Interest Groups

AAUW Book Club selections  Summer and Fall 2017

Book Club group meets the third Friday of every month at a different restaurant 11:30 a.m.

July 21 My Cousin Rachel, Daphne du Maurier  Ella’s Restaurant on UA Campus

Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries – and there he dies suddenly. In almost no time at all, the new widow – Philip’s cousin Rachel – turns up in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious woman like a moth to the flame. And yet …might she have had a hand in Ambrose’s death?

Aug 18 Molly Ivins Letters to a Nation, Molly Ivins

Writing in her native “Texlish,” Molly Ivins planted herself squarely in the tradition of plain-spoken and earthy American humor, the big river that runs from Mark Twain straight through to Will Rogers, Ring Lardner and George Carlin. Between 1982 and 2007, Ivins contributed seventeen consistently sharp and funny articles to The Nation, starting with what might be described as her “Letters From Texas,” in which she discussed political developments in the Lone Star State, whose zany politics were full of exotic people dubbed “The Gibber,” “The Breck Girl” and “Governor Goodhair.” Despite their humor, however, Ivins’s pieces always delivered trenchant political commentary. And she could also write highly accomplished and fascinating cultural essays and book reviews (such as “Ezra Pound in East Texas,” included in this paperback).

Sept 15 The Blood of Emmit Till, Timothy Tyson  SOUTHERN FOOD COMPANY 3573 W. WEDINGTON DRIVE, Fayetteville

This extraordinary New York Times bestseller reexamines a pivotal event of the civil rights movement—the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till—“and demands that we do the one vital thing we aren’t often enough asked to do with history: learn from it” (The Atlantic).

Oct 20  Still Life with Bread Crumbs, Anna Quindlen

Brilliantly written, powerfully observed, Still Life with Bread Crumbs is a deeply moving and often very funny story of unexpected love, and a stunningly crafted journey into the life of a woman, her heart, her mind, her days, as she discovers that life is a story with many levels, a story that is longer and more exciting than she ever imagined.

Nov 17 The Dinner, Herman Koch

An internationally bestselling phenomenon, the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives—all over the course of one meal.

It’s a summer’s evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.

Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.

Jan 19, 2018   George Washington’s Secret Spy War, John A. Nagy

Using George Washington’s diary as the primary source, Nagy tells the story of Washington’s experiences during the French and Indian War and his first steps in the field of espionage. Despite what many believe, Washington did not come to the American Revolution completely unskilled in this area of warfare. Espionage was a skill he honed during the French and Indian war and upon which he heavily depended during the Revolutionary War. He used espionage to level the playing field and then exploited it on to final victory.

Filled with thrilling and never-before-told stories from the battlefield and behind enemy lines, this is the story of how Washington out-spied the British.