SOTAREADING 2021-2024

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood Next meeting: Monday, November 27 Moderator: Susan Woodhams William Shakespeare's  The Tempest  retold as  Hag-Seed Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he's staging a  Tempest  like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge. After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his  Tempest  and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It's magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall? Margaret Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances...

Monday, Oct. 30  Moderator: Nija Branca http://www.jenniferniven.com/ Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her small Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school—six stories above the ground— it’s unclear who saves whom. Soon it’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. . . . “A do-not-miss for fans of  Eleanor & Park  and  The Fault in Our Stars ,  and basically anyone who can breathe.” —Justine Magazine “At the heart—a big one—of All the Bright Places lies a charming love story about this unlikely and endearing pair of broken teenagers.”  —The New York Times Book Review  “A heart-rending , stylish love story.” — The Wall Str...

OCTOBER    All the Bright Places  by Jennifer Niven   Moderator, Nija Branca                        Also from last June   My Favorite Thing is Monsters  by Emil Ferris                                                          Moderator, Zach Johnson NOVEMBER   Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood   Moderator, Susan Woodhams DECEMBER    The Sherlockian by Graham Moore   Moderator, Brad Craddock JANUARY         My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallant   Moderator, Shelley Davis Please be sure to post a response on the blog if you do not attend a meeting if you would like credit for the meeting's 2 hours.

SUMMER READING: 1st meeting: Monday, Sept. 25 A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline Moderator: Dolly Parker http://christinabakerkline.com/ From the #1   New York Times   bestselling author of the smash bestseller ORPHAN TRAIN, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting   Christina’s World . "Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn’t like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won’t stay hidden." To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family’s remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. In...

In this debut, which takes the form of a fictional graphic diary, a 10-year-old girl tries to solve a murder. Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago,  My Favorite Thing Is Monsters  is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazines iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge. Full-color illustrations throughout.

A New York Times 2016 Notable BookOne of Oprah s 10 Favorite Books of 2016NPR's Debut Novel of the YearOne of Buzzfeed's Best Fiction Books Of2016One of Time's Top 10 Novels of 2016 Homegoingis an inspiration. Ta-Nehisi Coates The unforgettable New York Times best seller begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day. Effia and Esi are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle s dungeons, sold wit...

The Girl on the Train  (2015) is a  psychological thriller  novel by  British author   Paula Hawkins . [1]  The novel debuted at No. 1 on  The New York Times  Fiction Best Sellers of 2015  list (combined print and  e-book ) dated February 1, 2015, [2]  and remained in the top position for 13 consecutive weeks, until April 2015. [3]  In January 2016 it became the No.1 bestseller again for two weeks. Many reviews referred to the book as "the next  Gone Girl ", referring to a popular 2012 psychological mystery with similar themes and use of  unreliable narrators . [4] [5] By early March 2015, the novel had sold over 1 million copies, [6]  and 1.5 million by April. [7]  It has occupied the number one spot of the UK hardback book chart for 20 weeks, the longest any book has ever held the top spot. [8]  By early August 2015, the book had sold more than 3 million copies in the US alone, and, by October 2016...