The Brown Baggers met virtually on December 17 for their annual holiday potluck, and to pitch and discuss titles for the upcoming June 2021-June 2022 season. Votes will be collected digitally through January 10, 2021. All previous title selections, as well as our next batch of books, once picked, can be seen here. Festivities were slightly hampered by the inability to share food and chat in person, but there was plenty of excitement in looking ahead. Enthusiasm is high for December 2021 (which will hopefully be held in person).
The Brown Baggers will meet again virtually on January 21 to discuss The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger, and will be joined by the author himself, a Charlottesville local. Email kfarrell@jmrl.org for details on how to participate via computer or phone.
Titles Suggested:
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
The Dutch House by Anne Patchett
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe by Brian Greene
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Afterlife by Julia Alvarez
The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveller’s Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States by Frederick Law Olmstead
The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen
The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home by Denise Kiernan
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre
Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson
Spartina by John Casey
Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education by Michael Pollan
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
A Perfect Spy by John le Carre
The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
In An Instant by Suzanne Redfearn
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Ask Again Yes by Mary Beth Keane
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez
The Yellow House by Sarah Broom
Blindness by Jose Saramago
A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Get in Trouble: Stories by Kelly Link
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
Aristotle and Dante is a very heart-warming novel about 2 Mexican boys growing up in El Paso TX. Among other interesting things to me is that even though both were 2nd generation they spoke and thought of themselves as Mexican, certainly culturally if not legally. Perhaps it’s a bit sentimental but not as much as his other novel, The Inexplicable Logic of My Life. I cried all the way through that one and not from sadness! They are both very enjoyable reads.
These sound great – I wasn’t familiar with this author but have added both to my TBR list. Thanks for your comments.