Brown Bag Talking Book Discussion

Brown Bag Talking Book Discussion

The group discusses two audiobooks each month. Listen to all, one, or even none… everyone is welcome!

Meet in person or join in remotely.

To join remotely by phone, please Call: 267-807-9601 and use Access Code: 965803, or join virtually by visiting bit.ly/TCLbtbcall

Titles are voted on 3 months in advance. This month’s titles:

James by Percival Everett
DB 120063
7 hours, 52 minutes. Humor, Historical Fiction, Adventure.
“From Percival Everett a recipient of the NBCC Lifetime Achievement Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Booker Prize, and numerous PEN awards comes James, a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view. 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 decides 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 narrative set pieces of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “cult literary icon” (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature”– Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q Sutanto
DB 113039
10 hours, 44 minutes. Mystery and Detective Stories.
“Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady, lady of a certain age who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

New attendees: Please call the library or click on the covers above to place copies on hold. Or current BTB members can use the Talking Book Order Form to have copies sent on cartridge.