The Ruth and Robert Abel Memorial Book and Film Discussion Group season starts Sept, 10 at 7 p.m. with a discussion on the film, Waltz with Bashir. Watch the film at your home before the event.

The Ruth and Robert Abel Memorial Book and Film Discussion Group

is moderated by Dr. Karen Weekes, associate professor of English and meets in the Shorday Room, Abington Free Library to discuss award-winning books, films and a poet’s work. Decaf coffee, tea and cookies from Curds N Whey are served.

Borrow the books and DVDs from the Library System or from the display by Abington’s Circulation Department. Register for this FREE program online by clicking on the date of the event, in the Library Office, Abington Free Library, call 215-885-5180, ext. 15 or email: kburnham@mclinc.org

Wednesday, September 10, from 7-8 p.m.
Waltz with Bashir

Israeli animated film by Ari Folman Waltz with Bashir, winner of the 2009 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Watch the film at home before the event. “After not being able to recall the time he spent on an Israeli Army mission during the Lebanon War, Ari attempts to unravel the mystery by traveling around the world to interview old friends and comrades. As the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together, his memory begins to return in illustrations that are surreal.” (MCLINC Catalog) DVDs are available to borrow from the Library Office or from the Library System now. Click here to see the trailer.

Wednesday, October 15, from 7-8 p.m.
Anagrams, by Lorrie Moore.

Lorrie Moore’s early novel. Moore has won the O. Henry Award and the Irish Times International Fiction Award. “Benna Carpenter is an art history professor who wears glass jewelry, sings in local nightclubs, chain-smokes, runs an aerobics class for the elderly, teaches poetry, and has an adorable and devoted six-year-old daughter. Yet Benna is disillusioned, cynical and bitter. With brilliant imagination and wit, this extraordinary novel explores Benna’s world of misheard exit lines, love gained and lost, truths almost told, and fragile and desperate hope.” (MCLINC Catalog) Books are available to borrow from the Library Office or from the Library System now. New York Times article, Sestinas and Wisecracks by Carol Hill

Wednesday, November 12, from 7-8 p.m.
The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry.

Sure to be a lively discussion of Sebastian Barry’s dramatic, award-winning novel, set against the backdrop of a century of British-Irish conflict. “Roseanne McNulty, once one of the most beautiful and beguiling girls in County Sligo, Ireland, is now an elderly patient at Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital. As her hundredth year draws near, she decides to record the events of her life, hiding the manuscript beneath the floorboards.... Set against an Ireland besieged by conflict, The Secret Scripture is an epic story of love, betrayal, and unavoidable tragedy.” (EBSCOhost) Books will be available to borrow from the Library Office soon or you can borrow them from the Library System now. New York Times article Ordinary Madness, by Art Winslow

Wednesday, March 18, from 7-8 p.m.
The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt.

Pulitzer Prize winner. “A young boy in New York City, Theo Decker, miraculously survives an accident that takes the life of his mother. Alone and abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by a friend’s family and struggles to make sense of his new life. In the years that follow, he becomes entranced by one of the few things that reminds him of his mother; a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the art underworld.” (MCLINC Catalog) Books will be available to borrow from the Library Office soon or you can borrow them from the Library System now. New York Times article Flights of Fancy, Donna Tartt’s ‘Goldfinch’ by Stephen King

Wednesday, April 8, from 7-8 p.m.
Poet: Maya Angelou
Packet available March 2015

Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, as well as winner of several poetry awards. “Maya Angelou ... uses feeling and attitude, often reflective of centuries of displacement, along with humor and occasional caprice and whimsy.... She has chosen to use familiar and accessible words so that her work will ring in the ears of people of all races, educated or not, to lift them toward higher self-respect.” (Critical Companion to Maya Angelou: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. found in Harold Bloom’s Literary Reference Online) Packets will be available to pick up in the Library Office and as a PDF download by March 2015. New York Times articles on Maya Angelou.

Wednesday, May 6, from 7-8 p.m.
The Circle, by Dave Eggers.

Eggers has won The National Magazine Award, the American Book Award, and other writing prizes. “Hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, Mae Holland begins to question her luck as life beyond her job grows distant, a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, and her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public.” (MCLINC Catalog) Books will be available to borrow from the Library Office soon or you can borrow themfrom the Library System now. The New Yorker article, Sharing is Caring is Sharing, Posted by Betsy Morais

Dr. Karen Weekes is an Associate Professor of English at Penn State University, Abington College. Her teaching and research interests include contemporary American and world literature, women’s writing, and graphic memoir and other non-traditional modes of autobiography. Winner of many awards, her most recent is Outstanding Advising/Mentoring Award for Penn State Abington. She is the founder of the Society for Contemporary Literature and has enjoyed leading or participating in book groups for many years.

The views and opinions expressed in various library programs are solely those of the presenter and do not necessarily represent the views of the Abington Township Public Library or the Friends of Abington Township Public Library.

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