[NFBV-Potomac-Announce] Suggested Book Club Books 2020-2021

John Halverson jwh100 at outlook.com
Wed Sep 2 19:31:55 UTC 2020


I finally finished obtaining more information on the suggested books.

See attached and below.

John


Hello book club members.

Here is more information on the books  we discussed last week.  I will take information from the BARD listings and look for questions.

I think I captured all of the books.

John


A House in the Sky
Amanda Lindhout (with Sara Corbett), 2013
The dramatic and redemptive memoir of a woman whose curiosity led her to the world’s most beautiful and remote places, its most imperiled and perilous countries, and then into fifteen months of harrowing captivity—an exquisitely written story of courage, resilience, and grace.

As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. At the age of nineteen, working as a cocktail waitress in Calgary, Alberta, she began saving her tips so she could travel the globe. Aspiring to understand the world and live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and emboldened by each adventure, went on to Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan.

In war-ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a television reporter. And then, in August 2008, she traveled to Somalia—“the most dangerous place on earth.” On her fourth day, she was abducted by a group of masked men along a dusty road.

Held hostage for 460 days, Amanda converts to Islam as a survival tactic, receives “wife lessons” from one of her captors, and risks a daring escape. Moved between a series of abandoned houses in the desert, she survives on memory—every lush detail of the world she experienced in her life before captivity—and on strategy, fortitude, and hope. When she is most desperate, she visits a house in the sky, high above the woman kept in chains, in the dark, being tortured.

Vivid and suspenseful, as artfully written as the finest novel, A House in the Sky is the searingly intimate story of an intrepid young woman and her search for compassion in the face of unimaginable adversity. Note this is from the publisher.

Can not find in BARD.


The animals at Lockwood Manor DB99112
Healey, Jane. Reading time: 9 hours, 51 minutes.
Read by Kristin Allison.

Suspense Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fantasy Fiction

Hetty Cartwright supervises the evacuation of a natural history collection from London to Lockwood Manor to escape potential bombing by the Germans. She meets the lady of the house, Lucy, and becomes fascinated by her even as Hetty cares for her collection. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2020.

Questions obtained.

Beheld DB99271
Nesbit, TaraShea. Reading time: 6 hours, 47 minutes.
Read by Madelyn Buzzard.

Historical Fiction

New Plymouth, 1630. Ten years after the Pilgrims' arrival in their new world, a ship of newcomers arrives and a colonist is murdered. Alice Bradford and Eleanor Billington occupy two different classes and find themselves entangled in the intrigues of the community. Violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2020.

Questions obtained.

The Splendid and the Vile
A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons (30,000 of them Londoners) and destroying two million homes. It was up to Churchill to hold the country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy…

Not yet in BARD but expect by Winter/Spring.

I found questions.

How to be an antiracist DB96351<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB96351>
Kendi, Ibram X. Reading time: 10 hours, 45 minutes.
Read by Ibram X. Kendi.

Social Sciences
Bestsellers

Award-winning author theorizes what an antiracist society might look like and how individuals can play a role in building it. Discusses the roles of ethics, history, law, and science in racial justice. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2019.

Found questions.

Hornet flight / DB55279<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB55279>
Follett, Ken. Reading time: 14 hours, 35 minutes.
Read by David Hartley-Margolin. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Suspense Fiction
Spy Stories
Bestsellers
War Stories

Denmark, 1941. Eighteen-year-old Harald Olufsen discovers a secret Nazi radar installation on his island home. With the help of his brother's English fiancée, Hermia--a spy--and the Danish resistance movement, Harald attempts to cross the North Sea to warn the British. Some descriptions of sex, some violence, and some strong language. Bestseller. 2002.

I am not sure of questions.  Almost 20 year old book.

Middlesex

Middlesex DB54934<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB54934>
Eugenides, Jeffrey. Reading time: 24 hours, 21 minutes.
Read by Erik Sandvold. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Family
Bestsellers

At forty-one, hermaphrodite Cal Stephanides examines the rare genetic mutation that has caused his gender to change since his birth as a girl in 1960. He describes his teenage revelations, his Greek grandparents' guilty secret, and his coming-of-age in Detroit. Explicit descriptions of sex and some strong language. Pulitzer Prize winner. Bestseller. 2002.
There are questions.

The red lotus DB98728<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB98728>
Bohjalian, Chris. Reading time: 12 hours, 3 minutes.
Read by Rebecca Lowman.

Mystery and Detective Stories

After six months of dating, Alexis and Austin go on a Vietnam bike tour so that Austin can pay his respects to the place where his father and uncle fought in the war. But as Alexis waits for him to return from a solo ride, Austin vanishes into thin air. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

I found  questions.

The Nickel boys DB95925<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB95925>
Whitehead, Colson. Reading time: 6 hours, 48 minutes.
Read by Colson Whitehead; JD Jackson.

Historical Fiction
Bestsellers

1962. Elwood Curtis lives with his grandmother, works when not in school, and admires Dr. Martin Luther King. But one innocent mistake sees him sentenced to reform school--the Nickel Academy. There he meets Turner, whose skepticism challenges Elwood. Their friendship has repercussions in the sadistic school. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2019.

There are questions.

The British are coming: the war for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 DB95379<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB95379>
Atkinson, Rick. Reading time: 26 hours, 5 minutes.
Read by Rick Atkinson. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Bestsellers
U.S. History

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa (DB 54939) recounts the first twenty-one months of the American Revolution in this first volume of three. Describes principal battles, key figures, British perspective, and historical context for the conflict. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2019.

Can not quickly find questions.

The stolen marriage: a novel DB89943<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB89943>
Chamberlain, Diane; Bennett, Susan. Reading time: 14 hours, 9 minutes.
Read by Susan Bennett. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Historical Fiction

Nurse Tess DeMello breaks off her longstanding engagement in 1944 after getting pregnant from a drunken rendezvous. She marries Henry Kraft and moves to his hometown in North Carolina. Henry is secretive, his family and friends view Tess as an outsider, and tragedy lurks. Some violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. 2017.

I found questions.

The sun does shine: how I found life and freedom on death row DB90904<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB90904>
Hinton, Anthony Ray; Hardin, Lara Love; Stevenson, Bryan. Reading time: 9 hours, 13 minutes.
Read by Bryan Stevenson; Kevin R Free. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Biography
True Crime

Alabama, 1985. After being wrongfully convicted of murder, the author spent his first three years on Holman State Prison's death row, full of despair and anger. But once Hinton accepted his fate, he spent the next twenty-seven years transforming his and his fellow inmates' spirits, until winning his release in 2015. Some strong language. Commercial audiobook. 2018.

I believe we read this recently.

Cast by Isabel Wilkerson not yet in BARD but should be there soon.

Blind ambition: one woman's journey to greatness despite her blindness DBC01886<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DBC01886>
Hairston, Ever Lee. Reading time: 6 hours, 28 minutes.
Read by Paul Georgiou. A production of New Jersey State Library, State Talking Book and Braille Center.

Biography of Persons with Disabilities
Inspirational
Women

Decades after she lost her eyesight, a woman's powerful, inspirational story of ambition and helping others overcome obstacles to realize the purpose of their lives.

No questions, some of us know Ever Lee.

American dirt DB98146<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB98146>
Cummins, Jeanine. Reading time: 16 hours, 57 minutes.
Read by Yareli Arizmendi.

Suspense Fiction

Lydia Quixano Pérez runs a bookstore in Acapulco. When her journalist husband writes an exposé about Javier, the head of the newest drug cartel in the city, her life changes forever. Lydia and her eight-year-old son flee for their lives, hoping to make it to the United States. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

There are questions.

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