On Tuesday, December 9, at 2 pm, we will be discussing West by Carys Davies. This meeting takes place on the second Tuesday of the month, as usual. It will be a virtual meeting, on Zoom.

To RSVP, please email tonilin@aol.com. You will be sent the link upon RSVP.

We have put together the schedule below for future reading. Comments are welcome.

December 2025 —  West by Carys Davies, 2018, Goodreads 3.71, 160 pp.     Stunning debut novel (The Guardian). One of the most unsettling elements is Davies’s vein of dark, gleaming humour. Her writing manages the odd feat of seeming both timeless and historically specific, and her comedy is no exception.

January 2026 — We Should Not Be Friends by Will Schwalbe [Memoir], 336 pp., 2023. “An unexpected page-turner that may inspire readers to reach out to old friends. This delicate memoir tracks their intermittent friendship, from initiation into one of Yale’s secret societies to thirty-five-year college reunion. Schwalbe overcomes the perspectival limitations of memoir-writing by allowing himself access to his friend’s thoughts, notably in rhapsodic contemplations of the sea surrounding the Bahamian island where Maxey ultimately finds purpose.” —The New Yorker

February 2026 —  Horse by Geraldine Brooks, historical fiction, 2022, Goodreads 4.26, 400 pp.   “[A] sweeping tale . . . fluid, masterful storytelling … [Brooks] writes about our present in such a way that the tangled roots of history, just beneath the story, are both subtle and undeniable … Horse is a reminder of the simple, primal power an author can summon by creating characters readers care about and telling a story about them—the same power that so terrifies the people so desperately trying to get Toni Morrison banned from their children’s reading lists.”— Maggie Shipstead, The Washington Post

March 2026 — Knowing What We Know by Simon Winchester, nonfiction,  Goodreads 3.83, 423 pp.  2023.  “A delightful compendium of the kind of facts you immediately want to share with anyone you encounter . . . . Simon Winchester has firmly earned his place in history . . . as a promulgator of knowledge of every variety, perhaps the last of the famous explorers who crisscrossed the now-vanished British Empire and reported what they found to an astonished world.”  — New York Times

From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is award winning writer Simon Winchester’s brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds.

April 2026 — Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, 2014, 297 pages, A literary novel. Alex read this book in one day. The story grabbed her and took her on a sweet, sad journey of one family. Well written from start to finish, it unfolds nicely so you truly understand each person and relationship. The story involves family dynamics, teenager’s angst, relationships, race and makes you realize how hard it is to be different from everyone around you.

On Tuesday, October 8, at 2 pm we will be discussing two works by Euripides, The Trojan Women and Medea. This meeting is on the second Tuesday of the month, as usual.

To RSVP, please email tonilin@aol.com.

The virtual meeting will take place on Zoom or Google Meet. In person attendane in Palermo Botanico is a welcome possibility  If you want to arrive early, RSVP as above.  We will have lunch and get ready for the discussion.

You will be sent the link or address upon RSVP.

The books we plan to read in future months are listed below. Suggestions are encouraged.

October

The Trojan Women and Medea by Euripides. These books are an excellent lead in for the November book discussion.

November

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon. 2024, pp 304. Historical fiction.  4.25 rating on Good Reads.  An utterly original celebration of that which binds humanity across battle lines and history. 

On the island of Sicily amid the Peloponnesian War, the Syracusans have figured out what to do with the surviving Athenians who had the gall to invade their city: they’ve herded the sorry prisoners of war into a rock quarry and left them to rot.

Told in a contemporary Irish voice and as riotously funny as it is deeply moving, Glorious Exploits is an unforgettable ode to the power of art in a time of war, brotherhood in a time of enmity, and human will throughout the ages.

December

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.  2021.  pp 128.  Historical fiction.  Ireland.  Christmas.  For us, an anti-Christmas Carol?  Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.
Booker Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2022), Orwell Prize for Political Fiction (2022), Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award (2022), Writers’ Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2022)

January

What Could be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz. 2021.  pp 448.  A richly imagined page-turner that delivers twists alongside thought-provoking commentary. The novel is grounded in its deeply realized characters and the relationships among them, but the author layers in a consideration of power dynamics, racism, and privilege in a way that adds an undercurrent of realism and ugliness, particularly regarding the way the featured family lived in the ’70s. At the same time, the book is a gripping mystery that subtly ratchets up the tension with each chapter.

February

James by Percival Everett – 4.57 Goodreads rating – Historical fiction – pp 303, 2024.  A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.

Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.  Everett is a preeminent American author, and “James” is his sly response to “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The title immediately suggests what he is up to with this subversive revision. In these pages, the enslaved man known as Jim can finally declare: “I will not let this condition define me. … My name became my own.” While Everett flashes his own brand of humor, the novel gathers speed and terror like a swelling storm. Its conclusion is equally shocking and exhilarating.

March

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck.  Fiction, translated from German, 336 pages. 2023
“Berlin. 11 July 1986. They meet by chance on a bus. She is a young student, he is older and married. Theirs is an intense and sudden attraction, fueled by a shared passion for music and art, and heightened by the secrecy they must maintain. But when she strays for a single night he cannot forgive her and a dangerous crack forms between them, opening up a space for cruelty, punishment and the exertion of power. And the world around them is changing too: as the GDR begins to crumble, so too do all the old certainties and the old loyalties, ushering in a new era whose great gains also involve profound loss.

From a prize-winning German writer, this is the intimate and devastating story of the path of two lovers through the ruins of a relationship, set against the backdrop of a seismic period in European history”

April

The Wager:  A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann.   Non-fiction, 263 pages.  2023.  #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On Tuesday, September 10, at 2 pm we will be discussing Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance. This is the second Tuesday of the month, as usual.

To RSVP, please email tonilin@aol.com. The meeting will take place on Zoom or Google Meet.You will be sent the link upon RSVP.

A list of books we will be reading during the next months is included below. Suggestions are encouraged.

September

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. 2018, 388 pp.  From a former Marine and Yale Law School graduate now serving as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate for the 2024 election, an incisive account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class.

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

October – prep for November

The Trojan Women and Medea by Euripides.

November

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon. 2024, pp 304. Historical fiction.  4.25 rating on Good Reads.  An utterly original celebration of that which binds humanity across battle lines and history. 

On the island of Sicily amid the Peloponnesian War, the Syracusans have figured out what to do with the surviving Athenians who had the gall to invade their city: they’ve herded the sorry prisoners of war into a rock quarry and left them to rot.

Told in a contemporary Irish voice and as riotously funny as it is deeply moving, Glorious Exploits is an unforgettable ode to the power of art in a time of war, brotherhood in a time of enmity, and human will throughout the ages.

December

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.  2021.  pp 128.  Historical fiction.  Ireland.  Christmas.  For us, an anti-Christmas Carol?  Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.
Booker Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2022), Orwell Prize for Political Fiction (2022), Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award (2022), Writers’ Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2022)

January

What Could be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz. 2021.  pp 448.  A richly imagined page-turner that delivers twists alongside thought-provoking commentary. The novel is grounded in its deeply realized characters and the relationships among them, but the author layers in a consideration of power dynamics, racism, and privilege in a way that adds an undercurrent of realism and ugliness, particularly regarding the way the featured family lived in the ’70s. At the same time, the book is a gripping mystery that subtly ratchets up the tension with each chapter.

February

James by Percival Everett – 4.57 Goodreads rating – Historical fiction – pp 303, 2024.  A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.

Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.  Everett is a preeminent American author, and “James” is his sly response to “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The title immediately suggests what he is up to with this subversive revision. In these pages, the enslaved man known as Jim can finally declare: “I will not let this condition define me. … My name became my own.” While Everett flashes his own brand of humor, the novel gathers speed and terror like a swelling storm. Its conclusion is equally shocking and exhilarating.

March

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck.  Fiction, translated from German, 336 pages. 2023
“Berlin. 11 July 1986. They meet by chance on a bus. She is a young student, he is older and married. Theirs is an intense and sudden attraction, fueled by a shared passion for music and art, and heightened by the secrecy they must maintain. But when she strays for a single night he cannot forgive her and a dangerous crack forms between them, opening up a space for cruelty, punishment and the exertion of power. And the world around them is changing too: as the GDR begins to crumble, so too do all the old certainties and the old loyalties, ushering in a new era whose great gains also involve profound loss.

From a prize-winning German writer, this is the intimate and devastating story of the path of two lovers through the ruins of a relationship, set against the backdrop of a seismic period in European history”

April

The Wager:  A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann.   Non-fiction, 263 pages.  2023.  #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.