The West Valley Book Club will meet on Wednesday evening, December 10 at 6:30pm in the Community Room to discuss Farewell to Manzanar. This famous memoir published in 1973 by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston chronicles Jeanne Wakatsuki's experiences before, during, and after her family's imprisonment at the Manzanar concentration camp in central California during World War II.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, signed by President Roosevelt, which called for the internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans. While this is a dark chapter in recent American history, it is important to honor the experiences of those that endured it and to learn from historical mistakes through empathy and understanding. Join the book club for engaging literary conversation and to find out our first pick for 2013.

The West Valley Book Club members are keeping up with their summer reading, and will meet on August 8th 2012 at 6:30pm to discuss State of Wonder by best-selling author Ann Patchett, most well-known for her award-winning novel Bel Canto. Please join us!

In a "state of wonder" about what this book is about? Here's an in-depth review of the book from The New York Times, and a brief description from Amazon to pique your curiousity:

Keep that brain active this summer with a good book (or several!), don't miss your chance to win prizes during the Summer Reading Celebration through the end of July, and join us in August for lively literary converation.

  The West Valley Book Club will meet on Wednesday, July 11th 2012 at 6:30 PM to discuss Olive Kitteridge   by Elizabeth Strout. We have this book in various formats, including print, audio, downloadable eBook, and eAudio. Want to learn how to download this book onto your computer or eReader device? Join us at West Valley on Wednesday, June 20 2012 at 4:30pm OR Friday, July 6 2012 at 2:00pm. We're offering monthly workshops throughout the summer for people to learn how to use SJPL's growing and thriving eBook collections!

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition–its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires. (From Amazon.com)
 

Whether you read the book or the eBook, please join us in July for lively literary conversation!

The West Valley Book Club is taking a break from fiction for their next meeting on June 13 at 6:30 PM to discuss a nonfiction memoir called The Promise by Oral Lee Brown with Caille Milner. The subtitle says it all: "How one woman made good on her extraordinary pact to send a classroom of 1st graders to college". It's an inspiring and true local story of a middle-class woman in Oakland who took on the challenge to make a profound difference in others' lives. It started in 1987 with a simple interaction with a young girl in need, which resulted in Brown's amazing promise to send a whole class of 23 students to college by saving and investing her own money into the Oral Lee Brown Foundation. Over the years, she went on to fund even more students, and in 2003, LaTosha Hunter became the first of Brown's "babies" and the first in her family to graduate from college.

Brown’s pledge to the students was not without great personal and public sacrifice. Her promise turned her life upside-down—it strained her relationships, and at times required her to work several different jobs. Brown also developed a strong emotional attachment to the children—for many of these students Brown was the one consistent adult in their lives. In a world short on heroes, altruism, and dedication, The Promise shows that it is still possible to change lives for the better. This book will encourage, uplift, and inspire every reader. (From Amazon.com)

Watch this segment from KGO7 to see Oral Lee Brown and some of the lives she's touched:

SJPL's online book club selection for April is Dubliners by James Joyce, and next month the West Valley Book Club will meet to discuss another novel that takes place in San Jose's sister city of Dublin, Ireland. Our book club will meet on Wednesday, May 9 at 6:30pm to discuss bestselling Irish author Maeve Binchy's novel Quentins. Be sure to join us for lively literary conversation!

Is it possible to tell the story of a generation and a city through the history of a restaurant? Ella Brady thinks so. She wants to film a documentary about Quentins that will capture the spirit of Dublin from the 1970s to the present day. And Quentins has a thousand stories to tell: tales of love, of betrayal, of revenge; of times when it looked ready for success and times when it seemed as if it must close in failure. But as Ella uncovers more of what has gone on at Quentins, she begins to wonder whether some secrets should be kept that way... (from Amazon)

The West Valley Book Club will meet on Wednesday, April 11 at 6:30pm in the Community Room to discuss No Graves As Yet: A Novel of World War I by Anne Perry. Perry is a prolific genre fiction author, but she is most well-known for her historical mystery novels. Published in 2003, No Graves as Yet is the opener for her World War I historical mystery series featuring lead protagonist Joseph Reavley, named after Perry's maternal grandfather, who was a captain in England during World War I.

On a sunny afternoon in late June, 1914, Cambridge don, Joseph Reavley is summoned from a student cricket match to learn that his parents have died in a road accident.  Joseph’s brother, Matthew, as an officer in the Intelligence Service, reveals that their father had been en route to London to turn over to him a secret document – allegedly with the power to England and damage the British Empire.  At the same time, events in Sarajevo will propel Europe, and the whole world, into war.  But there are some tragic deaths on the home front and where is this mysterious document...if it exists at all? (from anneperry.net)