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Monday, April 11, 2011

BPL Book Group In the Tribune

Becky Spratford and Berwyn Public Library Monday Afternoon Book Club.
Picture from April 2010 Meeting
 
Finally, after being in the cue for almost an entire year, there we were on Saturday, me and my ladies.  Aren't we lovely?

I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful group.  I am also so happy for them that we made it into the paper.  This was totally their doing.  They told me that our group was better than all of the others the Tribune featured and asked how we could get in.  Without their pushing, I would have never submitted our group information.  So ladies, this is for you.

Here is the direct link to the article and below is the text.

Berwyn Public Library Monday Afternoon Book Club

We are: about 15 bright, eclectic, mature woman and a 30-something librarian who has been leader for nine years.

We reserve a room at the library for the discussion from 2-4 p.m. We spend about 80 of those minutes discussing the book.

Five books we loved: "Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer" by James Swanson, "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson, "The Zookeeper's Wife" by Diane Ackerman, "The River of Doubt" by Candice Millard, and "Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan.

About "Manhunt": What we loved about this book was how it took a historical event we were all familiar with, but told it from the other side — from the point of view of John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators. We were surprised by how much we were drawn to Booth. We agreed that Swanson manipulated our emotions by using Booth's own personal diaries and playing off the fact that we know in the back of our heads that he will not get away with what he did. Two years later we still talk about this book.

We would love to meet: Bill Bryson because we love his sense of humor and how he is able to cover so many areas and issues in his books without making it feel like he is trying too hard.

Sometimes a book that people didn't like leads to a great discussion.

We begin every discussion with a poll as to who liked, disliked, or was in the middle about the book. Quite often, the reason one person loved the book is the exact reason why another disliked it. This gets the discussion off to a running start every time.

Up next: "Italian Shoes" by Henning Mankell, and "Wait Till Next Year" by Doris Kearns Goodwin

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