One of our newest book groups returns this month. The Future is Female, a mix of memoirs, short stories, novels, and poetry by and about interesting, talented, and inspiring women in history, the arts, sports, and everyday life. Led by Ellen O’Connell, the group will meet on the first Monday of every month, from 2:00-3:30 p.m.
To place one of the readings on hold, simply click on the title.
October 7: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (2014) a Novel — As part of the One Book, One White Plains program. “A moving exploration of family, history, and the meaning of home…both a gripping page-turner and an examination of the rifts that keep us apart.”
November 4: Florida by Lauren Groff (2018) a Short Story Collection— Finalist for the 2018 National Book Award and one of NPR’s Best Books Of 2018 “…Florida is restorative fiction for these urgent times. Its final gestures, even the most ominous, lean toward love and the promise of good people…in the world.”— New York Times
December 2: The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates (2019) Nonfiction — “This book is an urgent manifesto for an equal society where women are valued and recognized in all spheres of life. We need this message more than ever.” —Malala Yousafzai
January 6: American Primitive by Mary Oliver (1983) Poetry Collection — Winner Pulitzer Prize, her most acclaimed volume of poetry…. “Mary Oliver’s poetry is fine and deep; it reads like a blessing. Her special gift is to connect us with our sources in the natural world, its beauties and terrors and mysteries and consolations…” Stanley Kunitz, US Poet Laureate, 2000
February 3: The Atomic City Girls: a Novel by Janet Beard (2018) Historical Fiction — International bestseller that “Focuses on the little known realities behind the Manhattan Project.”—Library Journal. “This is approachable, intelligent, and highly satisfying historical fiction.”—Booklist
March 2: Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat Summitt (2013) a Memoir —The story of the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history and the biggest challenge she faced, a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. “Basketball legend Pat Summitt…with her trademark honesty and grace, reveals her early anger, her diminishing abilities, her decision to retire, and how her faith sustains her.”—USA
April 6: The Passion of Artemisia: A Novel by Susan Vreeland (2002) Historical Fiction —The story of one of the few female post- Renaissance painters to achieve fame during her own era, Artemisia Gentileschi. “Intelligent, searching, and unusual, the novel is filled with luminous moments.”— New York Times
May 4: White Dresses: A Memoir of Love and Secrets, Mothers and Daughters by Mary Pflum (2015) Memoir — Journalist/reporter and multi-Emmy winning television producer at Good Morning America and CNN tells the story of three generations of women and the white dresses they wore, their journey through losses and redemption, and her struggle to save her mother from the grip of hoarding.
June 1: Find a Way by Diana Nyad (2015) a Memoir — of the long distance swimmer who garnered national attention when, at age 64, she became the first person confirmed to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. “This book is an inspiration.”—People Magazine. “Reads like a gripping thriller. As she says, ‘You can live out your dreams if you refuse to ever, ever give up.’”—WSJ
No registration required.
