Book Discussion
Join the Friends’ Book Discussion group for our thought-provoking selections and lively conversations. New members are always welcome. We meet in the Library Meeting Room 4 times a year for about an hour. If you like to talk about characters, plots, connections to Westfield life and much more this a book club for you.
To be added to our Book Discussion list and receive information about meetings, including how to pick up copies of the books in a safe and secure manner, email INFO@FWMLNJ.ORG.
We are thrilled to announce our 2024 – 2025 Book Selection:
THE FROZEN RIVER by Arielle Lawhon (Oct. 16)
UP HOME: ONE GIRL’S JOURNEY by Ruth Simmons (Jan. 15)
ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK by Chris Whitaker (March 19)
WEST WITH GIRAFFES by Lynda Rutledge (May 21)
January 15 @ 2:00 PM in the Meeting Room
Simmons, who made history in 2001 as the first Black president of an Ivy League institution when she assumed leadership at Brown University, reflects on the initial 22 years of her life in this moving and motivational memoir. Born to sharecroppers in 1945 in Daly, Texas, she was the youngest of twelve siblings. From a young age, she joined her family in the cotton fields, feeling “nestled in the bounty of [her] family’s care,” yet her vivid imagination ignited a yearning to venture “to distant, forbidden regions.” After the passing of her mother during her teenage years, Simmons began to chart a course out of Texas, excelling academically and securing a scholarship to Dillard University in New Orleans. There, she flourished, earning a Fulbright scholarship and gaining admission to Harvard’s PhD program in Romance languages. Although the memoir concludes with her college graduation, which may leave some readers wanting more regarding her professional journey, Simmons adeptly illustrates the development of her youthful perspective and lays the groundwork for future works that will delve into her academic experiences. Her humility (“I do not regard the circumstances of my childhood as more difficult or more glorious than another’s”) and sensitivity render this debut a profoundly impactful read.
October 16 @ 2:00 PM in the Meeting Room
Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle
that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own. Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.
Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled.