Spring – Summer 2023 Book Picks
Check out the Falmouth Public Library’s new Narrative Nonfiction Book Club picks for the Spring and Summer ’23 session! Come pick up a copy and join us to share your thoughts as we read across the genres of nonfiction, from history to adventure, memoir/biography, and beyond with books that read like a novel.
We meet on the 1st Thursday of every month from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The group will meet in the Hermann meeting room and for those who wish to join us from home, you can join us via Zoom. Registration is required and the Zoom link will be provided upon registration.
To register, click on the date you wish to attend and fill out the registration form. If you have any questions, please contact the Adult Services department at 508-457-2555 x 7, info@falmouthpubliclibrary.org or text 833-209-9922.
April 6, 2023:
The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry that Built America’s First Subway by Doug Most.
“When the great blizzard of 1888 crippled the entire northeast … Two brothers from one of the nation’s great families – Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins Whitney of New York – pursued the dream of his city digging America’s first subway, and the great race was on. The competition between Boston and New York played our in an era not unlike our own, one of economic upheaval, life-changing innovations, class warfare, bitter political tensions, and the question of America’s place in the world.”
May 4, 2023:
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
“One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With starling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.”
June 1, 2023:
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
“In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe. Set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers, a story of courage and adventure brings to life the rivalry between two enemies – a decorated soldier and a young aristocrat/Army officer – as they set out to find the mysterious headwaters of the Nile River.”
July 6, 2023:
Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis
“Agent Josephine, uncovers this little-know history of the famous singer’s life. During the war years, as a member of the French Nurse paratroopers — a cover for her spying work — Baker participated in numerous clandestine activities and emerged as a formidable spy. Drawing on a plethora of new historical material and rigorous research, Lewis upends the conventional story of Josephine Baker, explaining why she fully deserves her unique place in the French Pantheon.”
August 3, 2023:
18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics by Bruce Goldfarb
“Frances Glessner Lee, born a socialite to a wealthy and influential Chicago family in the 1870s, was never meant to have a career, let alone one steeped in death and depravity. Best known for creating the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, Lee developed a system that used the Nutshells dioramas to train law enforcement officers to investigate violent crimes, and her methods are still used today.”
September 7, 2023:
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
“The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us.”
“As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animal are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on a journey that is every bit as mythical as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise.”
“One late spring evening in 2010, Shannan Gilbert – after running through the oceanfront community of Oak Beach screaming for her life – went missing. No one who had heard of her disappearance thought much about what had happened to the twenty-four-year-old – until seven months later. Lost Girls is a portrait of unsolved murders in an idyllic part of America, of the underside of the Internet, and of the secrets we keep without admitting to ourselves that we keep them.”
“Weaving history and personal reflection into one narrative, Philbrick argues for Washington’s unique contribution to the forging of America by retracing his journey as a new President through the former colonies. He paints a picture of 18th century America as divided and fraught as it is today, and he comes to understand how Washington entranced, compelled, enticed, and stood up to the many different kinds of citizens he met on his journey.”
“In Remember, neuroscientist and acclaimed novelist Lisa Genova delves into how memories are made and how we retrieve them. You’ll learn whether forgotten memories are temporarily inaccessible or erased forever and why some memories are built to exist for only a few seconds (like a passcode) while others can last a lifetime (your wedding day). And you’ll see how memory is profoundly impacted by meaning, emotion, sleep, stress, and context.” 
“Across our planet since the dawn of humankind, this nefarious pest, roughly the size and weight of a grape seed, has been at the frontlines of history as the grim reaper, the harvester of human populations, and the ultimate agent of historical change. Driven by surprising insights and fast-paced storytelling, The Mosquito is the extraordinary untold story of the mosquitos’ reign through human history and her indelible impact on our modern world order.”
“An unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; and of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul.”
Wednesday September 14, 2022, 4:30pm: Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. ![Murder on Cape Cod (A Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery 1) by [Maddie Day]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514+6BOopnS.jpg)
![The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel (A Thursday Murder Club Mystery Book 1) by [Richard Osman]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51acKpYU6NL.jpg)
Wednesday November 9, 2022, 4:30pm: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.