Voorheesville Public Library Book Discussion Titles

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Book Discussion: Thought Provoking Choices

2007 - 2008

Out Stealing Horses
by Per Petterson

Trond Sander is 67 and a widower. He has removed himself to an isolated and dilapidated cottage at the eastern edge of Norway, away from his family and his past attachments. A chance encounter with a neighbor one night releases memories of the summer he was 15 when a series of losses and revelations changed his life and the lives of others.
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My Life in France
by Julia Child

Child’s memoir, completed by her grandnephew Alex Prud’Homme after her death, begins with her move to Paris shortly after WWII. She and her new husband Paul settled into a cozy apartment on rue de l”Université. She was delighted with the markets, the restaurants, the city and the openness of the French. She describes her studies at the Cordon Bleu which transformed her from a hesitant cook into an accomplished chef. Child’s book brims with her energy, enthusiasm, warmth and joie de vivre.
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The Age of Innocence
by Edith Wharton

Newland Archer enjoys the good life in New York's high society of the 1870's. He's from a well-connected family, has a successful law practice and is engaged to the beautiful May Welland, an ideal match in the eyes of both of their families. Newland's complacency about his world starts to crack when he meets May's cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska, recently returned from Europe. The Countess wants to divorce her husband, Polish Count Olenski, but May's family convinces Archer to dissuade Ellen from her plan because such a scandal would ruin her social standing.
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The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
by Dinaw Mengestu

Sepha Stephanos, fearing for his life after seeing his father beaten by soldiers, left Ethiopia 17 years ago, selling his family’s jewelry to pay for passage to the United States. Now he runs a grocery store in a run-down neighborhood in Washington, D.C. His only friends are two other African immigrants who share his nostalgia for their home countries and difficulty adjusting to life in America. Soon Sepha’s neighborhood begins to show signs of gentrification, and when he develops a friendship with Judith and Naomi, a white academic and her biracial daughter, he has reason to hope his life will improve.
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Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
by Alice Munro

The choices women make in their relationships-- with parents, siblings, friends, lovers and husbands--is the subject matter of the nine stories in this collection, each one of which examines lives which on the surface are ordinary, even boring. Munro presents us with lives half-lived, risks taken, bad decisions, as well as dreams and aspirations fulfilled. Failure and heartbreak are counterbalanced with success and honest affection.
Questions

Restless
by William Boyd

What if the person closest to you was not who you thought she was? When Ruth Gilmartin's mother gives her a folder titled The Story of Eva Delectorskaya, Ruth is shocked to learn that her mother IS Eva, a young Russian emigre recruited as a spy by the British Secret Service during World War II. Although Eva is long retired and lives a quiet life tending her garden in a secluded country cottage , her story is not over. Someone is trying to kill her. What secrets does Eva, now Sally, hold that would make someone hunt her down after all this time?
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Abide with Me
by Elizabeth Strout

Tyler Caskey, minister of the Congregation church in West Annett, Maine, is losing the admiration of his previously devoted congregants and his closeness with family and friends. He is grieving his wife's loss and no longer has the emotional stamina to counsel and comfort his flock. He is also receiving disturbing reports from his daughter's teacher that Katherine is screaming and spitting in school. Next, rumors about an inappropriate relationship with his housekeeper start circulating. How will Tyler keep his balance? When a counseling session with his former mentor ends in disappointment, Tyler begins to doubt himself and his faith.
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Related Websites
Tight-Knit, Loose-Lipped
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Secret River
by Kate Grenville

William Thornhill is a waterman on the Thames, carting goods up and down the river and struggling to pull his family out of the grinding poverty of working-class of 18th century London. Like all waterman, he steals a bit here and there to supplement his meager wages. Arrested for theft, tried and transported to Australia with his family, he eventually gains his freedom. Will becomes enamored of an enchanting piece of land on the Hawesbury River and is determined to settle his family there. The Thornhills soon realize that the place they have claimed is not empty land, and they experience a series of frustrating confrontations with the aborigines. Consumed with fear for their safety, Will allies himself with the other settlers. What choice does he have? Grenville based this novel on the experiences of her immigrant ancestors.
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Birds in Fall
by Brad Kessler

On a warm September night a plane plunges into the sea off the coast of Nova Scotia. A massive search and rescue operation begins immediately. "All night, the horn on Caginish Hill wailed, the same horn that moaned for fires, hurricanes and once for ships lost at sea." Ana Gathreaux, an ornithologist studying bird migration at NYU, returns home from her lab expecting a call from her husband telling her he arrived in Amsterdam for a conference. Instead, she learns his plane has disappeared. Ana travels to Trachis Island to wait, to hope and to grieve along with family members of the other passengers. Kessler has written a haunting meditation on grief, survival and change.
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Brookland
by Emily Barton

Life in Brookland is prosperous and peaceful, now that the conflict with England is over and independence has been gained. Matthias Winship’s distillery produces excellent gin that is drunk throughout the northeast. Despite Winship’s financial success, his home life is far from blissful. His wife suffers from black moods, one of their daughters has never been able to speak, and he has no son to inherit the gin works. Determined to maintain his legacy, Matthias decides to train his daughters in the delicate distiller’s art .
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Titles Selected by Suzanne Fisher, Librarian

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