Barron Park Reading Group

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See Fiction suggested by Janet Amazon description: … a moving novel about tradition, tea farming, and the bonds between mothers and daughters. In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced […]

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell Non-Fiction suggested by Janet Blink is about the first two seconds of looking, snap judgments, choices that seem to be made in an instant that actually aren’t as simple as they seem, and about how we can make better instant judgments by training our mind […]

A History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund Fiction suggested by Barbara Achingly beautiful prose, haunting, lyrical, disturbing, a web of mysteries, a glimmer of dread. Teenage Linda lives on a failed commune in the austere north Minnesota woods. Her life of solitude cracks open when her history teacher is charged with child pornography. The new […]

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker Non-Fiction suggested by Janet “My new favorite book of all time.” –Bill Gates “A terrific book…[Pinker] recounts the progress across a broad array of metrics, from health to wars, the environment to happiness, equal rights to quality of life.” –The New York […]

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult Fiction suggested by Anca An Amazon Best Book of October 2016, about racism, choice, fear, and hope. Based on the true story of a labor and delivery nurse who was prohibited from caring for a newborn because the white supremacist father requested that no African-American tend to his baby. […]

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann Non-Fiction suggested by Terry A National Book Award Finalist and Amazon Best Book of 2017, a true crime historical account, disturbing and wonderfully told. It captures an era of lawlessness and greed in frontier life in Oklahoma in the 1920s. After oil was discovered beneath their land, […]

We hardly ever cancel a meeting, but we decided to skip this one due to the holiday.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Fiction suggested by Sharon Under house arrest in a luxury hotel, Count Rostov lives an absorbing, adventurous existence, filled with capers, conspiracies and culture. The relationships he forms with staff and guests, his handling of twists of fate, his moral rectitude and his perseverance make for a compelling […]

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh Fiction suggested by Patti The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she […]

The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott Fiction suggested by Barbara Spanning the 20th century, story of a widow and her daughter and the nuns who serve their Irish-American immigrant Catholic Brooklyn community. The optimism of faith, the suffering of reality. On a dim winter afternoon, a young Irish immigrant opens a gas tap in his […]