Talk About a Good Book

Miss Kopp Investigates - online book launch

Amy Stewart graciously skyped into our January 2020 book group meeting when we were discussing, Girl Waits with Gun. Now she is launching another book in that series and anyone can attend the launch party! This is a free event and takes place on September 16th. Just go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/miss-kopp-investigates-book-launch-registration-164546371627?mc_cid=99e8358eac&mc_eid=93e536d0a8 to register.

August 2021 - The Farm

We discussed The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch at our July 26th meeting. Everyone who attended loved the book and felt that it continues to be inspirational even almost 15 years after his death.

Our next book group meeting will be on Monday, August 30 at 3pm in the library's small meeting room. Our book sale will be going on in our large meeting room so that room is unavailable. We are reading The Farm by Joanne Ramos. Copies are available for pickup at the library desk. Discussion sheets can also be picked up or are available online.

Book Summary:
Nestled in New York's Hudson Valley is a luxury retreat boasting every amenity: organic meals, private fitness trainers, daily massages--and all of it for free. In fact, you're paid big money to stay here--more than you've ever dreamed of. The catch? For nine months, you cannot leave the grounds; your movements are monitored, and you are cut off from your former life while you dedicate yourself to the task of producing the perfect baby. Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines, is in desperate search of a better future when she commits to being a Host at Golden Oaks, or the Farm as residents call it. But now pregnant, fragile, consumed with worry for her own family, Jane is determined to reconnect with her life outside. Yet she cannot leave the Farm or she will lose the life-changing fee she'll receive on delivery. Heartbreaking, gripping, provocative, The Farm pushes our thinking on motherhood, money, and merit to the extremes, and raises crucial questions about the trade-offs women will make to fortify their futures and the futures of those they love.

July 2021 - Last Lecture

Our next book club meeting will be on Monday, July 26th at 3pm in the library's large meeting room. We will be reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Copies of the book are available at the library in regular print, large print and in audio format. We also have it in eaudio and ebook formats. The discussion sheets are available for pickup at the library or online.

Summary:

Reflections of a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who lectured on "Really achieving your childhood dreams," shortly after having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. His advice concerned seizing the moment while living, rather than dying.

June 2021 - Island of Sea Women

For our June Book Club, we read Island of Sea Women by Lisa Sea. It's been so good to see more and more of our regular members returning! Most of the group said that they would have never picked up this book on their own but they greatly enjoyed reading it. We learned a lot about the diving women, haenyeo, and Korean history. Our refreshments included persimmon leaf tea, traditional Korean yakgwa cookies and Jeju mandarin orange candies. The discussion sheet is available online.

I've updated our Book Discussion list (this is our 18th year) and it can be found here.

May 2021-I Feel Bad About My Neck

At our April 26th meeting, we discussed Unbound by Ann E. Burg. This was a book in verse, and it was a new experience for our members in attendance. The group liked the book and felt that the author did an extraordinary job with this format. Everyone was happy to be back together meeting again in person inside the library.

We have reviewed the book discussion titles to include some of the books we chose for 2020 but missed because of the pandemic. Here is the updated list as of 4/29/21:

January 25	All Creatures Great & Small	James Harriot
February 22	Celebrate Black History Month and pick a book by an African American author
March 29	Pick a Hemingway book or readalike
April 26	Pick a poem by US Poet Laurate, Joy Harjo or read Unbound by Ann E. Burg
May 24	I feel Bad About My Neck	Nora Ephron
June 28	Island of Sea Women	Lisa See
July 26	Last Lecture	Randy Pausch
August 30	Farm	Joanne Ramos
September 27	Twenty-One Days	Anne Perry
October 25	No Time Like the Future	Michael J. Fox
November 29	In Five Years	Rebecca Serle
December 13^th @ 3pm —Coffee Chat about your 2021 favorites & get our new list for 2022

I made an executive decision and added 3 titles so that we could finish out the schedule.

Our next meeting will be Monday, May 24th at 3pm and we will meet in the large meeting room. The meeting has been moved up a week due to the Memorial Day holiday. Please wear a mask in the library building. The title selected is I feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron. Copies are available in regular print, large print, audio, and eaudio formats at the LME Library desk. Copies of the discussion sheets can also be picked up or are available online.

Here's a book summary:

With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humor, Nora Ephron shares with us her ups and downs in I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.