library Reads (09/16/2021): Time After Time
Library Reads (09/16/2021): Time After Time

Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald

On a clear December morning in 1937, at the famous gold clock in Grand Central Terminal, Joe Reynolds, a hardworking railroad man from Queens, meets a vibrant young woman who seems mysteriously out of place. Nora Lansing is a Manhattan socialite and an aspiring artist whose flapper clothing, pearl earrings, and talk of the Roaring Twenties don’t seem to match the bleak mood of Depression-era New York. Captivated by Nora from her first electric touch, Joe despairs when he tries to walk her home and she disappears. Finding her again—and again—will become the focus of his love and his life.

As thousands of visitors pass under the famous celestial blue ceiling each day, Joe and Nora create a life of infinite love in a finite space, taking full advantage of the “Terminal City” within a city. But when the construction of another landmark threatens their future, Nora and Joe are forced to test the limits of their freedom—and their love.

Next Meeting:
September 16th @ 7:00 PM at Hybrid at Harnish (in-person or online participation are both available)

Register for online or in-person attendance here

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

Enjoying the Classics (09/15/2021): The Waves

August 19, 2021
Enjoying the Classics (09/15/2021): The Waves
Enjoying the Classics (09/15/2021): The Waves

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

“I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me.”
Innovative and deeply poetic, The Waves is often regarded as Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece. It begins with six children—three boys and three girls—playing in a garden by the sea, and follows their lives as they grow up, experience friendship and love, and grapple with the death of their beloved friend Percival. Instead of describing their outward expressions of grief, Woolf draws her characters from the inside, revealing their inner lives: their aspirations, their triumphs and regrets, their awareness of unity and isolation.

Next Meeting:
September 15th @ 7:00 PM at Hybrid at Harnish (in-person or online participation are both available)

Register for online or in-person attendance here

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE CHECKOUT ON HOOPLA
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

The Nail Biters (09/21/2021): Heresy: An Historical Thriller

August 18, 2021
The Nail Biters (09/21/2021): Heresy: An Historical Thriller
The Nail Biters (09/21/2021): Heresy: An Historical Thriller

Heresy: An Historical Thriller by S.J. Parris

Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic.

In S. J. Parris’s gripping novel, Bruno’s pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe; unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen.

His mission is dramatically thrown off course by a series of grisly murders and a spirited and beautiful young woman. As Bruno begins to discover a pattern in these killings, he realizes that no one at Oxford is who he seems to be. Bruno must attempt to outwit a killer who appears obsessed with the boundary between truth and heresy.

Like The Dante Club and The Alienist, this clever, sophisticated, exceptionally enjoyable novel is written with the unstoppable narrative propulsion and stylistic flair of the very best historical thrillers.

Next Meeting:
September 21st @ 6:30 PM at Eastgate Library

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

Happily Ever After (09/20/2021): Jane Eyre

August 17, 2021
Happily Ever After (09/20/2021): Jane Eyre
Happily Ever After (09/20/2021): Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre, the plain yet spirited governess, introduced a new kind of heroine to literature: one whose virtuous integrity, sharp intellect, and tireless perseverance broke through class barriers to win equal stature with the man she loved.

Orphaned and subject to a cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity. How she takes up the post of governess at Thornfield Hall, meets and loves Mr. Rochester, and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage are elements in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman’s passionate search for a wider and richer life than that traditionally accorded to her sex in Victorian society.

Hailed by William Makepeace Thackeray as “the masterwork of a great genius,” this impassioned love story is still regarded, over a century after it first appeared, as one of the finest novels in literature.

Next Meeting:
September 20th @ 7:00 PM at Hybrid at Harnish (in-person or online participation are both available)

Register for online or in-person attendance here

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE CHECKOUT ON HOOPLA
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

Book Wizards (09/14/2021): The Once and Future Witches

August 11, 2021
Book Wizards (09/14/2021): The Once and Future Witches
Book Wizards (09/14/2021): The Once and Future Witches

The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow

In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.
But when the Eastwood sisters―James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna―join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote―and perhaps not even to live―the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.
There’s no such thing as witches. But there will be.
An homage to the indomitable power and persistence of women, The Once and Future Witches reimagines stories of revolution, motherhood, and women’s suffrage—the lost ways are calling.

Next Meeting:
September 14th @ 6:30 PM at Eastgate Library

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

Forever Young (09/13/2021): The Downstairs Girl

August 10, 2021
Forever Young (09/13/2021): The Downstairs Girl
Forever Young (09/13/2021): The Downstairs Girl

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South.

Next Meeting:
September 13th @ 6:30 PM at Eastgate Library

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE CHECKOUT ON HOOPLA
AUDIOBOOK

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

Spinecrackers (09/03/2021): The Girl with the Louding Voice

August 7, 2021
Spinecrackers (09/03/2021): The Girl with the Louding Voice
Spinecrackers (09/03/2021): The Girl with the Louding Voice

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

The unforgettable, inspiring story of a teenage girl growing up in a rural Nigerian village who longs to get an education so that she can find her “louding voice” and speak up for herself, The Girl with the Louding Voice is a simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant tale about the power of fighting for your dreams. Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her path, Adunni never loses sight of her goal of escaping the life of poverty she was born into so that she can build the future she chooses for herself – and help other girls like her do the same. Her spirited determination to find joy and hope in even the most difficult circumstances imaginable will “break your heart and then put it back together again” (Jenna Bush Hager on The Today Show) even as Adunni shows us how one courageous young girl can inspire us all to reach for our dreams…and maybe even change the world.

Next Meeting:
September 3rd @ 10:00 AM at Hybrid at Harnish (in-person or online participation are both available)

Register for online or in-person attendance here

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK