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Let's Talk Books Discussion Group
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Mod
7:00 pm-8:00 pm
Virtual Meeting
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed" by Lori Gottlieb.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
In her book, national advice columnist and therapist, Lori Gottlieb with humor and compassion, shares stories of her clients alongside her own time in therapy, to reflect on the challenges of being human.
Place a hold on a copy here: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion group of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library. We alternate between fiction and nonfiction
Mod
7:00 pm-8:00 pm
Virtual Meeting
Book: Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
Our monthly book group is celebrating Native American Heritage with this debut short story collection by Pen America award-winning Penobscot Nation author Morgan Talty.
From the Boston Globe: " A perfect mix of funny, sad, timely and intense, this one has something for everyone." Twelve stories that tell what it means to be a Penobscot in the twenty first century.
Mod
7:00pm - 9:00pm
At Elaine's Restaurant (208 Queen Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
For December we're meeting at Elaine's Restaurant at 208 Queen Street for reader's choice to talk about a book you've read and want to discuss. Hoping to see new faces who are interested in LTB!
Like our successful Banned Books Read Out, we're meeting at Elaine's Restaurant at 208 Queen Street for December and the library will provide snacks, but you can order your own meal and drink from Elaine's modern Mediterranean cuisine menu.
Let's Talk Books (LTB) is the monthly book club for the Barrett Branch. We're hoping to see new people interested in joining our conversations. But in December it's your turn to bring a book you would like to recommend to others, or just listen to what others have to share.
The space we've reserved at Elaine's is on the second floor with no elevator. We can move to the first floor if accommodations are needed.
Mod
7:00 pm- 8:00 pm
Virtual Meeting
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "The Violin Conspiracy" by Brendan Slocumb.
Ray McMillian aspires to become a professional classical musician. With the discovery that a family heirloom is a priceless violin, his future seems to moving in the right direction. But just before an important competition, Ray's violin is stolen. The Violin Conspiracy, written by local author Brendan Slocumb, is a Good Morning America Book Club pick.
To place a hold on a copy, https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Mod
7:00 pm- 8:00 pm
Virtual Meeting
Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery
The subtitle of this book detailing the amazing accomplishments by Emma Gatewood is "The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail"
From the publisher, Chicago Review Press: "Emma Gatewood was the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times and she did it all after the age of 65. This is the first and only biography of Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters called her, who became a hiking celebrity in the 1950s and ’60s. She appeared on TV with Groucho Marx and Art Linkletter, and on the pages of Sports Illustrated. The public attention she brought to the little-known footpath was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered maintenance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction. Author Ben Montgomery was given unprecedented access to Gatewood’s own diaries, trail journals, and correspondence. He also unearthed historic newspaper and magazine articles and interviewed surviving family members and hikers Gatewood met along the trail. The inspiring story of Emma Gatewood illustrates the full power of human spirit and determination."
Let's Talk Books is the Barrett Branch's monthly book discussion group. We are meeting both virtually and in person once a quarter.
To place a hold: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Also available on Libby as an ebook & an eaudiobook
Mod
7:00pm - 8:00pm
In person: 717 Queen St
Book: The Dictionary of Lost Words
Please join us to read and discuss "The Dictionary of Lost Words" by Pip Williams.
The Dictionary of Lost Words takes the creation myth about the lexographers who formed the Oxford English Dictionary and imagines how a young girl, exposed to its development, becomes interested in the words and people edited out.
Click here, to place a hold on a copy: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client....
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion group of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library. On a quarterly basis, we meet virtually for two months and in-person for the third month.
Mod
Monday, April 08
7:00pm - 8:15pm
Virtual
Book: Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
Join us via Zoom to discuss the fiction pick for this year's All Alexandria Reads theme of courage!
This month's Barrett Book club pick was a New York Times bestseller, Read With Jenna book club pick, UK Indie Book of the Month pick and one of Oprah's Daily's Best Books of 2022. It was also made into a HULU original screen series. It is a multi-generational tale that spans from California to the Caribbean.
From the Washington Post "This penetrating look at a delicacy filled with emotional turmoil but built into the very soul of a community echoes more sweeping issues of identity. Wilkerson is questioning the very essence of tradition that is known to many people of Caribbean heritage."
Mod
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Virtual
Book: The Music Shop byRachel Joyce
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and virtually discuss "The Music Shop" by Rachel Joyce.
Set in 1988, Joyce's novel tells the story of Frank, a vinyl record shop owner who falls for a remarkable customer who frequents his shop.
Place a hold on the book: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Let's Talk Books is the Barrett Branch's monthly book discussion group. We read fiction and nonfiction.
Mod
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Barrett Branch (717 Queen St)
Book: Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835 by Jefferson Morley
Join us for an in-person meeting at the Barrett Branch to discuss the tense atmosphere in the city of Washington in 1835and the city's first race riot that ensued.
About Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835 from the publisher Penguin Random House "In 1835, the city of Washington simmered with racial tension as newly freed African Americans from the South poured in, outnumbering slaves for the first time. Among the enslaved was nineteen-year-old Arthur Bowen, who stumbled home drunkenly one night, picked up an axe, and threatened his owner, respected socialite Anna Thornton. Despite no blood being shed, Bowen was eventually arrested and tried for attempted murder by district attorney Francis Scott Key, but not before news of the incident spread like wildfire. Within days Washington’s first race riot exploded as whites, fearing a slave rebellion, attacked the property of free blacks. One of their victims was gregarious former slave and successful restaurateur Beverly Snow, who became the target of the mob’s rage. With Snow-Storm in August, Jefferson Morley delivers readers into an unknown chapter in history with an absorbing account of this uniquely American battle for justice."
Review from Publishers Weekly “Salon Washington correspondent Jefferson Morley boldly and elegantly recreates a moment in time when free black businessmen mingled with their white counterparts while proponents of slavery and abolitionists struggled to co-exist in the nation’s bustling capital.... A crackling good tale of the deep impact of race and politics on a young nation struggling to create its identity.”
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Monday, July 8
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Barrett Branch (717 Queen St)
Book: The Searcher by Tana French
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and virtually discuss the mystery, "The Searcher" by Tana French.
Retired from the Chicago Police Department, Cal Hooper moves to a small village in Ireland hoping to escape from the rough and tumble of the big city. Soon, he's pulled into a missing person case that leads to more dangers.
Place a hold on a copy here.
Let's Talk Books is a monthly book discussion group of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library. This book club alternates between vrtual and in-person discussions.
Mod
Monday August 1, 2024
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Virtual
Book: Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liza Mundy
Code Girls, the NY Times bestseller by Eliza Mundy, describes "the untold story of the American Women Code breakers of WW II" Register to join us via Zoom to discuss this true story.
"Recruited from settings as diverse as elite women’s colleges and small Southern towns, more than ten-thousand young American women served as codebreakers for the U.S. Army and Navy during World War II. While their brothers, boyfriends, and husbands took up arms, these women went to the nation’s capital with sharpened pencils–and even sharper minds–taking on highly demanding top secret work, involving complex math and linguistics. Running early IBM computers and poring over reams of encrypted enemy messages, they worked tirelessly in a pair of overheated makeshift code-breaking centers in Washington, DC, and Arlington, Virginia, from 1942 to 1945. Their achievements were immense: they cracked a crucial Japanese code, which gave the U.S. an acute advantage in the Battle of Midway and changed the course of the war in the Pacific Theater; they helped create the false communications that caught the Germans flat-footed in the lead-up to the Normandy invasion; and their careful tracking of Japanese ships and German U-boats saved countless American and British sailors’ lives." from https://www.lizamundy.com/code-girls/
To place a hold: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Mod
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Barrett Branch (717 Queen St)
Book: The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert
Please join Let's Talk Books club to read and discuss in person the cozy mystery, "The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree" by Susan Albert Wittig.
Set during the Great Depression in Darling, Alabama, the local garden club take matters into their own hands when a local beauty dies in a dubious car crash.
Mod
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Virtual
Book: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
Please join Let's Talks Books club to read and discuss "The Berry Pickers" by Amanda Peters.
In this novel, a Mi'kmaq family arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Their youngest child goes missing. Norma, growing up as an only child in Maine, realizes something is off with her family and searches for the truth.
To place a hold: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion club of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library. This book club alternates between virtual and in person discussions.
Mod
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Virtual
Book: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston.
In this 1937 classic, considered part of the African American literary canon, Janine Crawford tells her journey to self-identity and love.
Click here to place a hold: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion club of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library. This book club alternates between virtual and in person discussions.
Mod
7:00pm - 9:30pm
Elaine's Restaurant (208 Queen St, Alexandria, VA 22314)
Book: Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
Please join us for an evening at Elaine's Restaurant to discuss "Ducks" written and illustrated by Kate Beaton. Appetizers will be provided with the opportunity to purchased food and drinks.
Let's Talk Books is celebrating the end of the year discussion at Elaine's Restaurant. We'll be reading and discussing the graphic memoir Ducks:Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. In her memoir, Beaton recounts her experiences working in the remote Alberta oil sands as a young woman.
Place a hold on a copy here: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client....
The Friends of the Barrett Branch Library will be providing appetizers for attendees. Participants will have the option to purchase food and drink.
This event will be held off site at Elaine's at 208 Queen St. Alexandria, VA 22314.
Registration is required to attend.
Mod
7:00 pm-8:00 pm
Virtual
Book: The Bookbinder by Pip Williams
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "The Bookbinder" by Pip Williams.
In this historical fiction, twin sisters work in a bookbinding shop while the men are away at war. Soon the town begins to receive refugees from Belgium which upturns life as they know it.
Place a hold on a copy here: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...-
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch.
Mod
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Barrett Branch (717 Queen st)
Book: Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "Poverty, By America" by Matthew Desmond.
In this deeply researched account, sociologist Matthew Desmond looks at what it means to be poor in America and why poverty is a continuous problem in our affluent country.
To place a hold, click here: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch.
Mod
7:00pm-8:00pm
Virtual
Book: James by Percival Everett
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss this year's fiction choice for All Alexandria Reads, James by Percival Everett!
Everett's blockbuster novel, James, is retelling of the Mark Twain classic from the perspective of enslaved Jim.
To place a hold, click here: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client.....
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion group of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch.
All Alexandria Reads
Facilitated by the Alexandria Library, this program is designed to create shared experiences through reading. Everyone is invited to read the featured titles and selected books for younger readers. This year's theme is "adventure."
Mod
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Virtual
Book: The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "The Secret Book of Flora Lea" by Patti Callahan Henry.
In this historical fiction novel, a young woman works in a store selling rare books and on her last day, she finds a manuscript to a children's book containing secrets about her missing sister and their childhood in the English countryside during World War II.
Place a hold on a copy: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch
Mod
7:00pm - 7:50pm
Barrett Branch (717 Queen St)
Book: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin" by Erik Larson.
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.
A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the New Germany, she has one affair after another, including with the surprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler's true character and ruthless ambition.
Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Goring and the expectedly charming—yet wholly sinister—Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror.
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion group of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library.
Mod
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Barrett (717 Queen St)
Book: The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "The Friend" by Sigrid Nunez.
In this novel, a woman loses her lifelong best friend and mentor and winds up taking care of the dog he left behind. Problems arise: dogs aren't allowed in the woman's building, the dog in question is traumatized from the loss of its owner, and the woman refuses to be separated from the dog for long periods of time. This is a story of love, friendship, healing, and the bond between a woman and her dog.
Mod
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Virtual
Book: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson.
Beloved nonfiction writer, Bill Bryson, shares his experience of growing up in middle American during the middle of the 20th Century.
Place a hold on a copy here: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion group of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library.
Mod
7:00pm - 7:50pm
Barrett Branch: Second Floor (717 Queen St)
Book: This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Please join Let's Talk Books to read and discuss "This Other Eden" by Paul Harding.
This Other Eden by Paul Harding is a novel inspired by the true story of Malaga Island. Located off the coast of Maine, Malaga Island was one of the first racially integrated towns in the Northeast. But in 1912, a missionary tries to educate the children of the island which brings attention of mainland authorities who decide to forcibly evict the residents so they can make the island a vacation destination.
Place a hold on a copy: https://alxndria.ent.sirsi.net/client...
Let's Talk Books is the monthly book discussion group at the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library.
This month's meeting is in person.
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Books mentioned in this topic
This Other Eden (other topics)The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (other topics)
The Friend (other topics)
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (other topics)
The Secret Book of Flora Lea (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Paul Harding (other topics)Bill Bryson (other topics)
Sigrid Nunez (other topics)
Erik Larson (other topics)
Patti Callahan Henry (other topics)
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The group meets on the second Monday of the month (usually virtual via Zoom.) The group alternates each month between fiction and nonfiction titles.
This suspenseful and provocative novel is about two families who are unexpectedly forced together at a vacation house in Long Island during a mysterious event in New York City.
From NPR in 2020 when the book was published, "A slippery and duplicitous marvel of a novel…. Leave the World Behind is atmospheric and prescient: Its rhythms of comedy alternating with shock and despair mimic so much of the rhythms of life right now. That's more than enough to make it a signature novel for this blasted year.” A "Reads with Jenna" Today Show pick.