Bibliophiles, unite!

It’s amazing sometimes how things just creep up on you like birthdays and holidays and PHiL’s (Palm Harbor Library) Book Club is no exception. Unbelievable as it may seem, we’re now into our tenth year of reading, eating and meeting. Considering this momentous occasion, I thought I’d take a few moments of your time to tell you what we’ve been reading and what’s coming up.
This year’s crop of titles encompasses a wide range of authors, backgrounds, cultures and genres. There’s just about something for everyone. For example, the new reading year kicked off with Jhumpa Lariri’s Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short stories, The Interpreter of Maladies. Other international settings include My Life in France by Julia Child and remote 19th century China in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.

We will also be discussing art in Susan Vreeland’s The Passion of Artemisia and American history in The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed, winner of the National Book Award.

All book club dates meet at 11 AM and at 7 PM at Palm Harbor Library. A complete list of titles and dates are below:

PHiL’s BOOK CLUB

READING LIST

JULY 2009 to JUNE 2010

Monday July 13th, 2009- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Monday August 10th- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Monday September 14th- My Life in France by Julia Child

Monday October 12th- Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Monday November 9th- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Monday December 14th- Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson

Monday January 11th, 2010- Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

Monday Feb. 8th- Known World by Edward P. Jones

Monday March 8th- The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

Monday April 12th- The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart

Monday May 10th- The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed

Monday June 14th- Breathing Lessons by Ann Tyler

In today’s society you got a lot of choices how to spend your leisure time. Sure, one of the easiest things to do is pull out the remote and click but if you want to be with friends, meet new friends, laugh, discuss, learn and eat, this may be the place for you. And here’s the best part. It’s free!

So stop by and walk the left bank of Paris, meet one of the first great female painters, experience a Florida nearly long gone and perhaps, fall in love with reading all over again.

See you next Monday.