Barron Park Reading Group

Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson Fiction from reading group member North Korea, rare novel about N. Korea

Our Like Will Not Be There Again: Notes from the West of Ireland by Lawrence Millman Non-fiction suggested by Patti Millman tromps through West Ireland’s rugged countryside to record the oral history of its people before their hard-earned traditions are permanently stifled by industrialization and development.

The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani Fiction suggested by Barbara She has the keys to their apartment. She knows everything. She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her. When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer after having children, she and her husband look […]

The Perfect Nazi: Uncovering My Grandfather’s Secret Past by Martin Davidson Non-fiction from Annie Bruno’s story moved lock-step in time with the rise and fall of the Nazi party: from his upbringing in a fiercely military environment amid the aftermath of World War I, to his joining the Nazi party in 1926 at the age […]

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco Fiction from Shirley Nineteenth-century Europe—from Turin to Prague to Paris—abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. (Dark)

Push by Sapphire Fiction from Terry Illiterate, abused young woman writes in her own language

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle Non-fiction suggested by Shirley From Amazon: Renowned media scholar Sherry Turkle investigates how a flight from conversation undermines our relationships, creativity, and productivity—and why reclaiming face-to-face conversation can help us regain lost ground. We live in a technological universe in which we […]

Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum Non-fiction suggested by Shirley Amazon: In 1929 Stalin launched his policy of agricultural collectivization—in effect a second Russian revolution—which forced millions of peasants off their land and onto collective farms. The result was a catastrophic famine, the most lethal in European history. At least five million […]

Room by Emma Donoghue Fiction suggested by Terry From Amazon: “To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It’s where he was born, it’s where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when […]

The Rules Do Not Apply: A Memoir by Ariel Levy from Amazon – about a woman overcoming dramatic loss and finding reinvention. When thirty-eight-year-old New Yorker writer Ariel Levy left for a reporting trip to Mongolia in 2012, she was pregnant, married, financially secure, and successful on her own terms. A month later, none of […]