Book Discussions
2022
Table of Contents
Daytime Book Discussion - 3rd Wednesday of the month: 2:00 - 3:00pm
Evening Book Discussion - 1st Tuesday of the month: 7:30 - 9:00pm
Read the book and come for a lively discussion.

Copies, provided by The Friends of BTL, are available
at the Adult Circulation desk one month prior to the meeting,
and all books are also available on digital platforms.
 
New members are always welcome!
 
Daytime Book Discussion -
3rd Wednesday of the month: 2:00 - 3:00pm
 Wednesday, January 19 @ 2:00 pm 
 
Blacktop Wasteland
by S. A. Cosby

Compelled by poverty to agree to a lucrative final heist that will allow him to go straight, a skilled getaway driver finds his efforts complicated by racial dynamics and the ghosts of his past.
 ************
Wednesday, February 16 @ 2:00 pm 
 
Beautiful Country : a memoir
by Qian Julie Wang

This memoir from a Chinese woman who arrived in New York City at age 7 examines how her family lived in poverty out of fear of being discovered as undocumented immigrants and how she was able to find success.
 ************
Wednesday, March 16  @ 2:00 pm 
 
The Address Book : What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power
by Deirdre Mask

Tells the story of how streets got their names and houses their numbers, and why something as seemingly mundane as an address can save lives or enforce power.
 *************
Wednesday, April 20 @ 2:00 pm 
 
The Overstory : a novel
by Richard Powers

The National Book Award-winning author of The Overstory presents an impassioned novel of activism and natural-world power that is comprised of interlocking fables about nine remarkable strangers who are summoned in different ways by trees for an ultimate, brutal stand to save the continent's few remaining acres of virgin forest.
 
*************
Wednesday, May 18 @ 2:00 pm 
 
Exhalation : Stories
by Ted Chiang

A long-awaited latest collection by the Arrival-inspiring author of "The Story of Your Life" explores revelatory ideas and second chances in such tales as, "In the Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," "Exhalation" and "The Lifecycle of Software Objects."
 
*************
Wednesday, June 15 @ 2:00 pm 
 
Cadillac Desert : the American West and its disappearing water
by Marc Reisner

Details the achievements of creating a desert civilization and projects on the future problems of limited groundwater reserves, silting up of reservoirs, and contamination of soil.
 
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
 
*************
 
            Wednesday, July 20 @ 2:00 pm 
Caramelo
by Sandra Cisneros

During her family's annual car trip from Chicago to Mexico City, Lala Reyes listens to stories about her family, including her grandmother, the descendant of a renowned dynasty of shawl makers, whose magnificent striped (or caramelo) shawl has come into Lala's possession, in a multi-generational saga of a Mexican-American family.
 
*************
Wednesday, August 17 @ 2:00 pm 
 
Malgudi Days
by R. K. Narayan

Composed of powerful, magical portraits of all kinds of people, and comprising stories written over almost forty years, Malgudi Days presents Narayan’s imaginary city in full color, revealing the essence of India and of human experience.
 
*************
Wednesday, September 21 @ 2:00 pm  
 
Telephone : a novel
by Percival Everett

Geologist/paleobiologist Zach Wells receives a mysterious note in a jacket he ordered off eBay, prompting him to set off from Colorado to Mexico on a rescue mission.
 
*************
Wednesday, October 19 @ 2:00 pm 
 
The Code Breaker : Jennifer Doudna, gene editing, and the future of the human race
by Walter Isaacson

A portrait of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist explores the impact of James Watson’s The Double Helix on her career and how her team’s invention of CRISPR technology enabled revolutionary DNA-editing approaches to fighting disease.
 
*************
Wednesday, November 16  @ 2:00 pm   
 
Norwood
by Charles Portis

Out of the American Neon Desert of Roller Dromes, chili parlors, The Grand Ole Opry, and girls who want "to live in a trailer and play records all night" comes ex-marine and troubadour Norwood Pratt. Sent on a mission to New York by Grady Fring, the Kredit King, Norwood has visions of "speeding across the country in a late model car, seeing all the sights." Instead, he gets involved in a wild journey that takes him in and out of stolen cars, freight trains, and buses.
 
*************
Wednesday, December 21  @ 2:00 pm    
 
Sharks in the time of saviors
by Kawai Strong Washburn

When a child falls overboard and is returned safely to his mother by a shark, his miraculous rescue is hailed as a sign from ancient Hawaiian gods, complicating his family’s troubles amid a collapsing sugarcane industry.
 
*************
Evening Book Discussion -
1st Tuesday of the month: 7:30 - 9:00pm
Tuesday, January 4  @ 7:30 pm 
 
Shakespeare in a divided America : what his plays tell us about our past and future
by James Shapiro

The award-winning author of The Year of Lear presents a scholarly examination of how American leaders have found wisdom in the works of Shakespeare, revealing the lessons that the Bard’s plays can teach about the political turbulence of today.
*************
Tuesday, February 1  @ 7:30 pm 
 
The Passage of Power
(Parts I and II/Chapters 1 - 10)
by Robert A. Caro

A latest entry in the award-winning series that includes The Path to Power profiles the 36th President's volatile relationships with John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, describes JFK's assassination from Johnson's viewpoint and recounts his accomplishments as president before the Vietnam War.
*************
Tuesday, March 1  @ 7:30 pm   
 
The Passage of Power
(Parts III,IV & V/ Chapters 11 - 26)
by Robert A. Caro

A latest entry in the award-winning series that includes The Path to Power profiles the 36th President's volatile relationships with John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, describes JFK's assassination from Johnson's viewpoint and recounts his accomplishments as president before the Vietnam War.
*************
Tuesday, April 5  @ 7:30 pm    
 
Sharks in the time of saviors
by Kawai Strong Washburn

When a child falls overboard and is returned safely to his mother by a shark, his miraculous rescue is hailed as a sign from ancient Hawaiian gods, complicating his family’s troubles amid a collapsing sugarcane industry.
 *************
Tuesday, May 3  @ 7:30 pm 
 
Empires of light : Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the race to electrify the world
by Jill Jonnes

A riveting chronicle of scientific history recounts the race among three great titans of the Gilded Age--inventor Thomas Alva Edison, creator of the incandescent light bulb; eccentric genius Nikola Tesla; and George Westinghouse, a tough entrepreneur and powerful empire builder--to bring electricity to the world.
 
*************
Tuesday, June 7  @ 7:30 pm    
 
Norwood
by Charles Portis

Out of the American Neon Desert of Roller Dromes, chili parlors, The Grand Ole Opry, and girls who want "to live in a trailer and play records all night" comes ex-marine and troubadour Norwood Pratt. Sent on a mission to New York by Grady Fring, the Kredit King, Norwood has visions of "speeding across the country in a late model car, seeing all the sights." Instead, he gets involved in a wild journey that takes him in and out of stolen cars, freight trains, and buses.
 
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
*************
Tuesday, July 5 @ 7:30 pm  
 
The Great Alone
by Kristin Hannah

When her volatile, former POW father impulsively moves the family to mid-1970s Alaska to live off the land, young Leni and her mother are forced to confront the dangers of their lack of preparedness in the wake of a dangerous winter season.
 
*************
Tuesday, August 2 @ 7:30 pm  
 
Blacktop Wasteland
by S. A. Cosby

Compelled by poverty to agree to a lucrative final heist that will allow him to go straight, a skilled getaway driver finds his efforts complicated by racial dynamics and the ghosts of his past.
 
*************
Tuesday, September 6  @ 7:30 pm 
 
The Complete Stories of Dorothy Parker
by Dorothy Parker

As this complete collection of her short stories demonstrates, Dorothy Parker’s talents extended far beyond brash one-liners and clever rhymes. Her stories not only bring to life the urban milieu that was her bailiwick but lay bare the uncertainties and disappointments of ordinary people living ordinary lives.
 
*************
Tuesday, October 4  @ 7:30 pm 
 
In a Sunburned Country
by Bill Bryson

Just in time for the 2000 Olympics in Australia, the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods takes readers on an outrageous tour of the land Down Under that goes far beyond packaged-tour routes, leaving no Vegemite sandwich unsavored.
 
*************
 
 
Tuesday, November 1  @ 7:30 pm 
 
The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood

A long-anticipated sequel to the best-selling The Handmaid’s Tale is set 15 years after Offred stepped into an unknown fate and interweaves the experiences of three female narrators from Gilead.
 
*************
Tuesday, December 7  @ 7:30 pm
 
The Banished Immortal : a life of Li Bai (Li Po)
by Ha Jin

A portrait of the Tang Dynasty poet discusses his early life, travels, rebel history, and controversial death, offering further insights into the Daoist influences on his themes
 
*************