Moke Hill READS Book Club

Aug 15, 2018 by contributor

 NEXT MEETING:  Tuesday – September 4, 7 PM, Moke Hill Library/Archives

Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng.  In Shaker Heights — a progressive and meticulously planned community — no one embodies this rule-playing spirit more than Elena Richardson.  Enter Mia Warren, a free spirit artist and single mother with her teenaged daughter Pearl. The four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for rules. When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that divides the town and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Elena Richardson uncovers secrets in Mia’s past, with unexpected and devastating costs to both families.

October 3, 2018. The Tender Bar, by J.R. Moehringer.  J.R. Moehringer’s memoir is the story of a young man who knows his father only as “The Voice,” of a single mother struggling to make a better life for her son, and of a riotously dysfunctional family from Long Island. But more than anything else, Moehringer’s book is a homage to the culture of the local pub. That’s where young J.R. seeks out the companionship of male role models in place of his absent father, where he receives an education that has served him well in his career and where, inevitably, he looks for love, bemoans its absence and mourns its loss.

November 6, 2018. Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan.  The historical novel begins with young Anna Kerrigan accompanying her father on his questionable work rounds in 1930s New York. Then he disappears.  Grown into a young women by WWII, she works at the Brooklyn Naval yard and secures a job as the first female diver, a dangerous and exclusive occupation.  She encounters one of her father’s former bosses by chance and begins pursuit of his vanishing. Anna inhabits a world populated by gangsters, sailors, war workers, divers, bankers, and union men who, through her masterful writing, are all sympathetic and engaging.

Moke Hill Reads Book Club:  First Tuesday of every month. No commitment, No attendance taken, No restrictions, No membership, No dues. For everyone interested in good books and discussions about them. Sponsored by the Mokelumne Hill Friends of the Library. Send your email address or watch for announcements on mokehill.org and other news sources. Contact Janet Dock:  janetdock@me.com.