BOOKS
MEETING INFORMATION
Next Meeting: June 22nd
Time: 7:00-8:00 P.M.
Where: Adult Fiction, can meet in alley next to Coldwater weather permitting.
MONTHLY DISCUSSION
June
A Walk in the Woods
Bill Bryson
The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America-majestic mountains, silent forests, sparkling lakes.
Bill Bryson is the most entertaining guide you'll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way-and a couple of bears.July
I Must Betray You
Ruta Sepetys
Romania, 1989. Communist Regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.
Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone adn everything he loves-or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.
Cirstian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But waht is the cost of freedom>
A Walk in the Woods
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- What do you think of the author’s sense of humor? His opinions? His writing style?
- The tone of the book veers back and forth between humor and seriousness, even anger. In fact, the book is a sort of jeremiad against environmental threats to the great wilderness areas of the country. Is Bryson’s anger justified? He criticizes, but does he offer solutions? Are there solutions?
- Bryson ponders the attraction of hiking: ”You have no engagements, commitments, obligations, or duties; no special ambitions and only the smallest, least complicated of wants; you exist in a tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of exasperation.” If you’re a hiker, backpacker, camper, are your experiences similar to or different from Bryson’s? For those who aren’t hikers, are there other avenues to “exist in a tranquil tedium”?
- One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the unlikely friendship between Bryson and Katz. What is the relationship based on?How does Bryson’s attitude toward Katz change over the course of the book? How does Katz himself change? Or does he? What was Katz’s motivation to walk the AT?
- The book offers an excellent microscope through which to examine the meaning of friendship—our own friendships. Do the two men remind you of friends who tested your patience, but who exhibited intense loyalty?
- Katz pokes fun at rural Southerners, which some readers find funny, others find offensive. You? What about the interactions between them and the other characters in the book? Did you find the relationships humorous?
- You might also talk about the numerous characters Bryson and Katz meet on the trail. Mary Ellen is one, for instance: how do you feel about their treatment of her? Do you view these “asides” as positive or negative in the structure of the book?
- Do you feel that their hike really counts as hiking the Appalachian Trail even though it was only 39% of the trail?
- What do you think of the informational tidbits/tangents on history (of the trail, of the National Park Service, etc.), geology (of Centralia and the mountainside in Lehigh Valley), ecology (the effects of global warming, zinc mining, dam building), and social customs (the interaction and views of different people) in the book? Did any ignite your interest? Which ones? Why?
- Do you think that readers could find this book offensive or controversial? In what ways?
- Did the ending of the book “feel right” to you? What do you think the author meant about it not feeling right about cutting grass after hiking the Appalachian Trail?
- In fiction a journey usually symbolizes a journey of self-discovery—at the end the protagonist comes to learn something about him/herself. Although A Walk isn’t a novel, do either of the men come to greater self-awareness by the end of their journey?
2026 BOOK CHOICES
*Books subject to change per staff discretion.*
MONTH
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
BOOK
Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Lido by Libby Page
The Light Pirate by Lily-Brooks Dalton
The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Husbands by Holly Gramazio
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon