New Groups And Returning Book Discussions For Fall

RIDGEFIELD — As summer wanes and autumn approaches, the two book groups hosted by Ridgefield Library will buckle down for some serious reading discussions, while a new group enjoys its debut. All three groups are open to new members and are free of charge.

For those who have been waiting for a non-fiction book group at the library, the wait is over. Every first Tuesday of each month, the new group will meet in the library’s Dayton Program Room. The discussions will be co-hosted by Ann Jepson and Jack Daniels, and for the autumn months will focus on biographies and histories.

For the first discussion on September 4, Ms Jepson and Mr Daniels will lead a talk concerning Ron Chernow’s Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller. A compelling biography, Titan has been raved about as definitive account of the captivating capitalist’s life and character.

participants are encouraged to bring suggestions for future non-fiction book group discussions. (The next two meetings will feature Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and The Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose, on October 2, and then Empire Express: Building The First Transcontinental Railroad by David Haward Bain, on November 6.)

On Tuesday, September 18, the Critic’s Circle will revisit the Vietnam era through a discussion of  Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. The “things they carried” of the title refers to the emotional baggage that so often accompanies one who has traversed the war.

The book was a finalist for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The writing is a mixture of memoir, short story and novel. It challenges the concept of truth as fact versus truth as it is remembered. The author’s language mirrors that blurred line with a prose so concise and emotional that it rings poetic.

The group will meet at 10 am in the library’s Dayton Room.

Then on Wednesday, September 19,  at 10 am, the AM Book Group will discuss another war-related title, Baumgartner’s Bombay by Anita Desai. In this read, Hugo Baumgartner thinks he is leaving Nazi Germany behind as he heads for Calcutta. Just as he thinks he has escaped both the war and his identity, Baumgartner finds himself instead, labeled a “hostile alien,” in a novel set in the spiritually rich and culturally colorful landscape of India.