Berthoud Public Library Book Club, Selections 2008-2009

The Library Book Club meets at these times: 1:30pm to 3:00pm and 6:30pm to 8:00pm.  The same book is discussed at both sessions. 

September 23, 2008  Bellwether by Connie Willis.

Bennett O'Reilly, a chaos theory scientist, and Sandra Foster, a woman who studies fads, team up on a project at HiTek corporation working with a flock of sheep, marking the start of their own chaotic relationship.

October 28, 2008  Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Ninety-year-old Jacob Jankowski finds himself haunted by memories of his past in the circus and the freaks, exotic animals, and other people he encountered as a performer.

November 25, 2008  Cannery Row by John Steinback.

Recounts the adventures and misadventures of cannery workers living in the run-down waterfront section of Monterey, California.

December 16, 2008  The Christmas Train by David Baldacci.

Cynical journalist Tom Langdon comes to a new understanding of himself and a renewed appreciation for the season of miracles after a slight misunderstanding at the airport forces him to travel by train from Washington to Los Angeles at Christmastime.

January 27, 2009 The Amber Room by Steve Berry.

Atlanta judge Rachel Cutler's life is forever changed when her father, a man who survived the horrors of World War II, dies under strange circumstances, leaving behind clues as to the whereabouts of the Amber Room, an entire room forged of amber which was hidden by German troops invading the Soviet Union in 1944.

February 24, 2009  The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

The author recalls her life growing up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father and distant mother and describes how she and her siblings had to fend for themselves until they finally found the resources and will to leave home.

March 24, 2009  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

A book-burner official in a future fascist state finds out books are a vital part of a culture he never knew. He clandestinely pursues reading, until he is betrayed.

April 28, 2009 Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett.

In San Francisco in 1928, Sam Spade searches for a priceless statuette. He finds himself torn between loyalty to his murdered partner and an opportunity for personal gain.

May 26, 2009  The Painted House by John Grisham.

Seven-year-old Arkansas farm boy Luke Chandler loses his innocence over the course of a contentious and strenuous cotton harvest in 1952, during which time Luke's family hires several Mexicans and an Ozark family and Luke begins keeping dangerous secrets.

See Library Resource List:  Book Club List, 2008-2009