POSTPONED! Jenny & Sandy's Champagne and Daffodils Spring Book Review
Postponed until further notice.
Manageable Memoirs Bookclub: Fierce Attachments
Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick
Whenever Jenny and I hear folks saying "I cannot even imagine that ..." we as readers know that actually you can begin to understand almost anything, especially if an amazing storyteller takes you by the hand along her way. Last winter I began to sort of understand cannabalism after reading Nathanial Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex." You guys, I'm not kidding—Philbrick is so good he took me there. So, the New York Times published their 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years,* and that got me and Jen noodling: Should we do a Morning Memoir book club, but only with Manageable-in-Length Memoirs (meaning with one exception only 200-ish pages), all by women from diverse backgrounds written over the last five decades?
We said "OK!" to each other and now we can't wait to imagine lives different from our own in some ways, but looking for connection and common ground at every turn. Come on along and imagine with us.
*The New York Times’s book critics select the most outstanding memoirs published since 1969.
In this deeply etched and haunting memoir, Vivian Gornick tells the story of her lifelong battle with her mother for independence. There have been numerous books about mother and daughter, but none has dealt with this closest of filial relations as directly or as ruthlessly. Gornick’s groundbreaking book confronts what Edna O’Brien has called “the prinicpal crux of female despair”: the unacknowledged Oedipal nature of the mother-daughter bond.
Please RSVP as we will make treats, and please call to order these paperbook books from your old buddy, Prairie Path Books!
Free!
Call the store to say you can come, (630) 765-7455!
The GardenWorks Project Food Readers Club: We Fed an Island
The mission of The GardenWorks Project is to promote organic suburban agriculture to improve the well-being of our community, the environment, and those facing food insecurity. They empower, educate, and support all food growers in their efforts to nourish their families and neighbors in need.
All are invited to our GardenWorks Project Book Club. In March, they will consider “We Fed an Island” by José Andés.
To learn more about GardenWorks Project, visit www.gardenworksproject.org.
Skinny Books, Fat Content Bookclub: We The Animals
We The Animals by Justin Torres
Wednesday, March 4, 6:30–7:30 p.m.
In this groundbreaking debut, Justin Torres plunges us into the chaotic heart of one family, the intense bonds of three brothers, and the mythic effects of this fierce love on the people we must become.
"A tremendously gifted writer whose highly personal voice should excite us in much the same way that Raymond Carver’s or Jeffrey Eugenides’s voice did when we first heard it." —Washington Post
"A novel so honest, poetic, and tough that it makes you reexamine what it means to love and to hurt." —O, The Oprah Magazine
"The communal howl of three young brothers sustains this sprint of a novel . . . A kind of incantation." —The New Yorker
This book club reads and discusses fiction books under 200 pages that present some great moral dilemmas, plot twists, memorable characters and ideas that just beg for discussion. Though they look deceptively short and simple, they will WOW you with the depth of their meaning and the precision of their language. Even if you are already in a book club, you could squeeze this one in. Meetings will last just one hour, so discussion will be as intense as the reading.
Free!
Call the store to say you can come, (630) 765-7455!
Overbooked Book Club
A book club for people in their 20s and 30s who want to fit good books and friendship in the margins of their lives. Come on the first Tuesday of the month ready to talk about your new favorite books.
Get 15% off Overbooked Book Club books at Prairie Path Books.
This month, we will dig into Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly through a culture that revolves around the self.
A Good Yarn Bookclub: Educated by Tara Westover
All are invited to join this book club. We meet from 1:30-3:00 the first Sunday of every month!
Free!
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
"A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle."-O: The Oprah Magazine
"Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover's] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?"-Vogue