Salem Public Library Book Club - Salem, MA

This Month’s Selection: Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Join us for a discussion of this compelling novel, set in the strange and fascinating world of the circus in the early thirties. The story of the main character’s incredible life and his adventures with the Benzini Brothers circus unfolds in a way that is moving, gritty, and at times humorous. Full of detailed and meticulously researched descriptions of all aspects of the circus lifestyle in Depression-era America, this novel is above all a great and eminently readable story.

This Month’s Selection: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Join us for a discussion of this engaging and interesting book by bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver. It chronicles a year in which she and her family fed themselves almost exclusively from their own garden and from food grown in the local community. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, this book will change the way you think about what you eat, where it comes from, and how you interact with the world around you.

The Book Club will be on hiatus for the summer, and will resume again in September. Watch this space for the announcement of our next selection, and other details!

This Month’s Selection: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Join us for a discussion of Geraldine Brooks’s Year of Wonders. This compelling novel describes the 17th-century plague that is carried from London to a small Derbyshire village by an itinerant tailor. Residents make the extraordinary choice, led by a young priest, to quarantine themselves to prevent further spread of the disease. The story is told through the eyes of a young maid, Anna Frith, as she witnesses the disintegration of her small community as death takes its toll on every family, including her own.

This Month’s Selection: The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

Join us for a discussion of acclaimed author Chris Bohjalian’s book The Double Bind. When college sophomore Laurel Estabrook is attacked while riding her bicycle through Vermont’s back roads, her life is forever changed. Formerly outgoing, Laurel withdraws into her photography and begins to work at a homeless shelter. There she meets Bobbie Crocker, a man with a history of mental illness and a box of photographs that he won’t let anyone see. When Bobbie dies suddenly, Laurel discovers that before he was homeless, Bobbie Crocker was a successful photographer. As Laurel’s fascination with Bobbie’s former life begins to merge into obsession, she becomes convinced that some of his photographs reveal a deeply hidden, dark family secret and falls into a cat-and-mouse game with pursuers who claim they want to save her. In this spellbinding literary thriller, rich with complex and compelling characters, Chris Bohjalian takes listeners on his most intriguing, most haunting, and most unforgettable journey yet.

This Month’s Selection: The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Join us for a discussion of this interesting character study. The novel spans the professional life of an English Butler named Stevens. It guides us from his heyday as a loyal servant at Darlington Hall to his twilight years as a curio for the estate’s new American owner. Stevens is a man of impeccable loyalty and stubbornness. While these qualities ensure Stevens’ professional survival, they also provide his life with tragic limitations.