SOTAREADING 2021-2027

Monday, Feb. 26 Moderator: Janice Kriegel KIRKUS REVIEW The 17-year-old son of a troubled rock star is determined to find his own way in life and love. On the verge of adulthood, Blade Morrison wants to leave his father’s bad-boy reputation for drug-and-alcohol–induced antics and his sister’s edgy lifestyle behind. The death of his mother 10 years ago left them all without an anchor. Named for the black superhero, Blade shares his family’s connection to music but resents the  paparazzi  that prevent him from having an open relationship with the girl that he loves. However, there is one secret even Blade is unaware of, and when his sister reveals the truth of his heritage during a bitter fight, Blade is stunned. When he finally gains some measure of equilibrium, he decides to investigate, embarking on a search that will lead him to a small, remote village in Ghana. Along the way, he meets people with a sense of purpose, especially Joy, a young Ghanaian who helps him...

February:   Solo    Kwame Alexander, moderator Janice Kriegel March:  The Diary of Mattie Spencer    Sandra Dallas, moderator Ellen Folts April:  Little Fi res Everywhere   Celeste Ng, moderator Marybeth Mueller

DECEMBER    The Sherlockian by Graham Moore   Moderator, Brad Craddock JANUARY         My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallant   Moderator, Shelley Davis Hurtling from present day New York to Victorian London,  The Sherlockian  weaves the history of Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle into an inspired and entertaining double mystery that proves to be anything but "elementary." In December 1893, Sherlock Holmes-adoring Londoners eagerly opened their Strand magazines, anticipating the detective's next adventure, only to find the unthinkable: his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, had killed their hero off. London spiraled into mourning-crowds sported black armbands in grief-and railed against Conan Doyle as his assassin. Then in 1901, just as abruptly as Conan Doyle had "murdered" Holmes in "The Final Problem," he resurrected him. Though the writer kept detailed diaries of his days and work, Conan Doyle never explained thi...

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...