Books Suggestions for Your Book Club!

Are you an avid reader who loves to discuss books with friends?  Is your book club in search of its next great read?  The librarians at Lake Forest Library are always happy to offer reading suggestions for book discussion groups and to provide help in obtaining needed copies of selected titles.  To make choosing a new title for your group a little easier, the library has created a special new collection of "Book Club" books.  The collection consists of multiple-copy sets of popular, well-reviewed titles in a variety of genres, with narratives and themes we believe will promote lively discussion.  The new collection is also a great place to browse for titles sure to satisfy individual readers as well!

For a quick taste of what's available, we've highlighted two titles in the collection below:

 A Constellation of Vital Phenomena  by Anthony Marra

Set against the backdrop of war-torn Chechnya in 2004, an eight-year-old Chechen girl witnesses her father's abduction by a band of Russian soldiers.  Found hiding in the woods by a neighbor, the pair seeks refuge at a nearby hospital, where a sole Russian doctor works tirelessly to save lives amidst increasingly deteriorating circumstances.  Over the next five days, the trio's lives become inextricably linked as connections in their past lives are slowly revealed, and the survival of the young girl becomes a shared goal and a rare source of optimism. 

Marra's powerful novel, named a 2013 Notable Book by both the New York Times and the American Library Association, is a moving testament to the power of love and hope to sustain us, even in our darkest moments.

For added help in leading a group discussion of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, you can find a LitLovers reading guide here. 

The Story of Beautiful Girl  by Rachel Simon

A young couple falls in love in 1968, but their relationship faces seemingly insurmountable odds.  Lynnie is white and developmentally disabled; Homer is African American and deaf.  Each is a resident of the Pennsylvania School for the Incurable and Feeble-minded. The couple plots their escape from the abusive institution after Lynnie becomes pregnant, and the pair seeks refuge in a farmhouse belonging to Martha, a retired schoolteacher.  Homer manages to escape as authorities in search of the pair close in, but Lynnie is caught.  Before Lynnie is returned to the institution, she begs Martha to hide their precious, newborn daughter.  In a moving and powerful story that spans forty years, the lives of the four will remain forever bound by an extraordinary pledge of love. 

You can find a wonderful group discussion guide prepared by the publisher of The Story of Beautiful Girl  here. 

We hope you'll stop in to check out our new Book Club collection very soon!  We'll be adding new titles on a regular basis.  You can find a list of Book Club books that are currently available here and here.