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Lunch Time Book Discussion Group|
Join us for this lunch time book discussion group on the fourth Wednesday of every month at 1 p.m. in the library's 2nd floor conference room. We discuss the books we've been reading and share ideas about what to read next. December 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005
These are the books we discussed in December 2005:
by Charles C. Mann Discusses the greatest holocaust in human history – how 90 to 95% of the people living in the Americas were wiped out by diseases brought by early European explorers. Carol Kagay: “This book represents a shift our understanding of the life in the early Americas.”
After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro's Regime and Cuba's Next Leader by Brian Latell This book explores the history of the Cuban revolution and what will likely happen in Cuba after the death of Fidel Castro – including the potential succession of Raul Castro. Lucy Mackenzie: “If you think Fidel is bad wait until you see his brother.”
Alessandra Cecchi is not yet fifteen when her merchant father brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florentine palazzo. Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter's abilities, but their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra's parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, older man. Carol Kaygy: “One of the best reads of 2005.”
The dramatic story of three brothers caught up in an intense rivalry and accusations of patricide. Alison Peebles: “I keep thinking something is wrong with me because I am bored by this book. All I can think is: just go ahead and kill the old man. Maybe you need to be in your twenties to enjoy this novel.”
by James McBride McBride tells the story of his mother’s early life, which was kept secret from him and his eleven brothers and sisters. She was the daughter of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi who fled her family in the South, married a black man and helped start a Christian church in her home. Caroline Wardlaw: “Ruth McBride was an extraordinary woman, but even after reading her story I still find her motivations mysterious.”
The Darling by Russell Banks Helen is a former 60’s radical (she was a member of a group like the Weather Underground) who fled to Liberia. She marries the Minister of Public Health and has three sons, and starts a sanctuary for chimpanzees. She becomes involved in Charles Taylor’s regime and the civil war. Sue Roth: “A fascinating history of Liberia, and how the overly controlling influence of the U.S. has contributed to the devastation there. However, Helen is not an appealing character and her choices lead to disaster.” To Die in Cuba: Suicide and Society by Louis A. Perez Jr. The Spanish brought in African slaves, and later Chinese slaves to work on their plantations in Cuba, and they died by the thousands. Laborers were so easy to replace the Spanish would kill them in the off-season, and the conditions were so terrible that many committed suicide as an escape. Lucy Mackenzie: “The book describes a period of history so horrible that it is hard to believe.”
Einstein in Love by Dennis Overbye Einstein was in love with physics and the secret order of the universe; with his brilliant, tormented first wife, Mileva; and with a series of pretty young women. The Einsteins were a modern couple; they had relativity and quantum mysticism as their pillow talk, and were as often colleagues as fierce adversaries. Carol Kagay: “An excellent, readable biography of Einstein.”
After years of studying Freud in Paris, Mr. Muo returns home to introduce the blessings of psychoanalysis to twenty-first-century China, and also But it is his liberate his university sweetheart, now a political prisoner. The price of her freedom is a virgin maiden for the local Judge. Jennifer Melhman: “A great intellectual comedy of dreams, Freud is treated in a tongue-in-cheek style.” Check Availability
The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life by Tom Reiss Reiss, a political and cultural figure in New York City, argues that he was Lev Nussimbaum, a Jew born in 1905 to a rich family in Baku, who escaped the Russian Revolution, found refuge in Germany, wrote his books, married an international heiress, was invited to be Mussolini's official biographer, then put under house arrest when his identity became known, where he wrote his last book. Carol Kagay: “This is a biography, but you get so much wonderful history about life before WWII.”
A rich South African woman eventually marries the Arab man, who is an illegal alien, that helped her when she had car troubles. Lucy Mackenzie: “Wonderful, and beautifully written.”
La Prochaine Fois by Marc Levy A fanciful, romantic, detective mystery and art story in the Library’s French Language collection. Regularly reincarninated characters fight over a valuable painting through the centuries. Alison Peebles: “An excellent, light read.”
Literatec Thursday Next has another adventure, although she is trying to take a vacation. Part of an excellent mystery series for bibliophiles that begins with the novel The Eyre Affair. Carol Kagay: “This series is so clever and enjoyable.”
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger The love story of artist Clare and her husband, Henry, a librarian, who has an ailment called Chrono-Displaced Person (CDP), which without his control removes him to the past or the future under stressful circumstances. Carol Kagay: “One of the best reads of 2005.”
The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman Technology has made doing business globally easy, and this book explores what that means for our economic future. Focuses on the importance of training workers in un-outsourceable jobs. Catherine Harper: “This book should be required reading for every high-school and college student. This book is beautifully written, informative, and its cogent arguments are such a wake-up call.”
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1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus 
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother 
Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch by Dai Sijie 
The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer
Thursday Next in The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
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