Staff Picks

Suggestions for Book Clubs

Seeking a great story for your book club?  The Library has many to offer.  Below are two novels with remarkable characters in situations sure to spark debate.
   
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Alice Love is an endearing character: pregnant with her first child, madly in love with her husband, and thrilled at the prospect of motherhood.  The problem is that Alice is ten years older than she thinks, on the brink of divorce, struggling to keep three children in line, and dating a man she can’t remember at all. 

Alice’s certainty that true love will prevail is what any idealistic newlywed would believe.  It’s also infuriating for Alice’s estranged husband, sister, mother, and new boyfriend, who all recall Alice’s lost decade with full clarity.  (The children and a self-designated Grandma seem more resilient and accepting of Alice’s sudden shift.)

It’s fascinating to see what changes long-term relationships undergo as well as the circumstances that tear people apart and the reasons they cling together.  What Alice Forgot is an insightful story with great characters, an element of mystery, and a lot of depth.  To find out what caused the rifts in Alice’s family and if Love can repair it, check out What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. 

Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel

Creating an algorithm that locates his true love brings profound change to Sam Elliot’s life in the uniquely modern love story Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel.  A victim of his own success, Sam is terminated by the dating site that employs him.  (It turns out there’s little money to be made when a client discovers his soul mate on the first date.)

Still, Sam’s found love for himself with the lively Meredith.  It’s when Meredith’s beloved Grandmother passes and the unemployed code writer puts his talent to work on a program that allows Meredith to receive email and video chats which seem to come from her departed Nana that things really get interesting. 

With a bit of tweaking, the start-up company RePose is born and Sam and Meredith discover a whole mess of grieving survivors who want to reconnect with lost loved ones.  The reasons clients can’t let go are as individual as they are and a highlight of the story.

Goodbye for Now raises fascinating questions about our perceptions of life and loss and the potentials and limitations of technology. 

Alicia Cavitt
Information Specialist