Book Chat Bags
If you are starting a new book discussion group or have a current group and are in search for new titles, check out Missoula Public Library’s Book Chat Bags.
What is a Book Chat Bag? and other Frequently Asked Questions
Available Book Chat Bag Titles
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Out of Egypt by Andre Aciman
Aciman’s memoir chronicles the experience of his Jewish-Turkish-Italian family in Alexandria, Egypt, from their turn of the century arrival, to their flight to Paris three generations later.
The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
In The Zookeeper’s Wife, best-selling author Diane Ackerman uncovers the remarkable true story of Polish zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who hid hundreds of Jews and Polish resisters in their Warsaw zoo during World War II.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The first of Angelou’s six-volume memoirs, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings chronicles Maya’s childhood from a terrible experience that left her mute for five years through her coming of age, work as the first black female street car conductor in San Francisco, struggle for civil rights and up to the birth of her son.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
At the age of 12, civil war in Sierra Leone separates hip-hop loving Beah from his family and forces him into the government army, where he becomes addicted to drugs and capable of murder. Eventually Beah is brought to a UNICEF rehabilitation center, but the war catches up with him there and he flees to the United States.
My Life in France by Julia Child
In 1948 Julia Child set sail for France with her diplomat husband, embarking on a life long love affair with food that turned her into one of the most famous names in the cooking world. Lively, humorous, and filled with delectable descriptions of food.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
In this memoir, Didion reflects on her 40 year marriage and describes on how she survived the year after her husband of died of a heart attack while their daughter was in a coma.
This House of Sky by Ivan Doig
Ivan Doig’s memoir about growing up in rural Montana was a finalist for the National Book Award and was chosen as the 2006 One Book Montana selection by the Montana Center for the Book and the Montana Humanities Council.
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
John Steinbeck’s classic novel The Grapes of Wrath chronicles the American flight from the great dust bowl of the 1930s, but what happened to the people who stayed behind? Egan traveled the Dust Bowl region, collecting oral histories to discover why people chose to stay and what happened to those that did.
Anne Frank: diary of a young girl by Anne Frank
The classic story of Anne Frank recounts the thoughts, fears, and dreams of a teenage Jewish girl during World War II, while she hides from the Nazis in an attic with her family. The diary is both deeply personal and profoundly universal.
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
In the aftermath of a painful divorce, Gilbert sets out on a year of travel, spending four months in three countries with the goal of exploring pleasure and devotion, while discovering herself along the way.
Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell, a New Yorker staff writer, provides an entertaining look at the process of “thin-slicing,” or the way in which we make split second decisions.
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
In this book, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Goodwin investigates Abraham Lincoln and the leading members of his cabinet, providing fresh insights into the famed president’s personality and politics.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Hirsi Ali’s memoir describes her childhood and coming of age in a strict Muslim family in Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Kenya. She survives civil war, female mutilation, and an arranged marriage before escaping to the Netherlands, where she earns a degree in political science. Her outspoken work on a reform of Islam has put her life in danger and brought her into the spotlight of today’s political arena.
Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner
Cutuk, a white Alaskan, grows up with his family in an igloo in the Alaskan bush. His childhood is defined by activities like hunting with sled-dogs and sewing his own clothes from animal skins. As he matures, he increasingly finds himself participating in a modern world and struggling to come to terms with his sense of not clearly belonging to any particular culture.
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer
The author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air investigates the tragic story of Pat Tillman, the NFL star who turned down a multimillion-dollar contract to join the army after 9/11. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in 2004 and made into a poster child of heroism as part of a government cover-up that Krakauer brings to light in this page-turner.
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of eight short stories that investigate the relationships between expatriate Bengalis living in the United States and their more “Americanized” children. The stories explore the concept of identity and the meaning of family and culture.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Larson’s account of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 focuses on the fair’s ambitious architect, Daniel H. Burnham, and Henry H. Holmes, the serial killer who used the fair ensnare his many victims.
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
In his memoir, Frank McCourt describes growing up in a poor, Irish Catholic family. A true Irish story-teller, McCourt’s prose paints vivid pictures of the characters who informed his childhood, including his alcoholic father, his hard-working mother, his siblings, and notable others within his extended Irish community.
The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer
Long before it legally served me, the bar saved me.” In this memoir chronicling his coming of age and path to self discovery, Moehringer recounts his search for a father figure, his experiences with heartache and disillusionment, and the bar that was his refuge through it all.
Blessed Assurance: At Home with the Bomb in Amarillo, Texas by A.G. Mojtabai
Mojtabai investigates the town of Amarillo, Texas, home of the last nuclear weapons assembly plant in the United States, shedding light on the hopes and fears of the factory workers and town residents and examining how they view the threat of nuclear war, rationalize the daily work that they do, and live within such proximity to some of the nation’s deadliest weapons.
The Names: A Memoir by N. Scott Momaday
This memoir details the author’s experience growing up as an Indian in both Indian and non-Indian communities. Writing in a style that draws heavily on traditional Indian stories and story-telling techniques for effect, Momaday explores what it means to identify himself as a part of an Indian community in today’s world.
Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson
Mortenson’s sequel to Three Cups of Tea begins where the earlier narrative ended, following Mortenson on his continued dramatic and often dangerous effort to establish ties, build schools, and promotes peace in remote, politically and geographically unstable regions.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
In 1993, Mortenson took shelter in a Pakistan village after a failed mountaineering expedition. Mortenson promised to build a school in return for the villagers’ kindness, an effort that has turned into the Central Asia Institute and built over fifty schools in the region to date.
Three Cups of Tea; young readers edition by Greg Mortenson
Greg Mortenson, former mountain-climbing bum, founds an organization to build schools in Central Asia after being nursed back to health by Pakistani villagers.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
When rules at the University of Tehran became too restrictive, English professor Azar Nafisi decides to hold secret classes on Western literature for seven women in her home.
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
Son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother, Obama chronicles his travels from New York to Kansas to Hawaii and finally to Kenya on a journey to discover his roots and understand what it means to be a black American.
Truck: A Love Story by Michael Perry
Perry, author and volunteer firefighter in the small town of New Auburn, WI, began the year with two goals: growing his own food and fixing up his 1951 International Harvester pickup truck. Along the way, he experiences mishaps and missteps, observes the humor in every day small town life, and ends up falling in love.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
In this bestseller, Michael Pollan poses the question: What should we have for dinner? The result is an investigation of industrial and organic food chains in the United States and an exploration of the impact of our food choices.
Fire and Brimstone by Michael Punke
On June 8, 1917, a fire broke out in a North Butte Mining Company shaft in Butte, Montana. It would become the worst hard-rock mining disaster in American history.
The Reluctant Mr. Darwin by David Quammen
In a witty, journalistic style, Quammen chronicles twenty-one years of Darwin’s life, from the day Darwin returned from his Beagle voyage to the day he unleashed his theory of evolution upon the world. The author investigates why it took Darwin twenty-one years to publish his theory.
Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez by Richard Rodriguez
In this memoir, Rodriguez discusses his coming of age as a Mexican-American and the experience of being a “minority student,” from the day he entered school knowing only 50 words of English, through the completion of his M.A. at Columbia University.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
This graphic novel is Satrapi’s memoir about growing up during the Islamic Revolution. The novel follows Satrapi from age 10 to age 14, documenting everyday life in Tehran and her family’s personal struggles.
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Dubbed “Garrison Keillor’s evil twin” in a Publisher’s Weekly review, Sedaris brings together a collection of hilarious and sometimes poignant essays about his unconventional and unusual family, experience as a performance artist, move to Paris, attempts to learn the French language, and much more.
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields
Journalist Charles J. Shields drew upon over 600 interviews plus correspondence and the personal papers of Truman Capote to write this inside look at the life of Harper Lee. This is the first biography ever written about the elusive author of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
Filled with humor, folktales, and keen observations, Mark Twain’s early non-fiction account of the steamboat era on the Mississippi would later become an inspiration for his novel Huckleberry Finn.
The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe
Sent to the United States by their father to search for their missing brother, two Englishmen journey to Fort Benton and enlist the help of a half Blackfoot, half Scot guide named Jerry Potts to take them into the wilderness where their brother was last seen. An epic tale of adventure and redemption, The Last Crossing was the 2007 One Book Montana selection.
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
Follow National Public Radio correspondent Eric Weiner on a journey around the world to discover not only what makes people happy, but where people proclaim to be the happiest. Will Weiner, a self-proclaimed grump, find the “key” to happiness?
The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester
When Joseph Needham, Cambridge scientist and freethinking intellectual, fell in love with a Chinese student, he began a lifelong love affair with both the girl and her country. Journeying to the farthest reaches of China during WWII, he unlocked the mysteries of how this empire discovered printing, explosives, suspension bridges, and even toilet paper before the rest of the world.
Revolutionary Characters by Gordon S. Wood
In a series of essays focusing on eight men who would come to be known as the Founding Fathers, Wood investigates the lives of Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson, among others. Wood attempts to discover what made these men great and to what extent character was a driving force in their lasting legacy.
More Titles Coming Soon!
What is a Book Chat Bag?
A Book Chat Bag is a canvas bag filled with at least 10 copies of one title and a discussion guide with book reviews, author information, discussion questions and additional tips and resources for book groups.
How do I reserve a Book Chat Bag?
Choose a title from our list of available Book Chat Bags. Send one member of your book group to the Reference Desk at Missoula Public Library (301 E. Main St.) or call 721-2665 and ask for the Reference Desk to reserve your title. Book Chat Bags must be picked up and returned directly to the Reference Desk and can only be checked out to one person in the group.
How long can I keep a Book Chat Bag?
Book Chat Bags may be checked out for a period of 4 weeks and can be renewed once for an additional 4 weeks as long as there is no waiting list for that title. Renewals can be made by stopping by or calling the Reference Desk (721-2665) or online through your personal iBistro account.
What can my book discussion group do to help?
Your can share your reading interests with other local book groups and help the library build its Book Chat Bag collection by donating copies of books your book group has read. Please mention that that your donation is for the Book Chat Bags when you drop the books off at the library.
Your book group can also donate books to tribal teachers, women’s shelters, youth homes, disaster relief victims and other people in need of reading material through Book Club Works. Book Club Works is a nonprofit organization formed by a Montana book discussion group enabling book groups to “adopt” a group or organization in need. Visit the Book Club Works website, www.bookclubworks.com to learn more.
Book Chat Bags are sponsored by the Friends of the Library.