"Books Sandwiched In" provides readers with a regular opportunity to participate
in informal, facilitated discussion of noteworthy works of fiction and nonfiction. All
are welcome to join us on the first Wednesday of the month at 11:30 am. During the expansion construction,
programs will be at the Program Room at the Library's interim location in University Mall. Participants are encouraged to bring a lunch and
share their thoughts on the current reading selection, copies of which are available on a
first-come first-served basis at the circulation desk.
The group has established two annual traditions. In August, the group will discuss the
book that has been selected for the Carolina Summer Reading Program. And in September, in
recognition of Banned Books Week, the group will discuss a book that has been challenged
or banned. Celebrated annually during the last week of September, Banned Books Week is
sponsored by the American Library Association and the American Booksellers Association
and endorsed by the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.
Upcoming Discussions
- March 7th, 2012
11:30am - 12:30pm Program Room, Library, University Mall
- "Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin
The young woman Eilis leaves Enniscorthy in Ireland where opportunities are limited in the 1950’s to migrate to the US. She finds a new life in Brooklyn, New York, with employment, education and romance with an Italian-American named Tony. When everything seems to be going right, there is the death of her sister back home and her loyalties are repeatedly tested as she returns to her homeland and makes critical choices. It is a coming of age story of the fifties.
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- April 4th, 2012
11:30am - 12:30pm Program Room, Library, University Mall
- "The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration" by Isabel Wilkerson
Isabel Wilkerson has written an epic story of the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities in search of a better life. Using extensive research she describes three families to give a stunning account of how lives were changed and how the “unrecognized immigration” of almost six million individuals led to changes in the cities and altered the face of America
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- May 2nd, 2012
11:30am - 12:30pm Program Room, Library, University Mall
- "The Camel Bookmobile" by Masha Hamilton
This novel follows Fiona Sweeney, a New York librarian, to Garissa, Kenya as she seeks to make a difference in the world. Mr. Abasi enlists her to run the camel bookmobile. She meets memorable characters and must deal with tensions that arise among those who prefer oral traditions to books. Ultimately each character is changed by the bookmobile but not in ways they or we might expect.
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- June 6th, 2012
11:30am - 12:30pm Program Room, Library, University Mall
- "Sarah’s Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay
This novel fictionalizes the 1942 Paris round-ups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held in the Velodrome, and then transported to Auschwitz. Some sixty years later Julia Tezac, an American journalist, is assigned to cover the anniversary of the round-ups. She discovers she will be living in the apartment from which Jewish occupants had been dispossessed. It was acquired by her husband Bertrand’s family after the deportations. She resolves to find out what has happened to the former occupants, Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski and their 10-year-old Sarah and 4-year-old Michel. The more she discovers about Sarah, the only family member to survive, the more she questions the actions of Bertrand’s family. The book reveals the stunning secret that threatens Julia’s marriage and her own conflicting loyalties.
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- July 11th, 2012
11:30am - 12:30pm Program Room, Library, University Mall
- "Cleopatra, a Biography" by Stacy Schiff
Note: Date may be changed.
The author gives a vigorous narrative of the life and personality of the Egyptian ruler, portraying Cleopatra as a shrewd political strategist who used her affairs to further her own power. She was the most famous woman in the ancient world at the dawn of the first millennium. Schiff researches the myths and propaganda to give insights into Cleopatra’s celebrity and the most celebrated incidents in her career.
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Past Discussions
Click here to view past discussions.
For more information about “Books Sandwiched In” contact
Nancy Dixon.