Book Club
Book Clubs are held monthly at both Blenheim and Picton Libraries.
Book Club is a group of keen readers who meet to discuss books on a theme, although you can talk about any book that you have been reading and enjoyed. Bring whatever you have been reading and give a brief outline of the book and what you thought of it (without giving away any spoilers or the ending!).
Marlborough District Library (Blenheim) Book Club
Blenheim Book Club meets on the last Thursday of the month, 6:30pm at Te Kahu o Waipuna. Book Club meets after hours so if you are wanting to attend, please come to the Wynen Street side door.
The next Blenheim Book Club meeting will take place on Thursday 29 May at 6.30 pm. The theme will be: ?????Please note there will be no Book Club in April.
Picton Library and Service Centre Waitohi Whare Mātauranga
The next Picton Book Club meeting will take place on Thursday 5 June. The theme will be books from the Ockham's list.
Below are some of the books discussed at this month's Picton Book Club, where the theme was 'Irish Authors'.
Book Club Reviews
Last Summer in Ireland by Anne Doughty
Adult fiction
Deirdre Weston, a London journalist, returns to her family home in Armagh to come to terms with the death of her mother. Faced with painful memories of her own past, Deirdre despairs of the task she has set herself.
In her deepest need she encounters Deara, the handmaiden of the Lady Merdaine from the capital of ancient Ulster. During her stay, Deirdre unearths what happened in Deara's fifth-century life, a time as turbulent and troubled in Ireland as the late twentieth century has been.
As events unfold, both women discover the strength which flows from the love and support of the other - and the transforming power of courage.
See if Last Summer in Ireland is available on our catalogue or place a hold
The Echo Chamber by John Boyne
Adult fiction
What a thing of wonder a mobile phone is. Six ounces of metal, glass and plastic, fashioned into a sleek, shiny, precious object. At once, a gateway to other worlds and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept. The Cleverley family live a gilded life, little realising how precarious their privilege is, just one tweet away from disaster. George, the patriarch, is a stalwart of television interviewing, a 'national treasure' (his words), his wife Beverley, a celebrated novelist (although not as celebrated as she would like), and their children, Nelson, Elizabeth, Achilles, various degrees of catastrophe waiting to happen.
See if The Echo Chamber is available on our catalogue or place a hold
Secrets of the Little Greek Taverna by Erin Palmisano
Adult fiction
In a village on Naxos lies a gorgeous guest house and taverna that never opened. Cressida's husband died suddenly three years ago, the taverna was their dream, but she's been too lost in grief to keep that dream alive. Marjory "Jory" St. James, a young traveller who always feels more at home on the move, arrives on Naxos in the middle of the night as if summoned by the island. She quite unexpectedly becomes Cressida's very first guest. Jory quickly discovers that this island vacation is more than just a sightseeing adventure as all of the women in town are more than what they seem.
See if Secrets of the Little Greek Taverna is available on our catalogue or place a hold
When among the Crows by Veronica Roth
Adult fiction
Step into a city where monsters feast on human emotions, knights split their souls to make their weapons, and witches always take more than they give. Pain is Dymitr's calling. To slay the monsters he's been raised to kill, he had to split his soul in half to make a sword from his own spine. Every time he draws it, he gets blood on his hands. Pain is Ala's inheritance. When her mother died, a family curse to witness horrors committed by the Holy Order was passed onto her. The curse will claim her life, as it did her mother's, unless she can find a cure. One fateful night in Chicago, Dymitr comes to Ala with a bargain: her help in finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga in exchange for an enchanted flower that just might cure her. Desperate, and unaware of what Dymitr really is, Ala agrees. But they only have one day before the flower dies, and Ala's hopes of breaking the curse along with it.
See if When among the Crows is available on our catalogue or place a hold
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
Adult non-fiction 153.733 HAR
For Stolen Focus, internationally bestselling author Johann Hari went on a three-year journey to uncover the reasons behind our shortening attention spans. He interviewed the leading experts in the world on attention, and learned that everything we think about this subject is wrong. We think our inability to focus is a personal failing, a flaw in each one of us. It is not. This has been done to all of us by powerful external forces. Our focus has been stolen. Johann discovered there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, all of which have robbed some of our attention. He shows us how in a thrilling journey that ranges from Silicon Valley dissidents, to a favela in Rio where attention vanished, to an office in New Zealand that found a remarkable way to restore our attention. Crucially, he learned how, as individuals, and as a society, we can get our focus back.
See if Stolen Focus is available on our catalogue or place a hold
Three Wild Dogs by Marcus Zusak
Adult non-fiction 636.7 ZUS
In this poignant, funny and disarmingly honest memoir, bestselling authors, tells of his family’s adoption of three troublesome rescue dogs, a charming and courageous love story about making even the most incorrigible of animals family.
What happens when the Zusaks open their family home to three big, wild, pound-hardened dogs? Reuben, a wolf at your door with a hacksaw; Archer, blond, beautiful, deadly; and the rancorously smiling Frosty, who walks like a rolling thunderstorm?
The answer can only be chaos: there are street fights, public shamings, property trashing, bodily injuries, stomach pumping, purest comedy, and carnage that needs to be seen to be believed, not to mention the odd police visit at some ungodly hour.
See if Three Wild Dogs is available on our catalogue or place a hold