Library Book Clubs

2015 Discussion List

Beaver Dam Community Library

The library offers book clubs at different times of the day for booklovers who would like to get together to discuss

popular and thought-provoking titles. Both book clubs discuss the same book each month. Ask for a book today!

The library offers book clubs at different times of the day for lovers of books who would like to get together to discuss popular and thought-provoking titles. Both Book Clubs discuss the same book each month. Book Club books are available on the Front Desk or we can place a copy on hold from another library.

Morning Booklovers Book Club

The morning book club meets on Thursday mornings each month at 10 a.m.

Evening Next Page Book Club

The evening book club meets on a Wednesday evening each month at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, January 14- 6 p.m. and Thursday, January 15 at 10 a.m. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Fiction, 1988- An Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasures found within.

Wednesday, February 11 - 6 p.m. and Thursday, February 12 - 10 a.m. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin Fiction, 2014- A. J. Fikry, the cantankerous owner of Island Books, has recently endured some tough years: his wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and his prized possession--a rare edition of Poe poems--has been stolen. Over time, he has given up on people, and even the books in his store, instead of offering solace, they are yet another reminder of a world that is changing too rapidly. Until a most unexpected experience gives him the chance to make his life over and see things anew.

Wednesday, March 11- 6 p.m. and Thursday, March 12 - 10 a.m. A Tale for The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki Fiction, 2013- In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her loneliness and her classmates’ bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a 104 Buddhist nun. A diary is Nao’s only solace — and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox —possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao’s drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future.

Wednesday, April 8- 6 p.m. and Thursday, April 9- 10 a.m. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr Ficiton, 2014-Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris by the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of the locks. At six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood so she can memorize it and navigate the real streets with her cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast to live with Marie-Laure's great uncle in a narrow house by the sea. In Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that

brings him to the military academy and he becomes a tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the Hitler Youth to the Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.

Wednesday, May 6- 6 p.m. and Thursday, May 7- 10 a.m. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Fiction, 1997-Man Booker Prize Winner. On the southernmost tip of India in the state of Kerala in the 1960s, young twins Rahel and Estha live in a small river town with their ex-tended family, including their lovely yet remote mother; their blind, violin-playing grand-mother; and their Marxist, Oxford-educated uncle Chacko. When Chacko's English ex-wife arrives with their daughter, Sophie, a tragedy occurs that shatters the entire family and for-ever changes the twins' understanding of life: they learn that the world can be changed in a day, and that both love and life can be lost in one small moment.

Wednesday, June 3- 6 p.m. and Thursday, June 4 - 10 a.m. The Orchard: a memoir by Theresa Weir Non-Fiction, 2011. The story of a street-smart city girl who must adapt to a new

life of farming on an apple farm and a marriage to the man she fell in love with Adrian Curtis, the son of a prominent local orchard growers. The family’s orchards seem to be cursed. Mar-ried only for a short time, she is rejected by Adrian’s family and finds a life far more difficult and dangerous than she expected. She learns that the isolated world of farming, pesticides, environmental destruction, and death.

Wednesday, July 1 - 6 p.m. and Thursday, July 2 - 10 a.m. Mister Owita's guide to gardening: how I learned the unexpected joy of a green thumb and an open heart by Carol Wall Non-Fiction, 2014. Carol Wall, a white woman living in a lily-white neighborhood in Middle America, was at a crossroads in her life. Her children were grown; she had successfully over-come illness; her beloved parents were getting older. One day she notices an African man tending her neighbor's yard. His name is Giles Owita. He bags groceries at the supermarket. He comes from Kenya. And he's very good at gardening. Giles transforms not only Carol's

yard, but her life. Though they are seemingly quite different, a caring bond grows between them. But they both hold long-buried secrets that, when revealed, will cement their friendship forever.

Wednesday, August 5- 6 p.m. and Thursday, August 13 - 10 a.m. Nocturnes: five stories of music and nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro Fiction, 2009. With his trademarks of clarity and precision, Kazuno Ishiguro interlocks short pieces of fiction to create a world that resonates with emotion, heartbreak, and humor. Here is a fragile, once famous singer, turning his back on the one thing he loves; a music junky with little else to offer his friends but opinion; a songwriter who inadvertently breaks up a mar-riage; a jazz musician who thinks the answer to his career lies in changing his appearance; and a young cellist whose tutor has devised a remarkable way to foster his talent. For each, music is a central part of their lives and, in one way or another, delivers them to an epiphany.

Wednesday, September 9 - 6 p.m. and Thursday, September 10 - 10 a.m. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande Non-Fiction, 2014. Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, contin-ue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering. Gawande, a practic-ing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the

desired goal for patients and families.

Midwest

Non-

Check out your Book Club book from Wisconsin’s Digital Library!

http://dbooks.wplc.info

Wednesday, October 7 - 6 p.m. and Thursday, October 8 - 10 a.m. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman Fiction, 2014. Meet Ove. He's a bitter, curmudgeon; the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which

will change one cranky old man and a local residents association to their very foundations.

Wednesday, November 4 - 6 p.m. and Thursday, November 5 - 10 a.m. A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold Non-Fiction, 1949. Published shortly after the author's death in 1949, A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing written from Leopold’s

summer shack on the Wisconsin River. His touching essays serves as one of the corner-stones for modern conservation science, policy, and ethics. It has become a classic in the field equaled in its lasting stature only by Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. For more information about Aldo Leopold go to: http://www.aldoleopold.org

Wisconsin

Non-Fiction

What should you read next? Find read-alike and award

winner lists as well as book discussions guides with NoveList

Plus, a comprehensive readers' advisory resource for fiction and

nonfiction. Go to Services at www.cityofbeaverdam.com/library.