Showing posts with label Lunch Bunch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lunch Bunch. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2012
Lunch Bunch Book Discussion
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
February Lunch Bunch Book Discussion
From Booklist:
*Starred Review* Realizing that many travel writers never retrace their steps, Theroux decides to travel as he did in his landmark book The Great Railway Bazaar (1975): east, across Europe and Asia, by train. Taking detours due to political unrest—Iran refuses a visa, and Afghanistan seems risky—he still manages a reasonable approximation: Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, and, finally, back across Russia, on the Trans-Siberian Express. Some places are hardly recognizable, while others seem not to have changed at all. (In the former USSR, he sees scenes that look authentic to czarist times.) As thoughtful and observant as ever—his unerring skill as an interviewer despite the somewhat difficult personality he presents to readers remains a fascinating paradox—this trip finds Theroux reflecting not only on changes to the landscape but also to himself. And where in Dark Star Safari (2003), Theroux seemed out of sorts, upset with tourists and aid workers alike, here, headed east through a West-looking world, he’s in heaven despite—or because of—the lack of creature comforts. A wonderful book infused with the insights of maturity, this succeeds on many levels while also doing what the best travel writing can’t help but do: make the reader want to hit the road. Moreover, it’s a reminder that in this age of increasingly homogenous urban centers and easy air travel, those who really want to discern national differences should stay on the ground. --Keir Graff
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Lunch Bunch Book Discussion - January
From Publisher's Weekly:
In her latest Commander Adam Dalgliesh detective novel, James subtly deepens the complexities of his personality, making him an ever more credible protagonist. When two bodies are discovered with their throats slashed in a London church, Dalgleish is called upon to solve the case. One victim is Sir Paul Berowne, former Minister of the Crown; the other is a tramp accustomed to sleeping in the church vestibule. It seems that these deaths may be tied to those of two young women who have recently been employed in the Berowne household. Dalgleish feels an unusual empathy in this case; he had known Berowne and sensed several parallels in their lives. This sense of compassion is one of the things that distinguishes James's novels. In delving into what she calls "the fascination of character," she makes each actor in the drama memorable. The characters here read Trollope and Philip Larkin; they are knowledgeable about architecture and art. Yet James's civilized digressions do not detract from the suspense of the plot. She does not employ horrific details for shock effect, but her step-by-step description of procedural details, particularly those of forensic medicine, totally immerse readers in the investigation. Literate readers who have not yet made Adam Dalgliesh's acquaintance should rush to the bookstores for this one.
Sounds like a great read! Hope to see you in January.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Lunch Bunch Book Discussion - Fahrenheit 451
Monday, November 14, 2011
Lunch Bunch Book Discussion
From http://www.barnesandnoble.com/:
Internationally acclaimed with more than 5 million copies in print, Fahrenheit 451 is Ray Bradbury′s classic novel of censorship and defiance, as resonant today as it was when it was first published nearly 50 years ago.
Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires...
The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning...along with the houses in which they were hidden.
Guy Montag enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames...never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid.
Then he met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think...and Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do!
Annotation
First published in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is a classic novel set in the future when books forbidden by a totalitarian regime are burned. The hero, a book burner, suddenly discovers that books are flesh and blood ideas that cry out silently when put to the torch.Come by the Library to check out your copy today!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Lunch Bunch Book Discussion - The Emperor of Ocean Park
Be sure to join us today @ 11AM for our discussion of The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
November Lunch Bunch Book Discussion - The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter
From Publisher's Weekly:
Carter, a Yale law professor and distinguished conservative African-American intellectual known for his nonfiction (The Culture of Disbelief), has written a first-rate legal thriller guaranteed to broaden his audience. The narrator, Talcott Garland, is a law professor at Elm Harbor University whose occasional Carteresque editorializing about politics and justice are saved from didacticism by his abiding existential loneliness. The mystery at the heart of the novel stems from Tal's father's disgrace: Judge Oliver Garland (a Robert Bork meets Clarence Thomas type) was nominated by Ronald Reagan for a Supreme Court seat, but brought down in the Senate hearings when it was revealed that he had a friendship with Jack Ziegler, a wild-card former CIA agent now rumored to be an organized crime kingpin. When the judge dies of what looks like a heart attack and Ziegler turns up at his funeral, Tal is initiated into a quest to uncover mysterious "arrangements" his father made in the event of his untimely demise. Various shady entities observe Tal chasing down the judge's clues, which include a cryptic note ("you have little time.... Excelsior! It begins!") and derive from chess strategy. Meanwhile, Talcott is going through a rough patch: his wife, Kimmer, a high-powered attorney, is probably cheating on him, his Elm Harbor law school colleagues are suspicious of him and a fake FBI man is following him around. As Talcott digs deeper, he uncovers a vein of corruption that runs all the way to the top, and his own life becomes threatened.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Lunch Bunch Book Discussion
Be sure to join us tomorrow for our Lunch Bunch Book Discussion @ 11AM. In the spirit of the spookiest month, we'll be discussing The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Lunch Bunch Book Discussion
Join the Lunch Bunch tomorrow @ 11AM when they discuss Doug Stanton's Horse Soldiers in anticipation of the author's visit to the Library next Wednesday, September 14, 2011 @ 6:30.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Lunch Bunch Book Discussion - September
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Upcoming Events
The LEAP for Health program starts Tuesday, August 2, 2011 @ 10am. Tuesday's story is Clarbella's Teeth by An Vrombaut. Our Lunch Bunch Book Discussion will continue on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 @ 11am. Bring your favorite book for discussion.
Looks like a busy week ahead...be sure to join us for all our programs & activities!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Lunch Bunch Book Discussion Group - AUGUST
Rather than reading & discussing a specific book, we're doing something a little different for next month's book club meeting. Do you have a favorite book? One you recommend to everyone you know? Bring it in and share it with the group! Tell us why it's your favorite. We hope that you walk away with a long list of books to add to your "to read" list :)
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