We host a lively discussion with fellow booklovers the first Tuesday of the month at 6:00 pm (with a few rare exceptions, like if the first Tuesday happens to be a holiday). The upcoming discussion book is 20% off at checkout. Our staff facilitates our QABC Reads discussions after regular business hours. All are welcome! We meet outside when possible and ask all to wear masks for everyone's well-being.
TUESDAY APRIL 4, 2023 6 pm:
We will discuss Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez
Wendee will lead the discussion.
Next up:
May 2: The Diamond Eye
June 6: Finding the Mother Tree
July 11: The Summer Book
(August-- Take a break!)
September 5: All That She Carried -- Vote for next 6 picks at this meeting
October 3: Night of the Living Rez
DISCUSSED March 7, 2023 (Tegan)
DISCUSSED Feb. 7, 2023 (Tegan)
*Great discussion book*
DISCUSSED December 6, 2022. (James)
DISCUSSED November 1, 2022. (Tegan, Wendee, and Laurie herself!)
DISCUSSED October 4, 2022. (Tegan and Ellen)
DISCUSSED September 6, 2022. (Tegan) A very challenging read for our group; note that there is backmatter that can be helpful to readers as they're reading!
DISCUSSED August 2022. (James)
DISCUSSED JULY 5, 2022. (Erin)
DISCUSSED JUNE 7, 2022 (Tegan)
DISCUSSED MARCH 2020
DISCUSSED FEBRUARY 2020
DSICUSSED JANUARY 2020
DISCUSSED 12/19 (Tegan)
DISCUSSED 11/19 (Wendee)
DISCUSSED 10/1/19 (Tegan).
Discussed Sep 3, 2019. Facilitated by Wendee.
DIscussed July 2, 2019. Facilitated by Tegan.
Discussed June 4, 2019. (Wendee)
Discussed May 2019 (Tegan)
Discussed April 2019 (Wendee)
Discussed March 2019 (Tegan)
Discussed February 2019 (Wendee)
Discussed January 2019 (Tegan)
Discussed December 2018 (Wendee)
Discussed November 2018 (Tegan)
Discussed October 2018 (Wendee)
Discussed September 2018 (Tegan)
Discussed 8/14/18 [Wendee]
DISCUSSED July 2018 (Tegan)
DISCUSSED June 5, 2018. Author visited! GREAT discussion.
Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it's about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don't get to keep them forever.
Discussed May 1, 2018. Discussion led by Tegan. Spurred a lot of conversation!
Discussed April 2018. Fantastic discussion!
Discussed March 2018. Fantastic discussion!
Discussed February 2018. A stunner!
Discussed January 2018. Great discussion! Divergent paths of an African family...
DISCUSSED 12/17 (Wendee)
Discussed 11/15/17 (Tegan). GREAT discussion!
Discussed October 2017. Discussion led by Wendee.
Discussed September 2017 (Tegan). A challenging read, but many felt it was worth it! Great discussion.
Discussed August 2017. A Wendee favorite!
DISCUSSED June 2017 (Tegan)
Not as swashbuckling as we'd been led to believe by the blurbs, but it ended up being a very interesting discussion about the history of scholarship, Islam, fundamentalism, and terrorism in the region.
DISCUSSED MAY 2017 (Wendee): Not well-liked...
DISCUSSED APRIL 2017 (Tegan): Very well-liked for the most part! Great discussion. A Tegan favorite!
DISCUSSED MARCH 2017 (Wendee): The winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as six other awards, The Sympathizer is the breakthrough novel of the year. With the pace and suspense of a thriller and prose that has been compared to Graham Greene and Saul Bellow, The Sympathizer is a sweeping epic of love and betrayal. The narrator, a communist double agent, is a "man of two minds," a half-French, half-Vietnamese army captain who arranges to come to America after the Fall of Saigon, and while building a new life with other Vietnamese refugees in Los Angeles is secretly reporting back to his communist superiors in Vietnam. The Sympathizer is a blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping espionage novel, and a powerful story of love and friendship.
DISCUSSED 2/8/17 (Tegan): A dark, fantastical, multi-generational tale about a family whose patriarch is consumed by the hunt for the mythical, elusive sasquatch he encountered in his youth.
Discussed 1/3/17 (Wendee). Seattle Public Library/ Seattle Reads picks for 2017!
Discussed 12/6/16 (Tegan)
Discussed 11/1/16. (Wendee)
Discussed October 2016. Discussion led by Tegan
Discussed September 2016. Discussion led by Wendee.
Discussed August 2016. Discussion led by Tegan.
Discussed June 7, 2016 (Wendee)
Discussed May 3, 2016 (Tegan)
Discussed April 2016 (Tegan)
Discussed March 2016 (Wendee)
Discussed February 2016 (Tegan)
Discussed January 2016 (Janis)
Discussed December 2015. (Wendee)
Discussed November 2015 (Tegan)
Discussed October 2015 (Wendee)
Discussed September 2015 (Tegan)
Discussed July 2015
Discussed 6/2/15 (led by Tegan): Piquant humor, refulgent language, a canny plot rooted in real-life experiences, an irresistible narrator, threshing insights, and tender emotions Fowler has outdone herself in this deeply inquisitive, cage-rattling novel. "Booklist "(starred review)
Discussed May 2015 (Janis)
Discussed April 2015 (Wendee)
Discussed March 2015 (Tegan)
Discussed February 2015 (Janis)
Discussed 1/15 (Tegan): There is nothing like a good visit with old friends, and that is what it's like to savor this novel. Even better, really, since in this retelling of Jane Eyre the characters are imbued with a more modern sensibility -- and this time around Mr. Rochester is not a reprehensible misogynist! Livesey's Gemma remains true to the spirit of Jane, and the dark settings of Scotland and the Orkney Islands are as atmospheric as they come. This is the perfect book to curl up with for a weekend with a pot o' tea -- or perhaps a wee dram of something stronger. -- Emily Crowe, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA
Discussed 12/2/14 (Wendee): National Book Award Finalist and shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize The Lowland is an engrossing family saga steeped in history: the story of two very different brothers bound by tragedy, a fiercely brilliant woman haunted by her past, a country torn apart by revolution, and a love that endures long past death. Moving from the 1960s to the present, and from India to America and across generations, this dazzling novel is Jhumpa Lahiri at the height of her considerable powers.
Discussed 11/4/14 (Tegan): Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun. When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution. As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?
Discussed October 7, 2014 (Wendee)
Discussed September 2, 2104 (Janis)
Discussed August 12, 2014 (Tegan)
Discussed July 1, 2014 (Wendee)
Discussed June 3, 2014 (Janis)
Discussed 5/6/14 (Wendee):
Nao, a suicidal Japanese girl, postpones her death as she grows closer to her 104-year-old great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun. Ruth, an American author with writer's block, discovers a diary washed ashore on her remote island in the Pacific Northwest. Ruth becomes obsessed with Nao and her diary, and readers will be drawn in as their stories intertwine. Ozeki's creatively constructed novel, complete with footnotes, Japanese characters, and appendices, will have readers marveling at the leaps in time and connection that bring the two women together in this witty, daring, and thoughtful novel. -- Cheryl Krocker McKeon, Book Passage, San Francisco, CA (and friend of QABC!)