DISCUSSION GUIDES
- 1.
How to Be the Best Third Wheel
Summary: It’s the last year of highschool, and everything has changed . . .
- 2.
House in the Cerulean Sea
Summary: An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.
- 3.
Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods
Summary: In this investigative expose, author Amelia Pang pulls back the curtain on the human cost behind the cheap consumer goods we purchase.
- 4.
Final Table: A Novel
Summary: A political thriller about sexual misconduct in the #MeToo era, one victim's battle to survive and overcome trauma, and the cable news machine that feeds off titillating scandal coverage and inflammatory confrontation, Final Table draws upon Dan Schorr's firsthand experience as a New York sex crimes prosecutor and sexual misconduct investigator to tackle the worlds of political and media dysfunction.
- 5.
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir
Summary: The must-read memoir of family, food, and finding oneself from the Grammy-nominated indie rockstar of Japanese Breakfast fame. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart is an unflinching and unforgettable book to cherish, share, and reread.
- 6.
Honor
Summary: In this riveting and immersive novel, bestselling author Thrity Umrigar tells the story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide.
- 7.
Apples Never Fall
Summary: From Liane Moriarty, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, comes Apples Never Fall, a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest.
- 8.
Paper Airplanes: A Novel
Summary: When Erin O’Connor’s new husband dies on 9/11, she struggles to get her life back on track but makes a series of bad decisions and begins to live her life in a self-destructive fog of booze and pills. It’s not until she hits rock bottom that she realizes it’s up to her to decide whether her destiny was sealed with Daniel’s, or if there’s life after happily ever after.
- 9.
The Sorting Room: A Novel
Summary: An epic family saga, The Sorting Room is the captivating tale of Eunice Ritter, a girl coming of age during America’s Great Depression, who was born to uncaring alcoholic parents and destined for a life of low-wage toil—a difficult, lonely existence of scant choices. The novel, which spans decades, shows how hard work and the memory of a single friendship gave the indomitable Eunice the perseverance to pursue redemption and forgiveness for the grievous mistakes she made early in her life.
- 10.
Freedom (America Book 2)
Summary: “An extraordinary and deftly crafted novel that combines interesting characters within an historically detailed background… a fascinating read from cover to cover.” – MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
- 11.
Loving You Big: One family embracing the unexpected
Summary: In Loving You Big, Leah Witman Moore recounts how she learns to balance the joys and sorrows of her life as she navigates raising a child with a rare disability. This powerful and poignant memoir teaches readers to celebrate every small victory, savor every chaotic moment, and recognize the profound impact of a kind word.
- 12.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
Summary: NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NATIONAL BESTSELLER A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Lost City of Z.
- 13.
Moms Don't Have Time to Have Kids: A Timeless Anthology
Summary: Edited by Zibby Owens Moms Don’t Have Time to Have Kids features 53 amazing essays by 49 authors including 15 New York Times bestsellers. All contributing authors have been on Zibby's award-winning podcast, Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books. The essays are inspired by five things these authors don’t have time to do: sleep, see friends, get sick, write, and lose weight.
- 14.
Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel
Summary: “Cloud Cuckoo Land” is a Greek phrase, originally from Aristophanes’ play The Birds. Cloud Cuckoo Land’s lessons are really just one lesson. Doerr believes, fervently, in the power of literature: that “a book is a resting place for the memories of people who have lived before. A way for the memory to stay fixed after the soul has traveled on.” Cloud Cuckoo Land rewrites the Greek classics to show how they might be preserved.
- 15.
Hell of a Book: A Novel
Summary: What even is Hell of a Book besides a 2021 National Book Award finalist? It’s singular. “Singular” meaning both “exceptionally good or great, remarkable”; and “strange or eccentric in some respect.” Click "Discussion Guide" to learn more.
- 16.
Harlem Shuffle: A Novel
Summary: From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.
- 17.
The Liar's Dictionary: A Novel
Summary: An award-winning novel that chronicles the charming misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world.
- 18.
Master and Commander
Summary: In the classic first novel of the epic Aubrey/Maturin series, widely considered “the best historical novels ever written” (Richard Snow, New York Times), brilliant but down-on-his-luck physician, Stephen Maturin, introduces himself to ardent, gregarious British naval officer Jack Aubrey by way of a hard elbow to the ribs in the middle of a chamber music recital. Luckily for millions of series fans, the two reconcile and embark on the adventure of a lifetime that sees them through the thrilling perils of the Napoleonic Wars.
- 19.
Carry the Dog
Summary: Stephanie Gangi’s novel, Carry the Dog, sweeps readers into Bea Seger’s Manhattan life in a story that pulses with rock ‘n’ roll, insight, and wit. After years of avoiding her past and her artist mother’s infamous, nude photos of Bea and her brothers, Bea must make a choice of whether to let the world in—and be compensated for the trauma of her childhood—or leave it all locked away in a storage unit forever.
- 20.
Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You
Summary: This New York Times Bestseller, shows there’s no more hiding or people-pleasing up in here, sisters. No more being sidelined in your own life. It is time for us to be brave, to claim our gifts and quirks and emotions. You are set free and set up and set on fire.
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