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Book Discussions at Somerset County Libraries |
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Popular Fiction Book Discussion
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Tuesday, February 17th at 7:00pm
Location: Bridgewater Library, Room C Neverhome by Laird HuntFollows the experiences of Ash Thompson, who becomes a folk hero after she abandons her farmer husband and disguises herself as a man to go fight for the South during the Civil War.
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Tuesday, March 17th at 7:00pm
Location: Bridgewater Library, Room C The magician's lie : a novel by Greer MacallisterWhen a notorious female illusionist uses a fire ax to saw a man in half in front of policeman Virgil Holt, the subsequent discovery of a dead body leads to an interrogation and an unbelievable, spellbinding story. |
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Tuesday, April 14th at 7:00pm
Location: Bridgewater Library, Room C All the light we cannot see by Anthony DoerrA blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with their respective beliefs after meeting on the Brittany coast. |
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Mysterious Mornings
Love a good mystery? Always looking for a new book because you've read EVERYTHING by your favorite author? Or do you just really enjoy reading mysteries? come and join our Mysterious Morning discussions!
Every other month we'll discuss a different sub-genre of mysteries. Pick a book from an author you haven't read already and tell the group all about it. There's only one big rule -- don't tell us how it ends!
A list of suggested authors and titles are available at the Bridgewater Library and books will be on display about a month prior to the discussion. (If you're a voracious mystery reader you can read more than one.)
March's Mystery Type: Cozy Mysteries Wednesday, March 11th 9:30am - 11:30am |
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Downton Abbey Book Discussion Group
This book discussion group was established in 2013, meets bi-monthly, and has become quite popular with readers and followers of Downton Abbey. We have explored the program's companion books and nonfiction about the Edwardian Age. Come join the fun to discuss the following books as well as the upcoming events in Season Five. Tea will be served!
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Thursday, January 15th at 3:00pm
Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the real Downton Abbey by Fiona CarnarvonHighclere Castle has a new resident, the daughter-in-law of Lady Almina, an American beauty from New York and a descendant of famous American families, in this real-life story that draws on original source material. |
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Thursday, March 19th at 3:00pm The remains of the day by Kazuo IshiguroAn English butler reflects--sometimes bitterly, sometimes humorously--on his service to a lord between the two world wars and discovers doubts about his master's character and about the ultimate value of his own service to humanity |
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Life Reinvention Book Discussion Group
Join us for our newly formed Life Reinvention Book Discussion Group to be held bi-monthly through 2015.
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Wednesday, February 25th at 7:00pm Your life calling : reimagining the rest of your life by Jane PauleyFilled with real-life stories, the beloved broadcast journalist and the host of the award-winning "Your Life Calling" segment on the Today show offers practical ideas, inspiration and motivation for people over 50 longing for "something different" or "something more." |
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Tuesday, April 21st at 7:00pm |
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Writer's Discussion Group
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Wednesday, January 28th at 7:00pm The snow child by Eowyn IveyA childless couple working a farm in the brutal landscape of 1920 Alaska discover a little girl living in the wilderness, with a red fox as a companion, and begin to love the strange, almost-supernatural child as their own |
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Wednesday, April 29th at 7:00pm White is for witching by Helen OyeyemiSuffering an acute form of pica throughout her youth that is exacerbated by her mother's death, sixteen-year-old Miranda helps to run the family bed-and-breakfast while witnessing her community's hostilities toward outsiders, a malice that erupts in violent and destructive ways. |
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| Non-Fiction Book Discussions |
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Thursday, February 28th at 3:30pm Quiet : the power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking by Susan CainA former Wall Street attorney, business coach and creator of ThePowerofIntroverts.com demonstrates how introverted people are misunderstood and undervalued in today's culture, charting the rise of extrovert ideology while sharing anecdotal examples to counsel readers on how to use introvert talents to adapt to various situations and empower introverted children. |
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Thursday, April 23rd at 3:30pm |
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Tuesday, February 10th at 10:00am The Rosie project by Graeme C. SimsionA socially awkward genetics professor who has never been on a second date sets out to find the perfect wife, but instead finds Rosie Jarman, a fiercely independent barmaid who is on a quest to find her biological father. |
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Tuesday, February 24th at 7:30pm The headmaster's wife by Thomas Christopher GreeneFound mentally altered in Central Park, the headmaster of an elite boarding school imparts a story that is shaped by complicated memories, the evolution of a loving relationship and a tragedy he cannot comprehend. |
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Perspectives Book Discussion Group
Join us for our new monthly book discussion group where we will be focusing on biographies, memoirs, and other works of nonfiction that illuminate the human experience.
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Thursday, February 26th at 7:00pm Founding brothers : the revolutionary generation by Joseph J. EllisAn illuminating analysis of the intertwined careers of the founders of the American republic documents the lives of John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington and explains how their encounters transformed their era and shaped the history of the United States. |
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A Good Yarn
Bring yarn and needles and join us to discuss a book while knitting!
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Tuesday, February 3rd at 7:00pm Cyrano de Bergerac : a heroic comedy in five acts by Edmond RostandTranslates the classic French story of the master swordsman, noble in stature, whose unpleasant appearance prevents him from courting the beautiful woman with whom he has fallen in love. |
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Thursday, February 12th at 1:00pm Persuasion by Jane AustenAt twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank. |
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Thursday, February 19th at 7:15pm Defending Jacob : a novel by William LandayWhen his fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student, assistant district attorney Andy Barber is torn between loyalty and justice as facts come to light that lead him to question how well he knows his own son |
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Peapack-Gladstone Library
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Tuesday, February 17th at 7:30pm George Washington's secret six : The Spy Ring That Saved America by Brian KilmeadeShares the true story of an anonymous group of spies who played important roles in winning the Revolutionary War, documenting how they risked their lives to obtain crucial intelligence for General Washington using sophisticated tactics and complex codes |
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Wednesday, March 18th at 7:30pm The ship of brides : a novel by Jojo Moyes"From the New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You and One Plus One, in an earlier work available in the U.S. for the first time, a post-WWII story of the war brides who crossed the seas by the thousands to face their unknown futures. 1946. World War II has ended and all over the world, young women are beginning to fulfill the promises made to the men they wed in wartime. In Sydney, Australia, four women join 650 other war brides on an extraordinary voyage to England-aboard HMS Victoria, whichstill carries not just arms and aircraft but a thousand naval officers. Rules are strictly enforced, from the aircraft carrier's captain down to the lowliest young deckhand. But the men and the brides will find their lives intertwined despite the Navy's ironclad sanctions. And for Frances Mackenzie, the complicated young woman whose past comes back to haunt her far from home, the journey will change her life in ways she never could have predicted - forever" |
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Wednesday, February 4th at 2:15pm
Meeting at the Senior Citizens Housing, 1 Mountain Avenue: Directly across the road from the Somerville Library My beloved world by Sonia SotomayorThe first Hispanic-American on the U.S. Supreme Court shares the story of her life before becoming a judge, describing such experiences as her youth in a Bronx housing project, her relationship with a passionately spiritual grandparent, the ambition that fueled her ivy-league education and the individuals who helped shaped her career. |
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Wednesday, March 4th at 2:15pm
Meeting at the Senior Citizens Housing, 1 Mountain Avenue: Directly across the road from the Somerville Library The great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale set in the Roaring Twenties. |
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Wednesday, January 21st at 7:15pm After I'm gone by Laura LippmanWorking a 26-year-old cold case involving the murder of a convicted felon's mistress, retired Baltimore detective Roberto Sanchez becomes tangled up in a web of bitterness, jealousy, and greed that spans 30 years and connects five women whose lives will never be the same once the truth is exposed. |
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Thursday, February 12th at 1:30pm After I'm gone by Laura LippmanWorking a 26-year-old cold case involving the murder of a convicted felon's mistress, retired Baltimore detective Roberto Sanchez becomes tangled up in a web of bitterness, jealousy, and greed that spans 30 years and connects five women whose lives will never be the same once the truth is exposed. |
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Wednesday, February 25th at 7:15pm |
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Thursday, March 12th at 1:30pm Longbourn by Jo BakerA reimagining of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from the perspectives of its below-stairs servants captures the romance, intrigue and drama of the Bennet household from the sideline perspective of Sara, an orphaned housemaid who becomes subject to the arrival of the militia and the attentions of an ambitious former slave. |
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Tasty Bites and Books
Bring a bag lunch and share your thoughts on the books you've read.
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Monday, January 26th at Noon The Valley of Amazement by Amy TanViolet Minturn, a half-Chinese/half-American courtesan who deals in seduction and illusion in Shanghai, struggles to find her place in the world, while her mother, Lucia, tries to make sense of the choices she has made and the men who have shaped her. |
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Monday, February 23rd at Noon The Museum of Extraordinary Things : a novel by Alice HoffmanThe daughter of a curiosities museum's front man pursues an impassioned love affair with a Russian immigrant photographer who after fleeing his Lower East Side Orthodox community has captured poignant images of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. |
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Monday, January 12th at 11:00amAll quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria RemarqueThe testament of Paul Baumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army of World War I, illuminates the savagery and futility of war
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Monday, February 9th at 11:00am This Side of Paradise by F. Scott FitzgeraldPampered, wealthy, brilliant at school, Amory Blaine looks for the love of others but only finds himself. This title tells the story of a spoilt child in search of happiness. |
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Thursday, January 8th at 7:00pm |
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Thursday, February 12th at 7:00pm Half of a yellow sun by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieA new novel by the author of Purple Hibiscus dramatically re-creates the 1960s struggle of Biafra to establish an independent republic in Nigeria, following the intertwined lives of the characters through a military coup, the Biafran secession, and the resulting civil war. |
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Social Action Book Club
Books may be borrowed from the library by contacting Anne Mellen by email (amellen@hotmail.com) or going to the library main desk.
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