Mid-Continent Public Library discussion

Hi guys, this is Lisa and I am the MCPL Book Group Coordinator. I am interested in any or all feedback on titles you recommend as great books for discussion. So I'll start it off with a question, "What is the last book you read, either personally or as a book group that you thought was really excellent?"

Hi Lisa, Nice seeing you here. I really enjoyed The Goldfinch but it might be a bit too long for a kit keeper title. I would like to see a few of the following discussion worthy titles added to the kits: As nature made him [the boy who was raised as a girl]
Colapinto, John, 1958-
Publication Date  2000 (nonfiction)

Life on the color line : the true story of a white boy who discovered he was black
Williams, Gregory Howard.
Publication Date  1995 (nonfiction)

A child called "It" : one child's courage to survive
Pelzer, David J.
Publication Date  1995 (nonfiction)

Thunder dog the true story of a blind man, his guide dog, and the triumph of trust at Ground Zero
Hingson, Michael, 1950-
Publication Date  2011 (nonfiction)

Room a novel
Donoghue, Emma, 1969-
Publication Date  2010 (fiction)

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
by  Skloot, Rebecca, 1972-
Publication Date  2010 (nonfiction)

OK, I just checked and Child Called It, Henrietta Lacks, and Room are on the kit keeper one or two lists already. Sorry. I'll put together a list and message them to you shortly.

Chantel wrote: "OK, I just checked and Child Called It, Henrietta Lacks, and Room are on the kit keeper one or two lists already. Sorry. I'll put together a list and message them to you shortly."


Hi Chantel!

I debated on the Goldfinch for a long, long time. As you so rightly say, its a rather hefty book, and books of that magnitude don't seem to work well in the collection. Usually I wouldn't add titles of this size, but since this book won the Pulitzer prize, it became the deciding factor to add to the collection.

Yay! for suggestion. I will certainly look into the three books listed that we don't currently have. Unfortunately a lot of the older dated items I may not be able to get hold of, the newer the title the better possibility of obtaining.

Please do let me know any other suggestion you may have. The book group collection is primarily made of suggestion from users such as yourself. This collection is for you, your opinions are important!

Lisa :)

Hi Lisa, I sent an e-mail with sixty-five titles. Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Hi Lisa. I've been in a book group for about a year and before that I worked at Barnes & Noble for a few years, in addition to being a life-long reader. Here are some of my all time favorites and recommendations for book clubs/groups.
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
A Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (a fun mystery from one of the masters of the genre)
The Antiquarian by Julian Sanchez.
Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjhalian
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.

Carrie wrote: "Hi Lisa. I've been in a book group for about a year and before that I worked at Barnes & Noble for a few years, in addition to being a life-long reader. Here are some of my all time favorites and..."


Hi Carrie, Thanks for commenting, It makes me happy to know we do indeed have some of these titles 'The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society', 'Unbroken' and 'The Sandcastle Girls' I will certainly look at the other titles you've mentioned.

What is your book group currently reading?

Lisa :)

Chantel wrote: "Hi Lisa, I sent an e-mail with sixty-five titles. Let me know if I can be of further assistance."


I got your email, thank you so much for such a wonderful list of book, they will keep me busy and its fun to know what titles I already have from it!


Lisa :)

Lisa, here's our list for the rest of this year. The only "rule" my book club has is that the book has to be available from the library.
July - Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
August - Fight Club by Chuck Palaniuk
September - The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
October - The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan
November - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry By G. Zevin

I will second the suggestion of Thunder Dog: the true story of a blind man, his guide dog, and the triumph of trust at Ground Zero
Hingson, Michael, 1950-
Publication Date 2011 (nonfiction)

It's an excellent book I recommend all the time. I also like another biography style book - Through a Dog's Eyes by Jennifer Arnold. Jennifer started one of the premier service dog training facilities in the country. Her story is fascinating.

Carrie wrote: "Lisa, here's our list for the rest of this year. The only "rule" my book club has is that the book has to be available from the library.
July - Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Augus..."


Really interesting and diverse selection of books. I personally loved 'The Storied Life of AJ Fikry'! I added this title to the book group collection about a month ago. I wont say another word so I wont spoil it for you :]

Pam wrote: "I will second the suggestion of Thunder Dog: the true story of a blind man, his guide dog, and the triumph of trust at Ground Zero
Hingson, Michael, 1950-
Publication Date 2011 (nonfiction)

It's ..."

Thunder dog is a great book for a discussion, I remember reading this book back in 2011. I did look into obtaining but unfortunately its print copy status is permanently out of stock.

Lisa, In January I spent hours adding kitkeeper1 and kitkeeper2 bookshelves to my Goodreads account. From the online list, I added them all! The list I sent to you should have contained only books not added to the book talk collection. Without going back through each title on the Book Talk lists independently, it is difficult to identify the new additions to the collection. At one time, someone would put New! and the date in parenthesis after the book title and I could just use ctrl-f to find them but I guess that hasn't been kept up. As a patron and not library staffer, how can I see only the titles recently added to the kitkeeper1 or 2 collections? Is there a way to see only those added in 2014?

Hi Chantel! I've put up a list here of new titles added to KitKeeper 1 from Jan-Jun 2014:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I will also start a Jul-Dec post when we have new titles.

With Kit Keeper 2--these are almost always old titles moved over from Kit Keeper 1, so if you have the list from KK1, you should be set for KK2.

Thanks!

Pam wrote: "I will second the suggestion of Thunder Dog: the true story of a blind man, his guide dog, and the triumph of trust at Ground Zero
Hingson, Michael, 1950-
Publication Date 2011 (nonfiction)

It's ..."

Lisa,

I'm looking forward to reading The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry this weekend. I've kind of been on a history "kick" lately. Read Louisa Catherine: The Other Mrs. Adams about John Quincy Adams wife (went to a really interesting lecture at The Plaza Library on J.Q. Adams a few weeks ago). Really interesting book and helped me get to know people and events that I didn't know much about. I also just finished The Guns of August as part of my effort to read lots of books about World War 1 since the 100th anniversary of the assination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand just took place late last month. The other book i recently finished (and really liked) was The Worst Hard Times. This is a book club book this fall and it's about the Dust Bowl and the people that lived through it. Very powerful and thought provoking. I can't wait for the discussion during my book club. Do you have any history or WW1 specific titles you can recommend? I like fiction as well as non-fiction.

Lisa, our hostess for my Book Club's August meeting changed the book from Fight Club to Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. I've already read that book and LOVED it. Is it on your list? If not you should check it out (no pun intended!)

Carrie wrote: "Lisa, our hostess for my Book Club's August meeting changed the book from Fight Club to Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. I've already read that book and LOVED it. Is it on your list? If not you s..."

I haven't read it yet, its on my list! Happy to say we do have that book in our collection! I also believe it is currently being made into a film.
- Lisa

Lisa, Did you know that the top rated kitkeeper1 title (on Goodreads at 4.45 stars) is Bridge Basics 1: An Introduction by Audrey Grant? Everytime I sort my kitkeeper1 list by ratings this one is at the top. Do you have many groups borrowing this book kit? Do you include decks of cards with the jokers removed with book kit? If not, consider adding the cards! It doesn't seem like this kit would see much action but I admit I don't know how to play Bridge and am intrigued by its inclusion.