Marshall Readers Book Club
The Marshall Readers Book Club is a community-organized book club that welcomes new members. The group meets the 4th Tuesday of each month at 6 pm in the Marshall library. There is no December meeting.
2018 Titles and Times
January 23
From Here to Eternity by James Jones
This classic is considered one of the most important novels to come out of World War II.
February 27
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
“Eleanor Oliphant is a truly original literary creation: funny, touching, and unpredictable. Her journey out of dark shadows is expertly woven and absolutely gripping.” -Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You
March 27
The Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
” … a beautiful memoir but it is equally a work of cultural criticism about white working-class America. … [Vance] offers a compelling explanation for why it’s so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it. … a riveting book.” – Wall Street Journal
April 24
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
“A bounteous miracle that makes you feel that past time, and our time, differently; everything becomes freshly energized, infused with humanity, vital, sad, and full of importance. To see the world through Egan’s eyes is to be moved, through language, to a new adoration fo the world. I don’t know a better writer working today. There is a generosity in her prose that is vastly enlivening to its reader and brings about that beautiful effect fiction sometimes causes: more, and better-grounded, fondness for reality, just as it is.” – George Saunders
May 22
Sulfur Springs by William Kent Krueger
“Krueger paints a vivid picture of the sordid cycle of poverty, abuse, alcoholism, and runaway (or throwaway) children on the reservation, and reminds us of the evil of men all too willing to exploit the innocent.” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
June 26
Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
“I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting. With Brilliance and beauty, Celeste Ng dissects a microcosm of American society just when we need to see it beneath the microscope: how to questions of race stack up against the comfort of privilege, and what role does that play in parenting? Is motherhood a bond forged by blood, or by love? And perhaps most importantly: do the faults of our past determine what we deserve in the future? Be ready to be wowed by Ng’s writing — and unsettled by the mirror held up to one’s own beliefs.” – Jodi Picoult
July 24
Until They Bring the Streetcars Back by Stanley West
“1949 St. Paul, MN – that hopeful post-war era where streetcars graced the city, drive-ins bloomed, the internet and shopping centers didn’t exist and people hadn’t yet fled to the suburbs. Besides entertaining, we want to be, set us back on course, arouse our goodness and courage and compassion. A novel can point true north on our inner compass. I hope Until They Bring the Streetcars Back does exactly that.”
August 28
The History of Bees by Maja Lunde (if available)
otherwise, choose a book written by Alice Hoffman
September 25
Evicted by Matthew Desmond or Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Two books that look at and evaluate modern U.S. culture. The first: living in Detroit; the second: Black American justice in America.
October 23
Your choice of a biography.
Suggestions: Upstairs at the White House (Kolz); Leonardo da Vinci (Isaacson); Marie Antoinette (Fraser); Steve Jobs (Blumenthal); I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Angelou); Unbroken (Hillenbrand); I Am Malala (Yousfzai); The House on Mango Street (Cisneros)
November 27
Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo
New York Times Review: “Everybody’s Fool is classic Russo, filled with humor, heart, hard times, and people you can’t help but love, possibly because their various faults make them so human.”