SOTAREADING 2021-2024

  Lessons in Chemistry MARCH 18,  2024 A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR:  The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an  average  woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.  But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show  Supper at Six . Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns

  Monday, February 26, 2024 3:45 The latest  New York Times  bestseller from beloved author Alice Hoffman celebrates the enduring magic of books and is a “wonderful story of love and growth” (Stephen King). One June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her.  The Scarlet Letter  was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her? Through a journey of heartbreak, love, and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes that reading can transport you to other worlds or bring them to you, and that readers and writers affect one another in mysterious ways. She learns that time is more fluid than she

 Monday, 1/29/2024 The Night I Spent with Aubrey Fisher  by Christopher M. Tantillo. Moderated by Erica Smith A boy determined to die. A girl determined to save his life. After the death of his little brother, Grayson's guilt spirals his life into chaos; it's all his fault. He wants to rewind that night back. To erase the pain he's caused. So he's decided; in twenty-four hours, he'll kill himself. Then mysterious and reckless Aubrey shows up with a proposition: a "literally insane" all-night adventure that will show him the beauty in the mundane. Grayson doesn't know why the foster girl with the piercings, crimson locks, and fishnet leggings is helping, especially when he finds out she harbors dark secrets of her own. Yet as they spend his last night learning to let go of pain, Grayson may have a new choice to make. But can he ever really be happy again? Told in a heartfelt yet poignant style interspersed with quirky humor,  The Night I Spent with Aubr

A351 on  November 27 th  at  3:35 p.m. Tillotson will facilitate the meeting.   Award-winning author and artist Mike Curato draws on his own experiences in  Flamer , his debut graphic novel, telling a difficult story with humor, compassion, and love. "This book will save lives." ―Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author of National Book Award Finalist  Hey, Kiddo I know I’m not gay. Gay boys like other boys. I hate boys. They’re mean, and scary, and they’re always destroying something or saying something dumb or both. I hate that word. Gay. It makes me feel . . . unsafe. It's the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone's going through changes―but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can't stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance.

  The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times Monday, October 30, 2023 3:30 #1  NEW YORK TIMES  AND  USA TODAY  BESTSELLER • In an inspiring follow-up to her acclaimed memoir  Becoming,  former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world.   There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life’s big challenges, but Michelle Obama believes that we can all locate and lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. In  The Light We Carry,  she opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much?   Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and ins

Monday, September 25, 3:45   A NEW YORK TIMES "TEN BEST BOOKS OF 2022" An Oprah’s Book Club Selection An Instant  New York Times  Bestseller An Instant  Wall Street Journal  Bestseller  A #1  Washington Post  Bestseller "Demon is a voice for the ages—akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield—only even more resilient.” —Beth Macy, author of  Dopesick "May be the best novel of 2022. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love.” (Ron Charles,  Washington Post ) From the acclaimed author of  The Poisonwood Bible  and  The Bean Trees,  a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero’s unforgettable journey to maturity Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia,  Demon Copperhead  is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, an