Rumford Book Discussion Group

Reading List 2004-2005

Sept. 2, 2004 An American Childhood – Annie Dillard

“Dillard's luminous prose painlessly captures the pain of growing up in this wonderful evocation of childhood. Her memoir is partly a hymn to Pittsburgh, where orange streetcars ran on Penn Avenue in 1953 when she was eight, and where the Pirates were always in the cellar.”**

Oct. 7, 2004 Life of Pi – Yann Martel

“Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.”*

Nov. 4, 2004 Tepper Isn’t Going Out – Calvin Trillin

“An ordinary man, Murray Tepper unwittingly turns New York upside down when he engages in the normal activity of reading the newspaper in his car, which always seems to be parked in the same desirable parking spot in Manhattan.” *

Dec. 2, 2004 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

“This powerful first novel traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day.”*

Jan. 6, 2005 The Ginger Tree – Oswald Wynd

“A young Scottish wife travels to Peking and has an affair with a Japanese count in 1903. The accommodations she must make to maintain the relationship are devastating.”*

Feb. 3, 2005 Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight – Alexandra Fuller

Fuller writes about growing up "marshmallow" in a black African world, telling a story of relentless struggles in which the personal and political intersect. A passionate devotion to southern Africa is at the heart of the story.

Mar. 3, 2005 Crossing to Safety – Wallace Stegner

“In an intimate portrait of two marriages, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Stegner captures the pleasure and pain of lifelong friendship.”*

Apr.7, 2005 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

“Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.”*

May 5, 2005 Life and Death in Shanghai – Nien Cheng

A widely acclaimed memoir, this is a gripping account of a woman caught up in the maelstrom of China's Cultural Revolution.

June 9, 2005 A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving

“While playing baseball in the summer of 1953, Owen Meany hits a foul ball that kills his best friend's mother, and he becomes convinced that he is an instrument of God.”*

The Rumford Book Discussion Group meets at 10:30AM on the first Thursday of each month at the Rumford Branch Library. Book discussions last a little over an hour. Selected titles are available through the CLAN at the Rumford Library. The Book Discussion Group is free and open to all.

Book discussion groups form for many reasons. Overall, the Rumford Group values the intellectual life, appreciating the richness book discussions contribute to that life. Members read the selections carefully; discussion centers on the critical response to the ideas, characters, themes, setting, language, points of view, etc. presented by the book. The librarian will do background research on both the book and the author. Members are welcome to undertake their own research if they so choose. Finally, members are encouraged to take notes and to write down page numbers so they can quickly turn to any paragraph they might enjoy sharing with the group.

Annotations taken from:

*NoveList Database (available online @Weaver Library)

**Publisher’s Weekly