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Book Club Books

Baldwin Public Library is able to provide a number of multiple copies of certain titles for private book groups. Call the Information and Reading Services (Adult Services) desk for details at (248) 647-1700 #2. For a PDF version of this file, click here.

Abraham, Pearl >> The Romance Reader 296p 1995 10 Copies
  • Cultural clash begins with a young Hasidic woman reading romance novels in her closet at night.
Allende, Isabel >> The House of the Spirits 368p 1985 20 Copies
  • Epic tale of three generations of the Trueba family in Chile.
Atkinson, Kate >> Behind the Scenes at the Museum 332p 1996 10 Copies
  • Born in England in 1959, Ruby relates the story of her family living above shops in the 1960’s and of her mother and grandmother through earlier wars.
Austen, Jane >> Emma 402p 10 Copies
  • Emma tries to impose her match making ideas on everyone and finds that sometimes she should desist.
Austen, Jane >> Sense and Sensibility 327p 10 Copies
  • Two sisters, one practical and conventional and the other emotional and sentimental, find that only through compromise of their mutual differences can they get along.
Austen, Jane >> Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Persuasion 10 Copies
  • Three titles in one book.
Auster, Paul >> Timbuktu 181p 1999 10 Copies
  • Mr. Bones, the canine sidekick of Willy G. Christmas, a brilliant but troubled Brooklyn poet, accompanies his master on a trip to Baltimore, Maryland, to search for Willy's high school teacher and beloved mentor, Bea Swanson, in a novel narrated from the dog's point of view.
Banks, Russell >> The Sweet Hereafter 357p 1991
  • Four narrators--bus driver Dolores, upright Bill, shrewd Mitchell, and teenaged Nichole--address agonizing questions as they describe an accident that killed fourteen children and the effects of the tragedy on themselves and their town.
Baxter, Charles >> The Feast of Love 308p 2000 6 Copies
  • Fictional narrative of Ann Arbor resident Bradley Smith and a dozen of his quirky neighbors who congregate at his coffee shop.
Bragg, Rick >> All Over but the Shoutin’ 329p 1997 9 Copies
  • Non-fiction memoir of the authors hardscrabble southern youth and his personal belief in the dignity of poor people.
Brian, Denis >> Einstein: A Life 509p 1996 16 Copies
  • Biography of physicist Albert Einstein, including secrets kept for years by the executers of his estate.
Brooks, Geraldine >> Nine Parts of Desire: the Hidden World of Islamic Women 255p 1995
  • Exploration of the daily life of Muslim women.
Bryson, Bill >> A Walk in the Woods 276p 1998 8 Copies
  • Author writes with humor about his adventures on the Appalachian Trail.
Carey, Peter >> True History of the Kelly Gang 365p 2000
  • Exploits of the legendary 19th century Australian outlaw Ned Kelly.
Chevalier, Tracy >> Girl with a Pearl Earring 233p 1999 10 Copies
  • Fictional accounting of the 16 year old servant that was the object of a Vermeer painting.
Collins, David >> My Louise 203p 2002 10 Copies
  • A moving account of a young woman’s battle with breast cancer
Cunningham, Michael >> The Hours 229p 1998 14 Copies
  • The story of three women: one set in present day NY, one in a 1950’s LA suburb and one involving Virginia Woolf. Their stories intertwine. Pulitzer Prize winner.
Dai, Sijie >> Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress 197p 2001
  • The lives of two boys take an unexpected turn during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Danticat, Edwidge >> The Farming of Bones 312p 10 copies
  • The story is set in the Dominican Republic after the President has decided to rid the country of the many Haitians who worked in the cane fields. A young woman who works as a maid is in love with a cane worker. She decides to leave and begins a trek over the mountains to find her man.
Dubus III, Andre >> House of Sand and Fog 365p 1999 9 Copies
  • Three determined people are drawn to the same house in CA and their lives become entangled and a crisis results.
Dunn, Mark >> Ella Minnow Pea 208p 2001 10 Copies
  • Clever tale of an island nation that must learn new ways of communicating when their government bans letters of the alphabet.
Eggers, Dave >> A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius 375p 2000 9 Copies
  • Quirky tale of 22 yr old Eggers who becomes an orphan and a “single mother” when his parents die within five months of each other.
Ehrenreich, Barbara >> Nickel and Dimed 221p 2001 10 Copies
  • A journalist looks at low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.
Eugenides, Jeffrey >> Middlesex 544p 2000 9 Copies
  • Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for 2003, this epic coming of age novel takes place in the Detroit area and spans five decades, from 1920-1970.
Fadiman, Anne >> The Spirit Catches and You Fall Down 339p 1997 19 Copies
  • Clash of cultures results when a Hmong epileptic child is treated by western medical practitioners.
Faulkner, William >> As I Lay Dying 267p 1990 14 Copies
  • The story of the Bundren family’s odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother.
Ford, Richard >> Independence Day 451p 1995 16 Copies
  • Frank Bascombe used to be a sportswriter, now he sells real estate. On a July weekend trip with his son life suddenly changes for him. Pulitzer Prize Winner.
Friedman, Thomas L. >> The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization 394p 1999 13 Copies
  • Entertaining and very readable non-fiction about globalization of the economy.
Gaines, Ernest >> The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman 259p 1971
  • Miss Jane Pittman is 110 when she recalls her childhood and the arrival of both Union and Confederate troops on the plantation where she lived.
Glass, Julia >> Three Junes 368p 2002 10 Copies
  • Interconnected lives, loves, and relationships of different generations over the course of three crucial summers.
Haddon, Mark >> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 221p 2003
  • Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.
Halberstam, David >> The Teammates 222p 2003
  • David Halberstam, the bestselling author of the baseball classic Summer of '49, has followed the members of the 1949 championship Boston Red Sox team for years, especially Williams, Doerr, DiMaggio, and Pesky. In this extremely moving book, Halberstam reveals how these four teammates became friends, and how that friendship thrived for more than 60 years.
Haruf, Kent >> Plain Song 301p 1999 10 Copies
  • A story of loss and redemption as a high school teacher helps a pregnant teenage start a new life with a non-traditional family.
Hillenbrand, Laura >> Seabiscuit 399p 2001 10 Copies
  • A world-class athlete on the racetrack, is the center of this fast-moving, riveting true story of not only a horse but of the humans who owned, trained and rode him during a time when all of America was watching.
Isaacson, Walter >> Benjamin Franklin: An American Life 493p 2003
  • Engrossing portrait of our founding father and life in the 18th century.
Ishiguro, Kazuo >> The Remains of the Day 245p 1989 10 Copies
  • English butler hoping to rise to the top of his profession and his conflicted feelings for a former housekeeper.
Jin, Ha >> Waiting 308p 1999 12 Copies
  • Forbidden love and divorce in 1960’s China.
Jones, Edward >> The Known World 388p 2003 10 Copies
  • When a plantation proprietor and former slave--now possessing slaves of his own--dies, his household falls apart in the wake of a slave rebellion and corrupt underpaid patrollers who enable free black people to be sold into slavery.
Kidd, Sue Monk >> The Secret Life of Bees 302p 2002 10 Copies
  • Haunted by her mother’s death, 14 year old Lily joins her black “stand in mother” as they escape three local racists and are taken in by three beekeeping sisters in Tiburon South Carolina.
Krakauer, Jon >> Under the Banner of Heaven 399p 2003 10 Copies
  • A double murder is the core of this expose of violent faith in America’s Mormon communities.
Lively, Penelope >> Heat Wave 214p 1996 10 Copies
  • Mother and daughter deal with romantic love and it’s frequent disillusionment in a pastoral setting on the coast of England.
Lodge, David >> Therapy 320p 1995 8 Copies
  • British TV sitcom writer Lawrence Passmore is a therapy addict. This novel follows his humorous quest for contentment.
Lynch, Thomas >> Bodies in Motion and at Rest 273p 2000 15 Copies
  • Essays written by local poet and funeral director about the time between birth and death.
Lynch, Thomas >> The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade 202p 1997 15 Copies
  • Essays about the life of a local funeral director and his mission to unravel the mysteries of life and death.
Maguire, Gregory >> Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West 409p 1995
  • Set in an Oz where a morose Wizard battles suicidal thoughts, the story of the green-skinned Elphaba, otherwise known as the Wicked Witch of the West, profiles her as an animal rights activist striving to avenge her dear sister's death.
Manguel, Alberto >> A History of Reading 350p 1996 10 copies
  • An erudite and entertaining exploration of reading.
McBride, James >> The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother 228p 1996 15 Copies
  • A memoir of a black man’s white Jewish mother.
McCracken, Elizabeth >> Niagara Falls All Over Again 2001
  • Two young men become the most famous vaudeville comedy team until one betrays the other.
McCullers, Carson >> The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 2001
  • A quiet, sensitive girl searches for beauty in a small, but damned Southern town.
McCullough, David >> Mornings on Horseback 445p 1981 20 Copies
  • Biography of Teddy Roosevelt.
McCullough, David >> John Adams 751p 2001
  • Biography of the second President of the U.S.
McEwan, Ian >> Atonement 368p 2003 10 Copies
  • Three children lose their innocence and their lives are changed forever.
Milford, Nancy >> Savage Beauty 550p 2001 10 Copies
  • The life of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Nabokov, Vladimir >> Lolita 317p 1958 10 Copies
  • A novel that studies the moral disintegration of a man whose obsessive desire to possess his step-daughter destroys the lives of those around him
Niffenegger, Audrey >> The Time Traveler's Wife 540p 2003 10 Copies
  • Passionately in love, Clare and Henry vow to hold onto each other and their marriage as they struggle with the effects of Chrono-Displacement Disorder, a condition that casts Henry involuntarily into the world of time travel.
O’Brian, Patrick >> Master and Commander 411p 1970 15 Copies
  • First novel in the Napoleonic War sea adventures of Captain Aubrey and surgeon Muturin.
Ondaatie, Michael >> Anil’s Ghost 311p 2000 14 Copies
  • Forensic anthropologist is sent to her native Sri Lanka to investigate a series of murders.
Packer, Ann >> Dive from Clausen's Pier 413p 2002 10 Copies
  • When her fiancé Mike is left paralyzed following a tragic accident, Carrie Bell begins to question her familiar world, from her everyday life in Wisconsin to her relationships, as she sets out to rediscover her own identity.
Patchett, Ann >> Bel Canto 318p 2001 10 Copies
  • When terrorists seize hostages at an embassy party, an unlikely assortment of people is thrown together, including American opera star Roxane Coss, and Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese CEO and her biggest.
Paulsen, Gary >> Eastern Sun, Winter Moon 244p 1993 12 Copies
  • 50 years after WWII the author paints a self-portrait of a young boy drawn helplessly into the vortex of that war.
Rose, Mike >> Lives on the Boundary 255p 1989 15 Copies
  • Using his own life story, Mike Rose describes America’s educational underclass and his innovative methods of awakening untapped potential in “problem” students.
Rowling, JK >> Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 309p 1997 15 Copies
  • Harry Potter discovers his destiny at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Russo, Richard >> Empire Falls 483p 2001
  • Warmhearted and funny, a story of a New England mill town, without a mill.
Said, Edward W. >> Peace and its Discontents: Essays on Palestine in the Middle East Peace Process 188p 1995 15 Copies
  • Essays addressing the Middle East peace process written by an expert in the field.
Salzman, Mark >> Lost in Place: Growing up Absurd in Suburbia 273p 1995
  • Memoir of a young man trying to “become someone” during the 60’s.
Salzman, Mark >> The Soloist 284p 1994 9 Copies
  • Musical prodigy comes to terms with disability with the help of a young student and a call to jury duty.
Sasson, Jean P. >> Princess: A True Life Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia 288p 1992 16 Copies
  • A true story behind the veil in Saudi Arabia
Shaara, Jeff >> Rise to Rebellion 548p 2001 10 Copies
  • A novel of the American Revolution.
Shaara, Michael >> The Killer Angels 344p 1993 15 Copies
  • South and North clash again during this fictional retelling of the Battle of Gettysberg
Silko, Leslie Marmon >> Gardens in the Dunes 479p 1999 15 Copies
  • Tale of a young Native American woman’s odyssey through Victorian America and Europe.
Sobel, Dava >> Galileo’s Daughter 420p 1999 9 Copies
  • Biography of the famous scientist told through correspondence between him and his daughter who lives in a convent.
Woolf, Virginia >> A Room of One’s Own 118p 1957 10 Copies
  • A classic essay about society, art, sexism and a woman’s need to freed from social and financial obligations in order to be creative.

Wouk, Herman >> Marjorie Morningstar 565p 1955 10 Copies

  • A young Jewish girl experiences love, pain, and disappointment in the struggle to become an actress.

Zadoorian, Michael >> Second Hand 270p 2000 10 Copies

  • Owner of a second hand store in Metro Detroit discovers old photographs that transform his life.