January 15th at 7:30 p.m. - Evening Book Discussion: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Join us on January 15 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Ernt’s wife and daughter learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

Discussion guide for The Great Alone.

December 10th at 1:00 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books: Educated by Tara Westover

Join us on December 10 at 1:00 p.m. as we discuss Educated by Tara Westover. “Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her “head-for-the-hills bag.” The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. As a way out, Tara began to educate herself, learning enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University. Her quest for knowledge would transform her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.”

Discussion guide for Educated.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

November 5th at 12:30 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books/Author Skype: Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

Join us on November 5 at 12:30 p.m. as we discuss Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen. After the discussion, the author will join us by Skype!

Neurosurgeon Eitan Green has the perfect life–married to a beautiful police officer and father of two young boys. Then, speeding along a deserted moonlit road in Israel, after an exhausting hospital shift, he hits someone. Seeing that the man, an African migrant, is beyond help, he flees the scene. When the victim’s widow knocks at Eitan’s door the next day, holding his wallet and divulging that she knows what happened, Eitan discovers that her price for silence is not money. It is something else entirely, something that will shatter Eitan’s safe existence and take him into a world of secrets and lies he could never have anticipated.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

October 18th at 1:00 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books/Audio Call: The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

Join us on October 18 at 1:00 p.m. for a discussion and special voice appearance by Thrity Umrigar. The author of Bombay Time, If Today Be Sweet, and The Weight of Heaven, Umrigar is as adept and compelling in The Secrets Between Us (the long-awaited sequel to The Space Between Us) — vividly capturing the social struggles of modern India in a luminous, addictively readable novel of honor, tradition, class, gender, and family. A portrayal of two women discovering an emotional rapport as they struggle against the confines of a rigid caste system, Umrigar’s captivating novel echoes the timeless intensity of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible—a quintessential triumph of modern literary fiction.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

September 12th at 7:30 p.m. - Evening Book Discussion: The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott

Join us on September 12 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott. In Catholic Brooklyn during the early part of the twentieth century, decorum, superstition, and shame collude to erase the man’s brief existence. Yet, his suicide, though never spoken of, reverberates through many lives — testing the limits and the demands of love and sacrifice, of forgiveness and forgetfulness, even through multiple generations. Rendered with remarkable delicacy, heart, and intelligence, this novel is a crowning achievement of one of the finest American writers at work today.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

Click here for the discussion guide.

September 4th at 7:30 p.m. – Meet the Author: Rhiannon Navin

Our Evening Book Discussion recently had a fantastic discussion on Only Child by Rhiannon Navin. Several members wondered if we could skype with the author. We did one better! She will come in person to do a reading and answer any questions. Don't worry if you were unable to attend the July discussion. Copies will be available at the Reference Desk. It is a wonderful, timely and important book.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

Please click here for the reading group guide for Only Child.

August 15th at 7:30 p.m. - Evening Book Discussion: Saints For All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan

Join us on August 15 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss Saints For All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan. Rich storytelling of two young girls who leave their home in Ireland for America, not yet ready for the world that awaits them. “This year’s best book about a family” – Washington Post.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

Discussion guide for Saints For All Occasions.

July 23rd at 1:00 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books: The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

Join us on July 23 at 1:00 p.m. as we discuss The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. The novel begins in 1940, with the election of Charles Lindbergh, who blamed the Jews for pushing America toward war with Nazi Germany. Lindbergh’s admiration of Hitler and his openly anti Semitic speeches cause increasing turmoil in the Roth household, and in nine-year-old Philip, as political events abroad overtake their lives. History will not let go, and as America is whipped into a deadly frenzy by demagogues, the Roths begin to expect the worst. The novel explores the convulsive collision of history and family.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

Discussion guide for The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.

June 19th at 1:00 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Join us on June 19 at 1:00 p.m. as we discuss Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. In Shaker Heights everything is planned. No one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren, an enigmatic artist and single mother who arrives with her daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this community. Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets and the ferocious pull of motherhood.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

Discussion guide for Little Fires Everywhere.

June 7th - Adult Summer Reading Kickoff With Author Judy Blundell

The Reader Services Department of the East Meadow Public Library is thrilled to announce the kickoff of our seventh annual Adult Summer Reading Club on Thursday, June 7th. Register for our reading club and meet Judy Blundell, author of The High Season, who will be joining us for a book talk and signing at 7:30 p.m. The High Season is set on Orient Point and promises to be the ultimate summer read! The registration for our reading club will be held in the lobby from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and at the kickoff party which will be from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. After June 7th, you can register anytime at the Reference Desk or online. Our reading club will provide members the opportunity to attend exciting book events along with a delightful party at the end of the program.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

Please click here for more information on this not to be missed event!

Please click here for the reading group guide for The High Season.

May 17th at 1:00 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books: Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan

Join us on May 17 at 1:00 p.m. as we discuss Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan, a novel based on the true story of a forgotten hero. Pino Lella, an Italian teenager, wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow. Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. Yet, after Pino is injured, he is recruited to become the driver for Hitler’s man in Italy, General Leyers. Now, Pino spies for the Allies inside the German High Command. He endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

Discussion guide for Beneath a Scarlet Sky.

April 23rd at 1:00 p.m. - Lunch 'N Books: Spaceman by Mike Massimino – The 2018 Long Island Reads Choice

Join us on April 23 at 1:00 p.m. as we discuss Spaceman by Mike Massimino. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find yourself strapped to a giant rocket that’s about to go from zero to 17,500 miles per hour? Or to look back on Earth from outer space? Or to stand in front of the Hubble Space Telescope, wondering if the emergency repair you’re about to make will ruin humankind’s chance to unlock the universe’s secrets? Mike Massimino has been to space and back. Spaceman invites us into a rare, wonderful world where science meets the most thrilling adventure, revealing just what having “the right stuff” really means.

Discussion Guide for Spaceman.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

April 17th at 6:30 p.m. – Meet the Author/Evening Book Discussion: The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman

Join us on April 17 at 6:30 p.m. as we discuss The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman. From this acclaimed author comes a vivid, daring novel about the devastating power of family secrets – beginning in the poignant, lurid world of a Depression-era traveling circus, and coming full circle in the transformative 1950s.

On a summer evening in 1931, Lilly Blackwood glimpses circus lights from the grimy window of her attic bedroom. Lilly is never allowed to explore the meadows around Blackwood Manor. Yet, on this unforgettable night, Lilly is taken outside for the first time – and sold to the circus sideshow.

More than two decades later, nineteen-year-old Julia Blackwood has inherited her parents’ estate and horse farm. For Julia, home was an unhappy place, and she hopes that returning might erase painful memories. Instead, she becomes immersed in a mystery involving a hidden attic room and photos of circus scenes featuring a striking young girl.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

Click here for more information on this special program.

Please click here for the reading group guide for The Life She Was Given.

March 20th at 6:30 p.m. – Meet the Author/Evening Book Discussion: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP TEN OF THE YEAR * NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017 * USA TODAY TOP TEN OF 2017

Join us on March 20 at 6:30 p.m. as we discuss Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. In this gorgeous, page-turning saga, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in 20th century Japan, exiled from a home they never knew.

Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan’s finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee’s complex and passionate characters – strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis – survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

Please click here for the reading group guide for Pachinko.

February 20th at 7:30 p.m. - Evening Book Discussion: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Join us on February 20 at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country. This riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236.

Click here for the discussion guide.

January 30th at 7:30 p.m. – Meet the Author: Tova Mirvis

Join us on January 30 at 7:30 p.m and meet Tova Mirvis, who will be discussing her latest work, The Book of Separation. In this memoir, she describes how she left both Orthodox Judaism and her marriage, and followed her inner compass to forge a new life for herself and her children while seeking her own path to happiness.

The author will be signing two copies of the book, which will be raffled off at the end of the program – everyone attending will receive a FREE raffle ticket!

For more information, please call the Reader Services Department at 516-794-2570 ext. 236

Please click here for the reading group guide for The Book of Separation.

Please click here for more information on this not to be missed event!