December 2017 Book Group

We will be meeting on the Fifth Friday this month, on December 29th.

Hostess:  Denise
Books: Rachel
Facilitatress:  Lisa

We will be reading (and discussing) The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce. (338 pages)  Amazon summarizes:

Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.

Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then, as happens in the very best works of fiction, Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage at the heart of Rachel Joyce’s remarkable debut.

There are eleven copies on the shelves of Contra Costa Library, and five CD's on the shelves as well. So, don't forget to get your copy -- Christmas is between now and our meeting!!

October 2017 book group

The month of October, we will be reading The Burgess Boys: A Novel, by Elizabeth Strout. Three Elizabeth Strout books were presented as reading choices. The other two were My Name is Lucy Barton, and Olive Kitteridge. This focus on a simgle author was brought about by an article in the New Yorker magazine, available to read at  Elizabeth Strout's Long Homecoming.  Elizabeth Strout was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Olive Kitteridge.  The Burgess Boys: A Novel was the next book she wrote.

There are a lot of copies of The Burgess Boys in the Contra Costa Library, along with several CD's and e-books as well.


We will meet to discuss the book on Friday, October 27, 2017

Hostess:  Lisa
Books:  Kim
Facilitate:  Sheila

July 28th meeting

During the month of July, we will be reading A Memory of Violets, by Hazel Gaynor. We will meet to discuss it on Friday, July 28th. Here is a brief summary from Amazon.com:

Step into the world of Victorian London, where the wealth and poverty exist side by side. This is the story of two long-lost sisters, whose lives take different paths, and the young woman who will be transformed by their experiences.

And then, of course, things happen.

Hostess:  Donna
Book selections:  Mae
Facilitatress:  Fran

June 2 meeting

Our next meeting will be June 2, to replace the 4th Friday in May, which is a holiday.

Hostess - Fran
Books - Denise
Facilitatress - um, well, Rachel won't be there, so we are on our own. 😁

This month, we are reading Summertime, by J.M. Coetzee.

Publishers Review says this:

Nobel laureate and two-time Booker-winner Coetzee has been shortlisted for the third time for this powerful novel, a semisequel to the fictionalized memoirs Boyhood and Youth that takes the form of a young biographer's interviews with colleagues of the late author John Coetzee.

Contra Costa County Library summary says this:

A young biographer investigates the life of the late South African writer John Coetzee. And so a two-time Booker Prize winner investigates his own life. Bound to be brilliant; my fiction favorite.

There are seven copies in the CCC library, 4 of them currently available on the shelf. Recommend you order NOW if you want to reserve a copy. It doesn't seem to be available in audio -- let us know if you find any cd's!!

 

March 24 2017 meeting

This month we are reading A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler. This is her 17th book, published in 2015.  And, it is the fourth book the 4th Friday Book Group will have ready by Anne Tyler. (Which ones have we read?  Back When We Were Grownups, Breathing Lessons, and Digging to America)

“Graceful and capacious. . . . Quintessential Anne Tyler, as well as quintessential American comedy. Tyler has a knack for turning sitcom situations into something far deeper and more moving. Her great gift is playing against the American dream." ―The New York Times Book Review

There are 20 copies on the shelf in Contra Costa County Library, so no excuses!  Order or buy your copy today if you haven't already.

March 24th is the day we meet, and here are our assignments:

Hostess:  Rachel
Books:  Lisa
Facilitate:  Kim

See you there!

January 27, 2017 meeting

Our first meeting of January 2017 will be on the Fourth Friday - the 27th.

We will be reading The Gathering, by Anne Enright.  Amazon tells us this:

 Anne Enright is a dazzling writer of international stature and one of Ireland’s most singular voices. Now she delivers The Gathering, a moving, evocative portrait of a large Irish family and a shot of fresh blood into the Irish literary tradition, combining the lyricism of the old with the shock of the new.

This book also won the Man Booker Prize in 2007.

For this meeting, Kim will be the hostess, Sheila will bring February book selections, and Donna will lead our discussion.