Book Club

Summer reading: Book Club picks & dates

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Join us this summer for some reading!  In June, we’ll read S.J. Bennett’s All the Queen’s Men, meeting in person on Sunday, June 25 at 2 p.m. and on zoom on Wednesday, June 28 at 7 p.m.  In July, Allison Montclair will be joining us on zoom on Sunday, July 23 at 2 p.m. to discuss her new book, The Lady from Burma.  While it’s not necessary to have read any of Ms. Montclair’s books before the discussion, I recommend them highly!  It’s a wonderful series set in London just post WWII.  And spoiler, Allison Montclair is a pen name – tune to discover her (?) true identity.  In August, we’ll be reading the much award nominated Shutter by Ramona Emerson, meeting in person on Sunday, August 13 at 2 p.m. and on zoom on Wednesday, August 16 at 7 p.m.  Anyone is welcome – please message us on facebook or twitter or email us at store (at) auntagathas.com for more info or for a zoom link. read more

Our Book Club celebrates 30 years!

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Aunt Agatha's Book Club
One of our last meetings in the store
Book club pre-covid at a restaurant, with author Jess Montgomery

Our book club is celebrating 30 years!  When we first opened the store, we didn’t have a book club, but requests led to a club being founded the second year, when we started off with Marcia Muller’s Edwin of the Iron Shoes.  This is not the complete list (far from it!) but this list contains the books we loved, the books that sparked a great discussion of one kind or another, and many of them are favorites because the author actually attended and were so charming and funny (like Thomas Cook) or adorably brought their mothers (like Denise Swanson), that those events generated an interest by members of the book club wanting to read future installments.  We were lucky enough to take Louise Penny and her husband to dinner with the club when A Fatal Grace (book 2) came out.  Reading Raymond Chandler attracted perhaps the most men to ever attend a group; the discussion of Dorothy Sayers’ Gaudy Night brought a passionate and feisty bunch of women, some of whom had read the book dozens of times.  When the store closed, I knew I wanted to keep the club going, and we started out meeting at a restaurant.  Then COVID hit and we moved to zoom – we are now on zoom in the colder months, and we meet twice in the warmer months, once in person and once on zoom.  A giant advantage of zoom is that authors are able and willing to join us which has been delightful – we’ve welcomed Mariah Fredericks, Naomi Hirahara and Paige Shelton.  I’m looking forward to many more years of discussing what we love to read, and all are welcome to join – just message me at store (at) auntagathas.com if you’d like a zoom link.  I keep the website updated with the current book club read, just search on “book club.”  I feel lucky to know this group of passionate readers.  Thanks guys, for the many, many great discussions! read more

February & March Book Clubs

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In February, we’ll gather on zoom on Sunday, February 19 at 2 p.m. to discuss Robert Bailey’s Legacy of Lies.  Publisher’s description:

A small-town attorney takes on prejudice and corruption in this powerful legal thriller.

Small-town lawyer Bocephus Haynes comes home late one night to find District Attorney General Helen Lewis waiting for him. Her ex-husband has just been killed. She’s about to be arrested for his murder. And she wants Bo to represent her.

There’s a lot working against them. Just before his death, Helen’s ex-husband threatened to reveal a dark secret from her past. Bo has been in a tailspin since his wife’s death. What’s more, his whole life has been defined by a crime committed against his family, and he continues to face prejudice as the only African American litigator in Pulaski, Tennessee. read more

January Book Club: A Bend of Light

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Our January book club will meet on zoom on Sunday, January 22, at 2 p.m.  We’ll be discussing Joy Jordan-Lake’s A Bend of Light.  Publisher’s description: A quiet coastal village in post–World War II America is shaken when the secrets of the past and present collide in a riveting novel by the bestselling author of Under a Gilded Moon.

Five years after the war, Amie Stilwell, a photo interpreter for an Allied unit in England, returns to her hometown in Maine. Jobless and discouraged but stubbornly resourceful, she’s starting over in the same coastal village where her life once went so wrong. Waiting for her is Shibby Travis, the surrogate mother with whom Amie never lost touch. But the unexpected also awaits… read more

November Book Club: The Godwulf Manuscript

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Robert B. Parker’s Spenser celebrates 50 years in 2023, with the 50th birthday book being The Godwulf Manuscript.  Our book club wanted to read a classic this month, and chose Parker over Tey, Sayers, P.D. James and Ross MacDonald (Josephine Tey’s The Franchise Affair was a close second). Is Spenser a “classic”?  At 50 years on, it’s time to evaluate.  The first review from Kirkus in 1973 said “The publishers make the comparison to Philip Marlowe (author-professor Parker did a dissertation on Chandler-Hammett) but it won’t serve him well — there’s some of the toughness and the terseness but the hat’s much too big for him and it hasn’t got the right slouch.”  Agree? Disagree?  Join us on zoom Sunday, November 13  at 2 p.m.  to join the fray. See how Parker laid out his series with this first novel, and how he set a pattern followed by many, many others, from Harlan Coben to Robert Crais to Dennis Lehane… read more

October Book Club: Finlay Donovan is Killing It

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Join us for our October book club – in person on Sunday, October 23 at 2 p.m., and on zoom on Wednesday, October 26 at 7 p.m. when we’ll discuss Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan is Killing It.  Message us at store (at) auntagathas.com for a zoom link or information on the in person gathering, or contact us via facebook or twitter.

Publisher’s description: Finlay Donovan is killing it…except, she’s really not. A stressed-out single mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: The new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written; her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her; and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors. read more

September Book Club: Razorblade Tears

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Our September book club will be reading S.A. Cosby’s Razorblade Tears.  Publisher’s description: Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.

The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.

Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy. read more

Naomi Hirahara joins our August Book Club

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Naomi Hirahara will join our book club via zoom on Sunday, August 21 at 2 p.m. when we discuss her award winning book, Clark and Division.  Set during WWII, it follows the travails of the Ito family who are placed in a Japanese internment camp in California and then, after two years in the camp, relocated from California to Chicago. The portrait of the family, of the time period, and of the Ito family’s circumstances are beautifully portrayed.  All are welcome to join!  Come with questions or come to listen.  I can’t recommend this book more highly – it was my favorite read of 2021 and am delighted to get it into the hands of as many readers as possible.  We do have copies available on the store page of this website, but please check out your local bookstore, your library, and find and read a copy in some form or fashion!  Email us as store (at) auntagathas.com for the zoom link. read more

May Book Club Read: Slow Horses

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Join us in May for our book club read of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses, the first in his series about MI5 agents who have made some epic fails.  We’ll meet in person on Sunday, May 22 at 2 p.m. or via zoom on Wednesday. May 25, at 7 p.m.   Email us at store@auntagathas.com or message us on facebook for details.

Here’s the publisher’s description of Slow Horses (now an excellent TV series): London, England: Slough House is where the washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “slow horses,” as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated here. Maybe they messed up an op badly and can’t be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they all have in common, though, is they all want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there─even if it means having to collaborate with one another. read more

February and March Book Clubs

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We’ve moved our discussion of Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala to Sunday, March 20 at 2 p.m. via zoom.  Our February read will be Death on the Boardwalk by Caleb Wygal.  We’ll meet on February 13 at 2 p.m. via zoom. The publisher’s description of Death on the Boardwalk:

The Myrtle Beach Boardwalk is normally an idyllic place. Until death arrives on recently widowed bookstore owner Clark Thomas’ doorstep.

When the body of a local businesswoman and environmentalist gets dumped by the back door of his shop, Clark finds himself in a unique position to investigate the crime. But should he? When it comes to murder, something else drives him he doesn’t want to admit. read more