We love the variety of books that end up getting discussed at Bring Your Own Book Club at Lakeshore Cafe. Will you find your next read?
We discussed 10 titles in April. See what others have recommended. Check them out -- click on the titles to place your hold at the library.
Corrie -- Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer
From bestselling author Jon Krakauer, a stark, powerful, meticulously reported narrative about a series of sexual assaults at the University of Montana — stories that illuminate the human drama behind the national plague of campus rape
Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, with a highly regarded state university, bucolic surroundings, a lively social scene, and an excellent football team — the Grizzlies — with a rabid fan base.
The Department of Justice investigated 350 sexual assaults reported to the Missoula police between January 2008 and May 2012. Few of these assaults were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical.
A DOJ report released in December of 2014 estimates 110,000 women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are raped each year. Krakauer’s devastating narrative of what happened in Missoula makes clear why rape is so prevalent on American campuses, and why rape victims are so reluctant to report assault.
...Continue reading here https://www.jonkrakauer.com/missoula
Dorothy -- Small Sacrifices : A True Story of Passion and Murder by Ann Rule
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me
comes a shocking true crime account of the destructive forces that
drove a beautiful young mother to shoot her three young children in cold
blood.
“Somebody just shot my kids!” Diane Downs
brought her car to a halt in front of a Springfield, Oregon, hospital,
her three gravely wounded children beside her. Thus begins the tale of a
truly unthinkable crime that shattered the tranquility of a tight-knit
community. As police searched for the “shaggy-haired stranger” Diane
accused of shooting 8-year-old Christie, 7-year-old Cheryl, and
3-year-old Danny, a suspicion grew that was even more horrifying than
the crime itself: Did Diane shoot her own children? Haunted by this
question, a dedicated district attorney searched for the answer and
uncovered a chronology of incest, psychological wounding, desperate
affairs, and surrogate motherhood.
Ann Rule’s gripping, powerful,
and ultimately terrifying true story of passion and murder will hold
you in thrall as it plumbs the unimagined depths of darkness concealed
within a human being.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/325351/small-sacrifices-by-ann-rule/
Lorraine -- Verses for the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Preston & Child return with their #1 bestselling series, confronting FBI Special Agent Pendergast with the one challenge he never expected: a partner.
After an overhaul of leadership at the FBI's New York field office, A.
X. L. Pendergast is abruptly forced to accept an unthinkable condition
of continued employment: the famously rogue agent must now work with a
partner.
Pendergast and his new teammate, junior agent Coldmoon, are assigned to
Miami Beach, where a rash of killings by a bloodthirsty psychopath are
distinguished by a confounding M.O.: cutting out the hearts of his
victims and leaving them--along with cryptic handwritten letters--at
local gravestones, unconnected save in one bizarre way: all belonged to
women who committed suicide.
But the seeming lack of connection between the old suicides and the new
murders is soon the least of Pendergast's worries. Because as he digs
deeper, he realizes the brutal new crimes may be just the tip of the
iceberg: a conspiracy of death that reaches back decades.
https://www.prestonchild.com/books/verses/Verses-for-the-Dead;art571,616
Shirley -- Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core.
Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She’s traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive’s best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.
When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.
A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.
Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest
mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder
or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath
reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks
and shaded squares. John Berendt’s sharply observed, suspenseful, and
witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a
work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely
entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of
the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark
murder case.
It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of
remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married
Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless
recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man,
woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who
is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny black
drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking,
piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black
debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in
the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek
chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues
that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived
and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most
beguiling Southern city has become a modern classic.
What if you had the winning ticket that would change your life forever, but you couldn’t cash it in?
Lucky Armstrong is a tough, talented grifter who has just pulled off a million-dollar heist with her boyfriend, Cary. She’s ready to start a brand-new life, with a new identity—when things go sideways. Lucky finds herself alone for the first time, navigating the world without the help of either her father or her boyfriend, the two figures from whom she’s learned the art of the scam.
When she discovers that a lottery ticket she bought on a whim is worth millions, her elation is tempered by one big problem: cashing in the winning ticket means she’ll be arrested for her crimes. She’ll go to prison, with no chance to redeem her fortune.
As Lucky tries to avoid capture and make a future for herself, she must confront her past by reconciling with her father; finding her mother, who abandoned her when she was just a baby; and coming to terms with the man she thought she loved—whose dark past is catching up with her, too.
This is a novel about truth, personal redemption, and the complexity of being good. It introduces a singularly gifted, multilayered character who must learn what it means to be independent and honest...before her luck runs out.
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Until: a shocking revelation draws Rachel in to a world of Shanghai splendor beyond anything she has ever imagined. Here we meet Carlton, a Ferrari-crashing bad boy known for Prince Harry-like antics; Colette, a celebrity girlfriend chased by fevered paparazzi; and the man Rachel has spent her entire life waiting to meet: her father. Meanwhile, Singapore's It Girl, Astrid Leong, is shocked to discover that there is a downside to having a newly-minted tech billionaire husband.
A romp through Asia's most exclusive clubs, auction houses, and estates, China Rich Girlfriend brings us into the elite circles of Mainland China, introducing a captivating cast of characters, and offering an inside glimpse at what it's like to be gloriously, crazily China-rich.
I’m the guy you come to when your spouse gets bitten by a werewolf, or your honey is kidnapped by a demon. I’m the guy who knows how to save your ass when an evil sorcerer casts a curse on it.
At least, I was that guy until the Society of Shadows sent me to Dearmont, Maine, a sleepy town that had a zero rating on the supernatural occurrences scale.
My plan was to spend my days sitting in the office with nothing to do except drink coffee and eat apple bakes made by Felicity, my new assistant.
But when a woman hires me to find out if her son has been possessed by a demon at a rich kids’ party, and a young man comes to the office insisting he’s been bitten by a werewolf, Dearmont goes from zero to hero.
Oh, and did I mention that someone in the Society wants me dead?
Time to sharpen the swords and go to work…
Powerful magic. A deadly legacy. A world at the edge of war. Prepare to be spellbound by The Black Witch.
Elloren Gardner is the spitting image of her grandmother, who drove back the enemy forces in the last Realm War. But while her perople believe she will follow in her grandmother's footsteps and become the next Black Witch of prophecy, Elloren is devoid of power in a society that prizes magical ability above all else.
When she is granted the opportunity to pursue her dream of becoming an apothecary, Elloren joins her brothers at Verpax University. But she soon realizes that the university may be the most treacherous place of all for the granddaughter of the Black Witch.
As evil looms and the pressure to live up to her heritage builds, Elloren's best hope of survival may be among a secret band of rebels…if only she can find the courage to trust those she’s been taught to fear.
https://laurieannforest.com/books/the-black-witch/
Corrie -- You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
Seventeen-year-old Julie Clarke has her future all planned out—move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city; spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes.
Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his belongings, and tries everything to forget him. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces memories to return. Desperate to hear him one more time, Julie calls Sam's cell phone just to listen to his voice mail recording. And Sam picks up the phone.
The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam's voice makes Julie fall for him all over again and with each call, it becomes harder to let him go.
What would you do if you had a second chance at goodbye?
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250762030/youve-reached-sam
That's it for April's discussion. Check out May's next month or come to Lakeshore Cafe on May 18th and see what others have read.
