apple spice tea, apple cider donuts and a cozy chat about books. That’s right book lovers, last Tuesday was the fall inspired Literatea at the West. For the latest book news and books highlighted by library staff, check out the October Newsletter.
Here’s what the Literatea attendees having been reading recently:
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce, which is the companion piece to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Both works are highly recommended by the ladies of Literatea, who suggest you read Harold Fry first.
Since one of our topics this month was teen literature that adults can love too, Code Talker by Joseph Bruhac got an enthusiastic recommendation.
The discussion of Circling the Sun by Paula McLain, which was recommended in September by Dale at the West Branch, continued. The general agreement seems to be that this one is an enjoyable read, but not quite as good as McLain’s The Paris Wife.
Since the West Branch afternoon book group read The Wives of Los Alamos by Tara Shea Nesbit for October, that title came up for discussion. Some of our Literatea ladies very much enjoyed the way it was written (using the first person, plural “we” throughout the book) and others gave it a big thumbs down. Is there anything more intriguing than a book people can’t agree upon?
We also talked about the other title being read and discussed by a West Branch book club this month was When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning, which is a fascinating look at the role that ideas, censorship and most importantly books played in World War II. It’s a title that would be of interest to anyone who loves books or history (and really, who does that leave out?).
Speaking of titles that will appeal to the history buffs among us, The Wright Brothers by David McCullough also gets and enthusiastic thumbs up for its readability and the intriguing story of these famous, yet not well understood Americans.
A few other titles were mentioned as worthy of adding to your reading list: The Sea by John Banville, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, and A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry both by Fredrik Backman.
Well that’s all for the October Literatea, dear readers. Literatea will be on a bit of a break for the next few months. To hold you over until we return, you can take a look at the newsletters for past Literatea events and, of course, keep reading Free For All!