Scotch Plains Public Library Announces April Book Club Options

Join one of the Scotch Plains Public Library’s many book clubs.

On Monday, April 1 at 10 am, the library will host Bagels & Books, where book-lovers share their recent reading experiences with other bibliophiles and pick up suggestions for future reading. Registration is required.

The library’s longstanding Evening and Afternoon Book Clubs will meet on April 15 and April 16 respectively.

On Monday, April 15 at 7 pm, the Evening Book Club will discuss The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. Orphaned onboard a ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives at a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of the master's illegitimate daughter, she becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family. Eventually accepted into the world of the big house, with its absent master and mistress battling opium addiction, Lavinia straddles two very different worlds. Then she is forced to make a choice.

On Tuesday, April 16 at 1 pm, the Afternoon Book Club will discuss The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened. After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country's rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

For more information or to register for Bagels & Books, go to www.scotlib.or, email library@scotlib.org, call (908) 322-5007 x 204 or stop by the Reference Desk. The Scotch Plains Library is located at 1927 Bartle Avenue, one block from Park Avenue in the center of town.