Thomaston Library
Directions
Book Discussion Group
January - June 2009
The book
discussion group meets
the second Wednesday of every month
at 7:00 pm in the Community Room.
Copies of the book to be discussed are available at the library
three weeks prior to the discussion.
Set in a present-day alternate reality in Sitka,
Alaska, a safe haven set up for Jewish refugees after World War
II, the novel features homicide detective, Meyer Landsman, a drunken
rogue cop, who undertakes an investigation into the death of a heroin-addicted
chess prodigy, Emanuel Lasker. The investigation plunges Landsman
into a re-evaluation of his own tortured familial history, his feelings
about police work and larger issues. |
One of the first African novels written in English
to receive global critical acclaim, the novel concerns the life
of Okonkwo, a leader and local wrestling champion, his family, his
entire village and how he reacts to the influences of British colonialism
and Christian missionaries. |
Wednesday - February 11, 2009 Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathaniel West 
Set in New York City during the Great Depression,
Miss Lonelyhearts is the pen name of a male newspaper columnist
who answers newspaper readers’ questions about how to handle
their lives. The primary focus of the book is the spiritual suffering
of the Depression, the people’s despair and purposelessness
and the culture’s inability to relieve the pain. |
Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Gilead is set in 1956 in the small town of Gilead, Iowa and is narrated by a 76-year-old pastor, John Ames, who decides to write a letter to his young son telling him about his ancestors, the nature of love and friendship, the importance of faith and prayer, joy and forgiveness, and, all the while, telling the story of what America was. |
The narrator, Salim, a Muslim of Indian descent,
travels from his family’s home on the East African coast to
run a sundries shop in a crumbling town on the bend in the river.
The Europeans have largely departed and this is a dangerous new
land. Gradually the town’s veneer of civilization cracks,
and chaos results. |
Born mute, 14-year-old Edgar Sawtelle leads an
idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin
where the Sawtelle family carries on the family business of breeding
and training dogs. When his life is shattered, Edgar is forced to
flee into the vast wilderness with three yearling dogs. |
