BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//sebbo.net//ical-generator//EN NAME:DC Public Library X-WR-CALNAME:DC Public Library BEGIN:VEVENT UID:658275d3-9c7f-438f-a671-3693ffd464ca SEQUENCE:0 DTSTAMP:20260818T081620Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260917T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260917T194500 SUMMARY:The Promises\, Promises Book Club LOCATION:West End Neighborhood Library\nWest End Neighborhood Library X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=West End Neighborhood Libr ary;X-APPLE-RADIUS=10;X-TITLE=West End Neighborhood Library:geo:38.904044, -77.050548 GEO:38.904044;-77.050548 DESCRIPTION:Led by Philip Burnham\, retired associate professor in the Eng lish Department at George Mason University.\nhttps://dclibrary.libnet.info /event/17078138 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Welcome \;to \;the \;Promises\ , Promises \;Book Club series\, \;a discussion of \;recent fic tion that grapples with the theme \;of \;people \;making&mdash \;and \;sometimes \;breaking&mdash\;a \;serious promise or ple dge. \; \;Participants will read \;about an America where fasc ism \;has become \;a political rallying cry\; \;about \;a Scottish island where a lifelong pledge is broken by a heartless act of av arice\; \;about \;a boatload of immigrants who find the American h usbands they&rsquo\;ve been promised aren&rsquo\;t at all what they&rsquo\ ;d hoped for\; and \;about \;a South African \;family that str uggles \;with \;its own bigotry \;long after \;the aparthe id era \;has come \;to an end. \;
\;
The series is led by Philip Burnham\, \;retired \;associate professor in the English Department at George Mason University. \; \;All discussio ns will be held \;in the Large Meeting Room \;of West End Library& nbsp\;on the dates below\, \;from \;6:30-7:45 \;p.m. \;&nb sp\;Please \;join us \;early for light refreshments \;between 6:15 and 6:30 PM. \;
\;
There are still some spaces ope n for the series\, so if interested\, register at \;promisesbookc lub@gmail.com. \; \;About two \;weeks before each session\ , \;the book club will send participants some links to \;websites& nbsp\;relevant to \;the next \;novel as well as a list of \;st udy questions intended to inspire reflection for readers for the \;upc oming \;discussion. \;
\;
The series is funded by t he West End Library Friends. \; \;Readers do not ha ve to be a member of the Friends to join this group. \; Available at W est End Neighborhood Library are limited copies of all the books discussed .
\;
Read below for the schedule and titles of works discus sed:
\;
September \;17 \;&ndash\; The Plot Against America\, \;Philip Roth \;
What would have happened if Charles Lindbergh had challenged Franklin Roosevel t for the presidency in 1940&mdash\;and won? \; \;A hypothetical-- but chilling--answer to that question is Philip Roth&rsquo\;s venture into counterfactual history\, \;The Plot Against America. \; \;Bas ed in Newark\, New Jersey\, where Roth spent his youth\, a grim narrative unfolds that \;violently \;divides a family\, a city\, \;and a nation. A novel published over twenty years ago\, Roth&rsquo\;s fiction f eels as though it could have been written only yesterday. \;
&nbs p\;
October \;22 \;&ndash\;Clear\, \;Carys Davies \;
From the Middle Ages \;th rough \;the \;Industrial Revolution\, the Enclosure movement \ ;in Great Britain \;devastated millions \;of lives. \; \;T he Ondaatje Prize winner from 2025\, Carys Davies&rsquo\; \;Clear \;is set on a remote Scottish island whose lone inhabitant \;can&rsquo \;t \;avoid the fate of this great social upheaval. \; \;Be wa rned: this \;isn&rsquo\;t \;quite \;the \;Victorian-era&nb sp\;British Isles of the Brontë\; sisters or Charles Dickens. \;&n bsp\;The novel tells a deeply personal \;and rural \;story that un folds far from the madding crowd\, and with an ending that few readers wil l \;anticipate. \; \; \;
\;
Novembe r 19&mdash\;The \;Buddha in the Attic\, \;Julie Otsuka \;
A long time before Internet dating services \;were \;a ll \;the rage\, &ldquo\;picture brides&rdquo\; were \;how \;co uples were \;matched \;when separated by \;daunting \;obst acles \;like the Pacific Ocean. \; \;Julie Otsuka dares what f ew writers ever attempt\, a novel told with a collective voice\, a group s tory \;about the experience of immigrant Japanese women in America&mda sh\;all \;in a volume that barely numbers a hundred pages and still wo n the PEN-Faulkner Award for Fiction. \; \;After reading Otsuka\, you will never \;again \;think of San Francisco\, much less Califo rnia\, in quite the same way. \;
\;
December&nb sp\;17&mdash\;The Promise\, \;Damon G algut \;
On her deathbed\, Rachel Swart \;makes her husband \;take a \;difficult \;vow. \; \;Unbeknown st to them\, their young daughter \;is listening. \; \;But the \;husband has no intention \;of fulfilling the \;promise\, an d \;it is left to their children to choose what to do \;with it.&n bsp\; \;The Swart family \;is \;at the center of Damon Galgut& rsquo\;s novel\, \;the \;Booker Prize winner \;in 2021\, about the cost \;of \;South African apartheid \;for \;black and white inhabitants alike\, its \;legacy \;surviving \;in \ ;fundamental \;ways decades \;after \;it \;was abandoned.< /p>\n

\nhttps://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/17078138 URL;VALUE=URI:https://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/17078138 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/dclibrary/Promises.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR