Instant Book Club Kit: If are in a book club or thinking of starting a book club you will pleased to know that we offer "Instant Book Club Kits." Each kit contains 10 copies of the a book and discussion questions. You can search for a list of the kids on the online catalog under "Series" and then typing in "Instant book club."
Titles we currently have available in instant book club kits include:
The following titles are available as kits for any group to use. The kits contain at least ten copies of the book and a discussion guide with biographical information about the author and questions to stimulate discussion. Kits can be requested through your local libraries, on-line from the library catalog (elbowlakepubliclibrary.org) by looking up the series “Instant Book Club” or by calling your librarian.
All about Love: New Visions, by bell hooks. Distinguished professor of English at City College in New York City, hooks feels a sense of urgency about confronting the subject of love. With an engaging narrative style, hooks presents a series of possible ways to reverse what she sees as the emotional and cultural fallout caused by flawed visions and definitions of love.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein was loved by everyone in our book group. Written in “first dog”, it follows the life of a Seattle family as it experiences love, death, custody battles and professional car racing, all from the perspective of the family dog. Brilliantly written, this book elicits tears, laughing out loud, and deep reflection.
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama was published in 2006. As our politics continue to polarize us, this book speaks directly and articulately about the country’s potential in level headed, nonpartisan prose.
Bel Canto: a Novel by Ann Patchett is a beautifully written story and study in character. Do not be put off by the barebones plot--a group of people at a party taken hostage by terrorists. Patchett gathers together a group that spans nationalities, professions and class and reveals the hidden depths, sometimes in a few short pages, through their interactions with each other.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is a powerful novel examining our obsession with beauty and conformity, asking powerful questions about race, class, and gender with the subtlety and grace that have always characterized her writing.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. In this brilliantly original novel, four people come together in a deserted Italian villa during the final moments of World War II: a young American nurse and her horribly burned English patient, an American soldier of fortune, and an Indian soldier in the British army. Their stories of the past and of the present weave a tapestry of how lives are caught and changed by the circumstances of war.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This 1953 classic of science fiction, depicting a world in which books are banned and burned, is amazing in how accurately it predicted much of what is true in our lives today.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. This little novel is full of surprising and sometimes shocking insights into the allegedly boring, uneventful life of an ordinary human being by an author with courage to openly ask questions about our existence.
Five Smooth Stones, a novel by Ann Fairbairn, captivates readers with its wide-ranging yet intimate portrait of America during the 1950’s and ‘60’s. David is a black man born into poverty in Depression-era New Orleans who makes his way up the ladder of success, then sacrifices everything to lead his people in the civil rights movement. Sara is a white girl who loves David and struggles against his belief that a marriage for them would be wrong in the violent world he confronts.
The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love and Compassion by Sharon Salzberg, includes a compact disc with guided meditations. Salzberg claims that if one distills the great spiritual teachings from around the world down to their most basic principles, kindness emerges as a thread that unites them all. This kindness is an immensely powerful force that can transform individual lives and ripple out, improving relationships, the environment, our communities, and ultimately the world.
Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy is well-researched historical fiction about “the other” World War II, not the war fought on the front lines, but the war, fought mostly by women, on the factory lines, food lines and behind enemy lines. Piercy weaves together the lives of individuals on far-flung fronts of the war: a female pilot, a romance writer turned journalist, a French Resistance fighter, a first generation social work student, a soldier in the Pacific, and two bright young intelligence workers. This is the second Piercy book we have read for our library’s book club and both have been very popular.
Grand Opening by John Hassler. Twelve-year old Brendan narrates this novel, set in 1944-45. It begins with his parents' decision to buy a run-down grocery store in a tiny Minnesota town. What they discover about small town idealism, bigotry, and good old American values will change them and the town forever....
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This classic American novel offers insightful views of the nouveau riche in the 1920’s.
If God Is Love, Rediscovering Grace in an Ungracious World is a written by Quaker minister, Philip Gulley, and theologian, James Mulholland. In this book the authors attempt to answer the questions: “If God is love, how are those who profess belief in God to act, how does Christianity explain the vastly accepted dualistic theology of heaven and hell, how can we continue to hate, slander, murder, and condemn our neighbors, and if God commands us to love our enemies, how can we justify war?” This is not a difficult book to read and has been very popular with our library patrons.
The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III. In this riveting novel of almost unbearable suspense, three fragile yet determined people become dangerously entangled in a relentlessly escalating crisis. Combining unadorned realism with profound empathy, this is an exploration of the American Dream gone awry and a masterpiece of fiction.
In this House of Brede, a novel by Rumer Godden, an English author who grew up and lived much of her life in India, authored over 60 books. This is a sensitive and insightful novel of religious life with wonderful character development in which a highly successful professional woman leaves her life among the London elite to join a cloistered Benedictine community.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. The author wrote this novel, a classic in American social fiction, to shed light on the difficult life of new immigrants to America in the early 20th century, which he does with heartbreaking realism. What he didn’t expect is that his novel would directly affect the creation of the Food and Drug Administration to oversee food safety and the meat-packing industry.
Katherine, a novel by Anya Seton, has been called the best historical fiction every written. It documents the true story of a love affair that changed history - that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, who became ancestors of most of the British royal family. Their well-documented affair and love persist through decades of war, adultery, murder, loneliness, and redemption.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini was another book group favorite. Even though this is the author’s first book, he accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do: provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned.
The Legacy of Luna: the Story a Tree, a Woman and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods
A young woman named Julia Butterfly Hill climbed a 200-foot redwood tree in northern California in December of 1997 and didn't come down for 738 days. From her perch in the tree, dubbed Luna, she brought attention to the plight of old growth forests and dubious lumbering practices. Part diary, treatise, and spiritual journey, this is the story of the author’s two-year arboreal odyssey.
Loving What Is: Four Questions that Can Change Your Life is a nonfiction selection by Byron Katie. It expresses her fascinating and extremely helpful method of working with people to help them free themselves from the suffering caused by their own flawed belief systems and thoughts. Katie’s method is simple and direct, as is her communication style. She offers truly useful information and methods for all readers.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, in January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room in August of l974...” So begins this breathtaking, Pulitzer prize-winning novel of three generations of a Greek-American family as they immigrate to America carrying an astonishing genetic history.
The Pillars of the Earth, a sensuous and endearing love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age, has been called Ken Follett's masterpiece. It tells the tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known. Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Many in our group had never read this classic. Most of us were surprised and delighted with it, while a few couldn’t stand it. This made for a very interesting discussion! The book follows a family of three daughters in Victorian England where marriage is really the only option for women. It is full of humor and social commentary.
Rainlight by Alison McGhee. Even in a small town people have secrets, including how much they really mean to each other. In this haunting first novel, a tragic event sparks revelations from nine-year-old Mallie, her mother, her grandfather, a waitress, and Mallie’s father’s ex-lover. They discover long-hidden truths and forge new bonds in this heartbreaking novel about parents, children, and love.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi is a remarkable exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny, and a celebration of the liberating power of literature. Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the author, a bold and inspired teacher, secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran and fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, the women spoke not only of the books they were reading but also about themselves, their dreams and disappointments.
The Shack is a very popular novel by William Young in which Mack, in the midst of his "Great Sadness” following the abduction and probable brutal murder of his daughter, receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to the scene of the crime. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle Stephen King says it all about this one: “I flat-out loved this book and the world David Wroblewski has created. As I neared the end, I kept finding excuses to put the book aside for a little, not because I didn't like it, but because I liked it too much; I didn't want it to end. Dog-lovers in particular will find themselves riveted by this story. Yet in the end, this isn't a novel about dogs. It's a novel about the human heart, and the mysteries that live there, understood but impossible to articulate. In the person of Edgar Sawtelle, a mute boy who takes three of his dogs on a brave and dangerous odyssey, Wroblewski does articulate them, and splendidly. I closed the book with that regret readers feel only after experiencing the best stories: It's over, you think, and I won't read another one this good for a long, long time.”
Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Build Schools and Fight Terrorism by Greg Mortenson. Even though the scandal that broke in 2011 has shed much doubt on the absolute truthfulness of this book, it is an extremely inspiring read and educational about conditions in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, now the best-selling memoir of all time, chronicles visits between a young journalist and his dying former professor and mentor, mirroring in fascinating clarity and natural simplicity what life is really all about.
Waking: a Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence, by Minnesota yoga teacher and paraplegic, Matthew Sanford is the story of his spiritual, emotional and physical recovery from a motor vehicle accident when he was 13 years old. Sanford is nationally famous for his work with the disabled. This book turned out to be a surprise favorite of our book group.
When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Life of Animals byJeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy is a well-documented and thought-provoking defense of animal emotions, containing hundreds of anecdotes from published works and field studies of such noted behaviorists as Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Cynthia Moss. Despite the fact that anthropomorphism is among the worst of scientific taboos, these respected scientists cannot help but notice similarities between human and animal behavior. Its clear and conversational style makes this book accessible and interesting for general readers.
Upcoming Kits:
Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from the New Yorker
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
The Christmas Box by Richard Evans
Sula by Toni Morrison
If you are interested in requesting copies of any of the book kits or have questions about the kits, please contact the Elbow Lake Public Library at 218-685-6850 or visit our website at www.elbowlakepubliclibrary.org.