Book Club

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen Forty years ago this month, after a long, deadly release of flatulence from American politicians, the United States evacuated its personnel from Saigon in an operation appropriately code-named Frequent Wind. Whether you were alive then or not, the images of those panicked Vietnamese crushing the U.S. Embassy are tattooed […]

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August potluck and choosing books Nina’s house, Aug. 14,  6:00 pm

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All is not Forgotten by Wendy Walker The traumatic memories of a teenager’s rape are medically erased, but lingering thoughts of the attack remain, infecting everyone in her close-knit community. 15-year-old Jenny Kramer thought the party she’d been invited to would be the moment when she’d finally blossom, maybe even get a moment alone with […]

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Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard The shocking shooting and the painful, lingering death of the 20th president. “Killed by a disappointed office seeker.” Thus most history texts backhand the self-made James Garfield (1831–1881), notwithstanding his distinguished career as a college professor, lawyer, Civil War general, exceptional orator, congressman and all too briefly president. Millard follows […]

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Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris Zoe Ferraris’ first novel, “Finding Nouf” has won wide acclaim for its incisive portrayal of a conservative Muslim man’s navigation of tightly rule-bound Saudi society as he tries to solve the mystery behind the suspicious death of a 16-year-old girl. And the novel has its own bit of a mystery: […]

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Sapiens by Yuval Harari Yuval Noah Harari is an emerging rock-star lecturer at the nexus of history and science. In a recent talk at Google on “Silicon Prophets,” he stunned the audience by convincing them that the most interesting place in the world today in religious terms is Silicon Valley and that “techno-religions” will replace liberalism’s […]

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A Piece of the World by Christine Kline The real-life subject of an iconic work of art is given her own version of a canvas—space in which to reveal her tough personality, bruised heart, and “artist’s soul.” The figure at the center of Andrew Wyeth’s celebrated painting Christina’s World has her back to the viewer, but Kline […]

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America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, bestselling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter, Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph—a woman who kept the secrets of our most enigmatic founding […]

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