Lifespan Book Club
Book Club meets last Monday of each month at Trinity Presbyterian Church – room D130
January 30, 2017 – A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
The story of a curmudgeonly old man whose grumpy life is brightened by forces beyond his control. His solitary world is turned upside down when a boisterous young family moves in next door. This book has been made into a film. Swedish author.
Frank Gleason – reviewer
February 27, 2017 – Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow
This book, released in 2009, imagines a version of the lives of the Collyer brothers of New York City, notorious for their eccentricities and incredible hoarding. Doctorow looks at a wide swath of 20th century American history through the windows of their Fifth Avenue house.
Judy Davidson – reviewer
March 27, 2017 – Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Set in Ireland and Brooklyn in the early 1950’s, this novel follows Eilis Lacey as she finds herself swept up in an unplanned adventure to America, reinventing herself and her surroundings. This book has been made into a film.
Hennie Rodts – reviewer
April 24, 2017 – Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Subtitled a A Novel of the Plague, this book was inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing an inspiring heroine, Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into an unforgettable read.
Vera Sepe – reviewer
May 22, 2017 – Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade and Dan Yaeger
Subtitled The Forgotten War that Changed American History, this is the little known story of how a newly independent nation was challenged by four Muslim powers and what happened when America’s third president decided to stand up to the intimidation.
Suzie Poole – reviewer
June 26, 2017 – Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Remarkable Creatures is a stunning historical novel that follows the story of two extraordinary 19th century fossil hunters who changed the scientific world forever.
Sandy Myers – reviewer
July 31, 2017 – The Nest by Cynthia Sweeney
A warm, funny and acutely perceptive novel about four siblings and the fate of the shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and lives.
Mimi Roberts – reviewer
August 28, 2017 – Cathedral in the Wind by Boyd Varty
This is Varty’s memoir of his life in the exquisite and vast refuge, Londolozi game reserve in South Africa, a place for the ravaged land to flourish again and for the human spirit to be restored. Varty makes a passionate claim for the power of the wild to renew the human spirit.
Meg Taylor – reviewer
September 25, 2017 – Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Set in the fictional town of Holt, Colorado, Plainsong tells the interlocking stories of some of the fascinating inhabitants. These fictional inhabitants find themselves faced with complex choices, made more rigorous by the social pressures of the tight community within which they must work out their own solutions.
Cele Covatta – reviewer
October 30, 2017 – The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
A magical and sweeping love story and multi generational epic that stretches from San Francisco in the present day to Poland and the United States during WWII.
Renee Rux – reviewer