The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group has chosen the books we’ll read and discuss together in the next 3 months.
On April 3, 2008 we’ll be discussing River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. This is a gripping non-fiction story and can be found at 918.113 on the library shelves.
“After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil's most famous explorer, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the Western Hemisphere forever. Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.”
On Thursday, May 1, 2008 we will discuss another river adventure, Shooting the Boh: A Woman’s Voyage Down the Wildest River in Borneo by Tracy Johnston (wife of SF Chron columnist, Jon Carroll) This book can be found at 959.83 on the library shelves.
A thrilling, touching, and densely instructive book, Shooting the Boh is also a frank self-portrait of a woman facing her most corrosive fears--and triumphing over them--with fortitude and unflagging wit. "A captivating and truly offbeat rite of passage."
On Thursday, June 5, 2008 we’re still on our watery theme but closer to home as we discuss Cadillac Desert: The American West and its disappearing water by Marc Reisner (333.91)
“This timely history of the struggle to discover and control water in the American West is a tale of rivers diverted and damned, political corruption and intrigue, billion-dollar battles over water rights, and economic and ecological disaster. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.”
I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.
Thanks for reading with us!
Beth Bailey-Gates
Friends of the Fairfax Library
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