December 2023 - Year-End Book Group Discussion

What was the best book you read this year?

Our Favorite Books in 2023

Patrons and staff met in the Community Room on Wednesday, Dec. 20, to share favorite reads from 2023. Here are the titles we discussed...

 Fiction:

Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury

All the Light We Cannot See, Doerr

The Running Grave, Galbraith

The Weaver and the Witch Queen, Gornichec

The Invisible Hour, Hoffman

Verity, Hoover

News of the World, Jiles

Demon Copperhead, Kingsolver

In the Lives of Puppets, Klune

The River We Remember, Krueger

North Woods, Mason

Inspector Gamache series (2 votes), Penny

Killers of a Certain Age (2 votes), Raybourn

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, See

Sadie, Summers

The Goldfinch, Tartt

Lincoln Highway, Towles

Project Hail Mary (2 votes), Weir 

 

Nonfiction

The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest, Egan

 The Wager: A ­Tale of ­Ship­wreck­, ­Mutiny and ­Mur­der, Grann

Underland: A Deep Time Journey, Macfarlane

The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, Macfarlane

Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America’s Cemeteries, Melville

The Deepest Map, Tretheway

 ______________________________________________

Join us in the Community Room Wednesday, December 20, 1-2pm
 

Come talk about the books you read and loved in 2023
and hear about books you’ll want to read in 2024!

 Check out some of these "Best of 2023" lists from around the web:

 
NPR
https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2023
and https://www.npr.org/2023/12/05/1212625425/npr-staff-book-recommendations-2023
 
Goodreads:  
https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2023
 
The New Yorker: 
 https://www.newyorker.com/best-books-2023
 
Wall Street Journal
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/books/best-books-of-the-year-2023/wall-street-journals-best-books-of-2023/_/N-29Z8q8Z2za8
 
 The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/books/review/best-books-2023.html
 
Time Magazine
https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2023/



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 


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November 2023 - The Salt Path

Edited 7-2025 to add:
This book is under scrutiny for misrepresenting facts. Please see news articles here:
 (the rest of this post is as it was Nov 2023)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Excited, afraid, homeless, fat, dying, but at least if we made that first step we had somewhere to go, we had a purpose. And we really didn’t have anything better to do at half past three on a Thursday afternoon than to start a 630-mile walk.

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

November 15, 2023 @ 1pm, at the library

“Polished, poignant… an inspiring story of true love.”—Entertainment Weekly

A BEST BOOK OF 2019, NPR’s Book Concierge
Shortlisted for THE COSTA BOOK AWARD

From the publisher: 

The true story of a couple who lost everything and embarked on a transformative journey walking the South West Coast Path in England

Just days after Raynor Winn learns that Moth, her husband of thirty-two years, is terminally ill, their house and farm are taken away, along with their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, through Devon and Cornwall.

Carrying only the essentials for survival on their backs, they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea, and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable and life-affirming journey. Powerfully written and unflinchingly honest, The Salt Path is ultimately a portrayal of home—how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.

Copies of the book available at the library.  

Prefer to buy a copy? Gibson's and Main Street Bookends will honor a 20% discount if you purchase the book at either place and tell them it's for this group. You can also buy the streaming audiobook from Libro (choose your favorite local bookstore) or other streaming outlet.

Additional Resources (check back for more through the month):

 Read more...


 

 

 

 

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October 2023 - You Bring the Distant Near

You Bring the Distant Near  You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins book cover 

 

Five girls. Three generations. One great American love story.

You Bring the Distant Near

A novel by Mitali Perkins

October 25, 2023 1pm at the library

Copies of the book and audiobook (CDs) available at the library.  

Plan to buy a copy? Gibson's and Main St. Bookends will honor a discount if you purchase the book at either place and tell them it's for this group. You can also buy the streaming audiobook from Gibson's or Audible, etc.

From the publisher:

This elegant novel captures the immigrant experience for one Indian-American family with humor and heart. Told in alternating voices across three generations, You Bring the Distant Near explores sisterhood, first loves, friendship, and the inheritance of culture–for better or worse.

From a grandmother worried that her children are losing their Indian identity to a daughter wrapped up in a forbidden biracial love affair to a social-activist granddaughter, award-winning author Mitali Perkins weaves together the threads of a family growing into an American identity.

Additional Resources (check back for more):

Read more...










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September 2023 - West with Giraffes

  

“Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes…”

West with Giraffes

by Lynda Rutledge (2021)

Wednesday Sept. 27 at 1pm

Copies available at the library. 

If you prefer to buy your own copy, Main Street Bookends in Warner and Gibson's Bookstore in Concord both offer a discount for our monthly reads.

An emotional, rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America.
 
Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave.

It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.

Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late.
 
Additional Resources:
The author's website has some archival photos of the giraffes here (as well as discussion ideas): https://www.lyndarutledge.com/disc.htm
A video about the giraffes and their journey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q5IAFHZ96I
 
If you are left wanting more...we have these books and media in our collection.

Related non-fiction:

 

  • 363.55 Loewen        Sun­down ­towns: a hid­den di­men­sion of racism
  • 636 Beloz­er­skaya     The Medi­ci ­gi­raffe: and other ­tales of ex­otic animals and power
  • 779.092 Heyman      Dorothea Lange: Amer­i­can pho­tographs
  • 978.032 Egan           The worst hard ­time: the un­told s­to­ry…dust bowl
  • Biography Bourke    Mar­garet Bourke-White, by Ru­bin
  • DVD 973.917           The Dust bowl (documentary)      
  • J 973.917 Sandler     Pic­tur­ing a ­na­tion: the Great De­pres­sion
  • NH 333.75 Draves    Builder of ­men: life in C.C.C. ­camp­s of NH (Local History Room)

Related Fiction:

  • Curtis           Bud, not Bud­dy (Juvenile fiction)
  • Gruen           Water ­for ele­phants (we have the audiobook, too)
  • Hannah         The four winds (we have the audiobook, too)
  • Hesse           Out of the ­dust (Juvenile fiction)
  • Ledgard        Gi­raffe
  • Loewen­stein Funer­al ­train
  • Meadows      I will send rain
  • Moyes          The giver of s­tars
  • Silver            Mary Coin
  • Steinbeck      The grapes of wrath (we also have the DVD movie)     
  • Towles          The Lin­col­n high­way
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