A Novel Faith:
First United Book Club 2014-2015
All are welcome to read the books, and we will occasionally gather for
conversation at the church. If someone would like to host a session for a
particular book please contact Rev. Danielle.
We read books from a variety of authors and backgrounds and the conversations
are full of laughter, reflection and connections to our faith and life.
NOTE: Books are available for borrowing in the First United Church
Library. Many of these books are also available at the public libraries and in
eReader and audio formats.
Come for one or come for all!
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
September 2014
Meeting Sep 9, 2014
Made famous by his Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon and the quick Internet proliferation
of the video of the event, Pausch decided that maybe he just wasn't done lecturing.
Despite being several months into the last stage of pancreatic cancer, he managed to
put together this book. The crux of it is lessons and morals for his young and infant
children to learn once he is gone.
Threading the Needle by Marie Bostwick
October 2014
The economic downturn has hit New Bern, Connecticut, and Tessa Woodruff's herbal
apothecary shop, To relieve the strain, Tessa signs up for a quilting class at the Cobbled
Court Quilt Shop, and to her surprise, rediscovers the power of sisterhood - along with
the childhood friend she thought she'd lost forever... Now Madelyn and Tessa will have
to relive old memories, forge new ones, and realize it's possible to start over, one stitch
at a time - as long as you're surrounded by friends.
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
November 2014
by Lisa Alexander McCall Smith
Meeting Nov 18, 2014
This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective
Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious
Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with problems in their lives.”
Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track
down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the
case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who
may have been snatched by witchdoctors.
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
December 2014
Meeting Dec 9, 2014
With its characters exhibiting many qualities ― as well as failures ― often ascribed to
Dickens himself, the imaginative and entertaining tale relates Ebenezer Scrooge's eerie
encounters with a series of spectral visitors. Journeying with them through
Christmases past, present, and future, he is ultimately transformed from an arrogant,
obstinate, and insensitive miser to a generous, warmhearted, and caring human being.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
January 2015
Recently retired, sweet, emotionally numb Harold Fry is jolted out of his passivity by a
letter from Queenie Hennessy, an old friend, who he hasn't heard from in twenty years.
She has written to say she is in hospice and wanted to say goodbye. Leaving his tense,
bitter wife Maureen to her chores, Harold intends a quick walk to the corner mailbox to
post his reply but instead, inspired by a chance encounter, he becomes convinced he
must deliver his message in person to Queenie--who is 600 miles away--because as long
as he keeps walking, Harold believes that Queenie will not die. So without hiking boots,
rain gear, map or cell phone, one of the most endearing characters in current fiction
begins his unlikely pilgrimage across the English countryside.
The Invention of Wings: A Novel
by Sue Monk Kidd
February 2015
Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion in early 19th century Charleston on Sarah’s
eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be
her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as
both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and
forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy
ways of love.
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education
and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
March 2015
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out.
Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.
On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate
price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from
school, and few expected her to survive.
Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from
a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has
become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth
by Chris Hadfield
April 2015
Chris Hadfield decided to become an astronaut after watching the Apollo moon
landing with his family on Stag Island, Ontario, when he was nine years old, and it was
impossible for Canadians to be astronauts. In 2013, he served as Commander of the
International Space Station orbiting the Earth during a five-month mission. Fulfilling
this lifelong dream required intense focus, natural ability and a singular commitment
to “thinking like an astronaut.” In An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Chris gives us
a rare insider’s perspective on just what that kind of thinking involves, and how
earthbound humans can use it to achieve success and happiness in their lives.
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the
Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
May 2015
After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to
be his last stop. The only problem is that he’s still in good health. A big celebration is
in the works for his 100th birthday, but Allan really isn’t interested (and he’d like a bit
more control over his alcohol consumption), so he decides to escape. He climbs out
the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected
journey. It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a largerthan-life backstory: he has not only witnessed some of the most important events of the 20th century, but
actually played a key role in them. Quirky and utterly unique, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the
Window and Disappeared has charmed readers across the world.