September 15, 2010
Homer and Langley
by E. L. Doctorow
A tale inspired by a true story finds the blind Homer Collyer closeted within a once-grand Fifth Avenue mansion with his damaged brother and remembering a life marked by colorful characters, political events, and technological achievements.  

2010 Schedule

Coffee, Books, and More... Book Discussion Titles for 2010:

January 20: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

Returning to the U.S. after twenty years in England, Iowa native Bryson decides to reconnect with his mother country by hiking the length of the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail.  A witty and entertaining guide, he introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way.    

February 17: Lincoln: A Novel by Gore Vidal

The character of President Lincoln, unremittingly tested by the trials of the war years, is reflected through the eyes of the diverse and colorful denizens of Washington, including his wife Mary and his political rivals and disciples.

March 17: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

A portrait of the immigrant experience follows the Ganguli family from their traditional life in India through their arrival in Massachusetts in the late 1960s and their difficult melding into an American way of life.

April 21: Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo

Describes the 1919 collapse of a steel tank containing more than two million gallons of molasses in Boston--a disaster that claimed the lives of twenty-one people, injured 150, and caused widespread destruction--the causes of the tragedy, its aftermath, and the sweeping social changes that transformed the era.

May 19: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel by Jamie Ford

When artifacts from Japanese families sent to internment camps during World War II are uncovered during renovations at a Seattle hotel, Henry Lee embarks on a quest that leads to memories of growing up Chinese in a city rife with anti-Japanese sentiment.

June 16: Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

A profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his reaction to his fading insular world in post-war England.

July 21: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.

August 18: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

As London is emerging from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ashton discovers her next subject in a book club on Guernsey--a club born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi after its members are discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island.

September 15: Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow

A tale inspired by a true story finds the blind Homer Collyer closeted within a once-grand Fifth Avenue mansion with his damaged brother and remembering a life marked by colorful characters, political events, and technological achievements.

October 20: The Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry

Paul Christopher begins to investigate the assassination of John Kennedy in 1963, thinking it results from the Vietnamese assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem.

November 17: The Lacuna: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver

The story of Harrison William Shepherd, a man caught between two worlds -- Mexico and the United States in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s -- and whose search for identity takes readers to the heart of the twentieth century's most tumultuous events.

December 15:

No book discussed – Holiday party and planning meeting

Printable 2010 Schedule and More