KHCPL’s book discussion program kicks off in September. We have selected an exciting and diverse group of books for the 2017 -- 2018 program. Participants may attend any or all discussions. Multiple copies of each selection will be available at each KHCPL location one month prior to its discussion. Audio, large print, and digital editions may also be available, and KHCPL staff members will be happy to place a hold on these items for you.
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson is a novel that reads like poetry. Anthropologist August is called back to Brooklyn by her father’s death. When she glimpses a former childhood friend on the subway, she is suddenly transported back to 1970s Brooklyn, reliving old memories a series of flashbacks.
October 19, 2017 · 6:30 pm @ KHCPL South
January 5, 2018 · 10:30 am @ KHCPL Russiaville
March 14, 2018 · 10:00 am @ KHCPL Main
City of Thieves by David Benioff is set during the siege of Stalingrad. Lev and Kolya strike a bargain with a Soviet officer. In exchange for finding a dozen eggs to be served at his daughter’s wedding, he will release rather than execute them. Their desperate search through the war-torn city results in a black comedy of errors.
November 16, 2017 · 6:30 pm @ KHCPL South
March 2, 2018 · 10:30 am @ KHCPL Russiaville
May 9, 2018 · 10:00 am @ KHCPL Main
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes unfolds through a series of journal entries. Charlie, a cognitively disabled adult, along with Algernon, a lab rat, undergo experimental brain surgery designed to increase intelligence. The procedure is a success, and Charlie’s IQ soars to genius level. Tragically, he is now also capable of understanding the implications of Algernon’s sudden unexpected decline.
February 2, 2018 · 10:30 am @ KHCPL Russiaville
April 11, 2018 · 10:00 am @ KHCPL Main
no discussion @ KHCPL South
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery is the Howard County Reads 2017 selection. Part biography, part history of the Appalachian Trail, part nature writing, and part hikers’ manifesto, this is the story of Emma Gatewood from Gallia County, Ohio, who in 1955 at the age of 67 became the first woman to continuously hike the Appalachian Trail. She simply told her children she was “going for a walk” and set off on this unbelievable journey.
September 13, 2017 · 10:00 am @ KHCPL Main
no discussion @ KHCPL South or KHCPL Russiaville
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is told in a series of poetic vignettes. Esperanza Cordero describes growing up in a poor Latino neighborhood in Chicago. Her own voice mingles with the stories of those around her.
October 6, 2017 · 10:30 am @ KHCPL Russiaville
January 10, 2018 ·6:30 pm @ KHCPL Main
April 19, 2018 ·10:00 am @ KHCPL South
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman introduces readers to Ove, a Swedish curmudgeon who likes rules and routines and dislikes everything else. But his cantankerous exterior hides his crushing grief over his wife’s death. When a new family who exemplify everything Ove hates moves into the neighborhood, an unlikely friendship develops.
January 18, 2018 · 6:30 pm @ KHCPL South
April 6, 2018 ·10:30 am @ KHCPL Russiaville
no discussion @ KHCPL Main
The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner recounts her harrowing childhood in the LeBaron fundamentalist Mormon colony in Chihuahua, Mexico. The fourth child of her mother and the thirty-ninth of her father, she grew up in abject poverty, experiencing instability, abuse, and neglect, before eventually escaping to her extended family in the United States.
September 1, 2017 ·10:30 am @ KHCPL Russiaville
November 8, 2017 ·10:00 am @ KHCPL Main
March 15, 2018 ·6:30 pm @ KHCPL South
Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser is reminiscent of Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell. Despite the impending blizzard, 16 year-old Percy James drives out to a nearby the farmhouse in search of her MIA mother. Her mother is nowhere to be found, but Percy stumbles upon a neglected baby alone in an upstairs bedroom. Unable to call 911, she flees with the child, intending to take her to safety at the local hospital.
November 3, 2017 · 10:30 am @ KHCPL Russiaville
February 14, 2018 · 10:00 am @ KHCPL Main
May 17, 2018 · 6:30 pm @ KHCPL South
The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon alternates between the early 20th Century and the present day. In 1908 Sara Harrison Shea grieves the death of her child, contemplating an unthinkable act, while in the present Ruthie wakes up to discover that her mother has vanished without a trace. Both women, living in the same Vermont farmhouse, are drawn together when the missing pages from Sara’s diary resurface.
October 11, 2017 · 10:00 am @ KHCPL Main
February 15, 2018 6:30 pm @ KHCPL South
May 4, 2018 · 10:30 am @ KHCPL Russiaville