Driving With Dead People
Monica Holloway’s memoir, Driving With Dead People, will be discussed on May 4th at 3:30 p.m. by Bernardsville Public Library’s book group, Saturday Samplers. The observation that some people ought never to become parents certainly applies here as the author reveals a childhood of parental abuse and neglect that proved shocking to the people who knew her family and later read her memoir. Some of the abuse from her parents was verbal, some psychological, some physical, some violent, yet those in her hometown … Continue reading
The Life of a Newspaperman
Bernardsville Public Library book group, Saturday Samplers, will attend author Mark Di Ionno’s talk on Saturday, April 6th, in the Community Room of the library. The book group has just finished reading his new book, The Last Newspaperman, an acclaimed piece of historical fiction set entirely in New Jersey. Mr. Di Ionno is an award-winning reporter for The Star-Ledger and has a lot to say about the newspaper business. The Last Newspaperman recounts the life and journalistic exploits of fictional reporter Fred Haines, … Continue reading
My Cousin Rachel
Saturday Samplers, Bernardsville Library’s book group, will attempt to crack the perplexing puzzle inherent in Daphne du Maurier’s suspense novel, My Cousin Rachel, when the group meets Saturday, March 2nd, at 3:30 p.m. Best known for her novel Rebecca, British author Daphne du Maurier also excelled at short fiction. Her wonderful short stories, The Birds and Don’t Look Now, were made into motion pictures, as were many of her books. Conflicting points of view and misunderstandings abound in her stories, … Continue reading
Under the Banner of Heaven
Saturday Samplers, a Bernardsville Library book group, will discuss Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer at its next meeting this Saturday, Dec. 1, at 3:30 p.m. New members are always welcome to attend Saturday Samplers meetings. Under the Banner of Heaven is an examination of an extremist religion born and bred in America, that of the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints, an outgrowth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise know as the Mormon Church. Centering … Continue reading
Elegies for the Brokenhearted
Christie Hodgen, author of Elegies for the Brokenhearted, is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and an award-winning writer. Her father (shown above with her daughter) is John Hodgen, a poet and college teacher. A 2006 interview by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette with Christie and her father can be read here. As John Hodgen notes, Christie has always been quite observant, and that quality stands out as a strength in her writing. Certainly … Continue reading
Broken For You
Saturday Samplers book group (see Saturday Samplers blog here) will discuss Broken for You at its next meeting in the library on Saturday, June 2nd, at 3:30 p.m. Published in 2004, Broken for You is the debut novel of Seattle-based writer Stephanie Kallos. The book received numerous positive reviews, and Kallos was named Best First Novelist in 2005 by Library Journal. Her second book, Sing Them Home, also garnered praise for its development of characters in a physical and spiritual landscape of loss and healing. … Continue reading
Trillion Dollar Shoreline, Comes With Spare Tires
Why does Manhattan turn inward onto its glittering skyscrapers and avenues of commerce when a gold coastline, a potentially magnificent waterfront, beckons from all sides? Would its residents rush to these shorelines, partaking of promenades, water sports, and river transportation systems if accessibility were vastly improved? New York essayist / author Phillip Lopate muses on these and many other thoughtfilled topics in his excellent 2004 publication, Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan. Waterfront will be discussed this Saturday, May 5th, by … Continue reading
Cleopatra
Cleopatra: a Life by Stacy Schiff will be the subject of Saturday Samplers next book discussion to be held this Saturday, April 14th, at 3:30 p.m. Saturday Samplers is a Bernardsville Library book group which meets once a month in the library on a Saturday afternoon. For more information about the book group, link to the Saturday Samplers blog. Stacy Schiff is an award-winning biographer who met with literary success early in her career. Born in 1961, Ms. Schiff attended Williams College. … Continue reading
Hmm…The Help
Kathryn Stockett’s first novel, The Help, has bloomed into a mega-hit regardless of criticism for its historical inaccuracies and racial insensitivity. One blog in particular, “A Critical Review of the novel The Help,” is just loaded with interesting critical commentary. Nonetheless, many readers seem to adore it for the dialogue and punchy characters inhabiting a story the author thought would never be published. In fact, according to Stockett, the manuscript was rejected by 60 literary agents before hitting pay dirt in 2009. Since … Continue reading
September Library Book Groups To Meet
Bernardsville Library’s two book groups will meet in September. Saturday Samplers will discuss Elizabeth Cunningham’s novel, The Passion of Mary Magdalen, this Saturday, September 10, at 3:30 p.m. in the library. Memoirs and Coffee will discuss Townie: a memoir by Andre Dubus III on Tuesday, September 27 at 10:30 a.m. Members of this book group are invited to read an additional novel or short story collection by the same author. Copies of these September books are available at the circulation … Continue reading
