Join a virtual book club
Join a book club from home. The Classics Made Modern book group meets on Zoom and connects together in a Facebook group! If you haven't ever read a classic that wasn't assigned – we're going to make this fun. If you love reading but are looking for something a bit different – try one of these titles! Here are the basics:
We meet on Wednesday afternoons from 2-3 pm in a Zoom video chat to discuss the book "face-to-face!"- All of the books are available digitally from home -- as ebooks or audiobooks through Hoopla.
- Follow along in the library's Facebook group for this discussion as we share quotes, memes, historical context, modern takes, factoids about the author's personal life, strong opinions about the movie versions, and trivia!
- Background information on each title and author is shared in advance via email.
- For help with Hoopla, Zoom, or any questions, email classicsmodern@tscpl.org.
Upcoming Book Discussions
Read the ebook or listen to the audiobook, then join the discussion on Zoom.
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers
Wed, April 24 | 2-3pm
Ninety-year-old General Fentiman was definitely dead, but no one knew exactly when he had died—and the time of death was the determining factor in a half-million-pound inheritance. Lord Peter Wimsey would need every bit of his amazing skills to unravel the mystery.
Read the ebook or listen to the audiobook on Hoopla or check availability on physical items from the library.
Read 220 pages or listen to the audiobook. (Audiobook recording is anticipated in 2024 once the title enters the public domain.)
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
Wed, May 22 | 2-3pm
The Cherry Orchard is one of the best-known plays by the prolific Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. He described the play as a comedy, with some elements of farce, though Stanislavski treated it as a tragedy. Since its first production, directors have contended with its dual nature.
The play concerns an aristocratic Russian landowner who returns to her family estate just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. Unresponsive to offers to save the estate, she allows its sale to the son of a former serf. The story presents themes of cultural futility – both the futile attempts of the aristocracy to maintain its status and of the bourgeoisie to find meaning in its newfound materialism. It dramatizes the rise of the middle class after the abolition of serfdom in the mid-19th century and the decline of the power of the aristocracy.
Read the ebook or listen to the theatrical audiobook on Hoopla or check availability on physical items including DVD movie versions from the library.
Read the Tom Stoppard version of the play on Hoopla
Read about 100 pages or listen to 2 hours in theatrical audiobook from L.A. Theatre Works on Hoopla.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Wed, Jun 19 | 2-3pm
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. A charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.
Read the ebook or listen to the audiobook on Hoopla or check availability on physical items from the library.
Read 368 pages or listen to the audiobook (11 hours).
Carry On, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Wed, Jul 17 | 2-3pm
Enjoy ten of the most celebrated stories about the perpetually befuddled Bertie Wooster and his knight-in-shining-tuxedo Jeeves. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories have long been hailed as the most entertaining and hilarious short fiction ever written and Wodehouse holds a special place in literary history as history's premier English humorist. In this collection, Bertie pinballs from crisis to crisis but, as always, his faithful manservant Jeeves is there to bail him out.
Read the ebook or listen to the audiobook on Hoopla or enjoy other books from P. G. Wodehouse in the library's collection.
Read 300 pages or listen to the audiobook (8 hours).
Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
Wed, Aug 14 | 2-3pm
In this acclaimed novel that inspired the Academy Award-winning motion picture, Larry McMurtry created two unforgettable characters who won the hearts of readers and moviegoers everywhere: Aurora Greenway and her daughter Emma.
A widow with a small army of suitors, Aurora Greenway loves the limelight. She's got three grandchildren whom she adores (in small doses) and her son-in-law Flap, whom she's not really crazy about. And there's her daughter Emma. In some ways, Emma is all there ever was. Now, there's little time left to say the things that need to be said.
Listen to the audiobook on Hoopla or check availability on physical items from the library. Email classicsmodern@tscpl.org if you need assistance obtaining a print copy of the book.
Read 400 pages or listen to the audiobook (15 hours).
So Big by Edna Ferber
Wed, Sep 11 | 2-3pm
Edna Ferber's So Big offers a deep look into the dynamics of early 20th century America, exploring pressing and contemporary themes of poverty, Americanization, family strife, sexism, and success. With vivid descriptions of the daily life of the lower-class Dutch immigrant community, this novel provides a unique perspective on a society that has long been forgotten. A tale of resilience, love, and the pursuit of happiness, So Big will leave readers thinking long after they finish the last page. Inspired by the true-life events of Antje Paarlberg, So Big is a Pulitzer Prize award-winning drama that depicts the life of Selina Peake de Jong as she navigates the challenges of turn-of-the-century Chicago, Illinois.
Read the ebook or listen to the audiobook on Hoopla or check availability on physical items from the library.
Read 196 pages or listen to the audiobook (10 hours).
A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell
Wed, Oct 9 | 2-3pm
Written early in the feminist movement, "Trifles" is a one-act play that explores how women act in public versus how they are in private. Loosely based on the real-life story of the murder of John Hossack and the suspicion that fell on his wife as the possible murderer, Glaspell's play compares the official investigation of the murder by the men in charge with the unofficial investigation conducted by their wives. The wives find evidence and insight into the mind of the accused murderer in ways completely ignored by their husbands and as a result are able to discover the truth. In 1917, Glaspell revisited the murder investigation and published an adaption of "Trifles" as the short story "A Jury of Her Peers".
Read the ebook on Hoopla or listen to performances on YouTube.
Read 50 pages or listen to the audiobook (1 hour).
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
Wed, Nov 6 | 2-3pm
Roderick Usher's fate is inextricably intertwined with that of his sister, Madeline, and that of their estate. As one falls, so do they all. "The Fall of the House of Usher" is considered Edgar Allan Poe's greatest work, and a masterpiece of Gothic horror. The short story was first published in 1839.
Read the ebook or listen to the audiobook on Hoopla or check availability on physical items from the library.
Read 25 pages or listen to the audiobook (1 hour).
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Wed, Dec 4 | 2-3pm
S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. William Goldman's modern fantasy classic is a simple, exceptional story about quests-for riches, revenge, power, and, of course, true love-that's thrilling and timeless. Anyone who lived through the 1980s may find it impossible-inconceivable, even-to equate The Princess Bride with anything other than the sweet, celluloid romance of Westley and Buttercup, but the film is only a fraction of the ingenious storytelling you'll find in these pages. Rich in character and satire, the novel is set in 1941 and framed cleverly as an "abridged" retelling of a centuries-old tale set in the fabled country of Florin that's home to "Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions."
Read the ebook or listen to the abridged audiobook on Hoopla or check availability on physical items from the library.
Read 400 pages or listen to the abridged audiobook (2.5 hours).
YOU are invited to this book group
We've got options to make this work for everyone! If you aren't sure about this whole reading classics idea – check it out to see if any of these books or stories interest you!
