Avid Readers
Every Fourth Tuesday at 6 pm AZ Time
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2024-2025 Book Selections
March 25, 2025
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. Historical Fiction. 759 pages.
Paris, 1937. Andras Levi, a Hungarian-Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver. But when he falls into a complicated relationship with the letter’s recipient, he becomes privy to a secret that will alter the course of his and his family’s history. From the small Hungarian town of Konyar to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris, from the despair of the Carpathian winter to an unimaginable life in labor camps, The Invisible Bridge tells the story of a family shattered and remade in history’s darkest hour.
Led by Susie Mitchler
April 22, 2025
Absolution by Alice McDermott. Historical Fiction, 336 pages
American wives have been mostly minor characters in the literature of the Vietnam War; but in Absolution they take center stage. Tricia is a shy newlywed, married to a rising attorney on loan to navy intelligence. Charlene is a practiced corporate spouse and mother of three, a beauty and a bully. In Saigon in 1963, the two women form a wary alliance as they balance the era’s mandate to be “helpmates” to their ambitious husbands with their own impulse to “do good” for the people of Vietnam.
Sixty years later, Charlene’s daughter, spurred by an encounter with an aging Vietnam vet, reaches out to Tricia. Together, they look back at their time in Saigon, taking account of that pivotal year, and discovering how their own lives as women on the periphery-of politics, history, war, and their husbands’ convictions-were shaped and burdened by the same unintended consequences that followed America’s interference in Southeast Asia.
Led by Margot Richardson-Corlett
May 27, 2025
James by Percival Everett. Fiction, 320 pages
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decided to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many narratives pieces of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place, in this novel Jim’s agency and intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.
Led by Susan Gilfeather
June 24, 2025
The Secret History of Audrey James by Heather Marshall. Historical Fiction, 432 pages
Berlin 1938-British pianist Audrey James and her best friend Isle face the imminent threat of Nazi oppression. When Ilse’s family disappears and Nazi officers confiscate their home, Audrey becomes the housekeeper and Ilse is forced into hiding in the attic. As borders close and rumors of death camps swirl, Audry joins the resistance and risks everything to protect her loved ones.
Alnwick 2010-After a tragic accident, Kate Mercer moves to a guest house near the Scottish border and becomes entangled in the secretes of her elderly proprietor. A captivating story about the unbreakable bonds of friendship and family.
Led by Nancy Goddard
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. Historical Fiction. 759 pages.
Paris, 1937. Andras Levi, a Hungarian-Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver. But when he falls into a complicated relationship with the letter’s recipient, he becomes privy to a secret that will alter the course of his and his family’s history. From the small Hungarian town of Konyar to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris, from the despair of the Carpathian winter to an unimaginable life in labor camps, The Invisible Bridge tells the story of a family shattered and remade in history’s darkest hour.
Led by Susie Mitchler
April 22, 2025
Absolution by Alice McDermott. Historical Fiction, 336 pages
American wives have been mostly minor characters in the literature of the Vietnam War; but in Absolution they take center stage. Tricia is a shy newlywed, married to a rising attorney on loan to navy intelligence. Charlene is a practiced corporate spouse and mother of three, a beauty and a bully. In Saigon in 1963, the two women form a wary alliance as they balance the era’s mandate to be “helpmates” to their ambitious husbands with their own impulse to “do good” for the people of Vietnam.
Sixty years later, Charlene’s daughter, spurred by an encounter with an aging Vietnam vet, reaches out to Tricia. Together, they look back at their time in Saigon, taking account of that pivotal year, and discovering how their own lives as women on the periphery-of politics, history, war, and their husbands’ convictions-were shaped and burdened by the same unintended consequences that followed America’s interference in Southeast Asia.
Led by Margot Richardson-Corlett
May 27, 2025
James by Percival Everett. Fiction, 320 pages
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decided to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many narratives pieces of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place, in this novel Jim’s agency and intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.
Led by Susan Gilfeather
June 24, 2025
The Secret History of Audrey James by Heather Marshall. Historical Fiction, 432 pages
Berlin 1938-British pianist Audrey James and her best friend Isle face the imminent threat of Nazi oppression. When Ilse’s family disappears and Nazi officers confiscate their home, Audrey becomes the housekeeper and Ilse is forced into hiding in the attic. As borders close and rumors of death camps swirl, Audry joins the resistance and risks everything to protect her loved ones.
Alnwick 2010-After a tragic accident, Kate Mercer moves to a guest house near the Scottish border and becomes entangled in the secretes of her elderly proprietor. A captivating story about the unbreakable bonds of friendship and family.
Led by Nancy Goddard