Monday, September 14, 7:30 pm by Zoom meeting.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (Maria Semple) Comedy heaven.... This divinely funny, many-faceted novel...leaves convention behind. Instead, it plays to Ms. Semple's strengths as someone who can practice ventriloquism in many voices, skip over the mundane and utterly refute the notion that mixed-media fiction is bloggy, slack or lazy.... The tightly constructed WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE is written in many formats-e-mails, letters, F.B.I. documents, correspondence with a psychiatrist and even an emergency-room bill for a run-in between Bernadette and Audrey. Yet these pieces are strung together so wittily that Ms. Semple's storytelling is always front and center, in sharp focus. You could stop and pay attention to how apt each new format is, how rarely she repeats herself and how imaginatively she unveils every bit of information. But you would have to stop laughing first." (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)
Upcoming selections:
October 12 Deep South:Four Seasons on Back Roads (Paul Thoroux) Paul Theroux has spent the past fifty years roaming the globe, describing his encounters with remote people and far-flung places in ten best-selling travel books. Now, for the first time, he explores a part of America the Deep South. Setting out on a winding road trip, Theroux discovers a region of architectural and artistic wonders, incomparable music, mouth-watering cuisine and also some of the worst schools, medical care, housing, and unemployment rates in the nation. Yet, no matter where he goes, Theroux meets the unsung heroes of the South, the people who, despite it all, never left, and also those who found their way home and devoted their lives to rebuilding a place they could never live without. (The Publisher)
November 9 The Street (Ann Petrie) The Street, set in the 1940s, is about a beautiful African American female, separated from her husband, who attempts to advance, as a single parent with a small son, against the forces of racism, discrimination, sexism, poverty and a gritty, crowded, segregated Harlem ghetto environment that is filled with challenges to living a decent quality of life, but is, nevertheless, reassuring, in some aspects, to its African American inhabitants. The 18 chapter book is a tour de force, and easily could have been written today because it brings forth a number of societal issues that are still highly problematic. Those problems include the ways in which Black male/female relationships are impacted by racism and poverty, and the shameful ways in which African American children in urban areas are often negatively, and unjustly, perceived and improperly educated. (Amazon reader review)
January 11 Madame Secretary: A Memoir (Madeleine Korbel Albright) A national bestseller on its original publication in 2003, Madam Secretary is a riveting account of the life of America’s first woman Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. For eight years, during Bill Clinton’s two presidential terms, Albright was a high-level participant in some of the most dramatic events of our time-from the pursuit of peace in the Middle East to NATO’s intervention in the Balkans to America’s troubled relations with Iran and Iraq. In this thoughtful memoir, one of the most admired women in U.S. history reflects on her remarkable personal story, including her upbringing in war-torn Europe and the balancing of career and family responsibilities, and on America’s leading role in a changing world. (The Publisher)
February 8 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari)
From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity's creation and evolution - a number one international best seller - that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be "human". (The Publisher)
In good reading
Reverend Marcia Curtis is temporarily canceling the Sunday evening meditation until further notice. For more information please click redlotussangha.org. 
Beverly Unitarian Church 10244 S. Longwood Drive • Chicago IL 60643 • 773-233-7080