Moke Hill READS Book Club

Feb 9, 2020 by contributor

 March 3, 2020.  Improvement, by Joan Silber.  This series of interlinked stories  both allows characters to fully inhabit their own narratives and gives space to the lives that intersect or run parallel to them. Just as you think you’ve understood single-mother Reyna’s life, Part II commences, shifting to third-person stories that seem to spool farther and farther away from her.  When we return to Reyna’s world, we read her and her world differently, having passed through all these other stories that intersect hers. This is a novel of richness and wisdom and huge pleasure.

April 7, 2020.  Gallows View, by Peter Robinson.  One of the best mystery series in print, this is the first of the Inspector Banks novels.  Former London policemen, Chief Inspector Banks has relocated to the Yorkshire village of Eastvale where he finds evil and violence are not unique to large cities.  While the activities of a Peeping Tom and the murder of an elderly women do not appear to be linked, investigations delve into possible connections.  Lively and lucid, Robinson’s tales will draw you in to this award-wining series with more than a dozen entries.

May 5, 2020.  The Day the World Came to Town, by Jim Defede.  On September 11, 2001, thirty-eight jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, due to the closing of US airspace.  For nearly a week, some 6,600 distraught passengers and crew were dependent on the hospitality of a small community of less than 10,000.  The stories of generosity and kindness have become legendary, drawn from interviews with over 180 people and inspiring the Broadway musical hit “They Came from Away.”  Their actions affirmed the basic goodness of people.

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.