William K. Sanford Town Library: Book Discussion Group

Book Clubs

The Library offers several book groups which are open to the public and free of charge.
Click below to find information on a specific book group.

Fiction | Nonfiction | Our Search For Meaning | The Ends of Fiction

Let's Talk About It: Jewish Literature | Revolution and Rebellion in Early America

Fiction Book Group

Fiction Book Group Titles for 2007-08
The following titles have been selected for the upcoming season:

9/25/07: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
10/30/07: Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
11/27/07: The Road by Cormac McCarthy
1/29/08: Red and the Black by Stendhal
2/26/08: Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
3/25/08: Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
4/29/08: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez
5/27/08: Howard's End by E. M. Forster

The Fiction Book Discussion Group will meet on the last Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM in the Youth Services Activity Room.

For further information, please contact Bill Leone @ 458-9274, or leoneb@uhls.lib.ny.us

Nonfiction Book Discussion Group
The nonfiction book club meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM in the Activity Room located in the Youth Services Department. Those interested in joining the club can contact Joe Nash at 458-9274 or by e-mail at nashj@uhls.lib.ny.us.

Our Search for Meaning... A Book Discussion Group

Fall 2007 Meeting Schedule
We will begin the season with Elizabeth Grossman's new translation of Don Quixote (10/4), followed by The Troubled Dream of Life: in Search of a Peaceful Death by Daniel Callahan (11/1). In December we will discuss selections from The Life of Meaning: Reflections on Faith, Life, and Restoring the World by Bob Abernathy, William Bole and Tom Brokaw (12/6).

New members are welcome. For more information and to register contact Gillian Leonard at 458-9274, or by email at leonardg@uhls.lib.ny.us.

The Ends of Fiction

Our newest book discussion group, The Ends of Fiction, which will be led by library staff member and graduate student in English at UAlbany Zach Pickens, will start on Tuesday,October 9 at 7:00 PM with a discussion of The Lover by Marguerite Duras. The group will meet on the second Tuesday of the month. Upcoming titles include: Mao II by Dom DiLillo on November 13 and several selections from The Complete Short Prose by Samuel Beckett on December 11.
What Zack wants to do, in his words, is "to shine a light, if only a slanted light, on some experimental literary works of the 20th century and to think through and try to uncover different meanings from those works." Zack is usually on duty in our circulation department, so if you have any questions about the group and/or the books that will be read, please stop by and see him. You can sign up for this group by calling the Information Desk at 810-0314. Books will be provided.

Let's Talk About It: Jewish Literature

Let's Talk About It: Jewish Literature, a reading and discission series sponsored by the American Library Association and Nextbook, will begin in early October. As we mentioned last month, the discussion leader for all five works will be Joel Berkowitz, Chair of UAlbany's Judaic Studies Department. Dates and times for the discussions will be as follows (again, the series theme is "Demons, Golems, and Dybbuks: Monsters of the Jewish Imagination"):
Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel Satan in Goray on Tuesday, October 2 at 7:00 PM;
S. Ansky's play The Dybbuk on Tuesday, October 16 at 7:00 PM;
Franz Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis on Tuesday, October 23 at 7:00 PM;
Cynthia Ozick's novel The Puttermesser Papers on Tuesday, November 6 at 7:00 PM;
and, both parts of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America on Tuesday, November 27 at 7:00 PM.

Additionally, a filmed version of The Dybbuk (from 1937) will be shown on Tuesday night, October 9 at 7:00 PM and the complete HBO production of Angels in America (from 2004) will also be shown on Sunday, November 25 starting at 12:15 PM. Please note that there will no discussions at the films.

To reserve a spot for the book discussion series call the Information Desk at 810-0314. The five titles will be available to check out for the duration of the series.

Revolution and Rebellion in Early America

The New York Council for the Humanities is sponsoring us for the fourth time as part of their statewide book discussion program Reading Between the Lines for Adults. Mara Drogan, from UAlbany's History Department will also be here to lead the discussions. This fall's theme is titled "Revolution and Rebellion in Early America." Dates and times for the monthly discussions are as follows:
Jill Lepore's 2006 Anisfield-Wolf Award winner and 2006 Pulitzer Prize finalist New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth Century Manhattan on Thursday, September 27 at 7:00 PM;
Carol Berkin's Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence on Thursday, October 25 at 7:00 PM;
John Demos' 1994 National Book Award nominee The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story From Early America on Thursday November 29 at 7:00 PM;
and, Charles Brockden Brown's 1798 novel Wieland, Or The Transformation (considered the first American gothic novel) on Thursday December 20 at 7:00 PM.

To reserve a spot call the Information Desk at 810-0314. Books will be available.