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Books on Tap This book club meets on the first Monday of each month at 7pm at Lil Beaver Brewery
(5 Finance Dr in Bloomington). Please note that there are a limited number of available seats in these meetings which take place in person. Visit our events calendar to register.
You may also register by calling 309.590.6168 or by visiting us in person at the library. New participants are welcome at any time! To reserve a print copy of the next title to be discussed, contact the Help Desk by phone at 309.590.6168 or by email to reference@bloomingtonlibrary.org. Digital copies of each title (eBook or eAudiobook) may also be available through the Libby or Hoopla Apps. |
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Babel Or the Necessity of Violence : An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he'll enroll in Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation--also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working--the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars--has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire's quest for colonization. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide ... Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? |
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Just As I Am by Cicely TysonThe Academy, Tony, and Emmy Award-winning actor and trailblazer tells her stunning story, looking back at her life and six-decade career. |
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The Diamond Eyeby Kate QuinnKnown as Lady Death--a lethal hunter of Nazis--Mila Pavlichenko, sent to America on a goodwill tour, forms an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and a connection with a silent fellow sniper, offering her a chance at happiness until her past returns with a vengeance. |
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World Running Down by Al HessValentine Weis is a salvager in the future wastelands of Utah. Wrestling with body dysphoria, he dreams of earning enough money to afford citizenship in Salt Lake City--a utopia where the testosterone and surgery he needs to transition is free, the foodis plentiful, and folk are much less likely to be shot full of arrows by salt pirates. But earning that kind of money is a pipe dream, until he meets the exceptionally handsome Osric. Once a powerful AI in Salt Lake City, Osric has been forced into an android body against his will and sent into the wasteland to offer Valentine a job on behalf of his new employer--an escort service seeking to retrieve their stolen androids. The reward is a visa into the city, and a chance at the life Valentine's always dreamed of. But as they attempt to recover the "merchandise", they encounter a problem: the android ladies are becoming self-aware, and have no interest in returning to their old lives. |
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Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. SutantoWhen she discovers a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, Vera Wong, a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands, calls the police but not before swiping the flash drive from the body, setting a trap for the killer that becomes complicated by unexpected friendships with her customers. |
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Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda MontellThe author of Wordslut looks at how cults use language to gain power and how it has pervaded our entire culture, from notorious cults to modern startups and Instagram feeds. |
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True Bizby Sara NovicTaking readers into a residential school for the deaf, this coming-of-age novel follows three people—a rebellious transfer student, the school's golden boy and the headmistress—as they each deal with personal and political crises and find their lives inextricable from one another—and changed forever. |
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September 2024 No meeting this month due to Labor Day holiday. |
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The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy MoldavskyStruggling to fit in as a scholarship student at an elite prep school, newcomer Rachel Chavez is caught up in a prank gone wrong before attracting the attention of a secret club of students who compete with each other for the best scary pranks. |
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This Place: 150 Years Retoldby Katherena VermetteA graphic novel anthology depicts the last one hundred fifty years of Canadian history as seen through the eyes of the Indigenous peoples who inhabited the land before the Europeans arrived. |
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Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha SharmaKareena dreams of having a perfect love story...That's why on the morning of her thirtieth birthday, she's decided to...enter the dating arena...Prem doesn't have time for romance, which is why it's no surprise when his first meeting with Kareena goes awry. Their second encounter is worse when their on-air debate about love goes viral. Now Prem's largest community center donor is backing out because Prem's reputation as a heart-health expert is at risk. To get back in his donor's good graces, he needs to fix his image fast, and dating Kareena is his only option. |
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