Each month we will read a book selected along with Maine Public Book Club. All books are written by Maine authors. Each book selection will have a live virtual book club featuring an interview with the author streamed on Maine Public's Youtube Channel and Facebook Page on a scheduled date. We will then meet at the Appleton Library to also discuss our thoughts on the book and the virtual meeting featuring the author. The library has multiple copies of each book available for lending to our patrons. Click HERE to see the full schedule.
The Book Club will start with the May selection of Soft Features by Gillian Burnes. Maine Public's "Virtual Book Club" will stream on the Maine Public's YouTube and Facebook page on Wednesday, May 22 at 7pm. Please have the book read by then! Our Appleton Library Book Club meeting for that book will be at the library on Tuesday, May 28 at 10:00.
Soft Features by Gillian Burnes
What happens to a news reporter when she can’t report the news without breaking into tears? This is the problem Coralie Threlfell faces in Soft Features, a wise and witty novel set in Maine in 1994 about an overly empathetic public radio journalist whose attempts to find cheerful stories, or soft features, take her on a series of misadventures that only prove – time and again, in surprising ways – that even compassion is not for the faint of heart.
“I don’t believe The Great Public Radio Novel has been written. Until now. Avid NPR listeners (like me) will lap up Gillian Burnes’s Soft Features for its insight– through the character of reporter Coralie Threlfell– into the way those great audio stories get thought up, and put together for the air. Thoroughly professional but subject to puzzling emotional stumbles, Coralie is a great main character. And the book has great Maine character, showing an affinity for the quirky customers and people of the Pine Tree State. An excellent job all around.”
– Ben Yagoda, author of About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made
“A warmhearted, humorous, honest look at what it’s like to be human right now, Soft Features speaks directly to the existential dread in all of us. I mean that in the best possible way. Gillian Burnes’s novel may or may not make you feel less anxious about the world, but it will absolutely make you feel less alone in it.”
– Jill Twiss, author of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents: A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo
Maine Public/ Appleton Library 2024 Book Club Schedule
*Book Club Meeting Dates/Times Subject to Change
https://www.mainepublic.org/all-books-considered-book-club
May
Soft Features by Gillian Burnes
Maine Public Coverage: Wednesday, May 22 at 7pm: Virtual Book Club discussion with author live streamed on Maine Public’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Appleton Library Book Club Meeting: Tuesday, May 28 at 10am.
June
Moon in Full by Marpheen Chann
Maine Public Coverage: Wednesday, June19 at 7pm: Virtual Book Club discussion with author live streamed on Maine Public’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Appleton Library Book Club Meeting: Tuesday, June 25 at 10am.
July
Home Now: How 6000 Refugees Transformed an American Town by Cynthia Anderson
Maine Public Coverage: Thursday, July 25 at 7pm: Virtual Book Club discussion with author live streamed on Maine Public’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Appleton Library Book Club Meeting: Tuesday, July 30 at 10am.
August
Hunger Hill by Philip Baker
Maine Public Coverage: Thursday, August 29 at 7pm: Virtual Book Club discussion with author live streamed on Maine Public’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Appleton Library Book Club Meeting: Tuesday, September 3 at 10am.
September
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
Maine Public Coverage: Wednesday, September 25 at 7pm: Virtual Book Club discussion with author live streamed on Maine Public’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Appleton Library Book Club Meeting: Tuesday, October 1 at 10am.
October
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty
Maine Public Coverage: Wednesday, October 9 at 7pm: Virtual Book Club discussion with author live streamed on Maine Public’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Appleton Library Book Club Meeting: Tuesday, October 29 at 10am.
November
The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson by Ellen Baker
Maine Public Coverage: Thursday, November 21 at 7pm: Virtual Book Club discussion with author live streamed on Maine Public’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Appleton Library Book Club Meeting: Tuesday, November 26 at 10am.
Maine Humanities Summer Reading List:
https://www.mainehumanities.org/programs-grants/read-me/
Thursday, July 18; 7pm Online Talk: Moon in Full by Marpheen Chann
Thursday, August 15; 7pm Online Talk: The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring
Starting in the month of May, the Appleton Library will be offering a new book club! Together, we will read monthly book selections along with the Maine Public Book Club. We have decided to follow along with the Maine Public Book Club because:
If you have any questions, would like to add your name to the Appleton Library Book Club email list, or would like to reserve a copy of a book club selection, please email Jessica at appletonlibraryme@gmail.com.
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