The Seasonal Book Club w/Rachelle Street

Good books and good conversation lift the soul and is one of the great joys life. Join the People’s Place the second Tuesday of each month.
About this Event

Once a month we will discuss a seasonally inspired selection. Each book will be available for free in the Kingston Library or using Hoopla or Libby, including the option of listening to the text as an audiobook.

Our August 11th book will be Thornton Wilder's slender novella (145 pages), The Bridge of San Luis Rey. The story opens on July 20th, 1714, when the finest bridge in all Peru breaks, hurtling five people to their deaths. Brother Juniper, a humble monk, becomes obsessed with learning about the lives of these five people as a way to prove the existence of God--that it was divine intervention, not mere chance, when the bridge broke. Despite the novella's premise, The Bridge of San Luis Rey is an incredibly funny, touching read. It captures the breadth of human existence and our desire for understanding.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey is available in hard copy at the Kingston Library. It is also available as an audiobook (fewer than four hours of listening!) on Libby and Hoopla, and as an ebook on Hoopla. This was Thornton Wilder's second novel and it won him his first of three Pulitzer Prizes!
If you want to prepare for October, we'll be welcoming the end of monsoon season in India by reading Aravind Adiga's fast-moving, darkly comic novel, The White Tiger (270 pages). Over the course of seven days--via emails to China's Premier, of all things--Balram Halwai tells the story of how he came to be a success in life. This page-turner offers a completely bald, unadorned portrait of India as seen from the bottom of the heap. The Indian tourist board won't be pleased, but you will. The White Tiger is available as an audiobook on Libby and Hoopla, and as an ebook through Hoopla. Hard copies can be found through the Mid-Hudson Library System at Rosendale, Woodstock, Red Hook, and Hyde Park, and can be requested at the Kingston Library.

Rachelle Street is a Kingston based educator and creator. She has loved books her entire life and has run a monthly book club since 2013. Her work can be found at instagram.com/goodjobseamstress and her other book club, the Hudson Valley Prize-Winning Book Club and Vegan Potluck, can be found at Heylo.com.