Friends members and others who are interested in reading and discussing books are meeting, except as noted, in the Community Room at the Library on the second Tuesday of each month, 5:30 to 7:00pm. Discussion centers around the monthly selection and other books we have enjoyed. Upcoming books are as follows:
| September 12, 2023 |
 While Justice Sleeps by Stacey AbramsFrom Booklist: *Starred Review* “Known for her deft political organizing and passionate racial justice advocacy, Abrams is also the author of the nonfiction best-seller, Our Time Is Now (2020). She now displays her considerable talent for fiction in this gripping legal thriller. Justice Howard Wynn, an irascible lion of the Supreme Court, falls unexpectedly into a coma. His nurse fields a mysterious phone call, then disappears. Shadowy figures from Homeland Security, the FBI, and the international biotech industry confer urgently about a pending court decision with potentially earth-shattering consequences on which Justice Harris will be the swing vote. Coincidence? Not bloody likely. Yet who can untie this deadly knot of deception and global skulduggery? None other than Avery Keene, Justice Harris’ brilliant and tenacious law clerk, who knows a thing or two about impossible odds. Assigned the unenviable task of serving as Justice Harris’ legal guardian, Avery must also figure out who is plotting her boss’ demise and why. With the help of her med school roommate, a young lawyer, and Wynn’s hunky son, Avery tracks down fiendishly intricate clues leading to a horrifying secret that implicates powerful and dangerous people. Will Avery solve the final conundrum before it’s too late? Will this delightful multiethnic Scooby-Doo gang prevail, or will they fall to the forces of ultimate evil? Will there be a sequel? Stay tuned, dear reader, stay tuned” |
| October 10, 2023 |
 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail HoneymanFrom Booklist: *Starred Review* “Move over, Ove (in Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, 2014)—there’s a new curmudgeon to love. Thirty-year-old Eleanor Oliphant leads a highly predictable life, working at an office, eating the same meals alone in her apartment, and spending her weekends regularly administering vodka (she usually goes without speaking to another human from the time she bids farewell to the bus driver on Friday until she greets another one on Monday). She is, as she regularly tells herself, fine. But when a chance encounter with a local musician sends her reeling into the throes of a full-fledged crush, her carefully constructed world breaks open. Soon she is embarking on a self-improvement program from the outside in, complete with shopping trips, manicure, makeup, and attempts at hairstyling. The real changes, however, are slowly taking place within, as she develops a friendship with a man from work and eventually learns the wonderful rewards that come to those who open their hearts. Walking in Eleanor’s practical black Velcro shoes is delightfully amusing, her prudish observations leavened with a privately puckish humor. But readers will also be drawn in by her tragic backstory, which slowly reveals how she came to be so entirely Eleanor. Witty, charming, and heartwarming, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is a remarkable debut about a singular woman. Readers will cheer Eleanor as she confronts her dark past and turns to a brighter future. Feel good without feeling smarmy.” |
| November 14, 2023 |
 Deep into the Dark by P. J. TracyFrom Booklist: “As the serial killer dubbed the Monster of Miracle Mile is mutilating and murdering women in Los Angeles, army veteran Sam Easton is struggling with his own demons. The sole survivor of his unit, which was bombed in Afghanistan, he’s left with a badly scarred face and nightmares that have led to his wife, Yukiko, moving out, leaving Sam to rely on on his psychiatrist and his coworker at the Pearl Club bar, Melody Traeger, for comfort and company. As Sam suffers hallucinations and blackouts, both he and Melody are seen as suspects by LAPD detectives in the murders of persons close to them. Meanwhile, Rolf Hesse, son of a famed filmmaker, is trying to pique Sam and Melody’s interest in acting in his student film. P. J. Tracy is the pseudonym of mother-daughter writing duo P. J. and Traci Lambrecht, best-selling authors of the Monkeewrench gang series. Here, Tracy launches a new series that depends as much on strong character development as it does on crime-solving.” |
Except as noted, annotations are supplied from the SELCO catalog
Please join us! New members welcome at any meeting.