The Brown Bag Book Discussion Group was founded in 2001 , and it's members have shared over one hundred books since then. Many of the original members of the group are still regular participants.

The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 1:00 PM. The meetings originally included a brown bag lunch, hence the name. This tradition is still occasionally observed, particularly for our Holiday meeting.

We choose our reading material democratically, our choices being based on personal recommendations, "most popular" lists, recent publications and bestseller lists and a little of what we fancy. The group is registered with Reading Group Guides, Book Movement and Random House Reader's Circle.

We are all committed to discussing our literature to the full. Discussions are occasionally led by members of the group who have a special interest in the book. Now and then it has been appropriate to explore the movie version of the story instead of, or as well as, reading the book.

Every effort is made to accommodate members of the group who require large print or audio versions of the discussion material.

We always welcome new members and enjoy everyone's point of view. No sign up is required.

For more information please contact Donna Hine at 203-758-2634 or at donnahine1953@gmail.com.

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November 2013

The Brown Bag Book Discussion Group will meet at the Middlebury Public Library on Wednesday, November 6th at 1:00 PM to discuss The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani. Books are available at the library. For more information, please contact Donna at 203-758-2634. All are welcome!

 

Book Description: “The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon, Enza’s family faces disaster and she, too, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future.


 

Unbeknownst to one another, they both build fledgling lives in America, Ciro masters shoemaking and Enza takes a factory job in Hoboken until fate intervenes and reunites them. But it is too late: Ciro has volunteered to serve in World War I and Enza, determined to forge a life without him, begins her impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan and into the life of the international singing sensation, Enrico Caruso.


 

From the stately mansions of Carnegie Hill, to the cobblestone streets of Little Italy, over the perilous cliffs of northern Italy, to the white-capped lakes of northern Minnesota, these star-crossed lovers meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever.”





(Book description and cover provided courtesy of www.goodreads.com)