Saturday Samplers Book Group to Discuss Roz Chast Memoir

Bernardsville Library’s book group, Saturday Samplers, will meet on Saturday, May 7 at 3:30 pm to discuss "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?" (2014) by cartoonist Roz Chast. The book was a 2014 National Book Award Finalist.

In this, her first memoir, Ms. Chast, well-known as a New Yorker cartoonist and prolific author, brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents, and a narrative as full of laughs as it is of tears, Chast's memoir is both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents. The themes are universal: adult children accepting a parental role; aging and unstable parents leaving a family home for an institution; dealing with uncomfortable physical intimacies; managing logistics; and hiring strangers to provide the most personal care.

Led by Program/PR Assistant Evelyn Fischel, Saturday Samplers is a book discussion group dedicated to sampling various kinds of literature, including short stories, nonfiction, new and old novels, and teen fiction. Its goal is to search out interesting, noteworthy, and sometimes overlooked literary and narrative works. Readers can find information about the group and about the books and authors on the reading list at http://saturdaysamplers.blogspot.com. No sign-up is needed to join the discussion. Call the library at 766-0118 for more information.