Columbus Public Library Discussion Group has nine more meetings for the year 2007. It is open to the public and we would love to see new faces and hear new opinions. Our group is pretty diverse. Both men and women belong. Age is, of course, never considered, but we do have all age brackets represented. Some of our members enjoy bringing background material on the book being discussed. Every one gets a chance to speak. Our format is pretty straight forward. Each month we all read the same book and one of us has volunteered to lead the discussion. No one ever feels intimidated because Columbus Library is always able to help the reviewer do research on the author and help with any background material they might need for their discussion.

We meet the last Thursday of the month in the Auditorium on the second floor of the Library. November and December are such busy months, we’re going to combine them and meet on December 13th, 2007. The books that we discuss are recommendations from the members. Consequently, we have a very eclectic list of books.

Library Book List for 2007

March 29 A Lost Lady by Willa Cather - Marian Forrester is the symbolic flower of the Old American West. She draws her strength from that solid foundation, bringing delight and beauty to her elderly husband, to the small town of Sweet Water where they live, to the prairie land itself, and to the young narrator of her story, Neil Herbert. All are bewitched by her brilliance and grace, and all are ultimately betrayed. For Marian longs for "life on any terms", and in fulfilling herself, she loses all she loved and all who loved her.
April 26 BLUE HORSE DREAMING by Melanie Wallace - “I will not live among you,” Abigail Buwell says when she is taken from her life among the savages and returned, against her will, to “civilization”---the last outpost on the frontier’s hostile edge. Only Major Cutter, the commander into whose hands she is delivered, hears her words. Set in a landscape whose deathly vastness is matched only by the nation’s imperial reach after the Civil War.

May 31 Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen - Meghan, co-host of the popular morning show Rise and Shine, calls a major politician a "#%#&*#*******" before her microphone gets turned off for a commercial. Bridget Fitzmaurice works for a women's shelter in the Bronx. The Fitzmaurice women adapt, survive, and manage to bring the whole teeming world of New York to heel by dint of their smart mouths, quick wits, and the powerful connection between them that even the worst tragedy cannot shatter.

June 28 Digging to America by Anne Tyler - A story about what it is to be an American, and about Maryam Yazdan, who after thirty-five years in this country must finally come to terms with her "outsider-ness." Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport — the Donaldson’s, a very American couple, and the Yazdan’s, Maryam's fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian American wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate with an "arrival party," an event that is repeated every year as the two families become more deeply intertwined.

July 26 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - Subtle portraits of two contrasting but equally compelling heroines. For sensible Elinor Dashwood and her impetuous younger sister Marianne the prospect of marrying the men they love appears remote. In a world ruled by money and self-interest, the Dashwood sisters have neither fortune nor connections. Through her heroines' parallel experiences of love, loss, and hope, Jane Austen offers a powerful analysis of the ways in which women's lives were shaped by the claustrophobic society in which they had to survive.

August 30 VIDEO/BOOK Devil In the White City by Erik Larson – An engrossing tale of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 focuses primarily on two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect who was the driving force behind the fair, and Henry H. Holmes, a sadistic serial killer working under the cover of the busy fair. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed. Their fates were linked by the magical Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, nicknamed the “White City” for its majestic beauty. Architect Daniel Burnham built it; serial killer Dr. H. H. Holmes used it to lure victims to his World’s Fair Hotel, designed for murder.

Sept. 27 Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland - Girl in Hyacinth Blue is the story of a painting. Not so much the painting itself, but the story of the people who own and grow to love the painting. Vreeland traces the painting's ownership from a present day owner back to its origin. It changes hands in the most remarkable ways, all interesting snippets of history and poetically drawn. Vreeland writes almost as though she herself is painting a picture — the imagery is striking.

Oct. 25 The Worst hard Times by Timothy Egan - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Timothy Egan follows a half-dozen families and their communities through the dust storms that terrorized America's High Plains during the Depression. Going from sod huts, to new framed houses, to basements with the windows sealed by damp sheets in a futile effort to keep the dust out.

NO NOVEMBER MEETING

NOTE THE DECEMBER DATE= 2ND THURSDAY-- DECEMBER 13TH
Dec. 13 Two Old Women by Velma Wallis - In a winter of famine, a native tribe decides to leave behind two elderly women, who although mobile and somewhat productive, complain constantly and require assistance. They instead went on to survive and thrive. They survive the winter and spend the summer lying in a store of foodstuffs that will eventually sustain the whole tribe when it returns in search of them.