Library Closed – Labor Day
All Chester County Locations will be closed on Saturday, September 2, 2023, and Monday, September 4, 2023, in observance of Labor Day. They will reopen during regular business hours on Tuesday, September 5, 2023.
"The HUB of Chester County South Carolina"
All Chester County Locations will be closed on Saturday, September 2, 2023, and Monday, September 4, 2023, in observance of Labor Day. They will reopen during regular business hours on Tuesday, September 5, 2023.
Curious to see what the current book club read is? August's Book Club read from Great Falls is "Little Souls" by Sandra Dallas. This book will be discussed at their September meeting. Next meeting: September 7, 2023 Summary: Colorado, 1918. World War I is raging overseas, but it’s the home front battling for survival. With the Spanish Flu rampant, Denver’s schools are converted into hospitals, churches and funeral homes are closed, and nightly horse-drawn wagons collect corpses left in the street. Sisters Helen and Lutie have moved to Denver from Ohio after their parents’ death. Helen, a nurse, and Lutie, a carefree advertising designer at Neusteter’s department store, share a small, neat house and each finds a local beau – for Helen a doctor, for Lutie a young student who soon enlists. They make a modest income from a rental apartment in the basement. When their tenant dies from the flu, the sisters are thrust into caring the woman’s small daughter, Dorothy. Soon after, Lutie comes home from work and discovers a dead man on their kitchen floor and Helen standing above the body, an icepick in hand. She has no doubt Helen killed the man—Dorothy’s father—in self-defense, but she knows that will be hard to prove. They decide to leave the body in the street, hoping to disguise it as a victim of the flu. But the police are not fooled and soon come asking questions. Meanwhile Lutie also worries about her fiance “over there”. As it happens, his wealthy mother harbors a secret of her own and helps the sisters as the danger deepens, from the murder investigation and the flu. Set against the backdrop of an epidemic that feels all too familiar, Little Souls is a compelling tale of sisterhood and of the sacrifices people make to protect those they love most. If you are interested in joining the Great Falls Library's Book Club, you should stop by the Great Falls Library or call 803-482-2149 for more information.
Curious to see what the current book club read is? September's book for the Fort Lawn Community Center's Book Club is "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace" by Jeff Hobbs. Next Meeting: September 12, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. Summary: A heartfelt, and riveting biography of the short life of a talented young African-American man who escapes the slums of Newark for Yale University only to succumb to the dangers of the streets--and of one's own nature--when he returns home. When author Jeff Hobbs arrived at Yale University, he became fast friends with the man who would be his college roommate for four years, Robert Peace. Robert's life was rough from the beginning in the crime-ridden streets of Newark in the 1980s, with his father in jail and his mother earning less than $15,000 a year. But Robert was a brilliant student, and it was supposed to get easier when he was accepted to Yale, where he studied molecular biochemistry and biophysics. But it didn't get easier. Robert carried with him the difficult dual nature of his existence, "fronting" in Yale, and at home. Through an honest rendering of Robert's relationships--with his struggling mother, with his incarcerated father, with his teachers and friends and fellow drug dealers--The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace encompasses the most enduring conflicts in America: race, class, drugs, community, imprisonment, education, family, friendship, and love. It's about the collision of two fiercely insular worlds--the ivy-covered campus of Yale University and Newark, New Jersey, and the difficulty of going from one to the other and then back again. It's about poverty, the challenges of single motherhood, and the struggle to find male role models in a community where a man is more likely to go to prison than to college. It's about reaching one's greatest potential and taking responsibility for your family no matter the cost. It's about trying to live a decent life in America. But most all the story is about the tragic life of one singular brilliant young man. His end, a violent one, is heartbreaking and powerful and unforgettable. If you are interested in joining the Fort Lawn Community Center's Book Club, please call 803-377-8145 for more information.
Curious to see what the current book club read is? August's book for the Fort Lawn Community Center's Book Club is "The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt" by Andrea Bobotis. There will be no meeting in July! Next Meeting: August 15, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. Summary: Some bury their secrets close to home. Others scatter them to the wind and hope they land somewhere far away. Judith Kratt inherited all the Kratt family had to offer—the pie safe, the copper clock, the murder no one talks about. She knows it's high time to make an inventory of her household and its valuables, but she finds that cataloging the family belongings—as well as their misfortunes—won't contain her family's secrets, not when her wayward sister suddenly returns, determined to expose skeletons the Kratts had hoped to take to their graves. Interweaving the present with chilling flashbacks from one fateful evening in 1929, Judith pieces together the influence of her family on their small South Carolina cotton town, learning that the devastating effects of dark family secrets can last a lifetime and beyond. If you are interested in joining the Fort Lawn Community Center's Book Club, please call 803-377-8145 for more information.
Curious to see what the current book club read is? September's book for the Lewisville Community Library's Book Club is The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley. Next Meeting: September 14, 2023 at 1 p.m. Summary:The story of a solitary green notebook that brings together six strangers and leads to unexpected friendship, and even love. Julian Jessop, an eccentric, lonely artist and septuagenarian believes that most people aren’t really honest with each other. But what if they were? And so he writes–in a plain, green journal–the truth about his own life and leaves it in his local caf . It’s run by the incredibly tidy and efficient Monica, who furtively adds her own entry and leaves the book in the wine bar across the street. Before long, the others who find the green notebook add the truths about their own deepest selves–and soon find each other in real life at Monica’s café. The Authenticity Project’s cast of characters–including Hazard, the charming addict who makes a vow to get sober; Alice, the fabulous mommy Instagrammer whose real life is a lot less perfect than it looks online; and their other new friends–is by turns quirky and funny, heartbreakingly sad and painfully true-to-life. It’s a story about being brave and putting your real self forward–and finding out that it’s not as scary as it seems. In fact, it looks a lot like happiness. The Authenticity Project is just the tonic for our times that readers are clamoring for–and one they will take to their hearts and read with unabashed pleasure. If you are interested in joining the Lewisville Community Library's Book Club, please call 803-789-7800 for more information.
Curious to see what the current book club read is? September's discussion for the Main Library's Book Club will cover the book "The Record Keeper" by Charles Martin. Summary: “Because you’re worth rescue.” The unrelenting third installment in the Murphy Shepherd series from New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin. Murphy Shepherd’s last rescue mission very nearly cost him his life. He’d like nothing more than to stay close to his wife and daughters for a while. But Bones’s nemesis must be stopped, and there are so many who still need to know they are worth rescuing. As the cat-and-mouse game moves into the open, Murphy is tested at every turn—both physically and mentally. Then the unthinkable happens: his beloved mentor and friend is taken. Gone without a trace. Murphy lives by the mantra that love always shows up. But how can he rescue Bones when he has no leads? With heart-stopping clarity, The Record Keeper explores the true cost of leaving the ninety-nine to find the one. If you are interested in joining the Chester Main Library's Book Club, you should stop by the main library’s circulation desk or call the main library at 803-377-8145 for more information. Next Meeting: September 19, 2023 at 11:15 a.m.