Nonfiction Book Club:
Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women In The OSS by Lisa Rogak
Thursday June 11th at 1p.m.
Join fellow readers at the library for an engaging discussion of Propaganda Girls: the Secret War of the Women in the OSS by Lisa Rogak on Thursday June 11th at 1p.m.
Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane Smith-Hutton was the wife of a naval attaché living in Tokyo. Marlene Dietrich, the German American actress and singer, was of course one of the biggest stars of the 20th century. These four women, each fascinating in her own right, together contributed to one of the most covert and successful military campaigns in WWII.
As members of the OSS, their task was to create a secret brand of propaganda produced with the sole aim to break the morale of Axis soldiers. Working in the European theater, across enemy lines in occupied China, and in Washington, D.C., Betty, Zuzka, Jane, and Marlene forged letters and “official” military orders, wrote and produced entire newspapers, scripted radio broadcasts and songs, and even developed rumors for undercover spies and double agents to spread to the enemy. And outside of a small group of spies, no one knew they existed. Until now.
In Propaganda Girls, bestselling author Lisa Rogak brings to vivid life the incredible true story of four unsung heroes, whose spellbinding achievements would change the course of history.
Copies of the book are available on Libby and may also be picked up at the Information Desk.
CLICK HERE to register.
Adventures in Classic Readings Sponsored by the FOL’s Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Fund:
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
This reading group, facilitated by Dr. Laury Magnus, Professor of English, will feature great classic works — ancient to contemporary — as well as participatory reading out loud of selected passages.
The selection for May, June and July is The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Completed only a few months before the author’s death, The Brothers Karamazov is Dostoyevsky’s largest, most expansive, most life-embracing work. Filled with human passions ― lust, greed, love, jealousy, sorrow, and humor ― the book is also infused with moral issues and the issue of collective guilt.
As in many of Dostoyevsky’s novels, the plot centers on a murder. Three brothers, different in character but bound by their ancestry, are drawn into the crime’s vortex: Dmitri, a young officer utterly unrestrained in love, hatred, jealousy, and generosity; Ivan, an intellectual capable of delivering impromptu disquisitions about good and evil, God, and the devil; and Alyosha, the youngest brother, preternaturally patient, kind, and loving. Part mystery, part profound philosophical and theological debate, The Brothers Karamazov represents the culmination of Dostoyevsky’s life’s work and ranks among the greatest novels of all time.
Copies of the book will be available at the Information Desk. All registrants will receive a complimentary copy of the book provided by the Friends of the Library’s Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Fund (while supplies last).
CLICK HERE to register.
Fiction Book Club:
How to Read A Book by Monica Wood
Tuesday, June 23rd at 7:30 p.m.
Join fellow readers at the Library for an engaging discussion of How to Read A Book by Monica Wood on Tuesday, June 23rd at 7:30 p.m.
In this emotional book club fiction, Violet Powell, a twenty-two-year-old from Abbott Falls, Maine, is being released from prison after serving twenty-two months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher.
Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest.
Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed.
When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore in Portland—Violet to buy the novel she was reading in the prison book club before her release, Harriet to choose the next title for the women who remain, and Frank to dispatch his duties as the store handyman—their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways.
How to Read a Book is an unsparingly honest and profoundly hopeful story about forgiveness, letting go of guilt, seizing second chances, and the power of books to change our lives. With the heart, wit, grace, and depth of understanding that has characterized her work, Monica Wood illuminates the decisions that define a life and the kindnesses that make life worth living.
Copies will be available at the Information Desk or on Libby.
CLICK HERE to register.
Poetry Readers Circle Sponsored by the FOL’s Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Fund:
The Best Poems of the English Language: from Chaucer Through Frost edited by Harold Bloom.
Thursday June 25th at 1:30 p.m.
Join fellow readers for a poetry discussion led by Nassau County Poet Laureate Paula Curci.
Paula Curci is the Nassau County Poet Laureate emeritus. As both the producer of Calliope’s Corner and What’s The Buzz, on Radio Hofstra University, and as a Poet Correspondent for The Scene.Life, Paula meets and interviews poets about their work. She is the co-founder the Shore Poets and co-editor of the micro- memoir anthology Poetry: “It’s a ‘Shore’ Thing! In an Unsure World. Through her Acoustic Poets Network Visitation Project, she facilitates introspective poetry workshops, open mics, and performs her poetry.
The group will read selections from The Best Poems of the English Language.
Copies of the selected text are available at the Information Desk. This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Library’s Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Fund.
CLICK HERE to register.
New Book Club!
Revolutionary Reads Sponsored by the FOL’s Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Fund: A new bimonthly book club celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation.
This new book club will explore the people, places, and events of the Revolutionary War era.
Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence by Joseph J. Ellis
Tuesday August 4th at 1:30 pm.
Join fellow readers at the library for an engaging discussion of Revolutionary Summer by Joseph J. Ellison Tuesday August 4th at 1:30p.m.
The summer months of 1776 witnessed the most consequential events in the story of our country’s founding. While the thirteen colonies came together and agreed to secede from the British Empire, the British were dispatching the largest armada ever to cross the Atlantic to crush the rebellion in the cradle. The Continental Congress and the Continental Army were forced to make decisions on the run, improvising as history congealed around them.
In a brilliant and seamless narrative, Ellis meticulously examines the most influential figures in this propitious moment, including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Britain’s Admiral Lord Richard and General William Howe. He weaves together the political and military experiences as two sides of a single story, and shows how events on one front influenced outcomes on the other.
Copies will be available at the Information Desk or on Libby.
CLICK HERE to register.