Books on Tap met on Thursday, September 7 to discuss Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Richly detailed, lyrical, and largely character-driven, the book manages to maintain a strong sense of place and develop a courageous, strong female character, who experiences more plot-centered action as the story progresses. Eighteen-year-old Anna tells the story of 1666, the year her small, remote English village was infected by the plague. 

Said to be haunting, disturbing, and dramatic, the novel nevertheless dragged for members at points. As the book club continued into the evening, the joke became, “which 100 pages would you cut?” (with all three thirds of the book receiving votes)

Still, this story of human nature, exposing our quickness to blame others or fall into conspiracy, mob mentality, and/or hysteria, was especially captivating in our current climate. We feel the eerie anxiety of not knowing what the future holds as we contemplate long-Covid or the continued mutation of the virus. We reflect back on extreme measures taken during our own lockdown/quarantine experiences, paralleled in the novel, and the human brain asks, “was it the right thing? Was it worth it?” We empathize and wince at the demonization of medical professionals in the book (midwives) as we’ve seen the same happen in times of high medical stress. 

Interestingly, words like “remember” were used throughout the evening, as members nudged one another to “remember” the fear we felt at various points, especially in 2020. Reading this book, called “the must-read novel for quarantine and social distancing,” in late 2023, is an experience strongly shaped by contemporary feelings; we have intimate, recent memories of Covid, but for many (we can’t speak for all, of course), the discussion suggested that the visceral pandemic fear and turmoil is exactly that – largely memory. We talked about Covid, but not exclusively. We also talked about the writing style, what traits made Anna heroic, the role of religion in the novel, and of course, as can’t be avoided when attending book club meetings, the ending! For many in our book club, the ending made more sense after learning about Brooks’ first book, Nine Parts of Desire, which is based on the author’s experiences among Muslim women in the Middle East gained over six years as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. 

A highlight of the evening was celebrating the birthday of one of our members with cake, good company, and friendly conversation. If you’re looking for a joyful and fun community of readers, look no further! Books on Tap meets on the first Thursday of every month in the back room of Beer Run at 7 pm. Email Krista at kfarrell@jmrl.org for additional information. 

Additional titles:

A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe

The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen 

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

The Plague by Albert Camus

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory 

Links to explore:

The New Yorker magazine article, “Harboring Rats,” very apropos of our discussion (one free article is given; if you’re unable to read the article on The New Yorker, it can be accessed through Magzter with your JMRL library card number; contact reference@jmrl.org for help accessing this article if needed)

Explore the Eyam Museum website; this museum tells the real story of Anna’s small village

Upcoming titles:

October 5: Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison

November 2: The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

December 7: The Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken

January 4: Violeta by Isabel Allende

February 1: How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? By N. K. Jemisin

March 7: Same Page Selection

April 4: The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

May 2: All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

June 6: Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora