OWL has both Fiction and Non-Fiction Book Discussion Groups that are open to all! Come to one or all meetings. Books are available for check out at OWL.
Non-Fiction Discussion Group
When: Second Thursday of each month from 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Where: Meeting will be held In the Library’s Jamie Gagarin Community Room.
Staff Contact: Olivia DeFiore
Selection List for 2023–24
April 11
The Bad-ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer
In 2012, thousands of Al Qaeda militants seized control of most of Mali, including Timbuktu. A mild mannered
archivist and historian became one of the world's greatest and most brazen smugglers. As the militants
tightened their control over Timbuktu, he organized a dangerous operation to sneak 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali. Moderated by Christine
May 9
Caste: The Origin of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Beyond race or class, a powerful caste system influences people’s lives and the nation’s fate. Linking the
caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, the author explores what underlies caste systems
across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, and stigma. Using riveting stories about people, she
shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. Moderated by Laura
June 13
War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges
Drawing on his own experience as a war correspondent and on the literature of combat from Homer to
the present, the author shows how war seduces not just those on the front lines but entire societies.
Mixing hard-nosed realism with profound moral and philosophical insight, this is a book whose truths
have never been more necessary. Moderated by Audrey
Fiction Discussion Group
When: Second Thursday of each month from 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Where: Meeting will be held In the Library’s Jamie Gagarin Community Room.
Staff Contact: Olivia DeFiore
Selection List for 2023–24
April 11
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak
In the pulsating moments after she has been murdered, a woman remembers her life – and
the lives of others, outcasts like her. Her memories bring us back to her childhood in the provinces
and to a dark world in a big city. In her death, the secrets and wonders of modern Istanbul come to
life, painted vividly by the captivating tales of how she came to know and be loved by her friends.
Moderated by Corinne
May 9
Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang
Joan is a thirty-something ICU doctor at a busy New York City hospital. Her parents were originally from
China. She is intensely devoted to her work and happily solitary, but family, neighbors and co-workers
try to shape her life according to their cultural and social expectations. Moderated by Cindy
June 13
The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble
When circumstances compel her to start over, an older woman moves to a run-down building in central
London – and begins to pour her soul into a diary. She is not exactly destitute. So, is the move perversity,
she wonders, a survival test, or is she punishing herself? How will she adjust to this curiously appealing
city? What can happen, at her age, to change her life? She describes her social circle and her attempts at
risk-taking in her new life. Moderated by Curry