Thursday, Jan. 3rd marks the first meeting of the Newbury Book Discussion Group in the new year. We will convene from 7-8 PM at the Tenney Memorial Library. Looking for a bit of amusement during the holiday season, we've chosen Maria Semple's "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" for this month's discussion. As Janet Maslin of The New York Times writes, "This divinely funny, many-faceted novel...leaves convention behind. Instead, it plays to Ms. Semple's strengths as someone who can practice ventriloquism in many voices, skip over the mundane and utterly refute the notion that mixed-media fiction is bloggy, slack or lazy.... The (book) is written in many formats-e-mails, letters, F.B.I. documents, correspondence with a psychiatrist and even an emergency-room bill.... Yet these pieces are strung together so wittily that Ms. Semple's storytelling is always front and center, in sharp focus. You could stop and pay attention to how apt each new format is, how rarely she repeats herself and how imaginatively she unveils every bit of information. But you would have to stop laughing first." Copies of the book are available through interlibrary loan from your local library. Join us!

Jan 5, 2025, 4 to 6 PM

Jan 7, 2025, 7:30 to 8:15 AM

Jan 7, 2025, 10 to 11 AM