Millhopper Book Club

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orange, red and yellow. fanned pages of a book. words-Millhopper Book Club

Come enjoy discussing newer fiction and nonfiction titles. We meet on the first Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m. When we meet, we start by sharing books we’ve read recently, then discuss that month’s book.

This month the discussion will be on Tuesday, May 7 at 1 p.m. in Meeting Room A.

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book cover of "The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder" by David Grann

In May, we'll be discussing The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann. "On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes. But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they had a very different story to tell. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes--they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous captain and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death-for whomever the court found guilty could hang.” Description provided by the publisher

 

Upcoming titles:

May: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann

June: Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

July: Simply Lies by David Baldacci

 

Previous titles:

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America's Bird by Jack E. Davis

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

 

Interested in other book clubs? The Alachua County Library District has several. You can find more information on our Book Clubs page.