SOTAREADING 2021-2024

The runaway  New York Times  bestseller! Named a Best Book of the Year by: People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly,  NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads, Library Reads,  Book of the Month,  Paste ,  Kirkus Reviews ,  St. Louis Post-Dispatch,  and many more! "I read  Little Fires Everywhere  in a single, breathless sitting." –Jodi Picoult “To say I love this book is an understatement. It’s a deep psychological mystery about the power of motherhood, the intensity of teenage love, and the danger of perfection. It moved me to tears.” - Reese Witherspoon “I am loving  Little Fires Everywhere . Maybe my favorite novel I've read this year.”—John Green "Witty, wise, and tender. It's a marvel." – Paula Hawkins From the bestselling author of  Everything I Never Told You , a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the pictu...

“ Monday, April 30 Moderator: Zach Johnson "Wrenching and revelatory.” An instant #1 bestseller, the widely acclaimed  Turtles All the Way Down  is John Green's brilliant and shattering new novel. “A tender story about learning to cope when the world feels out of control.” –  People Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.     Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.  In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of  Looking for Alaska  and...

The Diary of Mattie Spenser: A Novel   by Sandra Dallas Moderator: Ellen Folts March 26, 2018 No one is more surprised than Mattie Spenser herself when Luke Spenser, considered the great catch of their small Iowa town, asks her to marry him. Less than a month later, they are off in a covered wagon to build a home on the Colorado frontier. Mattie's only company is a slightly mysterious husband and her private journal, where she records the joys and frustrations not just of frontier life, but also of a new marriage to a handsome but distant stranger. As she and Luke make life together on the harsh and beautiful plains, Mattie learns some bitter truths about her husband and the girl he left behind and finds love where she least expects it. Dramatic and suspenseful, this is an unforgettable story of hardship, friendship and survival.

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...