Our monthly book club takes place at 9:30 a.m. on the fourth Friday of each month (third Fridays in November and December). Continuing and new members are welcome! Books may be borrowed from the public library or purchased (new or used) from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Led by Ann Reaban and Celeste Pardee. Register here to receive the Zoom link. Here are this fall’s offerings:
• Sept. 24: Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, by Erik Larson (1999). On Sept. 8, 1900, the port city of Galveston, Texas was submerged by a category 5 hurricane that destroyed most of the residential area and killed more than 6,000 people. Based on telegrams and reports from meteorologist Isaac Cline, as well as the testimony of survivors, Larson presents a suspenseful account of what can happen when human arrogance meets an uncontrollable force of nature.
• Oct. 22: Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward (2011). In contrast to the middle- class family of the meteorologist featured in Isaac’s Storm, Ward’s novel introduces us to a poor family eking out a living on the coast of rural Mississippi in August 2005. Over the span of 12 days, we are immersed in the world of 15-year-old Esch, a world in which birth and death aren’t far apart and the only safety net is that which the siblings create for each other. The novel’s power comes from the depiction of two violent events: a vicious dog fight and the monstrous Hurricane Katrina.
• Nov. 19: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson (2020). Wilkerson describes an invisible phenomenon in America as she explores, through researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beyond race, class or other factors, caste influences our behavior as well as our nation’s direction. Wilkerson’s book is an eye-opening examination of what lies beneath the surface of American life today.
• Dec. 17: Becoming, by Michelle Obama (2018). This intimate and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady begins with her childhood on the south side of Chicago, where she was influenced by members of her extended family. Other experiences that shaped her include her years as a student at Princeton, her position as an executive balancing the demands of work, marriage and motherhood, and finally her role as the wife of a president. With honesty and wit, she describes her triumphs and disappointments, both public and private, and challenges us with these questions: Who are we, and who will we become?