Alamitos Neighborhood Library Book Club
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
10:00 - 11:00 am
Alamitos Neighborhood Library
The Alamitos Neighborhood Library Book Club has been in existence since 1954. Join in on the tradition every third Wednesday of the month. Book selection includes contemporary fiction and classics, nonfiction and biographies. Book group members are encouraged to suggest titles for the group, which are obtained through interlibrary loan. All adults are welcome. Come by for a cup of coffee, expand your reading horizons and meet a new friend.

Beloved
by Toni Morrison
Published 2004 by Vintage Books USA

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Jacket Notes: Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved" is a towering achievement.

Bay Shore Book Discussion Group
Thursday, February 12, 2009
6:30  - 8:00 pm
Bay Shore Neighborhood Library Adult Reading Area
The Bay Shore Book Discussion Group meets every 2nd Thursday of the month. All adults are welcome.

Why Women Should Rule the World
by Dee Dee Myers
Published 2008 by Harper

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Jacket Notes: In her first book, the former White House Press Secretary offers a provocative and inspiring look at women and leadership, interweaving her own experiences working in the highest echelons of power. 8-page b&w photo insert.

Brewitt Book Discussion Group
Saturday, February 28, 2009
10:00am  - Noon
Brewitt Neighborhood Library
The Brewitt Book Discussion Group meets every 4th Saturday of the month. All adults are welcome. Snacks and drinks provided.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations...One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson
Published 2006 by Viking Books

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Jacket Notes: The inspiring account of one man's campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti- American reaches of Asia. In 1993 Greg Mortenson was the exhausted survivor of a failed attempt to ascend K2, an American climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan's Karakoram Himalaya. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of an impoverished Pakistani village, Mortenson promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time-Greg Mortenson's one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban. Award-winning journalist David Oliver Relin has collaborated on this spellbinding account of Mortenson's incredible accomplishments in a region where Americans are often feared and hated. In pursuit of his goal, Mortenson has survived kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, repeated death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. But his success speaks for itself. At last count, his Central Asia Institute had built fifty-five schools. "Three Cups of Tea" is at once an unforgettable adventure and the inspiring true story of how one man really is changing the world-one school at a time.

Dana Library Book Club
Saturday February 21, 2009
10:00 - 11:00 am
Dana Library, Auditorium
The Dana Library Book Club usually meets every 2nd Saturday of the month. The date for February is different because of the February 14th library holiday. All adults are welcome. Coffee is served.

Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen
Published 2006 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

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Jacket Notes: Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.

Jacob was there because his luck had run out--orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act--in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

Surprising, poignant, and funny, "Water for Elephants" is that rare novel with a story so engrossing, one is reluctant to put it down; with characters so engaging, they continue to live long after the last page has been turned; with a world built of wonder, a world so real, one starts to breathe its air.

El Dorado Parent-Child Book Club
Saturday, February 21, 2009

3:30 - 4:30 pm

El Dorado Library,  Community Room
For middle school youth and their parents. Book discussion, activity, and light refreshments. 

The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan
Published 2006 by Miramax Books

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Jacket Notes: Now in paperback--the first novel of a new series that mixes classic Greek mythology with modern adventure. After learning he is a demigod, Percy Jackson is sent to a summer camp on Long Island, where he meets the father he never knew--Poseidon, god of the sea.

Main Library Brown Bag Book Club
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
12:10 - 12:50 pm
Main Library, Miller Room on the Lower Level
The Brown Bag Book Club meets every 3rd Wednesday of the month. Each month, choose to read one book OR read both. Bring your lunch; drinks are provided. The theme for February is African American Literature. Suggested titles include: Uncle Tom's Cabin, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Another Country, Roots, and Native Son. 

Native Son
by Richard Wright
Published 2003 by Harper Perennial

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