The Life We Bury
By: Allen Eskens
Discussion November 20th 11:00am
Joe Talbert is a young college student with an assignment to write a biography about an elderly person. He meets an older Vietnam vet at a nursing home who agrees to speak with him. Joe quickly learns that he's no ordinary man. He was recently paroled after 30 years in prison because he is dying of pancreatic cancer and now needs hospice care.
By: Allen Eskens
Discussion November 20th 11:00am
Joe Talbert is a young college student with an assignment to write a biography about an elderly person. He meets an older Vietnam vet at a nursing home who agrees to speak with him. Joe quickly learns that he's no ordinary man. He was recently paroled after 30 years in prison because he is dying of pancreatic cancer and now needs hospice care.
Reader's Choice
Discussion December 18th 11:00am
Come discuss a personal favorite with the group, and hear the selections other share.
Discussion December 18th 11:00am
Come discuss a personal favorite with the group, and hear the selections other share.
The Boy's in the Boat
By: Daniel James Brown
Discussion January 15th 11:00am
There are two backstories. One illustrates how all nine members of the Washington team came from lower-middle-class families and had to struggle to earn their way through school during the depths of the Depression. The second backstory begins with a depiction of Hitler decreeing construction of the spectacular German venues at which the Games would take place. All comes together with a description of the final race. During the 1930s, rowing was a popular sport with millions following the action on the radio. The victorious Olympians became national heroes. In accordance with the strictures of amateur athletics, the boys sank into relative obscurity after their victory but were still better off than their parents, and for the rest of their lives proud of their accomplishment. After their win, they would come together every few years to row again.
By: Daniel James Brown
Discussion January 15th 11:00am
There are two backstories. One illustrates how all nine members of the Washington team came from lower-middle-class families and had to struggle to earn their way through school during the depths of the Depression. The second backstory begins with a depiction of Hitler decreeing construction of the spectacular German venues at which the Games would take place. All comes together with a description of the final race. During the 1930s, rowing was a popular sport with millions following the action on the radio. The victorious Olympians became national heroes. In accordance with the strictures of amateur athletics, the boys sank into relative obscurity after their victory but were still better off than their parents, and for the rest of their lives proud of their accomplishment. After their win, they would come together every few years to row again.
The Other Einstein
By: Marie Benedict
Discussion: February 19th 11:00am
Albert Einstein may not have been the only mastermind behind his groundbreaking ideas about relativity; it turns out the renowned theoretical physicist collaborated a great deal with his first wife, Mileva Maric´—a Serbian woman of modest means who was one of the few women to study math and science at the Zurich Polytechnic School where the two meet.
By: Marie Benedict
Discussion: February 19th 11:00am
Albert Einstein may not have been the only mastermind behind his groundbreaking ideas about relativity; it turns out the renowned theoretical physicist collaborated a great deal with his first wife, Mileva Maric´—a Serbian woman of modest means who was one of the few women to study math and science at the Zurich Polytechnic School where the two meet.
Code Girls
By: Liza Mundy
Discussion: March 20th 11:00am
Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of code-breaking. Their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave them access to careers previously denied to them. A strict vow of secrecy nearly erased their efforts from history; now, through dazzling research and interviews with surviving code girls, bestselling author Liza Mundy brings to life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment.
By: Liza Mundy
Discussion: March 20th 11:00am
Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of code-breaking. Their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave them access to careers previously denied to them. A strict vow of secrecy nearly erased their efforts from history; now, through dazzling research and interviews with surviving code girls, bestselling author Liza Mundy brings to life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment.
The Fly Girls
By: Keith O'Brien
Discussion April 17thth 11:00am
Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi‑day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Well, the men were hailed. Female pilots were more often ridiculed than praised for what the press portrayed as silly efforts to horn in on a manly, and deadly, pursuit. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky.
By: Keith O'Brien
Discussion April 17thth 11:00am
Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi‑day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Well, the men were hailed. Female pilots were more often ridiculed than praised for what the press portrayed as silly efforts to horn in on a manly, and deadly, pursuit. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky.
Discussion May 15th 11:00am
Wild Swans
By Jung Chang
An engrossing record of Mao’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine; her mother’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents’ experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution. Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a “barefoot doctor,” a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving—and ultimately uplifting—detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history.
Wild Swans
By Jung Chang
An engrossing record of Mao’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine; her mother’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents’ experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution. Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a “barefoot doctor,” a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving—and ultimately uplifting—detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history.
