

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 Club
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.
Book
Review Sites
Amazon-
This online bookstore offers some professional reviews, but more importantly
encourages regular readers to post reviews of the books.
Book Browser:
A Guide For Avid Readers -
Claim to have over 7,000 book reviews of all genres.
Booklist
-
"Digital counterpart of the American Library Association's
Booklist magazine. Annually reviews about 4,000 books for adults,
2,500 titles for children, 500 reference books and electronic reference
tools, and 1,000 other audiovisual materials."
Bookspot - Provides
a nice array of links to bookreview sources.
Librarian's
Index To The Internet Book Review Sites - A comprehensive list
of book review sites on the Web.
Reading Group Choices
For Book Discussion Reading - suggested reading for book discussion
groups. Arranged by topic, includes reviews.
New York Times Book
Review -
"Includes an archive of thousands of reviews, book-related news
pieces, bestseller lists, and interviews back to 1996. In addition,
the full-text of First Chapters of selected bestsellers and featured
titles are available."
The
Bookhive (for children's' books)-
"A searchable collection for brief reviews of hundreds of children's
books, also browsable by category. Books may be searched for by author,
title, illustrator, reading level, reading interest, or page length."
Online
Bookstores
For a nice list of online bookstores, please visit BookSpot
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