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October's book is ... How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
Llewellyn's tale of a young man's coming-of-age in a small Welsh mining townis "a beautiful story told in words which have Welsh music in them . . . a book which will live in the mind and memory of its readers" (Atlantic Monthly)
There is tremendous emotional power in the chronicle of a Welsh family, in a mining village which, back in the '80's and the '90's still flourished, and blossomed, with no slag-heaps to transform the mountain sides, no poverty stalking hunger through the land…..in characterization, in vigorous scenes, in the picture of the everyday life of the family and the village, in tragic scenes and in festive ones, the book cuts deep into our hearts. It is a profoundly moving story…
512 pages

This is our last meeting before we break for the summer!

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman
Ackerman tells the remarkable WWII story of Jan Zabinski, the director of the Warsaw Zoo, and his wife, Antonina, who, with courage and coolheaded ingenuity, sheltered 300 Jews as well as Polish resisters in their villa and in animal cages and sheds. Using Antonina's diaries, other contemporary sources and her own research in Poland, Ackerman takes us into the Warsaw ghetto and the 1943 Jewish uprising and also describes the Poles' revolt against the Nazi occupiers in 1944. She introduces us to such varied figures as Lutz Heck, the duplicitous head of the Berlin zoo; Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, spiritual head of the ghetto; and the leaders of Zegota, the Polish organization that rescued Jews. Ackerman reveals other rescuers, like Dr. Mada Walter, who helped many Jews pass, giving lessons on how to appear Aryan and not attract notice. ... "This suspenseful beautifully crafted story deserves a wide readership"
368 page

Enjoy some good summer reading we'll meetup again in September!

This month we're reading and discussing, The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
A poignant novel about a wealthy woman and her downtrodden servant, offers a revealing look at class and gender roles in modern day Bombay. Alternatively told through the eyes of Sera, a widow whose pregnant daughter and son-in-law share her elegant home, and Bhima, the elderly housekeeper who must support her orphaned, granddaughter, the author creates two sympathetic characters who share deep bonds.
While Sera and her family have gone above and beyond their employer/employee relationship to help Bhima and her family Sera's seemingly "privileged" life includes a cruel mother-in-law and an abusive husband. Throughout the book the women's fate always seems to rest in the hands of others, just outside their control.

"A beautiful tale of tragedy and hope,"
352 pages.

Hope everyone enjoyed the December break and read something good over the holidays.
January's book is The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

A psychological thriller that spans continents and cultures, The Reluctant Fundamentalist takes us from the privileged confines of Princeton University to the anxious streets of contemporary Pakistan; from the sun-baked Greek island of Santorini to a sanitarium in the Hudson Valley; from the galleries of downtown Manhattan to the highest echelons of American finance. It's a journey made in 200 pages that reveals more about the human realities of the post-9/11 world than a shelf of thick political treatises.

"An extraordinary work of empathy and imagination, Mohsin Hamid's n ovel vividly dramatizes the turmoil and terror of today's world in a single unforgettable voice."