Sylva monthly book club

the family peace.

Of all the people in “McMullan Circle,” Sarah Pierce most interested me, which is somewhat strange given that for the most part I found little to like in her. As a college student, she purposefully seduced Richard, but when we meet her in the novel’s first pages, she’s having an affair with one of the school’s teachers, a man whom she finds intolerable except as a tool for tormenting her husband. She seems bent on humiliating faced with some rough times and circumstances who rise up to meet these challenges and do their best to overcome obstacles.

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Winter is here, which usually means more time spent indoors and which can become that season when we spend some of our hours every week, often in the evening, reading a book. Most of us know what sort of literature we enjoy, head for the library or the local bookstore, and find our print-and-paper pleasures in those establishments. Parents of toddlers and elementary school age children generally know as well the books they’d like to pick up for their kids, often collections of classic fairy tales for the little ones or books like the Nancy Drew series or The Chronicles of Narnia for the older crew.

Helping teens select good books can be a tougher proposition, as evidenced by the friends and family members who ask me for recommendations for this age group. Often the questions catches me off guard, and I end up lamely suggesting a few titles or draw a blank.

But here are two resources I now recommend for parents and teens wishing to read books that are both exciting and that convey strong values.

Richard, against whom the worst charge that might be brought is his dullness. She appears at a school function dressed “in a midriff top that showed her navel and jeans with a hole in one knee so big it was a wonder the pants leg hadn’t fallen off.” She openly flirts with her lover, constantly mocks her husband, and like so many people then and now, seems sickeningly selfabsorbed. Yet it is Sarah who fights back against racial prejudice in the town, though here again we may wonder whether she does so to defend a righteous cause or to call attention to herself, and it is Sarah who saves her daughter from a possible attacker in the woods.

Setting Sarah aside, “McMullen Circle” eventually leave readers with a sense of hope, depicting as it does ordinary people

The first is a list at Goodreads titled Best (Classic) Books for Teens. Google ‘Goodreads Best Classic Books for Teens,’ and it pops up right away. This list includes works from “Romeo and Juliet” to “Animal Farm,” from “The Old Man and the Sea” to “The Giver.”

Hard-copy guides can also be a great resource for parents looking for the best in books for their young people. Here I’d highly recommend “Honey for a Teen’s Heart” by Gladys Hunt and Barbara Hampton. Like Hunt’s earlier book for younger readers, “Honey for a Child’s Heart,” this guide for parents and teens offers hundreds of recommendations, inspirational passages on the value of reading, and advice on how to select good books.

Enjoy. (Jeff Minick reviews books and has written four of his own: two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust On Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning As I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” minick0301@gmail.com.)

A monthly book club is being currently offered at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Each month, a library staff member will be discussing some of the new book titles that the library has received. Particular attention will be paid to “under the radar” titles and authors, new releases, and other books that the staff is excited about. All are welcome and no registration is required. For more information on when the club will meet, please call the library at 828.586.2016. This club is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The JCPL is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).