Summer Community Read
July book
We have a great book for summer reading for our July book choice! It's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. Join us on July 20th at 1pm by the fireplace. Stop by for a copy and join us in July or just enjoy on your own!In the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary in the English countryside lives Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson’s wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, the Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother’s death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and regarding her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition? readinggroupguides.com
April Book
Book discussion on Wednesday April 20th at 1pm by the fireplace. Film showing to be announced!
March book
From the internationally bestselling author of The House at Riverton, an unforgettable new novel that transports the reader from the back alleys of poverty of pre-World War I London to the shores of colonial Australia where so many made a fresh start, and back to the windswept coast of Cornwall, England, past and present.
A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book --- a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and with very little to go on, "Nell" sets out on a journey to England to try to trace her story, to find her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell's death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. At Cliff Cottage, on the grounds of Blackhurst Manor, Cassandra discovers the forgotten garden of the book's title and is able to unlock the secrets of the beautiful book of fairy tales.This is a novel of outer and inner journeys and an homage to the power of storytelling. The Forgotten Garden is filled with unforgettable characters who weave their way through its spellbinding plot to astounding effect.
Morton's novels are #1 bestsellers in England and Australia and are published in more than twenty languages. Her first novel, The House at Riverton, was a New York Times bestseller.
Readinggroupguides.com
Please note the discussion will take place on the 4th Wednesday of March which is March 23rd. It's usually the 3rd Wednesday, but oh well, I just didn't get the books soon enough ;-)
February Book
January Book
December Book
Wednesday December 15th at 1pm by the fireplace. Copies of the book are available to check out at the library.
When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period - people helped their neighbors, went ot church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.
Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy. --from the book cover
November book
The Vine of Desire continues the story of Anju and Sudha, the two young women at the center of Divakaruni's bestselling novel Sister of My Heart [We did this as September's book choice - although you needn't have read this prior to this month's book]. Far from Calcutta, the city of their childhood, and after years of living separate lives, Anju and Sudha rekindle their friendship in America. The deep-seated love they feel for each other porvides the support each of them needs...a moving and satisfying sequel to Sister of My Heart, The Vine of Desire stands on its own as a novel of extraordinary depth and sensitivity. Through the eyes of people caught in the clash of cultures, Divakaruni reveals the rewards and the perils of breaking free from the past and the complicated, often contradictory emotions that shape the passage to independence. --from the book jacket
Hopkinton READS!
We're back!
Sister of My Heart is about how the lives of two women are changed by marriage, as one woman comes to California, and the other stays behind in India. Anju is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family of distinction. Sudha is the daughter of the black sheep of that same family. Sudha is startlingly beautiful; Anju is not. Despite these differences, since the day the two girls were born—the same day their fathers died, mysteriously and violently—Sudha and Anju have been sisters of the heart. Bonded in ways even their mothers cannot comprehend, the two girls grow into womanhood as if their fates, as well as their hearts, are merged. ....from the author's website.
Mother-Daughter Reading Club
Attention moms and daughters (aged 9-12)! Pick up a copy of The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman and Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Schlitz to read for our May 20th meeting. The group will meet at 6:30 pm in the Community Room. Join us!
May Book Discussion
The book group will meet by the fireplace on Wednesday May 19th at 1pm - join us! Copies of the book and audio CD are available to check out at the library. Also available as a downloadable audiobook on OverDrive.A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope - a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it!
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housema
id named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders." Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.
id named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders." Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.Penguin.com
Wednesday April 21 at 1pm. Copies of the book are available to check out at the library.
Wednesday April 21 at 1pm. Copies of the book are available to check out at the library.
The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing -- a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar, but loyal, family. Jeannette Walls has a story to tell, and tells it brilliantly, without an ounce of self-pity. readinggroupguides.com Copies of the book and the audiobook are available at the library. Join us on Wednesday March 17th at 1:00pm by the fireplace for a lively chat!
Mother-Daughter Reading Group
NEW! For our first Mother-Daughter Reading Group we'll be reading Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. We have plenty of copies so girls (ages 9-12) and their moms can read the book at the same time. Discussion will take place on Thursday March 4th from 6:15-7:30. Julie of the Wolves is an award-winning book about survival in the wilderness. A young Eskimo girl, named both Julie Edward ( her American name) and Miyax Kapugen (her Eskimo name), runs away from a traditional planned marriage that she finds intolerable. She becomes lost, far away from even the most remote settlement. Read the book to find out what happens!
The Good Earth
In conjunction with our Chinese New Year display and celebration, the afternoon book group will be reading The Good Earth, the classic novel of pre-revolutionary China by the Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. This moving, classic story of the farmer Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-lan is must reading for those who would fully appreciate the sweeping changes that have occurred in the lives of the Chinese people during this century (from the book cover).Come to the library to check out a copy of the book and while you're here, browse our display of books and movies about China. You'll also see our glass-front display case filled with items that will dazzle the eye and educate the mind - all about Chinese New Year!
In addition to our book group meeting, the library will have a Chinese New Year Celebration on Sunday February 14 from 2-4pm with crafts, music, and Chinese food in the Community Room. All are welcome at this free program!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The afternoon group is reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows this month. This much talked about book has been a top pick for many reading groups in the last year, not surprisingly since the plot involves the formation of a very special book club. Written as a lively epistolary exchange, the book is "...a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name" (from the book cover).
Cozy up to the Library's fireplace on Wednesday January 20th at 1pm!
Also available in large print, audio CD and through OverDrive downloadable audiobooks.
Auggie Wren's Christmas Story
You are invited to read this short work by Paul Auster, author of The New York Trilogy, Moon Palace, The Brooklyn Follies and his current bestseller Invisible. We'll have copies of the book here at the library. You can also read the entire story online or listen to the author read the story on NPR.org.
The afternoon book discussion will take place on Wednesday, December 16th at 1:00 pm.
The Samurai's Garden
The afternoon book discussion group is reading The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama. On the eve of the Second World War, a young Chinese man is sent to his family's summer home in Japan to recover from tuberculosis. He will rest, swim in the salubrious sea, and paint in the brilliant shoreside light. It will be quiet and solitary.
But he meets four local residents-a beautiful Japanese girl and three older people. What then ensues is a tale that readers will find at once classical yet utterly unique. Young Stephen has his own adventure, but it is the unfolding story of Matsu, Sachi, and Kenzo that seizes your attention and will stay with you forever.
Tsukiyama, with lines as clean, simple, telling, and dazzling as the best of Oriental art, has created a small, moving masterpiece. from the book jacket
The group will meet on Wednesday November 18th at 1:00pm by the fireplace in the library. Join us!
Listen to The Omnivore's Dilemma
There's always time to listen to the Hopkinton READS! book -- in the car, at the gym, on the couch, on the team bus.... Audio versions of Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, are available from these sources:- You can borrow the CD version from us. [Call#: CD 394.12 POL]
- You can download it from Audible.com (for 1 credit, if you have a membership, or as your free book if you join.) [Mac or PC]
- You can download it from iTunes [$20.95, Mac or PC]
- You can buy the CD version from your local bookseller, or from Amazon [$39.95 retail]
- You can borrow it from the NLS via the NH State Library Talking Book Service, in either cassette or digital book format, depending on the player you are using. [Call #s: RC 62557 or DB 62557]
The Omnivore's Dilemma (10/22 or 10/23)
Please join us at 7:00PM on October 22nd, or at 2:00PM on October 23rd, as the afternoon and evening reading groups tackle Michael Pollan's thought-provoking work, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Expect some lively conversation, moderated by Kevin Flynn and Mike Timm.The best-selling author of The Botany of Desire explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the 21st century.Hopkinton READS!, our annual community-wide reading celebration, will soon be in full swing. Be sure to check out the HTL home page for additional activities and program information.
"What should we have for dinner?" To one degree or another, this simple question assails any creature faced with a wide choice of things to eat. Anthropologists call it the omnivore's dilemma. Choosing from among the countless potential foods nature offers, humans have had to learn what is safe, and what isn't, which mushrooms should be avoided, for example, and which berries we can enjoy. Today, as America confronts what can only be described as a national eating disorder, the omnivore's dilemma has returned with an atavistic vengeance.
The cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet has thrown us back on a bewildering landscape where we once again have to worry about which of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us. At the same time we're realizing that our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. The Omnivore's Dilemma is best-selling author Michael Pollan's brilliant and eye-opening exploration of these little-known but vitally important dimensions of eating in America.
We are indeed what we eat, and what we eat remakes the world. A society of voracious and increasingly confused omnivores, we are just beginning to recognize the profound consequences of the simplest everyday food choices, both for ourselves and for the natural world. The Omnivore's Dilemma is a long-overdue book and one that will become known for bringing a completely fresh perspective to a question as ordinary and yet momentous as "What shall we have for dinner?" -- from the publisher's summary
Listen to The Book Thief
No time to read? Listen instead! In the car, at the gym, on the couch, in study hall.... Audio versions of Markus Zusak's gripping novel, The Book Thief, are available in many ways from many places:
- You can borrow the CD version from us. [Call#: Y CD FIC ZUS]
- You can download it through the NH Downloadable Audiobook program. Click through using the Download Audio Books link on the HTL home page. [PC only, but iPods are supported]
- You can download it from Audible.com (for 1 credit, if you have a membership, or as your free book if you join.) [Mac or PC]
- You can borrow the iTunes file, already loaded on an iPod Shuffle, from the Hopkinton High School Library. [Call#: A-V iTunes Boo] Bring your own earphones....
- You can borrow it from the NLS via the NH State Library Talking Book Service, in either cassette or digital book format, depending on the player you are using. [Call #s: RC 62431 or DB 62431]
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