2019 Book Club Picks
Last year, Brentwood's book clubs met for lively discussions of books of all genres. From classic stories to exciting new novels, our book clubs had something for everyone.
Want to join in on the fun? Sign up for one of our upcoming discussions:
Wednesday Night Book Club
Wednesday, March 4, 7:00-8:30 pm
The Farm by Joanne Ramos
https://brentwood.librarycalendar.com/events/book-discussion-0
Friendly English Book Club
Monday, March 30, 10:00-11:30 am
Eight Great Sherlock Holmes Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
"The Adventure of the Empty House"
https://brentwood.librarycalendar.com/events/friendly-english-book-club
Long Island Reads
Wednesday, April 1, 7:00-8:30 pm
Light from Other Stars by Erika Swyler
https://brentwood.librarycalendar.com/events/book-discussion
Examine Our Endangered Earth
Friday, April 24, 6:30-8:00 pm
Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes by Dana Thomas
https://brentwood.librarycalendar.com/events/examine-our-endangered-earth
Wednesday Night Book Club
This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison (January, 2019)
Embarking on an ill-conceived Alaskan cruise, septuagenarian Harriet reunites with her estranged daughter and confronts pivotal events from her life surrounding the true character of the husband who died two years earlier. By the author of The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b4833981~S6
Kindred by Octavia Butler (February, 2019)
Dana, a black woman, finds herself repeatedly transported to the antebellum South, where she must make sure that Rufus, the plantation owner's son, survives to father Dana's ancestor.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b3485648~S6
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly (March, 2019)
The lives of three women converge at the Ravensbruck concentration camp as Caroline Ferriday resolves to help from her post at the French consulate, Kasia Kuzmerick becomes a courier in the Polish resistance, and Herta Oberheuser takes a German government medical position.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b4980232~S6
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer (April, 2019)
A shy college freshman finds her perspectives transformed by a mentor activist at the center of the women's movement who challenges her to discover herself in ways that take her far from the traditional life she envisioned at the side of her boyfriend.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b5196110~S6
The Road to Wellville by T.C. Boyle (May, 2019)
A snobbish wife and her henpecked husband travel to Dr. Kellogg's spa in turn-of-the-century Battle Creek, where the youth-crazed affluent succumb to quackery. By the author of East is East.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b1994206~S6
No One Can Pronounce My Name by Rakesh Satyal (June, 2019)
In an Indian-American community near Cleveland, lonely forty-something Harit spends his evenings dressing up as his dead sister to comfort his grief-stricken mother before befriending a woman who secretly writes paranormal romances.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b5125136~S6
Take This Man by Brando Skyhorse (July, 2019)
The award-winning author of The Madonnas of Echo Park traces his turbulent childhood under the shadow of his dynamic mother and five stepfathers, describing how his mother reinvented their pasts in ways that challenged the author's efforts to reconnect with his biological father.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b4726672~S6
The Seven Rules of Elvira Carr by Frances Maynard (August, 2019)
Forced to confront her social anxiety in the wake of her mother's stroke, a young woman who lives by strict if unreliable codes of conduct devises a seven-step approach to coping with the outside world, before a series of awkward encounters reveals how most people do not live according to rules.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b5139267~S6
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney (September, 2019)
Embarking on a walk across the unsafe landscape of Manhattan on New Year's Eve in 1984, 85-year-old Lillian Boxfish recalls her long and eventful life, which included a brief reign as the highest-paid advertising woman in America, whose career was cut short by marriage and loss.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b5043225~S6
The Power by Naomi Alderman (October, 2019)
In a novel of speculative fiction, an award-winning author contemplates a world where teenage girls now have immense physical power—they can cause agonizing pain and even death, drastically resetting the balance of the world. By the author of The Liars' Gospel.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b5163976~S6
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (November, 2019)
When her new husband is arrested and imprisoned for a crime she knows he did not commit, a rising artist takes comfort in a longtime friendship only to encounter unexpected challenges in resuming her life when her husband's sentence is suddenly overturned.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b5177155~S6
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, (December, 2019)
Beginning in the 1950s Elena and Lila grow up in Naples, Italy, mirroring two different aspects of their nation.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b4573218~S85
Friendly English Book Club
The Labors of Hercules by Agatha Christie
Like The Labors of Hercules, the twelve cases Poirot must solve in this captivating collection of short crime fiction stories are dangerous, demanding, and positively ingenious.
The Augean Stables (January, 2019)
The Stymphalean Birds (March 2019)
The Cretan Bull (April 2019)
The Horses of Diomedes (April 2019)
The Girdle of Hippolyta (May, 2019)
The Flock of Geryon (June, 2019)
The Apples of Hesperides (July, 2019)
The Capture of Cerberus (August, 2019)
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b4621830~S6
Eight Great Sherlock Holmes Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
This choice compilation features eight of Sherlock Holmes' finest adventures, including "The Final Problem," Conan Doyle's unsuccessful attempt to retire his hero permanently.
A Scandal in Bohemia (September, 2019)
The Red-Headed League (October, 2019)
The Adventure of the Speckled Band (November, 2019)
The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb (December, 2019)
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b4598742~S6
Humanities NY
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (January, 2019)
Cites the reasons why people have become so confused about their dietary choices and discusses the importance of enjoyable moderate eating of mostly traditional plant foods.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b4029617~S6
Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé (February, 2019)
Encourages making changes in dietary patterns by explaining the ways in which plant protein compares favorably with meats and providing numerous recipes for inexpensive, meatless meals.
https://search.livebrary.com/record=b2050261~S6
The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Dan Barber (March, 2019)
Offering a revolutionary new way of eating, a chef explores farming practices around the world to reveal that America's cuisine is in need of a radical transformation and charts a new path forward to make food sustainable and delicious.