Adult Book Discussion Kits
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The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson
Confined to a nursing home and about to turn 100, Allan Karlsson, who has a larger-than-life back story as an explosives expert, climbs out of the window in his slippers and embarks on an unforgettable adventure involving thugs, a murderous elephant and a very friendly hot dog stand operator. Original. 75,000 first printing.
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All the light we cannot see : a novel
by Anthony Doerr
A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with their respective beliefs after meeting on the Brittany coast. By the award-winning author of About Grace. Reprint. A #1 New York Times best-seller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
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American dirt
by Jeanine Cummins
Selling two favorite books to an unexpectedly erudite drug-cartel boss, a bookstore manager is forced to flee Mexico in the wake of her journalist husband’s tell-all profile and finds her family among thousands of migrants seeking hope in America. Maps. Tour.
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The art of fielding : a novel
by Chad Harbach
A baseball star at a small college near Lake Michigan launches a routine throw that goes disastrously off course and inadvertently changes the lives of five people, including the college president, a gay teammate and the president's daughter. Reprint.
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The atomic city girls
by Janet Beard
A novel inspired by the stories of everyday women who contributed to the Manhattan Project during World War II follows the experiences of 18-year-old June, who, in 1944, travels to a city that does not officially exist to work alongside hundreds of other young women operating massive secret machines in support of the war effort. Original. 150,000 first printing.
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Before we were yours : a novel
by Lisa Wingate
"Two families, generations apart, are forever changed by a heartbreaking injustice in this poignant novel, inspired by a true story, for readers of Orphan Train and The Nightingale. Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family's Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge--until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents--but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility's cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty. Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiance, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis,a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family's long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead eitherto devastation or to redemption. Based on one of America's most notorious real-life scandals--in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country--Lisa Wingate's riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong"
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Crazy rich Asians
by Kevin Kwan
Envisioning a quality-time summer vacation in the humble Singapore home of a boy she hopes to marry, Chinese American Rachel Chu is unexpectedly introduced to a rich and scheming clan that viciously competes against other wealthy families and strongly opposes their son's relationship with an American girl. A first novel.
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The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
by Mark Haddon
After stumbling upon his neighbor's dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork and being blamed for the killing, fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone, an autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, decides to track down the real killer and turns to his detective hero to help him with the investigation, which brings him face to face with a family crisis. A first novel. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 150,000 first printing.
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The dinner : a novel
by Herman Koch
Meeting at a fashionable Amsterdam restaurant for dinner, two couples move from small talk to the wrenching shared challenge of their teenage sons' shattering act of violence that has triggered a police investigation and revealed the extent to which each family will go to protect those they love, in a U.S. release of an international best-seller. 50,000 first printing.
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Educated : a memoir
by Tara Westover
Traces the author's experiences as a child born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, describing her participation in her family's paranoid stockpiling activities and her resolve to educate herself well enough to earn an acceptance into a prestigious university and the unfamiliar world beyond.
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Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine
by Gail Honeyman
"Smart, warm, uplifting, the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes the only way to survive is to open her heart. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. That, combined with her unusual appearance (scarred cheek, tendency to wear the same clothes year in, year out), means that Eleanor has become a creature of habit (to say the least) and abit of a loner. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kind of friends who rescue each other from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And itis Raymond's big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one"
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The four winds
by Kristin Hannah
A Depression-era woman confronts a wrenching choice between fighting for the Dust Bowl-ravaged land she loves in Texas or pursuing an uncertain future in California. By the best-selling author of The Nightingale. 1.5 million first printing. Illustrations.
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A gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles
Deemed unrepentant by a Bolshevik tribunal in 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in a hotel across the street from the Kremlin, where he lives in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold
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Girl with a pearl earring
by Tracy Chevalier
A poor seventeenth-century servant girl knows her place in the household of the painter Johannes Vermeer, but when he begins to paint her, nasty whispers and rumors circulate throughout the town. 20,000 first printing.
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The goldfinch
by Donna Tartt
Taken in by a wealthy family friend after surviving an accident that killed his mother, 13-year-old Theo Decker tries to adjust to life on Park Avenue, in a novel by the author of The Secret History. Reprint. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer
As London is emerging from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ashton discovers her next subject in a book club on Guernsey--a club born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi after its members are discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island
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The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
Documents the story of how scientists took cells from an unsuspecting descendant of freed slaves and created a human cell line that has been kept alive indefinitely, enabling discoveries in such areas as cancer research, in vitro fertilization and gene mapping. Includes reading-group guide. Reprint. A best-selling book.
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The invention of wings
by Sue Monk Kidd
Traces more than three decades in the lives of a wealthy Charleston debutante who longs to break free from the strictures of her household and pursue a meaningful life; and the urban slave, Handful, who is placed in her charge as a child before finding courage and a sense of self. By the best-selling author of The Secret Life of Bees. Reprint.
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Killers of the Flower Moon : the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI
by David Grann
Presents a true account of the early 20th-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. Reprint. A New York Times best-seller and National Book Award finalist.
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The last story of Mina Lee
by Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Suspecting foul play in the wake of her mother’s accidental death, Margot Lee investigates her mother’s past as a Korean War orphan and undocumented immigrant before uncovering profound secrets. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.
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The last train to Key West
by Chanel Cleeton
A Key West native, a bride fleeing the Cuban Revolution and a Wall Street crash victim meet at a Great War veteran camp before one of the most powerful hurricanes in history indelibly changes their lives. Original.
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The last wife
by Karen Hamilton
Promising to look after her late friend’s family, Marie is drawn into the routines of their countryside home before the reappearance of a college friend reveals sinister truths about a suspicious accident from the past. 10,000 first printing.
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The life and times of the thunderbolt kid : a memoir
by Bill Bryson
The best-selling author of A Walk in the Woods and I'm a Stranger Here Myself describes his all-American childhood growing up as a member of the baby boom generation in the heart of Iowa, detailing his rich fantasy life as a superhero known as the Thunderbolt Kid and his his remarkably normal 1950s family life. 250,000 first printing.
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Life of Pi : a novel
by Yann Martel
Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain
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The light between oceans : a novel
by M. L Stedman
Moving his young bride to an isolated Australian lighthouse where the couple suffers miscarriages and a stillbirth, Tom allows his wife to claim an infant that has washed up on the shore, a decision with devastating consequences
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Little Bee
by Chris Cleave
The Somerset Maugham Award-winning author of Incendiary presents a tale of a precarious friendship between an illegal Nigerian refugee and a recent widow from suburban London, a story told from the alternating and disparate perspectives of both women. Reprint. A best-selling novel.
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Little fires everywhere
by Celeste Ng
When a custody battle divides her placid town, straitlaced family woman Elena Richardson finds herself pitted against her enigmatic tenant and becomes obsessed with exposing her past, only to trigger devastating consequences for both families
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The little Paris bookshop : a novel
by Nina George
Prescribing books that offer therapeutic benefits to his customers, a literary apothecary in a floating bookstore on the Seine struggles with private heartbreak before embarking on a journey of healing at the side of a blocked writer and a lovelorn chef
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Me before you
by Jojo Moyes
Taking a job as an assistant to extreme sports enthusiast Will, who is wheelchair bound after a motorcycle accident, Louisa struggles with her employer's acerbic moods and learns of his shocking plans before demonstrating to him that life is still worth living
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Moloka'i
by Alan Brennert
Dreaming of far-off lands away from her loving 1890s Honolulu home, seven-year-old Rachel is forcibly removed from her family when she contracts leprosy and is placed in a settlement, where she loses a series of new friends before new medical discoveries enable her reentry into the world. Reader's Guide included. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.
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The nightingale
by Kristin Hannah
Reunited when the elder's husband is sent to fight in World War II, French sisters Vianne and Isabelle find their bond as well as their respective beliefs tested by a world that changes in horrific ways
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The orchid thief
by Susan Orlean
A bizarre plant-obsessed subculture of orchid collectors is exposed in this unique and compelling expose, which introduces--among other exotic characters--the "Orchid Thief" who planned to clone flowers stolen from the Florida swamps and a band of Seminole Indians who never made peace with the U.S. government. Reprint. Tour.
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The Paris wife : a novel
by Paula McLain
Follows the life of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, as she navigates 1920s Paris. By the author of A Ticket to Ride. Reprint.
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The personal librarian
by Marie Benedict
Hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library, Belle de Costa Greene becomes one of the most powerful women in New York despite the dangerous secret she keeps.
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The red tent
by Anita Diamant
In a story based on the Book of Genesis, Jacob's only daughter, Dinah, shares her unique perspective on the origins of many of our modern religious practices and sexual politics, eager to impart the lessons in endurance and humanity she has learned from her father's wives. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.
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The submission : [a novel]
by Amy Waldman
Selected for a jury that must choose an appropriate memorial for September 11 victims, Claire Harwell, who lost her husband and the father of her children during the attacks, struggles to navigate a media firestorm when the winning designer is revealed as an enigmatic Muslim-American who refuses to represent any beliefs but his own. 100,000 first printing.
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Swamplandia!
by Karen Russell
A first novel by the author of the short-story collection, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves finds the Bigtree children struggling to protect their Florida Everglades alligator-wrestling theme park from a sophisticated competitor after losing their parents. 40,000 first printing
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The tattooist of Auschwitz : a novel
by Heather Morris
A novel based on the true story of an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor traces the experiences of a Jewish Slovakian who uses his position as a concentration-camp tattooist to secure food for his fellow prisoners
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This I believe II : more personal philosophies of remarkable men and women
by Jay Allison
A new collection of uplifting essays by famous and everyday contributors is a volume of key life lessons on such topics as forgiveness, integrity, and change, in a collection that includes pieces by such figures as Yo-Yo Ma, Sister Helen Prejean, and Robert Fulghum. 125,000 first printing.
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The time traveler's wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
Caught in an impossible-to-resolve situation that spans the boundaries of temporal reality, this tale of a plucky librarian who is accidentally cast back in time focuses on the romantic complications of time travel. Movie Tie-in. Reissue.
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Unbroken : a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand
Tells the gripping true story of a U.S. airman who was the soul surviver when his bomber crashed into the sea during World War II and had to face thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. By the #1 best-selling author of Seabiscuit. 200,000 first printing.
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The Underground Railroad : a novel
by Colson Whitehead
After Cora, a pre-Civil War Georgia slave, escapes with another slave, Caesar, they seek the help of the Underground Railroad as they flee from state to state and try to evade a slave catcher, Ridgeway, who is determined to return them to the South
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The vanishing half
by Brit Bennett
Separated by their embrace of different racial identities, two mixed-race identical twins reevaluate their choices as one raises a black daughter in their southern hometown while the other passes for white with a husband who is unaware of her heritage.
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Where the crawdads sing
by Delia Owens
Viewed with suspicion in the aftermath of a tragedy, a beautiful hermit who has survived for years in a marsh becomes targeted by unthinkable forces. A first novel by the New York Times best-selling author of Cry of the Kalahari
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