Last night I was trying to come up with a rousing, laugh-a-minute, clever, no-holds-barred, effervescent, scintillating introduction for this month's Reading Group Newsletter. But nothing came to me. I think my "funny" has gone on vacation. Sigh! So I've asked some late great book people to impress you with their thoughts on books and writing. Hopefully, my "funny" will have returned from the amusement park next month.
"When you reread a classic you don't see more than you did before, you see more in you than was there before." --Clifton Fadiman
"When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing." --Blaise Pascal
"When is humanity so weak as in a bookstore?" --Henry Ward Beecher
"Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead." --Gene Fowler
"The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." --Agatha Christie
"Writing every book is like a purge; at the end of it one is empty...like a dry shell on the beach, waiting for the tide to come in." --Daphne Du Maurier
"Just the knowledge that a good book is waiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier." --Kathleen Norris
"It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish." --S.I. Hayakawa
"Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folk have lent me." --Anatole France
I hope you enjoy the books I've picked out this month. They all have strong teenage characters...
Happy Reading!
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by Abi Daré
Set in modern-day Nigeria, Abi Daré's debut novel is amazing! One of the best novels I've read this year. Daré has created an unforgettable narrator in 14-year-old Adunni who has grown up in poverty in a rural Nigerian village. She constantly dreams of her dead mother's wish that she get an education and have a louding voice--the ability to speak for herself and decide her own future. But her father sells her to be the third wife of a local taxi driver who is eager for her to bear him a son and heir. Living with the slovenly man and his two wives is difficult for her, but doesn't break her spirit. When circumstances force her to run away to the big city of Lagos she gets a job as a servant to a powerful businesswoman. But Big Madame treats her like a slave and often beats her. Even this doesn't stop Adunni from reaching for her goal. She never loses sight of escaping the life she was born into to build the future she chooses for herself and obtain the louding voice she is so desperate to have. In the acknowledgements of the novel Abi Daré thanks Adunni "for sharing your world with me. You came at a time when I felt most frustrated in my writing journey. Hearing your first words in broken, desperate English, first as a whisper in my ears one morning, and then as a persistently loud voice for nearly three years after, changed everything for me, for you and hopefully for girls like you."
Hear more from Abi Daré when she joins Lisa and Daniel in a Zoom conversation on Thursday, March 25th at 2 p.m.
Click below to register for this free event!
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by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for this exceptional and unforgettable novel first published in 2016. According to an online interview with Emma Brockes, Whitehead says when he first had the idea for the novel in 2000 he knew he wanted to write about the "railroad" that helped slaves escape from the south to the north. But he wanted to use magical realism to turn the figurative railroad into a real underground system with engineers and conductors operating a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath Southern soil. "When I had the idea in 2000, I didn't think I was a good enough writer. I thought if I wrote some more books I might become a better craftsperson and, if I was older, I might be able to bring the maturity of some of these years to the book and do it justice. And so I shied away from it. It was daunting in terms of its structure, and to do the research as deep as it needed to be done, and to deal with the subject with the gravity it deserved, was scary. And then, a couple of years ago, I thought maybe the scary book is the one you're supposed to be doing." In The Underground Railroad he writes about 15-year-old Cora as she escapes from her plantation in Georgia and embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next. He bases some of the things she encounters on actual events and others on fantastical events that might have happened. Ann Patchett says "Colson Whitehead's book blends the fanciful and the horrific, the deeply emotional and the coolly intellectual. What he comes up with is an American masterpiece." Esquire calls the book "a wonderful reminder of what great literature is supposed to do: open our eyes, challenge us, and leave us changed by the end."
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by Ae-ran Kim
Translated by Chi-Young Kim
This compelling and touching novel is narrated by 16-year-old Areum who suffers from a rare syndrome called Progeria. He ages eight times faster than the normal boy. When the story opens he's living as if he were an 80-year-old. Because of his illness, he's lived a fairly sheltered existence and lives vicariously through the books he loves, the philosophical discussions he has with his 60-year-old neighbor, and the stories his parents tell him about their childhood and courtship. The family manages to find happiness, even through the toughest times. A great deal of love shimmers through this novel! Author Bryan Washington calls the book, "heartfelt, hilarious, and full of wonder---My Brilliant Life is extraordinary and Ae-ran Kim astounds. Her novel is a warm, expansive exploration of family, the many different ways we love, and the infinite lives that each of us lives. It's the loveliest book." Kathleen Rooney calls it "stylish and engaging, this eloquent book encompasses with compassion and discernment the ordinary miracles of birth and death and everything in between." Author Claire Lombardo calls the novel, "a moving, earnest, and deeply felt exploration of a unique family in all its joys and disappointments." A perfect reading group novel, especially if you're looking for a shorter novel to discuss.
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by Ann Napolitano
Twelve-year-old Edward Adler is the sole survivor of a Los Angeles bound plane crash that kills his parents, his brother and 183 other passengers. In this touching and compassionate novel, Napolitano tells the story of Edward's difficult recovery from grief, loss and guilt. He struggles to find a place in the world without his family, especially his dearly loved brother. Napolitano also explores some of the other passengers as they experience their last hours on the plane. This is a beautifully written novel that should keep your reading group talking for hours. Author Jodi Picoult says, "Dear Edward is that rare book that breaks your heart and stitches it back together during a reading experience that leaves you profoundly altered for the better. It's about the infinitesimal difference between being a victim and being a survivor, between living and being alive. Don't miss this one." Author Lily King says, "I loved Dear Edward so, so much. It made me laugh and weep. So many times, I had to stop after reading a paragraph to acknowledge the beauty of Ann Napolitano's writing. In Edward, his friend Shay, and the passengers on the airplane, Napolitano offers unforgettable characters, people you know you will miss after you've turned the book's last page. It's magnificent!" An edited version of Jenna Bush Hager's interview with Ann Napolitano and questions and topics for discussion are at the back of the novel.
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BOOKS & COMPANY BOOK GROUPS
Open to the Public
BOOK GROUPS ARE RESCHEDULED
AS VIRTUAL MEETINGS VIA ZOOM
CHECK WWW.BOOKSCO.COM FOR UPDATES
AND REGISTRATION LINKS!
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Wednesday, March 24th
1:00 p.m.
by Alan Hlad
ZOOM Meeting
Wednesday, April 28th
1:00 p.m.
by Laura Morelli
ZOOM Meeting
registration coming soon
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Sunday, March 28th
by Joe McGinniss
by Jerry Allen Potter
ZOOM MEETING
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Wednesday, March 17th
6:30 p.m.
by Ruta Sepetys
Zoom Meeting
Wednesday, April 21st
6:30 p.m.
by Maureen Johnson
ZOOM Meeting
registration coming soon
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Tuesday, March 23rd
6:00 p.m.
by Raymond Fleischmann
ZOOM Meeting
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Tuesday, March 9th
7:00 p.m.
via Zoom
TONIGHT!
Wisconsin, you are here. Your lived experience is here. Your hopes, dreams, struggles, and joys are here in these poems. Open this door. See the fullness of Wisconsin and Wisconsin poetry.
A partnership with the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books
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ABI DARÉ
in conversation with
Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin
Thursday, March 25th
2:00 p.m.
via Zoom
Join us for our March installment of Readings From Oconomowaukee! This month, Boswell Books' Daniel Goldin and Books & Company's Lisa Baudoin will be in conversation with Abi Daré, author of The Girl with the Louding Voice for the paperback release.
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AMY E. REICHERT
in Conversation with
Daniel Goldin & Lisa Baudoin
Monday, April 19
7:00 p.m.
Via ZOOM
Join us for a lovely evening for our April Readings from Oconomowaukee! Local favorite Wisconsinite Amy Reichert will be in conversation with Boswell Books' Daniel Goldin and Books & Company's Lisa Baudoin for Reichert's newest novel, The Kindred Spirits Supper Club!
(on sale 4/20/21)
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KATHERINE HEINY
in conversation with
Daniel Goldin & Lisa Baudoin
Thursday, May 6th
7:00 p.m.
via Zoom
Join us for the May Readings From Oconomowaukee featuring Boswell Books' Daniel Goldin and Books & Company's Lisa Baudoin in conversation with Katherine Heiny for her new novel Early Morning Riser- A wise, bighearted, boundlessly joyful novel of love, disaster, and unconventional family.
(on sale 4/13/21)
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We support over 50 private book groups with their monthly selection available on the Book Group shelf in store. If your book group is registered with us, we offer 15% off of the book group title each month. To register your book group, just let us know what your book group name is and what you're reading, as well as a contact name for the group. As long as we have an updated list of your books, we will have them on the book group shelf in the store and listed on our website. Books & Company hosts two Book Group celebrations a year, as well as book talks for your book group. To set up a book talk for your book group with a bookseller, please email info@booksco.com
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Books & Company
1039 Summit Ave Oconomowoc, WI
262-567-0106
HOURS
Mon-Fri 9:00-6:00
Sat-Sun 9:00-5:00
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Appointments & Walk ins
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