River Region Readers
BOOK CLUB
The loyal members of this group are avid readers who enjoy talking about the books the group has chosen to read, whether we liked the books or not. We’d love for you to join us. We discuss all kinds of books and would love to have you join us and bring another perspective to our discussions.
All are welcome to join us at 4pm! For more information contact Nancy Dennis
Feb.
6 (1st Sunday) - Mrs Harris Goes to Paris
& Mrs Harris Goes to New York by Paul Gallico. Mrs Harris
is a salt-of-the-earth London charlady who cheerfully cleans the houses of the
rich. One day, when tidying Lady Dant's wardrobe, she comes across the most
beautiful thing she has ever seen – a Dior dress. She's never seen anything as
magical and she's never wanted anything as much. Determined to make her dream
come true, Mrs Harris scrimps, saves and slaves away until one day, she finally
has enough money to go to Paris. Little does she know how her life is about to
be transformed forever … Mrs Harris's adventures take her from her humble
Battersea roots to the heights of glamour in Paris and New York as she learns
some of life's greatest lessons along the way.
March 13 - Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. Joy Delaney has disappeared and her children are re-examining their parents’ marriage and their family history with fresh, frightened eyes. Is her disappearance related to their mysterious house guest from last year? Or were things never as rosy as they seemed in the Delaney household?
April 10 - All About Me!: My Remarkable Life in Showbusiness by Mel Brooks At 95, the legendary Mel Brooks continues to set the standard for comedy across television, film, and the stage. Now, for the first time, this EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner shares his story in his own words. The book charts Mel Brooks’s meteoric rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts.
May
15 (3rd Sunday - The Kitchen Front
by Jennifer Ryan In the story set during World War II from the bestselling
author of The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, four women compete for a spot hosting a
wartime cookery program called The Kitchen Front - based on the actual BBC
program of the same name - as well as a chance to better their lives. For a
young widow, it's a chance to pay off her husband's debts and keep a roof over
her children's heads. For a kitchen maid, it's a chance to leave servitude and
find freedom. For the lady of the manor, it's a chance to escape her wealthy
husband's increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it's a chance
to challenge the men at the top of her profession.
June
12 - The Boys by
Ron and Clint Howard - Join award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and
audience-favorite actor Clint Howard as they frankly and fondly share their
unusual family story of navigating and surviving life as sibling child actors.
With the perspective of time and success—Ron as a filmmaker, producer, and
Hollywood A-lister, Clint as a busy character actor—the Howard brothers delve
deep into an upbringing that seemed normal to them yet was anything but.
July
10 - Murder
Forgotten by Deb Richardson-Moore – Julianna Burke is a mystery
writer, famous for her “wanderings” – blocks of time when she exits the everyday
world and returns with twists and turns to make her next novel soar. But
lately, she’s been coming to on the porch of her Sullivan’s Island beach house
with nothing to show for a day’s work. She fears her memory is slipping, and
with it, her heralded career. Then her beloved husband and business partner is
murdered. In this plot within a plot, she seeks to find the killer. But can she
find the truth when her reality is fading?
Aug.
14 - All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot,
the pen name of British veterinarian, James Alfred Wight, a rural veterinarian
from Yorkshire, England. This full-time vet at age 50, after a demanding day
visiting isolated farms and tending to large animal livestock in distress. In
front of the evening television, he bangs out drafts of short stories with an
Olivetti typewriter in his lap. It turns out Herriot found writing to be a most
relaxing hobby! And it wasn’t until 25 years into his veterinary career that he
pursued publication of his first manuscript. The title is borrowed from the
19th century Anglican hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful with lyrics by Cecil
Frances Alexander. In fact, all four lines from the hymn’s chorus were
eventually used for Herriot books published in the states.
Sept.
11- Charlie Brown's America
– The Popular Politics of Peanuts by Blake Scott Ball Charles Schulz’s
Peanuts was an unexpectedly political comic strip. While many people have come
to identify Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy with
childhood and innocence, Peanuts regularly commented on the politics and social
turmoil of Cold War America. From nuclear testing to the civil rights movement,
from the Vietnam War to the feminist revolution, Peanuts was an unlikely medium
for Americans of all stripes to debate the hopes and fears of the era. Charlie
Brown’s America is the story of how the creation of one Midwestern man became
one of the most influential pop-culture properties of the 20th century and what
its popularity reveals about the character of the United States.
Oct.
9 – First Friends:
The Powerful, Unsung (and Unelected) People Who Shaped Our Presidents by Gary
Ginsberg captures the riveting histories of myriad presidential
friendships. White House history as told through the stories of the best
friends and closest confidants of American presidents.
Nov.
13 – Ahab's Wife: Or, the Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter
Naslund At age 12, Una Spenser escapes her religiously obsessed father in
rural Kentucky to live with relatives in a lighthouse off New Bedford, Mass.
When she is 16--disguised as a boy--she runs off to sea aboard a whaler, which
sinks after being rammed by its quarry. Una and two young men who love her are
the only survivors of a group set adrift in an open boat, but the dark secret
of their cannibalism will leave its mark. Rescued, Una is wed to one of the
young men by the captain of the Pequod, handsome, commanding Ahab, who has not
as yet met the white whale that will be his destiny.
OR
The Taste of Ginger by Mansi Shah It is the story of Preeti who came to the US at the age of 7 from India. She and her brother wanted to be American, but her parents continued to live as though they were still of India. The story takes place when as an adult she heads to India for a family situation. She struggles trying to balance the two worlds.