Nonfiction Book Discussion:

Nomadland: Surviving America in the twenty-first century by Jessica Bruder

Thursday September 9th at 7:30 p.m.

Please join us for a discussion of Nomadland: Surviving America in the twenty-first century by Jessica Bruder on Thursday September 9th at 7:30 p.m.

From the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon’s Camper Force program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves workampers. On frequently traveled routes between seasonal jobs, Jessica Bruder meets people from all walks of life: a former professor, a McDonald’s vice president, a minister, a college administrator, and a motorcycle cop, among many others including her irrepressible protagonist, a onetime cocktail waitress, Home Depot clerk, and general contractor named Linda May. In a secondhand vehicle she christens Van Halen, Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects more intimately. Accompanying Linda May and others from campground toilet cleaning to warehouse product scanning to desert reunions, then moving on to the dangerous work of beet harvesting, Bruder tells a compelling, eye-opening tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy, one that foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, she celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these quintessential Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive. Like Linda May, who dreams of finding land on which to build her own sustainable Earthship home, they have not given up hope.

Copies of the book are available on Libby and may also be reserved for pickup at the library.

Click HERE to connect or dial in by your location 1 646 558 8656

Meeting ID:  841 3431 7122

Passcode: 187131

Fiction Book Discussion:

Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson 

Tuesday September 21st at 7:30 p.m.

Please join us for a discussion of Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson on Tuesday September 21st at 7:30 p.m.

Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is attending a fundraiser when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek, the Butcher of Zamosc. Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser Ben Solomon is convinced he is right and engages attorney Catherine Lockhart to bring Rosenzweig to justice. Solomon persuades attorney Catherine Lockhart to take his case, revealing that the true Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon’s own family only to betray them during the Nazi occupation. But has Solomon accused the right man?

Once We Were Brothers is Ronald H. Balson’s compelling tale of two boys and a family who struggle to survive in war-torn Poland, and a young love that struggles to endure the unspeakable cruelty of the Holocaust. Two lives, two worlds, and sixty years converge in an explosive race to redemption that makes for a moving and powerful tale of love, survival, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit.

Copies of the book are available on Libby and Hoopla and may also be reserved for pickup at the library.

Click HERE to connect or dial in by your location 1 646 558 8656

Meeting ID:  893 2305 3302

Passcode: 077133

The library has many digital resources for ebooks and audiobooks. Click here to learn more.

Get personalized book, t.v. show, and movie recommendations from librarians HERE! 

Please check our events page for virtual programs that are available during the closure.