Six of us met to discuss A Country Year by Sue Hubbell. It was a great conversation about being self-reliant and about what kind of person could live that kind of life. Sue Hubbell raises bees in the Ozarks in Missouri. (At least she did in the 1980s.) She lives by herself on a farm and manages over 300 hives. She fixes her own pick-up when she can and alsoRead More →
Five of us met to discuss The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. A housekeeper is hired to work for a former professor of mathematics. She is the 10th housekeeper to work for the professor. He suffers from short term memory loss, to be specific, his brain forgets everything after 80 minutes. Despite this hurdle, the housekeeper and her young son befriend the professor and create a bond withRead More →
Eight people gathered at our April meeting to discuss Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder. This was the story of Deogratias, a refugee from Burundi who manages to escape the genocide and the civil war in his country to live in New York City and eventually to continue his medical studies in order to realize his dream of opening a clinic in his home country. We watched two shortRead More →
For our March visit, four of us met to discuss Bone by Bone by Carol O’Connell. It is a mystery set in a small town in California. As one book club attendee said, she had never read a mystery where every single character felt like a suspect. One day 20 years ago, two brothers went into the woods and only one returned. The book begins with the return of theRead More →
Five of us braved the freezing cold weather to meet at the Library and discuss Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. Everyone agreed that it was an amazing story and a compelling read. If you haven’t read it yet, it is about Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian born immigrant living in New Orleans. During Hurricane Katrina, Zeitoun decides to ride out the storm and keep an eye on his family business and property. You witness firsthand theRead More →
Due to inclement weather, the Brentwood Book Club did not meet in January. Sadly, this means that we could not hold our annual January round up of books. Each January, we meet to discuss the best books of the previous year. If you have any that you would like to share, feel free to email me at ggibbons@bplmo.org or tell me in person and I will compile a list toRead More →
Seven people met to discuss The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell. It was a timely read, as it is about the Puritans who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Fairly entertaining and informative, it was, nonetheless, a hard book to get through for most of us. Personally, I don’t trust a book without chapters. Everyone agreed that they learned things from the book that they didn’t learn in American HistoryRead More →
In October, six of us met to discuss Netherland by Joseph O’Neill. Everyone seemed to enjoy this novel about a man floating between cultures, between homelands and family. It is also a striking portrait of New York as seen through immigrant eyes in a post 9-11 world and not at all in the way you might expect. And for those of us who still had questions about the game ofRead More →
Four of us met to discuss The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. If you want to find out if it is possible to live by all of the biblical commandments then this book is for you. Jacobs’ biblical year is informative and highly amusing. Other books we are reading include: Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls Indigo Christmas by Jeanne Dams Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy GrannyRead More →
We had four people meet to discuss The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. If you like your protagonist to be precocious, vivacious and whip smart then you will love Flavia DeLuce. Reviewers compared her to Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. There is mystery, chemistry and English eccentricity in spades in this novel. And if you can’t get enough of Flavia, then you can readRead More →
