Now Reading: Ethan Frome

We just finished discussing The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. Thank you to all who participated! Now it’s time to start reading the next book club pick for July/August, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome!

In this novel, a young man struggles to rise above the intellectual and spiritual impoverishment of a small New England community through his forbidden love for his cousin Mattie Silver.

Check out Ethan Frome in your preferred format from your local library and start reading! Follow us here on the blog, Facebook and Twitter for interesting posts about the book and author. In August, we’ll post questions on Facebook about the book for you to discuss.

Now Discussing: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Have you finished reading Victor Hugo’s classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame? Good, because discussions start now! Head on over to our Facebook page to join the conversation!

And don’t forget to register your library for a chance to win a free classics audiobook collection, valued at $1,000! The next winner will be selected at the end of June. See the Contest tab for details.

Wuthering Heights Contest Winner

Congratulations to the March/April Wuthering Heights contest winner Hilo Public Library with Hawaii State Public Library System! They have won a free classics audiobook collection valued at $1,000! The winning comment came from Morgan Light. Thank you to all who participated in our discussions!

Another winner will be selected at the end of June. Click the Contest tab on our blog for details on how to enter.

Now Reading: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

We just finished discussing Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Thank you to all who participated! Now it’s time to start reading the next book club pick for May/June, Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame!

In this novel-perhaps his most popular-Hugo paints a vivid portrait of medieval Paris. Quasimodo, the one-eyed, hunchbacked refugee; Esmeralda, the dancing gypsy girl, threatened by the gallows; and a world where chaos is in charge-Hugo captures them all in this timeless, almost Gothic, piece of literature.

Check out The Hunchback of Notre Dame in your preferred format from your local library and start reading! Follow us here on the blog, Facebook and Twitter for interesting posts about the book and author. In June, we’ll post questions on Facebook about the book for you to discuss.

Now Discussing: Wuthering Heights

Have you finished reading Emily Brontë’s classic Wuthering Heights? Good, because discussions start now! Head on over to our Facebook page to join the conversation!

And don’t forget to register your library for a chance to win a free classics audiobook collection, valued at $1,000! The next winner will be selected at the end of April. See the Contest tab for details.

Picture of Dorian Gray Contest Winner

Congratulations to the January/February Picture of Dorian Gray contest winner Port Jefferson Free Library in New York! They have won a free classics audiobook collection valued at $1,000! The winning comment came from Joan Kiely. Thank you to all who participated in our discussions!

Another winner will be selected at the end of February. Click the Contest tab on our blog for details on how to enter.

Now Reading: Wuthering Heights

We just finished discussing The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Thank you to all who participated! Now it’s time to start reading the next book club pick for March/April, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights!

Classic novel of consuming passions, played out against the lonely moors of northern England, recounts the turbulent and tempestuous love story of Cathy and Heathcliff. A masterpiece of imaginative fiction, the story remains as poignant and compelling today as it was when first published in 1847.

Check out Wuthering Heights in your preferred format from your local library and start reading! Follow us here on the blog, Facebook and Twitter for interesting posts about the book and author. In April, we’ll post questions on Facebook about the book for you to discuss.

Now Discussing: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Have you finished reading Oscar Wilde’s classic The Picture of Dorian Gray? Good, because discussions start now! Head on over to our Facebook page to join the conversation!

Anna Karenina Contest Winner

Congratulations to the November/December Anna Karenina contest winner Monroe Library with Sno-Isle Libraries in Washington! They have won a free classics audiobook collection valued at $1,000! Thank you to all who participated in our discussions!

Another winner will be selected at the end of February. Click the Contest tab on our blog for details on how to enter.

Ring in the New Year with a Classic

Happy New Year! Let’s kick off 2017 and the third year of the book club with Oscar Wilde’s moral fantasy novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray!

An archetypal tale of a young man who purchases eternal youth at the expense of his soul, the novel was a romantic exposition of Wilde’s aestheticism. Dorian Gray is a wealthy Englishman who gradually sinks into a life of dissipation and crime. Despite his unhealthy behavior, his physical appearance remains youthful and unmarked by dissolution. Instead, a portrait of himself catalogues every evil deed by turning his once handsome features into a hideous mask. When Gray destroys the painting, his face turns into a human replica of the portrait, and he dies.Gray’s final negation, “ugliness is the only reality,” neatly summarizes Wilde’s aestheticism, both his love of the beautiful and his fascination with the profane. Publication of the novel scandalized Victorian England, and The Picture of Dorian Gray was used as evidence against Wilde in his 1895 trial for homosexuality. The novel became a classic of English literature.

Check out The Picture of Dorian Gray in your preferred format from your local library and start reading! Follow us here on the blog, Facebook and Twitter for interesting posts about the book and author. In February, we’ll post questions about the book for you to discuss.