Proposed by Jeanne, we discussed Rough Sleepers at Jeanne & Bill’s on April 19, 2024. As a group we were impressed with Dr. Jim. Carolyn recalls that it was enlightening to her – especially the difference between “the homeless” and the “rough sleepers.” She remembers saying that working with Dr. Jim O’Connell would be crazy…
We started the new year on Saturday January 27, 2024 at Renee’s parents’ home in Rockland discussing Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War by Roger Lowenstein, which was proposed by Michael. Salmon Chase, as Secretary of the Treasury, was the irascible hero of this story. As an…
On Saturday, September 23, 2023 the Larkes hosted our discussion of The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel, which was proposed by Dick Malmquist. Carolyn recalls that we questioned the motives of the author in developing a “friendship” with the hermit. Was the author gathering information for a book all along? We talked of…
We selected this book at our outdoor gathering at Karen’s and Michael’s house, November 5, 2022. The weather was in the low 70’s – balmy! Other contenders were “On The Grid” and “The Shepherd’s Life.” Karen served a pumpkin buttermilk cake. Appetizers included salad, flake pastry with asparagus, cheese/grapes, and deviled eggs. Here is the…
Discussed September 13, 2020 A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is…
Book club date September 24, 2022 A popular history that refutes common misperceptions of the European Middle Ages, showing the beauty and communion that flourished alongside the dark brutality—a brilliant reflection of humanity itself. The myth of the “Dark Ages” obscures the truth that this was a remarkable period in human history. The Bright Ages…
Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this…
From the beet fields of North Dakota to the campgrounds of California to Amazon’s CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older adults. These invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in RVs and modified vans,…
Walking his two young children to school every morning, Thad Carhart passes an unassuming little storefront in his Paris neighborhood. Intrigued by its simple sign—Desforges Pianos—he enters, only to have his way barred by the shop’s imperious owner. Unable to stifle his curiosity, he finally lands the proper introduction, and a world previously hidden is…
Susan Orlean—the beloved New Yorker staff writer and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Library Book—gathers a lifetime of musings, meditations, and in-depth profiles about animals. “How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages,” writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated…
