We have several different book discussion groups here at Monroeville Public Library. I've been the leader of one of those groups for quite a few years and have read a lot of different types of books. Some have been really good and some not so good. Here are four that my group has read over the last two years that were enjoyed by all.
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan
This well researched book tells the true story of the thousands of women (and men) who worked at a top secret facility in Kentucky during World War Two. An entire town was created to house all of the people who were performing jobs that they had no idea how it was contributing to the war effort. Young women came from all over the United States not having any idea where they were going or how long they would be there. It wasn't until the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima that they realized what they had been apart of. Denise Kiernan introduces the reader to many different women doing many different types of jobs. This was a definite hit with our book group.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Harold Fry is a reserved, retired Englishman who has just found out that an old friend of his is dying. He decides to send her a letter, but on his walk to the post office he somehow ends up on a pilgrimage to visit this friend who is in a nursing home almost 500 hundred miles to the north. As he walks, Harold examines his marriage, his career and the mistakes he has made throughout his life. Along the way he becomes a bit of a cult figure with an entourage following him. We all found this to be a sweet and heart warming book.
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
The subtitle for this book really sets the stage for this fascinating story. David Grann, staff reporter for The New Yorker, follows in the footsteps of Percy Fawcett. Fawcett was a British explorer who disappeared in the Amazon in 1925. He was in search of El Dorado or, as he called it, The Lost City of Z. Many men have gone in search of El Dorado and to find out what happened to Fawcett's expedition but they either never returned themselves or didn't learn anything new. But what made this middle-aged city boy take on this adventure? Read the book for yourself to find out!
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
Like many of Louise Erdrich's books, this one tells a story of Native Americans in North Dakota struggling with their past and their present. This time the story is centered around the mystery of the murder of a family in 1911. A lynch mob is formed to find the killers. Three Indian men are hanged for the murder, while young Mooshum Milk is not. As the years pass the families of both groups, the hanged and the posse, develop complex relationships with one another. While there are parts of the book that feel like they don't quite belong, Erdrich weaves an intricate tale of how the actions of a few so long ago, affected so many.
--Post by Tracy
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