Fireside Readers Fall 2013 Selections

At the last meeting of the Fireside Readers book discussion group members selected the following titles to discuss in the Fall:

•  August 5, 2013: Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
•  September 9, 2013 (1 week later due to holiday): Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams
• October 7, 2013: The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
• November 4, 2013: Heart in the Right Place by Carolyn Jourdan
• December 2, 2013: The Little Way of Ruthie Leming by Rod Dreher 

We hope you’ll plan to join us for these upcoming discussions. The group will meet at 7 p.m. in F-103. As always, new members and guests are always welcome. Join us, even if you haven’t finished the book! Light refreshments will be served.

Fireside Readers Spring 2013 Selections

At the last meeting of the Fireside Readers book discussion group members selected the following titles to discuss in the Spring:

• February 4, 2013: Prague winter : a personal story of remembrance and war, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Albright
• March 4, 2013: Wild : from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed 
• April 1, 2013: The red leather diary : reclaiming a life through the pages of a lost journal by Lily Koppel
• May 6, 2013: My year with Eleanor : a memoir by Noelle Hancock. 
• June 3, 2013: Killing Kennedy : the end of Camelot by Bill O'Reilly 

We hope you’ll plan to join us for these upcoming discussions. The group will meet at 7 p.m. in F-103. As always, new members and guests are always welcome. Join us, even if you haven’t finished the book! Light refreshments will be served.

Stay up to date with the website for the Fireside Readers: http://wayne.uakron.edu/library/fireside-readers-book-discussion-group.dot

Book Club Selections on Display

Looking for something good to read over the holidays? Check out the display of books chosen over the years by the Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group. Since 2005 the book club has selected over 70 works of nonfiction to read and discuss. Stop by and check one out!

Learn more about the Fireside Readers at https://wayne.uakron.edu/library/fireside-readers-book-discussion-group.dot.

Fireside Readers December Discussion

Join the Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group on Monday, December 3, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. in room F-103 (inside the Community Room) to discuss In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson.

As always, new members and guests are always welcome. Join us, even if you haven’t finished the book! Light refreshments will be served.

Stay up to date with the website for the Fireside Readers:
http://wayne.uakron.edu/library/fireside-readers-book-discussion-group.dot

Fireside Readers Select Fall Titles

The Fireside Readers have chosen the following titles for Fall.  Mark your calendars and plan to join us for a lively discussion!

• Monday, August 20, 2012: In the garden of beasts : love, terror, and an American family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson 
• Monday, September 10, 2012: The grace of silence by Michele Norris 
• Monday, October 1, 2012: The heart and the fist: the education of a humanitarian, the making of a Navy SEAL by Eric Greitens 
• Monday, November 5, 2012: A train in winter: a story of resistance, friendship and survival by Caroline Moorehead 
• Monday, December 3, 2012: In a sunburned country by Bill Bryson. 

Stay up to date with the Fireside Readers by checking out the current selections and future consideration boards on Pinterest. See the complete list of titles discussed over the past several years on the book club's website.

Fireside Readers Fall 2011 Selections

At last night's meeting of the Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group the following titles were chosen for Fall 2011:

• Monday, August 1, 2011: Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
• Monday, September 12, 2011: (One week late due to Labor Day Holiday) Wingnuts: how the lunatic fringe is hijacking America by John Avlon
• Monday, October 3, 2011: How Starbucks saved my life: a son of privilege learns to live like everyone else by Michael Gates Gill
• Monday, November 7, 2011: The ghost map: the story of London's most terrifying epidemic--and how it changed science, cities, and the modern world by Steven Johnson
• Monday, December 5, 2011: The blue sweater: bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected world by Jacqueline Novogratz

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

On December 6^th the book group will meet to discuss The Good Soldiers by David Finkel. The book details the last-chance moments of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it "the surge." "Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences," he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.

Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad almost every grueling step of the way.

What was the true story of the surge? Was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines. In telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale--not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.

The group meets at 7 p.m. in the Community Room. As always, new members and guests are always welcome. Join us, even if you haven’t finished the book! Light refreshments will be served. Stay up to date with the new Web page for the Fireside Readers:

http://www.wayne.uakron.edu/library/fi reside.php

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

On November 1^st, the group will meet to discuss the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. The book details the true story of how a single, abbreviated life grew a seemingly immortal line of cells that made some of the most crucial innovations in modern science possible. Skloot has fashioned in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a fascinating and moving story of medicine and family, and the intriguing details of how life is sustained in laboratories and in memory. Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her cancerous tissue, taken without her knowledge or consent, as was the custom then, turned out to provide one of the holy grails of mid-century biology: human cells that could survive--even thrive--in the lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio.

Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, her family, and their fight to uncover the truth and the deception behind the use of Henrietta’s cells.

The group meets on the first Monday of the month at 7 p.m. in the Community room. As always, new members and guests are always welcome. Join us, even if you haven’t finished the book! Light refreshments will be served. Stay up to date with the Fireside Readers by visiting our web page. http://www.wayne.uakron.edu/library/fi reside.php

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

The book group will meet October 4^th to discuss the book The Soloist by Steve Lopez. The following is a brief description of the book detailing the true-life story of Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers.

Scurrying back to his office one day, Lopez, a columnist for the L.A. Times, spots a homeless man coaxing beautiful sounds from a battered two-string violin. The man was Nathaniel Ayers, once a promising student at Julliard, forced to drop out when he developed schizophrenia.

Enlisting the help of doctors, mental health professionals and professional musicians, Lopez attempts to help Nathaniel move off Skid Row, regain his dignity, develop his musical talent and free himself of the demons induced by the schizophrenia. Throughout, Lopez endures disappointments and setbacks with Nathaniel's case, questions his own motives for helping his friend and acknowledges that Nathaniel has taught him about courage and humanity. With self-effacing humor, fast-paced yet elegant prose and unsparing honesty, Lopez tells an inspiring story of heartbreak and hope.

The group meets on the first Monday of the month at 7 p.m. in the Community room. As always, new members and guests are always welcome. Join us, even if you haven’t finished the book! Light refreshments will be served. Stay up to date with the Fireside Readers by visiting our web page. http://www.wayne.uakron.edu/library/fi reside.php

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

On September 13^th the book group will meet to discuss the book The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser. The following is a brief description of the Boser’s story.

In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, thieves posing as cops entered Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and left with a haul unrivaled in the art world, including three Rembrandts and a Vermeer, valued today at $600 million. Boser, a contributing editor at U.S. News and World Report, turned amateur sleuth after the death of a legendary independent fine arts claims adjuster, Harold Smith, who was haunted by the Gardner robbery. Boser carried on Smith’s work, pursuing leads as varied as the Boston mob and the IRA. Along the way, he visited felons—including the notorious art thief Myles Connor—and Bob Wittman, the FBI’s only art theft undercover agent. Boser’s rousing account of his years spent collecting clues large and small is entertaining enough to make readers almost forget that, after 18 years, the paintings have still not been found: the museum is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to their return.

The group meets on the first Monday of the month at 7 p.m. in the Community room. As always, new members and guests are always welcome. Join us, even if you haven’t finished the book! Light refreshments will be served. Stay up to date with the Fireside Readers by visiting our web page. http://www.wayne.uakron.edu/library/fi reside.php

Fireside Readers Book Discussion for June

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

On June 7^th the book group will meet to discuss We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese. The book written by Elizabeth M. Norman offers the inspirational, little-known story of the "Angels of Bataan," the American nurses who worked on Bataan and who were captured along with American soldiers after the fall of Corregidor during World War II. This book celebrates the heroism of the Army and Navy nurses imprisoned for three years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

The group meets at 7 p.m. in the Community Room. As always, new members and guests are always welcome. Join us, even if you haven’t finished the book! Light refreshments will be served.

Stay up to date with the new Web page for the Fireside Readers:

http://www.wayne.uakron.edu/library/fi reside.php

Fireside Readers Next Book Discussion - May 3rd

Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group

On May 3^rd the book group will meet to discuss A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High by Carlotta Walls LaNeir. The book offers an insider's account of the nation's most famous school integration and recounts how the author made the decision to attend Arkansas's all-white Central High because of geographical practicality rather than a sense of heroism. The author describes the subsequent events and how they affected her family's beliefs about dedication, perseverance, and sacrifice.

The group meets at 7 p.m. in the Community Room. As always, new members and guests are always welcome. Join us, even if you haven’t finished the book! Light refreshments will be served.

Stay up to date with the new Web page for the Fireside Readers:

http://www.wayne.uakron.edu/library/fi reside.php

Firesider Readers June Selection

Join the Fireside Readers on Monday, June 2^nd when we discuss The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan. The discussion will be held in the Community Room at 7 p.m. As always, you do not need to have read the book to join the discussion, and light refreshments will be served.

Check out the publisher's website for more information about the book and an interview with the author:
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/egan_worst.shtml

Serial murderers, architects, and a giant Ferris Wheel!

What does a serial murderer, a bunch of architects, and a giant Ferris wheel have in common? It's the incredible story of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, of course!

Join the Fireside Readers on Monday, April 7th at 7 p.m. in the community room when we discuss The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson.

Even if you have not read the book, please feel free to join us!

Plan to join us for these upcoming discussion as well:

• May 5, 2008: On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood by Irmgard A. Hunt

• June 2, 2008: The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan

We hope you'll join us for any of our upcoming discussions. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Maureen at mlerch@uakron.edu.

Fireside Readers announce upcoming selections

The Fireside Readers book discussion group has announced the list of titles to be discussed in the fall and winter:

• September: Behind the veil : an American woman's memoir of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis by Debra Johanyak

• October: The glass castle : a memoir by Jeannette Walls

• November: I've got a home in glory land : a lost tale of the underground railroad by Karolyn Smardz Frost

• December: A long way gone : memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah

• January: No meeting.

• February: Team of rivals : the political genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The group plans to continue meeting on the first Monday of the month at 7 p.m. New members and guests are always welcome. Refreshments will be served.

If you would like more information or are interested in joining the group, contact Maureen Lerch at (330) 684-8951 or mlerch@uakron.edu.

The Fireside Readers also has a MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/firesidereaders.

Fireside Readers June 2007 Selection

The June selection of the Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group is Chris Gardner's The Pursuit of Happyness. Join our discussion on Monday, June 4, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Room (next to the library).

At the age of twenty, African American Gardner arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. However, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry level position at a prestigious firm, Gardner found himself caught in a web of challenging circumstances that left him part of the city's working homeless with his toddler son. Motivated by the promise he made to himself as a fatherless child to never abandon his own children, the two spent almost a year in shelters and soup-lines. Never giving in to despair, Gardner went from being part of the city's invisible to being a powerful player in its financial district. (From the publisher's description)

Read the book that inspired the recent film, starring Academy Aware nominee, Will Smith.

Possible discussion questions to consider are available here.

New members and guests are always welcome to join the discussion, even if you haven't read or finished the book. Light refreshments will be served.