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2011 A Brand New Year of Great Reading

Hammond Community Library Evening Book Group will be meeting on Thursday, January 13 to discuss “Nothing but a Smile” by Steve Amick.  Meeting will start at 7:30 PM and the group welcomes new members.  If you are interested in joining stop in and pick up a book or just join the group on the meeting night.  February selection is “Myth of you and me” by Leah Stewart. 

Hammond Community Library Morning Book Group will meet on Thursday, January 27 to discuss “White Out” by Brian Duren at 11:30 AM.  Again, this group always welcomes new members and books are available at the front desk.

What’s new for June reads?

This June the evening book club will meet on Thursday, June 10 at 7:30 PM to discuss “Memory Keepers Daughter”.  This should be a wonderful read for the group and will spark a lot of discussion.  Here is a brief overview of the book from the author’s web-site.   www.memorykeepersdaughter.com. 

“This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins.
His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own. Compulsively readable and deeply moving, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is a brilliantly crafted story of parallel lives, familial secrets, and the redemptive power of love.”

The morning book club will be meeting on Thursday, June 24 at 11:30 to discuss “Empire Falls” by Richard Russo.   This book will lend to a lot of discussion among the group over a wonderful lunch.   Below is a short description of the book. 

“Dominated by the Whiting family, the founders of the three mills that provided employment for most of the town’s residents, Empire Falls finds itself in sharp decline at the turn of the twenty-first century. Its mills are closed, stores are boarded up, and its population is dwindling. The families that remain live on memories of the past and the shared fantasy that the mills will reopen and the once-thriving town will experience a renaissance. However, the formidable Mrs. Whiting, widow of the last Whiting son (and rumored to be the richest woman in central Maine), makes no concessions to the community’s needs or fantasies. As the owner of the few viable businesses left in Empire Falls and a dependable, if begrudging, source of funds for essential town improvements, Mrs. Whiting wields her power over the town and its inhabitants with an iron will.

Miles Roby was once known around town as a young man smart enough to escape Empire Falls. A devoted son, he put his dreams on hold when his mother’s illness interrupted his last year of college. Twenty years later, Miles is the proprietor of Mrs. Whiting’s just barely profitable Empire Grill, the soon-to-be ex-husband of Janine (who has left him for the slick owner of the flashy new health club), and the proud father of Tick, a bright, loving teenager. Seduced by Mrs. Whiting’s promise to bequeath him the restaurant, Miles stoically submits to her arbitrary, often humiliating demands—until the accidental discovery of a family secret shocks him into a troubling reevaluation of his life and the small town that shaped it. Nothing, however, prepares him for the horrific event that ultimately sets him free.

As he exposes the betrayals and self-deceptions, false hopes and genuine desires that motivate his quirky cast of characters, Richard Russo transforms the story of one town into an unforgettable exploration of the human condition. By turns funny, poignant, satiric, and shocking, Empire Falls captures humanity at its best and its worst. “

Perfection by Julie Metz

On February 11 the book club met and discussed “Perfection” by Julie Metz.  The group as a whole did not love this book.  No one really connected with the writer and her story about her husband who died suddenly and then found out that he had committed adultery.  I wondered who she was really upset with, was it her husband for leaving her, was it the affairs, was it her life.  Read it for yourself and see what you think. 

Next month our meeting will be held on Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 PM.  We will discuss “Lonesome Dove”.

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Read anything good lately?

Over the past couple of weeks a few of the books I have read have been wonderful and thought-provoking. 

“Too Close to the Falls” is a touching memoir about a girl growing up near Niagara Falls.  Her father is a pharmacist and her mother is a historian.  The story takes place in the 1950′s and the protagonist is a very active girl.  She questions her faith, herself, and sometimes her family, however finds out that as you age you do find answers.  Maybe not the answers you are seeking but answers that will help you live the life you were ment to live.

“Too Close to the Falls” is a good read and I would suggest it to others.  This memoir is told in a story like fashion that does make it a quick read.