Here is the schedule of books being read and discussed by Project Read's Wednesday Night Readers book club over the next few months. Look over these titles with your adult learner, pick up your FREE books and audio books, and make plans to attend one of these exciting and rewarding discussions. We make unabridged audio books available so that learners at any reading level can participate in the discussion. Learners do not have to finish the entire book to attend the discussion.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (discussed at the October 29 meeting, books/audio books available September 26.) On a quiet fall evening in a small, peaceful town in northern California, Dr. Miles Bennell discovered an insidious, horrifying plot. Silently, subtly, almost imperceptibly, alien life-forms were taking over the bodies and minds of his neighbors, his friends, his family, the woman he loved – the world as he knew it. First published in 1955, this classic thriller of the ultimate alien invasion and triumph of the human spirit over an invisible enemy inspired three major motion pictures. (216 pages)
For One More Day by Mitch Albom (discussed at the December 3 meeting—one week later because of Thanksgiving—books/audio books available October 30) This is the story of a mother and a son, and a relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond. It explores the question: What would you do if you could spend one more day with a lost loved one? As a child, Charley was told by his father, "You can be a mama's boy or a daddy's boy, but you can't be both." So he chooses his father, only to see the man disappear when Charley is on the verge of adolescence. Decades later, Charley is a broken man. His life has been crumbled by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits bottom after discovering his only daughter has shut him out of her wedding. After deciding to take his own life, he makes a midnight ride to his small hometown only to discover that his mother--who died eight years earlier–-is still living there, and welcomes him home as if nothing ever happened. (197 pages)
The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman (discussed at the January 28 meeting, books/audio books available December 4) In Tony Hillerman's The Shape Shifter, a lot is riding on a little mysterious carpet. Not any old welcome mat, but a precious Navajo tale-teller rug, full of portents, interwoven with bits of bark and feathers. Supposed to have been burned in a fire years before, the priceless artifact turns up in the pages of an interiors magazine, shown on the wall of a rich man named Jason Delos. After it's spotted by Joe Leaphorn, a retired Navajo policeman and an old colleague of his, the story travels through an elaborate investigation of theft and murder. (276 pages)
A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (discussed at the February 25 meeting, books/audio books available January 29) Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Civil Rights movement, inspiring generations and transforming the future of the United States. This collection includes the text of Dr. King’s best-known oration, I Have a Dream, his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, and Beyond Vietnam, a compelling argument for ending the conflict. (223 pages)
