WETHERSFIELD
PUBLIC LIBRARY’S
1ST
TUESDAY BOOK DISCUSSIONS
September 2007-June 2008
During Library renovation, discussions are held
at the
Eleanor Buck Wolf Nature Center, 156 Prospect Street, Wethersfield
unless otherwise noted on the schedule.
The discussions are at 7:00 p.m. All sessions are free and
open to the public. The Wethersfield
Public Library is at 860-529-BOOK (2665).
December 4, 2007—The Chosen, by
Chaim Potok. Two unlikely friends, one the son of an Hasidic
Rabbi the other of an Orthodox Jew with Zionist leanings, grow through adolescence
together in 1940’s Brooklyn. As they face faith, loyalty, the Holocaust,
and the strains between fathers and sons, Potok unfolds a warm and wise story
familiar to families of all faiths and nations.
January 8, 2008—The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. (2007
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)—A man and his young son traverse a post-apocalypse
America. The man can still remember the time before; the boy knows only
this time. All that is left them is survival, hope, and their love for
each other. Fierce and haunting, The Road is a masterpiece.
February 5, 2008—Letters from Yellowstone,
by Diane Smith--Told entirely through correspondence, this is a
fascinating and often funny story of a scientific expedition to Yellowstone in
1899 to collect samples of its flora and fauna. Cornell student A.E.Bartram
arrives to join the expedition, and thoroughly unsettles the leader who expected
her to be a man. She lights up the novel with intelligence, wit and honest desire
to learn. The collage of letters and telegrams to and from all the parties
tells the story from many perspectives, making it as true to psychology as it
is to history and botany.
March 4, 2008—When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie
Otsuka—(NYTimes Notable Book and Cheshire’s One Book
read) A precise and understated gem that tells one Japanese American family’s
story of internment in Utah during World War II. The brother and sister
remain nameless, heavily censored letters are all they have of their father who
is being held in New Mexico. Even after their post-war reunion, the family
continues to pay for the shape of their eyes. Told from numerous characters’ perspectives,
the voices are a distillation of injustice, anger, and poetry.
April 1, 2008—Night, by Elie Wiesel. This
is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece. The fictional memoir of a boy who lived
through Auschwitz and Buchenwald it is both a short and terrible indictment of
20th Century humanity, as well as a candid and deeply poignant story of survival. It
eloquently addresses the philosophical and personal questions that arise in the
face of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is today.
May 6, 2008— One Book 4 Towns title, To Be Announced. The
towns of Wethersfield, Berlin, Newington, and Rocky Hill each year in the spring
join in a One Book 4 Towns community read program, with discussions and events
in all four towns. The title is chosen in the fall and generally announced
in January.
June 3, 2008—The Most Famous Man in America : The Biography
of Henry Ward Beecher, by Debby Applegate. (2007 Pulitzer
for Biography) Henry Ward Beecher was a fascinating, flawed man, from an illustrious
family, whose life was at the center of the key social, political, religious
and intellectual dramas of 19th Century America. He was both immensely influential
and immensely revered by the public. His friends included Ralph Waldo Emerson
and Mark Twain. His career suffered irretrievably however when charges
of adultery were brought against him. After a widely covered trial with six months
of testimony, eight days of debate and 52 jury ballots, the jury still could
not reach a verdict. Applegate is a masterful guide through the complex
life of a flawed man who made significant contributions to public and religious
life in his time.
The discussions are at 7:00 p.m. All sessions are free and
open to the public. The Wethersfield Public
Library is at 860-529-BOOK (2665).