October Book Discussions

October can be your month to take part in one of our discussions. Books are available for the asking, and participants are always welcome. Not sure? Come listen and you’ll be hooked! Read a hook from the publisher for each book and see…



(TWEENS-GRADES 6-8 from 6:30-7:30pm) OCTOBER 7~ “The Disreputable Reputation of Frankie Landau-Banks” by E. Lockhart.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:

Debate Club.

Her father's "bunny rabbit."

A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.



Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:


A knockout figure.


A sharp tongue.A chip on her shoulder.


And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.



Frankie Landau-Banks.


No longer the kind of girl to take "no" for an answer.


Especially when "no" means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male secret society.


Not when her ex-boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.


Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them.When she knows Matthew's lying to her. And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.


Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:


Possibly a criminal mastermind. This is the story of how she got that way.



(YOUNG ADULT-GRADES 9-12 from 6:30-7:30pm) OCTOBER 14~ “Impulse” by Ellen Hopkins.
Three teens who have attempted suicide meet in a psychiatric hospital, battle their demons, and begin to heal.
The handsome son of wealthy parents, Connor has everything anyone could want-except his family's love and affection. Jailed for years after killing his mother's child-molesting boyfriend, Tony is confused about his sexuality. Manic-depressive Vanessa cuts herself. All three stories intertwine in a brutally honest story about pain and resilience.



(EVENING-ADULTS from 6-7pm) OCTOBER 20~ “People of the Book” by Geraldine Brooks.
In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book's mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book's journey from its salvation back to its creation. In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city's rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah's extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna's investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love. Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotionalintensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author.



(JUNIOR-GRADES 4-5 from 4-5pm) OCTOBER 22~ “A Ghost in the Family” by Betty Ren Wright.
Chad Weldon is staying at an old house for two weeks during summer vacation. But he's not the only visitor. Soon after Chad and his friend Jeannie arrive, they discover a horrifying secret -- the house is haunted! And the ghost wants them gone! A swarm of bugs crawls out from under Chad's pillow, a mummy pays him a midnight visit, and a panther leaps out of the closet. What chilling secret is the ghost trying so hard to hide? And who can Chad and Jeannie turn to for help



(MORNING-ADULTS from 10:15-11:30am) OCTOBER 28~ “Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan.
I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives. In this ambitious debut novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Cheney’s profound influence on Wright. Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world. Mamah’s is an unforgettable journey marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leading inexorably ultimately lead to this novel’s stunning conclusion. Elegantly written and remarkably rich in detail, Loving Frank is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman, a national icon, and their timeless love story.


October is a great month to join us.