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The Fiction Old and New Discussion Group meets the first Friday of each month. The facilitator for this meeting will be LeDon: [email protected].   My review:   The book, Culpability: a novel by Bruce W Holsinger DB131607 is written as though it was ripped from these headlines from tomorrow’s newspaper.   “Self-driving car has head on collision with oncoming vehicle, five injured, two killed!”   As the story opens, the family’s self-driving car is gliding smoothly down the highway. Seventeen-year-old Charlie, a high-school athlete on track for a full college scholarship, is behind the wheel, texting. His father, Noah Cassidy, a successful mergers-and-acquisitions attorney, sits in the front passenger seat composing an important email. Behind him, Noah’s wife, Lorelei—an award-winning AI expert and systems analyst—works intently on a thorny problem on her tablet. Thirteen-year-old Alice notices her brother texting but is busy chatting with her AI chatbot friend. And Izzy, the youngest, has just sent a message to Charlie. Moments before the crash, she lets out a piercing scream.   The accident shatters the family in an instant. Each member is thrown into their own storm of guilt—wondering what they were doing, what they missed, or what they might have done to prevent the tragedy.   With the family in turmoil, Noah becomes desperate to protect Charlie from police questioning until an attorney is present. He fears his son might say something that could lead to arrest, indictment, and ultimately a trial that could send Charlie to prison for years.   In time, Noah and Lorelei decide the family needs to get away to regain some sense of normalcy. Lorelei suggests a quiet vacation on Chesapeake Bay where they can swim, rest, take in the beautiful scenery, and perhaps begin to heal from the nightmare that has engulfed them.   But when they arrive, they discover their rental sits directly beside a newly built compound owned by billionaire Daniel Monet, a major force in AI development. Night after night, helicopters arrive carrying guests to the lavish events happening there. When the family receives an invitation to a dinner at the compound, they decide to go. Once there, tensions rise, misunderstandings flare, and the fragile threads holding the family together begin to fray.   During the party, Charlie and Eurydice Monet, Daniel Monet’s daughter, discover a romantic spark between them. By the end of the night, the two teens have vanished. A frantic search begins, and it is soon learned that they slipped away to go sailing in the bay during a midnight storm. As families and search crews scour the waters, both households are tormented by the fear that the worst has already happened.   In this novel Holsinger  has created a beautiful tapestry in many colors using the threads of family drama, Artificial Intelligence, and moral questions. Bookshare You can find this book on Bookshare at this link: https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/6712974?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPWN1bHBhYmlsaXR5  

The facilitator for this meeting will be LeDon: [email protected]. This book can be found on Bookshare at this link: https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/2911709?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPUElMkJSZWRiaXJkJTJCQ2hyaXN0bWFz My review: My first introduction to Fannie Flagg was through her novel, Fried Green Tomatoes, so I  knew what a gift she has for making small towns and the ordinary people like you and me in them come alive with warmth, humor, and kindness. That is why I selected her Christmas book , A Redbird Christmas: a novel, DB58836. In this book she crafted a story that will lift your spirits and remind you of the magic of second chances.   Oswald Campbell is sitting across from his doctor when he hears the worst news of his life: his lungs are failing, and time is running out. The doctor suggests that while nothing can stop what is coming, Oswald might buy himself a little more time if he leaves Chicago for somewhere with cleaner air. But where could he possibly go? Chicago is all he has ever known until the doctor hands him a pamphlet for a lodge in a little place called Lost River, Alabama. The lodge turns out to be long closed, but a kind woman in town offers to rent Oswald a room in her house.   With nothing left to lose, he heads south. What he expects to be a short stay soon becomes something more, as the people of Lost River welcome him as one of their own. To his surprise, Oswald finds friendship, belonging, and even the beginning of love especially through their bond with a little crippled girl and the beloved redbird, Jak. With their help, Oswald uncovers a side of himself he never knew existed: one that still has room for joy, hope, and friends.   Only Fannie Flagg could bring a town like Lost River to life the way she does here. Her storytelling blends humor, tenderness, and everyday detail so flawlessly that by the end, you feel as if you have lived there.  

On 10.3.2025 at 8 PM Eastern we will be discussing the book, The widower’s wife: a thriller by Cate Holahan DB128362. The facilitator for this meeting will be LeDon: [email protected]. My review: The widower’s wife: a thriller DB128362 is an intriguing thriller that grabbed hold of me from the start and wouldn’t let me go. Ana Bacon is a wife and mother. Her husband, Tom Bacon, is struggling under the weight of financial troubles. Then he takes out a five-million-dollar life insurance policy on Ana, with a double indemnity clause.01 Then, shortly later, during what should have been a romantic cruise, Ana goes overboard. Her body was never recovered. Was it a tragic accident? A heartbreaking suicide? A cold-blooded murder? Or… Was it something else? That’s when Ryan steps in. He is an insurance investigator with a sharp eye, and a tough refusal to settle for easy answers. As he investigates, he begins to uncover secrets, lies, and a marriage that may not have been what it appeared. Each chapter leads you closer to the truth, but the truth keeps shifting. The author builds tension, weaving a web of secrets, and shifting timelines that keep you guessing. The story moves between past and present, between Ana’s voice and Ryan’s search, tightening the suspense with each move. If you enjoy thrillers where nothing is quite what it seems, The Widower’s Wife is a book you will want to read.  

on Friday, September 5, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.  Please join us to welcome Tracey back and don’t forget to bring your questions and comments. The BARD annotation is below. Unfortunately, this book is not available on Bookshare.   Our facilitator for this meeting will be Michelle Bernstein, [email protected]. BARD annotation What happened to the McCrays? DB128432 Author: Lange, Tracey Reading Time: 10 hours, 29 minutes Read by: Németh-Parker, Stephanie, DeMeritt, William Subjects: Family, Romance   “When Kyle McCray gets word his father has suffered a debilitating stroke, he returns to his hometown of Potsdam, New York, where he doesn’t expect a warm welcome. Kyle left suddenly two and a half years ago, abandoning people who depended on him: his father, his employees, his friends–not to mention Casey, his wife of sixteen years and a beloved teacher in town. He plans to lie low and help his dad recuperate until he can leave again, especially after Casey makes it clear she wants him gone. The longer he’s home, the more Kyle understands the impact his departure has had on the people he left behind. When he’s presented with an opportunity for redemption as the coach of the floundering middle school hockey team, he begins to find compassion in unexpected places. Kyle even considers staying in Potsdam, but that’s only possible if he and Casey can come to some kind of peace with each other.”– From publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.   New York : Macmillan, 2025. Bookshare This book is not available on Bookshare.   Beginning with the October meeting, LeDon has volunteered to facilitate the group.  

We will not meet in July due to the July 4th holiday. We will continue this group without a facilitator until we have one and we hope you can join us to informally discuss this book. NLS annotation Three days in June DB127313 Author: Tyler, Anne Reading Time: 4 hours, 25 minutes Read by: Smith-Cameron, J. Subjects: Human Relations, Family, Women, Romance   “Gail Baines is long divorced from her husband, Max, and not especially close to her grown daughter, Debbie. Today is the day before Debbie’s wedding. To start, Gail loses her job–or quits, depending who you ask. Then, Max arrives unannounced on Gail’s doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay and without even a suit in which to walk their daughter down the aisle. But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband-to-be. It will not only throw the wedding itself into question but also send Gail back into her past and how her own relationship fell apart.”– Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.   New York : Penguin Random House, 2025. Bookshare This book can be found on Bookshare at this link:   https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/6428188?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPVRocmVlJTJCZGF5cyUyQmluJTJCSnVuZQ   This group currently does not have a scheduled facilitator and we will continue to pick and discuss books as a group.  

No hiding in Boise DB118022 Author: Hooper, Kim Reading Time: 9 hours, 41 minutes Read by: Adam Barr, Pete Cross, Madeleine Maby, Stephanie Einstein, Michael Brusasco, Patrick Lawlor, Stephanie Willing, Nick Mondelli, Neil Hellegers, Devon Sorvari, Hillary Huber Subjects: Suspense Fiction, Mystery and Detective Stories, Women   “Angie is awakened by a midnight call from an officer with the Boise Police Department and thinks there must be a misunderstanding. The officer tells her that her husband was involved in a shooting at a local bar, but how can that be when her husband is sleeping right next to her? But when she turns to wake him, he isn’t there. Tessa is the twenty-three-year-old bartender who escapes to a backroom storage closet during the shooting. When it comes to light that five people were killed, she is burdened with the question of why she survived. Joyce wakes up to a knock at her front door, a knock she assumes is her wayward son, Jed, who must have lost his keys. It’s not Jed though. Two police officers tell her that Jed is dead, shot at a bar. Then they deliver even worse news: “We have reason to believe your son was the shooter.” So begins the story of three women tied together by tragic fate–a wife trying to understand why her now-comatose husband was frequenting a bar in the middle of the night, the young woman whom her husband was apparently pursuing, and a mother who is forced to confront the reality of who her son was and who she is.” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.   Holland, OH : Dreamscape Media, [2021]   This book is not available on Bookshare.   This group currently does not have a scheduled facilitator and we will continue to pick and discuss books as a group.

(BARD annotation below). We will continue this group without a facilitator until we have one and we hope you can join us to informally discuss this book.   Here is the NLS annotation:   The Heaven & Earth Grocery store: a novel DB115655 Author: McBride, James Reading Time: 12 hours, 24 minutes Read by: Dominic Hoffman Subjects: Bestsellers, African American Topics, Disability, Historical Fiction   “In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe. As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community–heaven and earth–that sustain us.”– Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller.   New York : Penguin Random House, 2023.   This book can be found on Bookshare at this link:   https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/6031568?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPXRoZSUyQmhlYXZlbiUyQiUyNTI2YW1wJTI1M0IlMkJlYXJ0aCUyQmdyb2NlcnklMkJzdG9yZQ  

Here is the NLS annotation: The berry pickers: a novel DB117941 Author: Peters, Amanda Reading Time: 8 hours, 47 minutes Read by: Jordan Waunch, Aaliya Warbus Subjects: General Fiction, Family, Historical Fiction “A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a family, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years. July 1962. Following in the tradition of Indigenous workers from Nova Scotia, a Mi’kmaq family arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come. In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.” — Provided by publisher. Strong language and some violence. Commercial audiobook. [Prince Frederick, Maryland] : Recorded Books, Inc., [2023] This book can be found on Bookshare at this link: https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/6211068?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPVRoZSUyQmJlcnJ5JTJCcGlja2Vycw This group currently does not have a scheduled facilitator and we will continue to pick and discuss books as a group.  

Here is the NLS annotation:   The accident: a novel DB74117 Author: Barclay, Linwood Reading Time: 12 hours, 17 minutes Read by: Peter Berkrot Subject: Suspense Fiction   After his wife Sheila is killed in a drunk-driving accident she caused, struggling contractor Glen Garber is angry and confused–Sheila never drank that much. When the mother of his eight-year-old daughter’s best friend also dies mysteriously, Glen’s suspicions deepen. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. 2011.   This book can be found on Bookshare at this link:   https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/2275615?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPUxpbndvb2QlMkJCYXJjbGF5   This group currently does not have a scheduled facilitator and we will continue to pick and discuss books as a group.

The Fiction Old and New book group again welcomes guest host Sally Rosenthal on Friday, February 7, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern to discuss The color purple DB58842 by Alice Walker.   (BARD annotation below). We hope that you can join us this Black History Month to discuss this compelling story. Here is the NLS annotation: The color purple DB58842 Author: Walker, Alice Reading Time: 8 hours, 51 minutes Read by: Tracy MIckens Hundley Subjects: African American Topics, Human Relations, Historical Fiction, Family, LGBTQ+ Follows two black sisters–Nettie, a missionary, and Celie, raped by her father and married to a cruel man. Nettie’s letters do not reach Celie, and Celie’s shame is so great that she writes only to God. Anniversary edition includes Walker’s 1992 preface. Strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. Pulitzer Prize. 1982. New York : Harcourt, c1982. This book can be found on Bookshare at this link: https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/5562748?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPXRoZSUyQmNvbG9yJTJCcHVycGxl   This group currently does not have a scheduled facilitator and we will continue to pick and discuss books as a group.  

The Fiction Old and New book group is thrilled to welcome guest host Sally Rosenthal on Friday, January 3, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. to discuss “Crow Lake” by Mary Lawson, DB 59867 (BARD annotation below). We hope that you can join us to discuss this compelling story.   Here is the NLS annotation: Crow Lake DB 59867 Lawson, Mary. Reading time 7 hours, 39 minutes. Read by Martha Harmon Pardee. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.   Subjects: Family; Psychological Fiction   Description: After their parents die, teens Matt and Luke Morrison give up their own university plans to raise two young sisters, Kate and Bo, in the northern Ontario badlands. Twenty years later, Kate, now a professor, returns to resolve past differences at a family reunion. Some strong language. 2002.   This book can be found on Bookshare at this link:   https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/2325140?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPWNyb3clMkJsYWtl   Our facilitator for this group is Michelle Bernstein ([email protected]).  

(BARD annotation below). We hope that you can join us to discuss this compelling story.   Here is the NLS annotation: Help wanted: a novel DB 121085 Waldman, Adelle. Reading time 9 hours, 27 minutes. Read by Katie Boothe. A production of National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress.   Subjects: Humor; Human Relations; General   Description: “Every day at 3:55 a.m., members of Team Movement clock in for their shift at big-box store Town Square in a small upstate New York town. Under the eyes of a self-absorbed and barely competent boss, they empty the day’s truck of merchandise, stock the shelves, and scatter before the store opens and customers arrive. Their lives follow a familiar if grueling routine, but their real problem is that Town Square doesn’t schedule them for enough hours–most of them are barely getting by, even while working second or third jobs. When store manager Big Will announces he is leaving, the members of Movement spot an opportunity. If they play their cards right, one of them just might land a management job, with all the stability and possibility of advancement. The members of Team Movement–including a comedy-obsessed oddball who acts half his age, a young woman clinging on to her “cool kid” status from high school, and a college football hopeful trying to find a new path–band together to set a just-so-crazy-it-might-work plot in motion.” — Provided by publisher Strong language.   This book can be found on Bookshare at this link:   https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/5915534?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPUhlbHAlMkJXYW50ZWQ   Our facilitator for this group is Michelle Bernstein ([email protected]).  

Here is the NLS annotation   I have some questions for you DB 112960 Makkai, Rebecca. Reading time 14 hours, 8 minutes. Read by Julia Whelan. A production of National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress.   Subjects: Suspense Fiction; Mystery and Detective Stories; Bestsellers; Psychological Fiction Description: “A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the 1995 murder of a classmate, Thalia Keith. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are the subject of intense fascination online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie. But when The Granby School invites her back to teach a two-week course, Bodie finds herself inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she’d thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller.   This book can be found on Bookshare at this link: https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/5195996?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPUklMkJIYXZlJTJCU29tZSUyQlF1ZXN0aW9ucyUyQmZvciUyQllvdSUyQg   Our facilitator for this group is Michelle Bernstein ([email protected]).  

Here is the NLS annotation Dogwood Blossom: growing up Native American DBC 11736 Noriega, DeAnna Quietwater. Reading time 1 hour, 15 minutes. Read by Laurie Coiley Massing. A production of Perkins Library, Perkins School for the Blind. Subjects: Biography of Persons with Disabilities; Family Description: In Dogwood Blossom, the author invokes a simpler time and how it was growing up in a world that didn’t always accept her. Poverty and oppression are no match for the strong bonds among the members of this hardworking and loving family. The life lessons here will resonate with readers young and old. Adult. Unrated. Our facilitator for this group is Michelle Bernstein ([email protected]).

We hope that you can join us to discuss this human relations and romance audiobook by best-selling Black author Kennedy Ryan. Here is the NLS annotation: Before I let go: a Skyland novel DB 111356 Ryan, Kennedy. Reading time 13 hours, 48 minutes. Read by Jakobi Diem Wesleigh Siobhan. A production of National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress. Subjects: Psychological Fiction; Romance Description: “Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything. It couldn’t save their marriage. Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had. Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It’s hot. It’s illicit. It’s all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. This book can be found on Bookshare at this link: https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/5810363?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPUJlZm9yZSUyQkklMkJMZXQlMkJHbw Our facilitator for this group is Michelle Bernstein ([email protected]).