BOOK DISCUSSIONS @ YOUR LIBRARY:

Monday, December 1 BookTalkers will meet to discuss The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. It is Boston 1865: a group of literary geniuses are putting the finishing touches on America's first translation of The Divine Comedy and preparing to unveil the remarkable visions of Dante for the New World. Their plans come to a halt when a series of murders sows panic through Boston and Cambridge. Only the members of the Dante Club realize that the styles of the killings are directly from Dante's Inferno and its singular account of Hell's punishments. If you liked Devil in the White City, you may enjoy this unique and absorbing mystery novel.

Join BookTalkers on January 12 to discuss Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux, in which the witty and irascible author/adventurer takes readers the length of Africa by rattletrap bus, dugout canoe, cattle truck, armed convoy, ferry, and train. In the course of his epic and enlightening journey, he endures danger, delay, and dismaying circumstances. What results is an insightful meditation on the history, politics, and beauty of Africa and its people. This book is a great lead-in to local adventurer Kerri Finlayson’s talk, Pedaling from Cairo to Cape Town in Four Months: One Woman’s Adventure through Africa, which takes place Feb. 3 at the library (see page 4 for details).

In keeping with the spirit of adventure, the book discussion on February 16 will introduce events described the following evening by mountaineer Louis Kasischke.  Kasischke was one of the climbers involved in a fatal expedition to the summit of Mount Everest in 1996, which is related by fellow climber Jon Krakauer in his thrilling memoir Into Thin Air, and recounted in the book The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev. BookTalkers are invited to read one or both of these books (or any other on the ill-fated Everest Expedition), and then attend The Challenge Greater than Everest on February 17 in the Library’s community room.

Book discussions begin at 6 pm in the Armstrong Conference Room.