Book Discussions

Presents a true account of the early twentieth-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. 1920s Oklahoma. The richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma after oil was discovered beneath their land. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. Many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. It became the FBI's first major homicide investigation... and the bureau badly bungled the case. J. Edgar Hoover turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White, who put together an undercover team which began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. Join us on the first Thursday of the month for a lively discussion of this month’s title and other of life’s mysteries. Copies of the book are usually available at the circulation desk or can be reserved online or by asking at the desk. This discussion also features cheese pizza while it lasts. Free and open to all.

"An inventive and witty debut about a young man's quest to become a writer and the misadventures in life and love that take him around the globe From as early as he can remember, the hopelessly unreliable--yet hopelessly earnest--narrator of this ambitious debut novel has wanted to become a writer. From the jazz clubs of Manhattan to the villages of Sri Lanka, Kristopher Jansma's irresistible narrator will be inspired and haunted by the success of his greatest friend and rival in writing, the eccentric and brilliantly talented Julian McGann, and endlessly enamored with Julian's enchanting friend, Evelyn, the green-eyed girl who got away. After the trio has a disastrous falling out, desperate to tell the truth in his writing and to figure out who he really is, Jansma's narrator finds himself caught in a never-ending web of lies. As much a story about a young man and his friends trying to make their way in the world as a profoundly affecting exploration of the nature of truth and storytelling, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards will appeal to readers of Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists and Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad with its elegantly constructed exploration of the stories we tell to find out who we really are. "-- Provided by publisher. "Can a leopard ever really change his spots? Can a person ever change? These are the timeless questions that Kristopher Jansma asks in this enchanting debut novel about three great friends--two men and one woman--their triumphs and failures in life and love and their globe-spanning adventures. From the jazz clubs of Manhattan to the villages of Sri Lanka, these three remarkably engaging characters grow up and grow old, fall in and out of love, write novels and wed wealthy European aristocrats. As much a story about a young man and his friends trying to find their way in the world as a whipsmart exploration of the nature of truth and storytelling, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards will delight readers with its near perfect alchemy of emotional depth and warmth, formal playfulness, and sophisticated but always accessible exploration of what it means to grow up"-- Provided by publisher.

A U.S. release of an internationally best-selling tribute to Agatha Christie's classic, And Then There Were None, follows the experiences of travelers who are stranded by a blizzard in a decrepit hotel where one of their number begins killing off the rest. Join us on the first Thursday of the month for a lively discussion of this month’s title and other of life’s mysteries. Copies of the book are usually available at the circulation desk or can be reserved online or by asking at the desk. This discussion also features pizza while it lasts. Free and open to all.

"From a dazzling new literary voice, a debut novel about a Palestinian family caught between present and past, between displacement and home ... On the eve of her daughter Alia's wedding, Salma reads the girl's future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel, and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is up rooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967. Salma is forced to leave her home in Nablus; Alia's brother gets pulled into a politically militarized world he can't escape; and Alia and her gentle-spirited husband move to Kuwait City, where they reluctantly build a life with their three children. When Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait in1990, Alia and her family once again lose their home, their land, and their story as they know it, scattering to Beirut, Paris, Boston, and beyond. Soon Alia's children begin families of their own, once again navigating the burdens (and blessings) of assimilation in foreign cities. Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses is a remarkable debut novel that challenges and humanizes an age-old conflict we might think we understand--one that asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can't go home again"-- Provided by publisher. Discussion led by Tiffany Ehle. Third Thursday is open to all, no sign up necessary. Reserve your book at the adult circulation desk or online. Sponsored in part by a grant from the Deerfield Cultural Council.

How does a child become a criminal? How does a father lose a son? An epic crime novel with the excitement of Jo Nesbo's Headhunters and the depth of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Father is inspired by the extraordinary true story of three brothers who held Sweden to ransom, committing ten audacious bank robberies over just two years. None had committed a crime before. All were under 24 years old. All of them would be changed forever. In this intoxicating, heartbreaking thriller, the fourth brother, who was not involved in the real robberies, tells of three boys who grew from innocent children to become public enemy number one - and of the man who made them that way. Join us on the first Thursday of the month for a lively discussion of this month’s title and other of life’s mysteries. Copies of the book are usually available at the circulation desk or can be reserved online or by asking at the desk. This discussion also features cheese pizza while it lasts. Free and open to all.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life. Third Thursday is an informal group, open to all, no sign up necessary. Reserve your book at the adult circulation desk or online. Organizational meeting to follow the discussion.

Years after three friends from an idyllic hamlet 90 miles north of New York City are bound and then separated by a devastating, seemingly senseless crime, the trio revisits their painful pasts in even more traumatizing ways. Join us on the first Thursday of the month for a lively discussion of this month’s title and other of life’s mysteries. Copies of the book are usually available at the circulation desk or can be reserved online or by asking at the desk. This discussion also features pizza while it lasts. Free and open to all.  

Follows three mothers, each at a crossroads, and their potential involvement in a riot at a school trivia night that leaves one parent dead in what appears to be a tragic accident, but which evidence shows might have been premeditated. Third Thursday is an informal group, open to all, no sign up necessary. Reserve your book at the adult circulation desk or online

Third Thursday is an informal group, open to all, no sign up necessary. Reserve your book at the adult circulation desk or online. "...the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the conflicts of assimilation, and, most poignantly, the tangled ties between generations.  The Namesake is a fine-tuned, intimate, and deeply felt novel of identity."