I want to tell you about our newest book club!  This one was thought up, and now run, by Marijo Zielinski, our Assistant Librarian here.  We still have our Salzmann Selections book club, but now we also have Novel Selections.  As you may have guessed from the title, this book club is going to focus primarily on fiction books.  We are hoping that this book club will meet on a monthly basis, if possible the 1st Thursday of the month (except for the next one in October).  

The next meeting for this group will be on Tuesday, October 8th, beginning at 7:00pm.  It meets here in the library.  For this upcoming book club they will be reading a newer book from a newer author.  The book itself was recommended to us by one of the faculty priests here at the seminary, Fr. Alvan Amadi.  The title of the book is Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  Adichie is a gifted writer that grew up in Nigeria but left to study in the United States at the age of 19.  She now spends part of her time in the United States and part teaching writing workshops back in Nigeria.

Here is a blurb about the book from Amazon:

“A powerful, tender story of race and identity by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun.

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland.”

Americanah was listed as one of the New York Times’ 10 Best Books of the Year.  It won National Books Critics Circle Award for Fiction, as well as other awards and best book of the year lists from Entertainment Weekly, The Chicago Tribune, Goodreads, among others.

I hope that you will be able to join us for what should be a lively discussion about an excellent book.

As always, if you have any ideas or comments for things I could change, please let me know. If you have any books that you have read or have read the books I mention, please leave a comment. We here at Salzmann also want to know what people are reading. Remarks are always appreciated – anything I can do to make this better I will strive my best to accomplish.

Here is some basic information about the library:

    •    Our standard hours are Tuesdays, Thursdays, 12 to 8 p.m.; Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
    •    Our address is 3257 S. Lake Dr., St. Francis, WI 53235, right next to Henni Hall, due west of the South Parking Lot.
    •    The library’s phone number is (414) 747-6479. If you would like to contact me through email, it is mschrauth@sfs.edu.