Fourth Wednesday Book Club
December 2, 2009 - Atomic Farm Girl
Join us on December 2
nd as we travel east of the mountains with Teri Hein in The Atomic Farm Girl. This is a wise, irreverent, deeply personal story of growing up right in the wrong place. The great granddaughter of German Lutheran homesteaders, Hein was raised in the 1950s and ‘60s in the Palouse wheatlands of rural eastern Washington. This idyllic, all-American setting serves as the poignant backdrop to her story, for 100 miles to the south is the Hanford Nuclear Reservation with its clouds of airborne toxins. From horseback riding to haying, Flag Day parades to Cold War duck-and-cover drills, Atomic Farm Girl chronicles a peculiar coming of age for a young girl and her community of hardworking, patriotic, self-reliant folk whose way of life – and livelihood – are gradually threatened by the poisons of progress. Combining a tender story of youth with politics and an unmistakable sense of place, Hein has written a memoir that is part Terry Tempest Williams, part Erin Brockovich, part Garrison Keillor. In the end she offers a rich and ribald journey into the universal mysteries of childhood, love, community, and home — a journey that confirms humankind’s infinite capacity for hope.2009-2010 Selections
Date |
Book title, author |
Discussion leader |
|
Sept 23rd |
The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine |
Connie |
|
Oct 28th |
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows |
Susan |
|
Dec 2nd |
The Atomic Farm Girl by Teri Hein |
Trish |
|
Note: Due to the busy-ness of the holiday season, our Nov & Dec meetings are combined and held on the first Wednesday in Dec. |
||
|
Jan 27th |
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon |
Kathy |
|
Feb 24th |
The Ginseng Hunter by Jeff Talarigo |
Alice |
|
Mar 24th |
Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalien |
Nancy |
|
April 28th |
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (paperback available 1/5/2010) |
Zee |
|
May 26th |
Little Bee: A Novel by Chris Cleave (paperback available 2/2/2010) |
Betty/Warren |
|
Jun 23rd |
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (paperback available 2/20/2010) |
Lee |
|
Sep 22nd |
The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew – Three Women Search for Understanding by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner |
To be determined |
The following titles were also considered:
ü The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
ü Border Songs by Jim Lynch
ü The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama by Gwen Ifill
ü The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
ü Gilgamesh: A Novel by Joan London
ü The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Lasson
ü Hannah’s Dream: A Novel by Jane Hammond
ü Little Pink House: A Story of Defiance and Courage by Jeff Benedict (paperback 4/4/2010)
ü The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann (paperback 1/26/2010)
ü My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor PhD
ü Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
ü Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
ü The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flynn
ü The Translator: A Memoir by Daoud Hari
ü The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman
Revised September 8, 2009