Unless otherwise noted, meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month, at 7:00 pm. Call the library at 875-2550 to reserve your copy of the next book discussion title and get in on the fun!
Alton Book Chat, established in 1999, is a library-sponsored book discussion group that meets monthly in the Agnes Thompson Meeting Room (lower-level entrance), Gilman Library, 100 Main St., Alton, NH 03809
image and description from amazon.com
The Art Forger: a novel
by B.A. Shapiro
Almost twenty-five years after the infamous art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum―still the largest unsolved art theft in history―one of the stolen Degas paintings is delivered to the Boston studio of a young artist. Claire Roth has entered into a Faustian bargain with a powerful gallery owner by agreeing to forge the Degas in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But as she begins her work, she starts to suspect that this long-missing masterpiece―the very one that had been hanging at the Gardner for one hundred years―may itself be a forgery. The Art Forger is a thrilling novel about seeing―and not seeing―the secrets that lie beneath the canvas.
image and description from amazon.com
All the Broken Places
by John Boyne
“You can’t prepare yourself for the magnitude and emotional impact of this powerful novel.” —John Irving
From the New York Times bestselling author John Boyne, a stunning tour de force about a woman who must confront the sins of her own terrible past, and a present in which it is never too late for bravery
Ninety-one-year-old Gretel Fernsby has lived in the same well-to-do mansion block in London for decades. She lives a quiet, comfortable life, despite her deeply disturbing, dark past. She doesn’t talk about her escape from Nazi Germany at age twelve. She doesn’t talk about the grim postwar years in France with her mother. Most of all, she doesn’t talk about her father, who was the commandant of one of the Reich’s most notorious extermination camps.
Then, a new family moves into the apartment below her. In spite of herself, Gretel can’t help but begin a friendship with the little boy, Henry, though his presence brings back memories she would rather forget. One night, she witnesses a disturbing, violent argument between Henry’s beautiful mother and his arrogant father, one that threatens Gretel’s hard-won, self-contained existence.
Immersive, chilling, unputdownable, All the Broken Places moves back and forth in time between Gretel’s girlhood in Germany and present-day London. Here, Gretel is at a similar crossroads to the one she encountered long ago. Then, she denied her own complicity, but now, faced with a chance to interrogate her guilt, grief, and remorse, she can choose to save a young boy. If she does, she will be forced to reveal the secrets she has spent a lifetime protecting. This time, she can make a different choice than before—whatever the cost to herself.
image and description from amazon.com
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dicken
Merry Christmas, everyone!
“Bah!” said Scrooge. “Humbug!”
With those famous words unfolds a tale that renews the joy and caring that are Christmas. Whether we read it aloud with our family and friends or open the pages on a chill winter evening to savor the story in solitude, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a very special holiday experience.
It is the one book that every year will warm our hearts with favorite memories of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future—and will remind us with laughter and tears that the true Christmas spirit comes from giving with love.
In October 1843, Charles Dickens ― heavily in debt and obligated to his publisher ― began work on a book to help supplement his family's meager income. That volume, A Christmas Carol, has long since become one of the most beloved stories in the English language. As much a part of the holiday season as holly, mistletoe, and evergreen wreaths, this perennial favorite continues to delight new readers and rekindle thoughts of charity and goodwill.
With its characters exhibiting many qualities ― as well as failures ― often ascribed to Dickens himself, the imaginative and entertaining tale relates Ebenezer Scrooge's eerie encounters with a series of spectral visitors. Journeying with them through Christmases past, present, and future, he is ultimately transformed from an arrogant, obstinate, and insensitive miser to a generous, warmhearted, and caring human being. Written by one of England's greatest and most popular novelists, A Christmas Carol has come to epitomize the true meaning of Christmas.
A Christmas Carol is one of Charles Dickens most cherished and loved stories. Loved by both adults and children. The story of Ebenezer Scrooge on a cold Christmas Eve Night, three ghosts take him on a scary journey and show him the error of his ways. Showing him his past, present and future. Scrooge eventually learns to love Christmas and everyone around him! A must read at Christmas time.