It’s a new year, so book club is doing something new – reading off a list on Goodreads (well, for at least our first two books).

The topic is adult fiction with young protagonists/point of view, and the book is “The Book Thief,” Markus Zusak’s beloved story about a girl in 1939 Nazi Germany who begins a love affair with books and language. She finds a book by accident in the snow and is so taken that she begins to ‘borrow’ books wherever she can find them. But then a stranger arrives on her family’s doorstep, and the family must hide him, and everything changes. We meet in the back room (behind the children’s section) of the Midtown Scholar. Please RSVP and/or send questions to Joe Foner at joefoner1@gmail.com.  See you there, and happy reading!

Programming Note: In addition, we’re starting another challenge read. The challenge read is a separate book adventure, whereby we pick a (much) longer book than usual and read it over 6 months, periodically checking in at regular meetings. In the end, we’ll have a separate stand-alone meeting to discuss that book. The book is Haruki Marukami’s “1Q84.” The challenge read runs from January to June, and we’ll meet in July TBD. There will be a separate posting for the challenge read, but feel free to e-mail Joe at joefoner1@gmail.com for further details.