The Ledding Book Club

This evening book club is led by one of our librarians and usually meets on the fourth Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the Community Room.

Contact Tara Goe at goet@milwaukieoregon.gov for more information.

Book Picks 2024                                      

FEBRUARY 22 - The Place We Make by Sarah Sanderson
A thoughtful investigation into the incredible true story of a Black man convicted and exiled under the Oregon Exclusion Law in 1851—and a contemporary White woman wrestling with racism and faith after learning she’s a descendant of two men who assisted in the exile.
**This author will speak at the Milwaukie Ledding Library on Wednesday, February 28 at 6pm.**

MARCH 28 - Honor by Thrity Umrigar
The story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide in India.
**This author will speak in Lake Oswego on Thursday, April 25 at the Lakeridge High School Auditorium at 7pm.**

MAY 2 - The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight by Andrew Leland
A personal narrative of the author’s transition from sightedness to blindness and his quest to learn about blindness as a rich culture all its own.
**This author will give a talk at the Milwaukie Ledding Library on Sunday, April 28 at 2pm.**

MAY 30 - The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Follows the story of a community as they work together to save a young deaf Black boy, Dodo, from unjust institutionalization in 1930s America.

JUNE 27 - Foster by Claire Keegan (European Classic)
A coming-of-age story set in rural Southeast Ireland and narrated by an unnamed girl who is sent to live with her mother's relatives because her parents are struggling to afford all of their children.

JULY 25 - How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair (Memoir)
An author reckons with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica.

AUGUST 22 - The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li
Two adolescent girls, Agnes and Fabienne, form an intense friendship in a rural town in post-war France.

SEPTEMBER 26 - Whiskey Tender: A Memoir by Deborah Jackson Taffa

A memoir about family and survival, coming-of-age on and off the reservation, and of the frictions between mainstream American culture and Native inheritance; assimilation and reverence for tradition.

**This author will speak at the Milwaukie Ledding Library on Saturday, September 28 at 2pm.**

OCTOBER 24 - What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

A suspenseful and heartbreaking painting of the refugee crisis as experienced by two children caught in the crosshairs. The story focuses Amir, a young boy from Syria who has survived the sinking of a ship that was carrying him and other refugees, and his developing bond with Vänna, a teenage girl who resides on the island where Amir washed up after the shipwreck.

**This author will speak at the Milwaukie Ledding Library on Wednesday, October 23 at 6pm.**

NOVEMBER 21 - Still Life by Louise Penny
The first in the Inspector Armand Gamache series. Louise Penny is the winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal.
**This month we will meet on the third Thursday evening to accommodate for the holiday.**

DECEMBER 19 - Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger (American Classic)
A novel in two halves, Franny and Zooey brilliantly captures the emotional strains and traumas of entering adulthood. It is a gleaming example of the wit, precision, and poignancy that have made J. D. Salinger one of America's most beloved writers.
**This month we will meet on the third Thursday evening to accommodate for the holiday.**