Monday Night Reading/Discussion Group

Posted by bonnie on 16 February 2017

The Downtown library has a book club that meets usually on the 2nd Monday of the month (except where noted) from 6:30 – 7:30 pm in the Library Meeting Room.
We read shorter classics, contemporary short stories, poems, articles, essays, plays, excerpts, and…? Participants have input on future readings.

2018

January 8
Four Short Pieces in Honor of Martin Luther King’s Birthday:
The Battle Royale from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Growing Up Colored by Henry Louis Gates
The First Day by Edward P. Jones
Everyday use by Alice Walker

February 12 – Farwell to Manzanar  by Jeanne Wakasuki Houston & James D. Houston

March 12 – Essays: Feminism Past & Present
March is Women’s History Month. We’ll be reading  a selection of essays from Susan B. Anthony, Jill Lapore, Katha Pollitt, Roxane Gay, Rebecca Solnit, Pearl S. Buck, Katie Piophe.

April 9 – Nature Poetry
April is National Poetry Month! Reading selections include poems of Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver,  Kamilah Aisha Moon, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robinson Jeffers, Robert Frost, Robert Penn Warren, Lloyd Schwartz, William Cullen Bryant, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sheila Black, Marianne Moore, Arthur Sze, and Jane Hirschfield.

May 14 – May is Mystery Month
We’ll read  Murder at the Vicarage (1930) by Agatha Christie

June 11 – June is LGBTQ Month
In honor of LGBTQ month: A Separate Peace by John Knowles

July 9 – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

August 13 – O Pioneers by Willa Cather

September 10 – The Awakening by Kate Chopin

October 8 – 7 Short Stories

September 15th through October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month. Here are links to seven short stories by a variety of Latin American and Latino writers for discussion. We will provide printed copies of the story at the Adult Reference Desk on the 2nd floor also.

1. Borges, Jorge Luis. “The Book of Sands” 6 pp.

2. Castellanos, Rosario. Castellanos “Cooking Lesson” 9 pp.

3. Diaz, Junot. “Invierno” 28 pp. (starts on page 119; the link is for the entire book).

4. Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” 4 pp.

5. Guimaraes Rosa, Joao. “The Third Bank of the River” 9 pp.

6. Monterroso, Augusto. “The Eclipse” 2 pp.
a. Viramontes, Helena Maria. “The Moths” 6 pp.

November 19 – 3rd Monday, due to Veteran’s Day Holiday
November’s reading has been postponed and will be discussed on December 10th.

December 10 – William Kent Krueger’s Ordinary Grace

2019

January 14 – Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen