Respectful, queer/LGBT-friendly, easy-going bunch who want an excuse to get out more and talk about books. And have some snacks. Meetings take place on the first Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. You can reach our group at paradisecityreaders@gmail.com. 

This month's discussion will be about A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. 

About the book: 

"A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be." In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace--and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox--possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao's drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future. Full of Ozeki's signature humor and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.

This month we are reading and discussing Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. 

There are many print versions available and edition doesn't matter for our purposes.  

There is ebook and eaudio available in libby/overdrive

If there is a wait list, there is also full audiobook on You Tube 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHUA8uvR8bs

It is also available in Project Gutenberg 

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11030

The Coolidge Museum at Forbes Library is starting a new book group in 2024 to focus of reading women's history and social history.  

To elevate the voices of women in American history, a new book club is being offered by the The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. The inspiration for the club, Herstory: Women in American History, came from some members of the museum's Presidential Book Club, who expressed a desire to read more about the context of historical figures, and to hear from and about the women involved in the building of our nation. 

Selections in the book club will include biographies of women interspersed with texts on significant periods in American history. This way, book club members can place the women they read about in context and gain a fuller understanding of their challenges and achievements.

This group meets on Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7:00 PM 

This group is moderated by Coolidge Museum Committee members Leslie Skantz-Hodgson (Smith Vocational School Librarian) and Rob Weir (retired professor of history).  

To join the email list or for more information, email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org 

We'll be reading Time Shelter by Georgi Gapadinov. Request a copy of this book by placing a hold. 

About the book: 

An award-winning international sensation-with a second-act dystopian twist-Time Shelter is a tour de force set in a world clamoring for the past before it forgets.

"At one point they tried to calculate when time began, when exactly the earth had been created," begins Time Shelter's enigmatic narrator, who will go unnamed. "In the mid-seventeenth century, the Irish bishop Ussher calculated not only the exact year, but also a starting date: October 22, 4,004 years before Christ." But for our narrator, time as he knows it begins when he meets Gaustine, a "vagrant in time" who has distanced his life from contemporary reality by reading old news, wearing tattered old clothes, and haunting the lost avenues of the twentieth century. In an apricot-colored building in Zurich, surrounded by curiously planted forget-me-nots, Gaustine has opened the first "clinic for the past," an institution that offers an inspired treatment for Alzheimer's sufferers: each floor reproduces a past decade in minute detail, allowing patients to transport themselves back in time to unlock what is left of their fading memories. Serving as Gaustine's assistant, the narrator is tasked with collecting the flotsam and jetsam of the past, from 1960s furniture and 1940s shirt buttons to nostalgic scents and even wisps of afternoon light. But as the charade becomes more convincing, an increasing number of healthy people seek out the clinic to escape from the dead-end of their daily lives-a development that results in an unexpected conundrum when the past begins to invade the present. Through sharply satirical, labyrinth-like vignettes reminiscent of Italo Calvino and Franz Kafka, the narrator recounts in breathtaking prose just how he became entrenched in a plot to stop time itself. "A trickster at heart, and often very funny" (Garth Greenwell, The New Yorker), prolific Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov masterfully stalks the tragedies of the last century, including our own, in what becomes a haunting and eerily prescient novel teeming with ideas. Exquisitely translated by Angela Rodel, Time Shelter is a truly unforgettable classic from "one of Europe's most fascinating and irreplaceable novelists

Literary minded discussion. Open to new members. Join us in person or join via Zoom!

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Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

The Nature and Environment Book Club is devoted to the best of nature writing and environmental reporting with discussions on the second Wednesday of each month. Readers and writers interested in books ranging from such classics as Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to topical reportage like Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction will want to join the conversation.

This month's book is Fen, Bog and Swamp by Annie Proulx.

Get a copy from the library by placing a hold.

About the book:

A lifelong acolyte of the natural world, Annie Proulx brings her witness and research to the subject of wetlands and the vitally important role they play in preserving the environment-by storing the carbon emissions that accelerate climate change. Fens, bogs, swamps, and marine estuaries are crucial to the earth's survival, and in four illuminating parts, Proulx documents their systemic destruction in pursuit of profit. In a vivid and revelatory journey through history, Proulx describes the fens of 16th-century England, Canada's Hudson Bay lowlands, Russia's Great Vasyugan Mire, and America's Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. She introduces the early explorers who launched the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and writes of the diseases spawned in the wetlands-the Ague, malaria, Marsh Fever. A sobering look at the degradation of wetlands over centuries and the serious ecological consequences, this is "an unforgettable and unflinching tour of past and present, fixed on a subject that could not be more important." (Bill McKibben)

This month's book is The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal. You can request a copy of the book from the library catalog. 

About the book: 

The British-born Punjabi Shergill sisters--Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirnia--were never close and barely got along growing up, and now as adults, have grown even further apart. Rajni, a school principal is a stickler for order. Jezmeen, a thirty-year-old struggling actress, fears her big break may never come. Shirina, the peacemaking "good" sister married into wealth and enjoys a picture-perfect life. On her deathbed, their mother voices one last wish: that her daughters will make a pilgrimage together to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to carry out her final rites. After a trip to India with her mother long ago, Rajni vowed never to return. But she's always been a dutiful daughter, and cannot, even now, refuse her mother's request. Jezmeen has just been publicly fired from her television job, so the trip to India is a welcome break to help her pick up the pieces of her broken career. Shirina's in-laws are pushing her to make a pivotal decision about her married life; time away will help her decide whether to meekly obey, or to bravely stand up for herself for the first time. Arriving in India, these sisters will make unexpected discoveries about themselves, their mother, and their lives--and learn the real story behind the trip Rajni took with their Mother long ago--a momentous journey that resulted in Mum never being able to return to India again.

This is a hyrbid meeting -- so you can either join us on Zoom or in the Watson Room this month!

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This month we will discuss: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriett A. Jacobs. 

 You can request this title from our catalog. 

About the book:

The true story of an individual's struggle for self-identity, self-preservation, and freedom, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl remains among the few extant slave narratives written by a woman. This autobiographical account chronicles the remarkable odyssey of Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897) whose dauntless spirit and faith carried her from a life of servitude and degradation in North Carolina to liberty and reunion with her children in the North.
Written and published in 1861 after Jacobs' harrowing escape from a vile and predatory master, the memoir delivers a powerful and unflinching portrayal of the abuses and hypocrisy of the master-slave relationship. Jacobs writes frankly of the horrors she suffered as a slave, her eventual escape after several unsuccessful attempts, and her seven years in self-imposed exile, hiding in a coffin-like "garret" attached to her grandmother's porch.
A rare firsthand account of a courageous woman's determination and endurance, this inspirational story also represents a valuable historical record of the continuing battle for freedom and the preservation of family.

We strive to learn more about the world outside our own bubbles. We read both nonfiction and fiction on timely topics and in our discussions try to challenge our own assumptions without judging one another.

Join us on Zoom! 

We will be hosting a hybrid meeting, so you can also attend in person in the Watson Room at Forbes. 

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 936 2007 0920
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Get your Happily Ever After fix from the [Springfield City Library] Romance Book Club!

ONLINE via Zoom Saturdays once a month | 10:00-11:00 AM | Adults

Join us for the Romance Book Club!

We read as many romance genres as we can, sharing our thoughts and expanding our romance reading experience. As long as it has a Happily Ever After, it’s fair game.

Each month we choose the book for the following month.

For more information, this month's pick, and to register (optional), visit our friends at Springfield City Library

Future dates:
June 1
July 13
August 10
September 7
October 5
November 2
December 14

Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

This month's selection is The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson.  

Place a hold on The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. 

About the book: 

The Great Books discussion is structured so that the evening’s selected reading is discussed in a think tank environment with the intention of gaining insight from other readers that one would not have by reading alone. The seminar facilitator asks questions of the participants about the reading selection and helps the discussion stay focused. Our main goal is to have fun and take many interpretations from the group in order to enjoy a greater understanding of a selected reading.

Discussions are open to everyone and free of charge.  For a list of past and future discussion books and to contact the group visit, http://mail.salticid.com/mailman/listinfo/forbes_great_books_salticid.com.

About the facilitator:

Hilary Caws-Elwitt has her BA in English & American Literature from Harvard, MLS from University of Arizona, and ran Susquehanna County Reads for its first 4 years. But mostly she loves reading and discussing the books!

Join us to discuss The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly! Email sjohnson@forbeslibrary.org to sign up! This month we'll be meeting in person in the Community Room or on the  lawn if it's sunny.

About the book: “When a teenage boy appears out of nowhere in 1999, claiming he's the world's first time-traveler and has a book outlining the events of the next 20 years, 12-year-old Michael wants to get his hands on the book and must decide how far he's willing to go to do so.”

“This quiet book with a solid emotional core will be a treat for readers who love stories about found family and bravery, as well as those who would empathize with Michael’s anxieties about the unknown future." --Booklist

"A warmhearted blend of  nostalgia and futurism." --Kirkus Reviews

This month's selection is Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb. 

About the book: 

From the celebrated author of book club favorite The Violin Conspiracy: A gripping page-turner about a professor who uncovers a shocking secret about the most famous American composer of all time-that his music was stolen from a young Black composer named Josephine Reed. Determined to uncover the truth and right history's wrongs, Bern Hendricks will stop at nothing to finally give Josephine the recognition she deserves. Bern Hendricks has just received the call of a lifetime. As one of the world's preeminent experts on the famed twentieth-century composer Frederick Delaney, Bern knows everything there is to know about the man behind the music. When Mallory Roberts, a board member of the distinguished Delaney Foundation and direct descendant of the man himself, asks for Bern's help authenticating a newly discovered piece, which may be his famous lost opera, RED, he jumps at the chance. With the help of his tech-savvy acquaintance Eboni, Bern soon discovers that the truth is far more complicated than history would have them believe. In 1920s Manhattan, Josephine Reed is living on the streets and frequenting jazz clubs when she meets the struggling musician Fred Delaney. But where young Delaney struggles, Josephine soars. She's a natural prodigy who hears beautiful music in the sounds of the world around her. With Josephine as his silent partner, Delaney's career takes off-but who is the real genius here? In the present day, Bern and Eboni begin to uncover more clues that indicate Delaney may have had help in composing his most successful work. Armed with more questions than answers and caught in the crosshairs of a powerful organization who will stop at nothing to keep their secret hidden, Bern and Eboni will move heaven and earth in their dogged quest to right history's wrongs.

The Mystery Book Discussion Group meets monthly for a casual discussion. New members are always welcome. Pick up a copy of this month's discussion book at the library. Email Maureen Carney, the facilitator, for updated virtual meeting info.

NOTE THE DATE CHANGE!

Due to Memorial Day on the 4th Monday we will meet on Wednesday May 29

The Presidential Book Group, recently concluded its first journey, reading biographies of every American president from Washington to Trump.

If you want to embark on the journey, now is your chance! The group will start anew on January 22, beginning with “Washington: A Life” by famed biographer Ron Chernow.  In this group you will deepen your understanding of the American presidency as we trace the history of the presidency, beginning with George Washington, and watching how American democracy evolved in ways the Founders never anticipated. We'll follow how presidents, both celebrated and forgotten, grappled with slavery, economics, executive power and America's role in the world. In doing so, we'll broaden our knowledge of Coolidge and where his presidency fits in the American story. 

The group meets on the 4th Monday of the month at 6:30 PM EST, which you can attend in person in the Coolidge Museum or on Zoom. Discussions will be facilitated by Bill Scher, vice president of the museum’s Standing Committee.

Email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org to join the email list or for more information.

Respectful, queer/LGBT-friendly, easy-going bunch who want an excuse to get out more and talk about books. And have some snacks. Meetings take place on the first Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. You can reach our group at paradisecityreaders@gmail.com. 

This month's discussion will be about Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. 

About the book: 

February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body.From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?

Anyone interested in Science Fiction or Fantasy is welcome. Although we focus on this month’s selection, we will discuss any topics related to Science Fiction or Fantasy, books or movies.

This month's discussion will cover I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. 

About the book: 

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth... but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire, and they are hungry for Neville's blood.

By day he is the hunter, stalking the undead through the ruins of civilisation. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.

How long can one man survive like this?

We'll be reading My Russian Grandmother and her American Vacuum Cleaner by Meir Shalev. Request a copy of this book by placing a hold. 

About the book: 

Literary minded discussion. Open to new members. Join us in person or join via Zoom!

--

Join Zoom Meeting
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Passcode: 939659

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Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

The Nature and Environment Book Club is devoted to the best of nature writing and environmental reporting with discussions on the second Wednesday of each month. Readers and writers interested in books ranging from such classics as Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to topical reportage like Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction will want to join the conversation.

This month's book is Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach. 

Get a copy from the library by placing a hold.

About the book:

Join "America's funniest science writer" (Peter Carlson, Washington Post) Mary Roach on an irresistible investigation into the unpredictable world where wildlife and humans meet. What's to be done about a jaywalking moose? A grizzly bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? As New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology. Roach tags along with animal attack forensics investigators, human-elephant conflict specialists, bear managers, and "danger tree" faller-blasters. She travels from leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Indian Himalaya to St. Peter's Square in the early hours before the Pope arrives for Easter Mass, when vandal gulls swoop in to destroy the elaborate floral display. Along the way, Roach reveals as much about humanity as about nature's lawbreakers. Combining little- known forensic science and conservation genetics with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, langur impersonators, and mugging macaques, Fuzz offers hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat. 

The Coolidge Museum at Forbes Library is starting a new book group in 2024 to focus of reading women's history and social history.  

As her husband John met in Philadelphia to discuss forming a new nation, Abigail Adams wrote to implore him, 'I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.' Alas, it would be another 150 years before they even got the right to vote. But women were neither silent nor passive then or now.

To elevate the voices of women in American history, a new book club is being offered by the The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. The inspiration for the club, Herstory: Women in American History, came from some members of the museum's Presidential Book Club, who expressed a desire to read more about the context of historical figures, and to hear from and about the women involved in the building of our nation. 

Selections in the book club will include biographies of women interspersed with texts on significant periods in American history. This way, book club members can place the women they read about in context and gain a fuller understanding of their challenges and achievements.

This group meets on Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7:30 PM 

This group is moderated by Coolidge Museum Committee members Leslie Skantz-Hodgson (Smith Vocational School Librarian) and Rob Weir (retired professor of history).  

To join the email list or for more information, email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org 

Get your Happily Ever After fix from the [Springfield City Library] Romance Book Club!

ONLINE via Zoom Saturdays once a month | 10:00-11:00 AM | Adults

Join us for the Romance Book Club!

We read as many romance genres as we can, sharing our thoughts and expanding our romance reading experience. As long as it has a Happily Ever After, it’s fair game.

Each month we choose the book for the following month.

For more information, this month's pick, and to register (optional), visit our friends at Springfield City Library

Future dates:
July 13
August 10
September 7
October 5
November 2
December 14

Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

This month's selection is Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. 

Place a hold on this book in the library's catalog. 

About the book: 

Considered one of Ivan Turgenev's finest works, Fathers and Sons was the first of the great nineteenth-century Russian novels to achieve international renown. A stirring tale of generational conflict during a period of social revolution, it vividly depicts the friction between liberal and conservative thought and the rise of the radical new philosophy of nihilism. Set in Russia during the 1860s against the backdrop of the liberation of the serfs, the story concerns the clash of older aristocrats with the new democratic intelligentsia.The impressionable young student Arkady Kirsanoff arrives home in the company of his friend Bazarov, a cynical biologist. Arkady's father and uncle, already distressed by the upheaval of the peasants, grow increasingly irritated at Bazarov's outspoken nihilism and his ridicule of the conventions of state, church, and home. The young friends, bored by the rustic life of the Kirsanoff estate, venture off to the provincial capital in search of amusement. There they encounter both romance and alienation.This inexpensive edition of a literary landmark affords students and general readers the opportunity to savor a timeless masterpiece of world literature.

The Great Books discussion is structured so that the evening’s selected reading is discussed in a think tank environment with the intention of gaining insight from other readers that one would not have by reading alone. The seminar facilitator asks questions of the participants about the reading selection and helps the discussion stay focused. Our main goal is to have fun and take many interpretations from the group in order to enjoy a greater understanding of a selected reading.

Discussions are open to everyone and free of charge.  For a list of past and future discussion books and to contact the group visit, http://mail.salticid.com/mailman/listinfo/forbes_great_books_salticid.com.

About the facilitator:

Hilary Caws-Elwitt has her BA in English & American Literature from Harvard, MLS from University of Arizona, and ran Susquehanna County Reads for its first 4 years. But mostly she loves reading and discussing the books!

This month's book is Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper. 

You can request a copy of the book from the library catalog. 

About the book: 

Christian Cooper is a self-described “Blerd” (Black nerd), an avid comics fan and expert birder who devotes every spring to gazing upon the migratory birds that stop to rest in Central Park, just a subway ride away from where he lives in New York City. While in the park one morning in May 2020, Cooper was engaged in the birdwatching ritual that had been a part of his life since he was ten years old when what might have been a routine encounter with a dog walker exploded age-old racial tensions. Cooper’s viral video of the incident would send shock waves through the nation.In Better Living Through Birding, Cooper tells the story of his extraordinary life leading up to the now-infamous incident in Central Park and shows how a life spent looking up at the birds prepared him, in the most uncanny of ways, to be a gay, Black man in America today. From sharpened senses that work just as well at a protest as in a park to what a bird like the Common Grackle can teach us about self-acceptance, Better Living Through Birding exults in the pleasures of a life lived in pursuit of the natural world and invites you to discover them yourself.Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and primer on the art of birding, this is Cooper’s story of learning to claim and defend space for himself and others like him, from his days at Marvel Comics introducing the first gay storylines to vivid and life-changing birding expeditions through Africa, Australia, the Americas, and the Himalayas. Better Living Through Birding recounts Cooper’s journey through the wonderful world of birds and what they can teach us about life, if only we would look and listen.

This is a hyrbid meeting -- so you can either join us on Zoom or in the Watson Room this month!

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This month we will discuss: The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin.

 You can request this title from our catalog. 

About the book:

Five New Yorkers must come together in order to save their city from destruction in the first book of a stunning new series by Hugo award-winning and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin. Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She's got six. When a young man crosses the bridge into New York City, something changes. He doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can feel the pulse of the city, can see its history, can access its magic. And he's not the only one. All across the boroughs, strange things are happening. Something is threatening to destroy the city and her six newborn avatars unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

We strive to learn more about the world outside our own bubbles. We read both nonfiction and fiction on timely topics and in our discussions try to challenge our own assumptions without judging one another.

Join us on Zoom! 

We will be hosting a hybrid meeting, so you can also attend in person in the Watson Room at Forbes. 

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 936 2007 0920
Passcode: 340325
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The Presidential Book Group, recently concluded its first journey, reading biographies of every American president from Washington to Trump.

If you want to embark on the journey, now is your chance! The group will start anew on January 22, beginning with “Washington: A Life” by famed biographer Ron Chernow.  In this group you will deepen your understanding of the American presidency as we trace the history of the presidency, beginning with George Washington, and watching how American democracy evolved in ways the Founders never anticipated. We'll follow how presidents, both celebrated and forgotten, grappled with slavery, economics, executive power and America's role in the world. In doing so, we'll broaden our knowledge of Coolidge and where his presidency fits in the American story. 

The group meets on the 4th Monday of the month at 6:30 PM EST, which you can attend in person in the Coolidge Museum or on Zoom. Discussions will be facilitated by Bill Scher, vice president of the museum’s Standing Committee.

Email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org to join the email list or for more information.

This month's selection is Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. 

About the book: 

Knives Out meets Kim's Convenience in this captivating mystery by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady--ah, lady of a certain age--who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her college-aged son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing--a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of ... swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?

The Mystery Book Discussion Group meets monthly for a casual discussion. New members are always welcome. Pick up a copy of this month's discussion book at the library. Email Maureen Carney, the facilitator, for updated virtual meeting info.

Respectful, queer/LGBT-friendly, easy-going bunch who want an excuse to get out more and talk about books. And have some snacks. Meetings take place on the first Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. You can reach our group at paradisecityreaders@gmail.com. 

This month's discussion will be about Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. 

About the book: 

1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart. At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most. An emotionally charged coming-of-age novel, Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a tender story of love lost and found, an unforgettable portrait of the way compassion can make us whole again.

Anyone interested in Science Fiction or Fantasy is welcome. Although we focus on this month’s selection, we will discuss any topics related to Science Fiction or Fantasy, books or movies.

This month's discussion will cover . . . 

About the book: 

We'll be reading . . . Request a copy of this book by placing a hold. 

About the book: 

Literary minded discussion. Open to new members. Join us in person or join via Zoom!

--

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/91486186242?pwd=K3NYcjEwNlFZckJnNFhNNmhUYXJqUT09

Meeting ID: 914 8618 6242
Passcode: 939659

+16465588656,,91486186242#,,,,*939659# US (New York)
+16469313860,,91486186242#,,,,*939659# US

Dial by your location
        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

The Nature and Environment Book Club is devoted to the best of nature writing and environmental reporting with discussions on the second Wednesday of each month. Readers and writers interested in books ranging from such classics as Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to topical reportage like Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction will want to join the conversation.

This month's book is Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. 

Get a copy from the library by placing a hold.

About the book:

Neil Shubin, a leading paleontologist and professor of anatomy who discovered Tiktaalik--the "missing link" that made headlines around the world in April 2006--tells the story of evolution by tracing the organs of the human body back millions of years, long before the first creatures walked the earth. By examining fossils and DNA, Shubin shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our head is organized like that of a long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genome look and function like those of worms and bacteria.

The Coolidge Museum at Forbes Library is starting a new book group in 2024 to focus of reading women's history and social history.  

As her husband John met in Philadelphia to discuss forming a new nation, Abigail Adams wrote to implore him, 'I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.' Alas, it would be another 150 years before they even got the right to vote. But women were neither silent nor passive then or now.

To elevate the voices of women in American history, a new book club is being offered by the The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. The inspiration for the club, Herstory: Women in American History, came from some members of the museum's Presidential Book Club, who expressed a desire to read more about the context of historical figures, and to hear from and about the women involved in the building of our nation. 

Selections in the book club will include biographies of women interspersed with texts on significant periods in American history. This way, book club members can place the women they read about in context and gain a fuller understanding of their challenges and achievements.

This group meets on Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7:30 PM 

This group is moderated by Coolidge Museum Committee members Leslie Skantz-Hodgson (Smith Vocational School Librarian) and Rob Weir (retired professor of history).  

To join the email list or for more information, email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org 

Get your Happily Ever After fix from the [Springfield City Library] Romance Book Club!

ONLINE via Zoom Saturdays once a month | 10:00-11:00 AM | Adults

Join us for the Romance Book Club!

We read as many romance genres as we can, sharing our thoughts and expanding our romance reading experience. As long as it has a Happily Ever After, it’s fair game.

Each month we choose the book for the following month.

For more information, this month's pick, and to register (optional), visit our friends at Springfield City Library

Future dates:
August 10
September 7
October 5
November 2
December 14

Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

This month's selection is . . .   

Place a hold on . . . 

About the book: 

The Great Books discussion is structured so that the evening’s selected reading is discussed in a think tank environment with the intention of gaining insight from other readers that one would not have by reading alone. The seminar facilitator asks questions of the participants about the reading selection and helps the discussion stay focused. Our main goal is to have fun and take many interpretations from the group in order to enjoy a greater understanding of a selected reading.

Discussions are open to everyone and free of charge.  For a list of past and future discussion books and to contact the group visit, http://mail.salticid.com/mailman/listinfo/forbes_great_books_salticid.com.

About the facilitator:

Hilary Caws-Elwitt has her BA in English & American Literature from Harvard, MLS from University of Arizona, and ran Susquehanna County Reads for its first 4 years. But mostly she loves reading and discussing the books!

This month's selection is . . . 

About the book: 

The Mystery Book Discussion Group meets monthly for a casual discussion. New members are always welcome. Pick up a copy of this month's discussion book at the library. Email Maureen Carney, the facilitator, for updated virtual meeting info.

NOTE for summer schedules we will meet on the 5th Monday in July and skip August 

The Presidential Book Group is reading biographies of each President in chronological order.  Join us anytime along this journey.  

The group meets on the 4th Monday of the month at 6:30 PM EST, which you can attend in person in the Coolidge Museum or on Zoom. Discussions will be facilitated by Bill Scher, vice president of the museum’s Standing Committee.

Email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org to join the email list or for more information.

Respectful, queer/LGBT-friendly, easy-going bunch who want an excuse to get out more and talk about books. And have some snacks. Meetings take place on the first Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. You can reach our group at paradisecityreaders@gmail.com. 

This month's discussion will be about Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. 

About the book: 

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the feeling took root—that desire to look, to move closer, to touch. Whenever it started growing, it definitely bloomed the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Suddenly everything seemed possible. But America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

Anyone interested in Science Fiction or Fantasy is welcome. Although we focus on this month’s selection, we will discuss any topics related to Science Fiction or Fantasy, books or movies.

This month's discussion will cover . . . 

About the book: 

Get your Happily Ever After fix from the [Springfield City Library] Romance Book Club!

ONLINE via Zoom Saturdays once a month | 10:00-11:00 AM | Adults

Join us for the Romance Book Club!

We read as many romance genres as we can, sharing our thoughts and expanding our romance reading experience. As long as it has a Happily Ever After, it’s fair game.

Each month we choose the book for the following month.

For more information, this month's pick, and to register (optional), visit our friends at Springfield City Library

Future dates:
September 7
October 5
November 2
December 14

We'll be reading . . . Request a copy of this book by placing a hold. 

About the book: 

Literary minded discussion. Open to new members. Join us in person or join via Zoom!

--

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/91486186242?pwd=K3NYcjEwNlFZckJnNFhNNmhUYXJqUT09

Meeting ID: 914 8618 6242
Passcode: 939659

+16465588656,,91486186242#,,,,*939659# US (New York)
+16469313860,,91486186242#,,,,*939659# US

Dial by your location
        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

The Nature and Environment Book Club is devoted to the best of nature writing and environmental reporting with discussions on the second Wednesday of each month. Readers and writers interested in books ranging from such classics as Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to topical reportage like Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction will want to join the conversation.

This month's book is The Devil's Element by Dan Egan. 

Get a copy from the library by placing a hold.

About the book:

The story of phosphorus spans the globe and vast tracts of human history. The race to mine phosphorus took people from the battlefields of Waterloo, which were looted for the bones of fallen soldiers, to the fabled guano islands off Peru, the Bone Valley of Florida, and the sand dunes of the Western Sahara. Over the past century, phosphorus has made farming vastly more productive, feeding the enormous increase in the human population. Yet, as Egan harrowingly reports, our overreliance on this vital crop nutrient is today causing toxic algae blooms and "dead zones" in waterways from the coasts of Florida to the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes and beyond. Egan also explores the alarming reality that diminishing access to phosphorus poses a threat to the food system worldwide--which risks rising conflict and even war.

NO MEETING THIS MONTH

The Coolidge Museum at Forbes Library is starting a new book group in 2024 to focus of reading women's history and social history.  

As her husband John met in Philadelphia to discuss forming a new nation, Abigail Adams wrote to implore him, 'I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.' Alas, it would be another 150 years before they even got the right to vote. But women were neither silent nor passive then or now.

To elevate the voices of women in American history, a new book club is being offered by the The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. The inspiration for the club, Herstory: Women in American History, came from some members of the museum's Presidential Book Club, who expressed a desire to read more about the context of historical figures, and to hear from and about the women involved in the building of our nation. 

Selections in the book club will include biographies of women interspersed with texts on significant periods in American history. This way, book club members can place the women they read about in context and gain a fuller understanding of their challenges and achievements.

This group meets on Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7:00 PM 

This group is moderated by Coolidge Museum Committee members Leslie Skantz-Hodgson (Smith Vocational School Librarian) and Rob Weir (retired professor of history).  

To join the email list or for more information, email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org 

Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

This month's selection is . . .   

Place a hold on . . . 

About the book: 

The Great Books discussion is structured so that the evening’s selected reading is discussed in a think tank environment with the intention of gaining insight from other readers that one would not have by reading alone. The seminar facilitator asks questions of the participants about the reading selection and helps the discussion stay focused. Our main goal is to have fun and take many interpretations from the group in order to enjoy a greater understanding of a selected reading.

Discussions are open to everyone and free of charge.  For a list of past and future discussion books and to contact the group visit, http://mail.salticid.com/mailman/listinfo/forbes_great_books_salticid.com.

About the facilitator:

Hilary Caws-Elwitt has her BA in English & American Literature from Harvard, MLS from University of Arizona, and ran Susquehanna County Reads for its first 4 years. But mostly she loves reading and discussing the books!

NO MEETING THIS MONTH 

The group meets on the 4th Monday of the month at 6:30 PM EST, which you can attend in person in the Coolidge Museum or on Zoom. Discussions will be facilitated by Bill Scher, vice president of the museum’s Standing Committee.

Email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org to join the email list or for more information.

This month's selection is . . . 

About the book: 

The Mystery Book Discussion Group meets monthly for a casual discussion. New members are always welcome. Pick up a copy of this month's discussion book at the library. Email Maureen Carney, the facilitator, for updated virtual meeting info.

Respectful, queer/LGBT-friendly, easy-going bunch who want an excuse to get out more and talk about books. And have some snacks. Meetings take place on the first Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. You can reach our group at paradisecityreaders@gmail.com. 

This month's discussion will be about Western Lane by Chetna Maroo. 

About the book: 

Eleven-year-old Gopi has been playing squash since she was old enough to hold a racket. When her mother dies, her father enlists her in a quietly brutal training regimen, and the game becomes her world. Slowly, she grows apart from her sisters. Her life is reduced to the sport, guided by its rhythms: the serve, the volley, the drive, the shot and its echo.But on the court, she is not alone. She is with her pa. She is with Ged, a thirteen-year-old boy with his own formidable talent. She is with the players who have come before her. She is in awe. An indelible coming-of-age story, Chetna Maroo’s first novel captures the ordinary and annihilates it with beauty. Western Lane is a valentine to innocence, to the closeness of sisterhood, to the strange ways we come to know ourselves and each other.

Anyone interested in Science Fiction or Fantasy is welcome. Although we focus on this month’s selection, we will discuss any topics related to Science Fiction or Fantasy, books or movies.

This month's discussion will cover . . . 

About the book: 

Get your Happily Ever After fix from the [Springfield City Library] Romance Book Club!

ONLINE via Zoom Saturdays once a month | 10:00-11:00 AM | Adults

Join us for the Romance Book Club!

We read as many romance genres as we can, sharing our thoughts and expanding our romance reading experience. As long as it has a Happily Ever After, it’s fair game.

Each month we choose the book for the following month.

For more information, this month's pick, and to register (optional), visit our friends at Springfield City Library

Future dates:
October 5
November 2
December 14

We'll be reading . . . Request a copy of this book by placing a hold. 

About the book: 

Literary minded discussion. Open to new members. Join us in person or join via Zoom!

--

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/91486186242?pwd=K3NYcjEwNlFZckJnNFhNNmhUYXJqUT09

Meeting ID: 914 8618 6242
Passcode: 939659

+16465588656,,91486186242#,,,,*939659# US (New York)
+16469313860,,91486186242#,,,,*939659# US

Dial by your location
        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

The Nature and Environment Book Club is devoted to the best of nature writing and environmental reporting with discussions on the second Wednesday of each month. Readers and writers interested in books ranging from such classics as Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to topical reportage like Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction will want to join the conversation.

This month's book is Of Wolves and Men by Barry Lopez. 

Get a copy from the library by placing a hold.

About the book:

No animal has gripped man's imagination as strongly as the wolf. Feared, hated, reviled, he has been regarded as the embodiment of evil. Now, in an age of science, people defend the wolf's role in nature; some have even come to romanticize him. But still we have not seen the whole wolf. This talented and perceptive writer shows us not only the wolf of the scientist but the wolf of the Eskimo and the Indian, the wolf of the wolf killer, the wolf of the imagination--werewolves, feral children, the wolf of folklore and fable--and in so doing creates a compelling picture of both the wolf as animal and the wolf that man has created. Everyone sees a different wolf. The scientist sees an animal as defined by his data. The Eskimo, whose powers of observation closely resemble the wolf's, sees an animal very much like himself--hunter and provider. For the native American the wolf was a spiritual symbol, an animal who lived in a way that would make both individual and tribe strong. For the wolf killer he was often an irrational, frenzied predator that must be annihilated. In the human imagination he has most often been a subconscious scapegoat for the bestiality of men. Barry Lopez draws the reader into the world of the wolf and the ideas that surround him. With the vision of a poet, he sorts truth from untruth to come as close as one can to an understanding of how man creates animals. In reading this book we not only learn a great deal about wolves, but we come face to face with ourselves.

The Coolidge Museum at Forbes Library is starting a new book group in 2024 to focus of reading women's history and social history.  

As her husband John met in Philadelphia to discuss forming a new nation, Abigail Adams wrote to implore him, 'I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.' Alas, it would be another 150 years before they even got the right to vote. But women were neither silent nor passive then or now.

To elevate the voices of women in American history, a new book club is being offered by the The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. The inspiration for the club, Herstory: Women in American History, came from some members of the museum's Presidential Book Club, who expressed a desire to read more about the context of historical figures, and to hear from and about the women involved in the building of our nation. 

Selections in the book club will include biographies of women interspersed with texts on significant periods in American history. This way, book club members can place the women they read about in context and gain a fuller understanding of their challenges and achievements.

This group meets on Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7:30 PM 

This group is moderated by Coolidge Museum Committee members Leslie Skantz-Hodgson (Smith Vocational School Librarian) and Rob Weir (retired professor of history).  

To join the email list or for more information, email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org 

Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.

This month's selection is . . .   

Place a hold on . . . 

About the book: 

The Great Books discussion is structured so that the evening’s selected reading is discussed in a think tank environment with the intention of gaining insight from other readers that one would not have by reading alone. The seminar facilitator asks questions of the participants about the reading selection and helps the discussion stay focused. Our main goal is to have fun and take many interpretations from the group in order to enjoy a greater understanding of a selected reading.

Discussions are open to everyone and free of charge.  For a list of past and future discussion books and to contact the group visit, http://mail.salticid.com/mailman/listinfo/forbes_great_books_salticid.com.

About the facilitator:

Hilary Caws-Elwitt has her BA in English & American Literature from Harvard, MLS from University of Arizona, and ran Susquehanna County Reads for its first 4 years. But mostly she loves reading and discussing the books!

The Presidential Book Group, recently concluded its first journey, reading biographies of every American president from Washington to Trump.

If you want to embark on the journey, now is your chance! The group will start anew on January 22, beginning with “Washington: A Life” by famed biographer Ron Chernow.  In this group you will deepen your understanding of the American presidency as we trace the history of the presidency, beginning with George Washington, and watching how American democracy evolved in ways the Founders never anticipated. We'll follow how presidents, both celebrated and forgotten, grappled with slavery, economics, executive power and America's role in the world. In doing so, we'll broaden our knowledge of Coolidge and where his presidency fits in the American story. 

The group meets on the 4th Monday of the month at 6:30 PM EST, which you can attend in person in the Coolidge Museum or on Zoom. Discussions will be facilitated by Bill Scher, vice president of the museum’s Standing Committee.

Email Coolidge@forbeslibrary.org to join the email list or for more information.

This month's selection is . . . 

About the book: 

The Mystery Book Discussion Group meets monthly for a casual discussion. New members are always welcome. Pick up a copy of this month's discussion book at the library. Email Maureen Carney, the facilitator, for updated virtual meeting info.

Anyone interested in Science Fiction or Fantasy is welcome. Although we focus on this month’s selection, we will discuss any topics related to Science Fiction or Fantasy, books or movies.

This month's discussion will cover . . . 

About the book: