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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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
At 15, Mariam is forced to marry the brutal, 40-year-old Rasheed. When Rasheed later takes on a second wife the lives of the two women become intertwined as they struggle to survive Afghani life under Taliban rule. From the author of the bestselling novel, The Kite Runner.
The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
As rare-book expert Hanna Heath works on the conservation of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a fifteenth-century Hebrew manuscript, she discovers tiny artifacts within the manuscript’s binding that unlock a thrilling history of the book’s mysterious past. Inspired by a true story.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Ford's debut novel follows Chinese-American Henry Lee in mid-1980s Seattle. After learning that the belongings of Japanese Americans interned during WWII have been discovered in the basement of a hotel, he retraces the experiences of his youth and his first love, Keiko Okabe, who was interned with her family during the war.
Run by Ann Patchett
Since their mother's death, Tip and Teddy Doyle have been raised by their loving and ambitious father. A former mayor of Boston, Bernard Doyle wants to see his sons in politics, a dream the boys have never shared. But when an argument in a blinding New England snowstorm inadvertently causes an accident that involves a stranger and her child, all Bernard cares about is his ability to keep all of his children safe.
The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
Hard-boiled, Montana detective C.W. Sughrue is killing time working in a topless bar. When he is hired to find an author, he stumbles upon the trail of a missing girl and sets off on a journey across the American West.
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.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
In post-WWII Barcelona, a boy finds solace in a book called The Shadow of the Wind. He begins to search for the author’s other books and discovers that someone is destroying every single copy. This begins a journey to find out what happened to this mysterious author, uncovering a tale of murder, madness, and doomed love.
Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
Sam Pickett moves to the quite village of Willow Creek, Montana to escape his past. He discovers a community of outlandish characters that have their own tales of heartache and broken dreams to tell as well. Together they must begin to embrace life and live their lives to the fullest.
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.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
During the Klondike Gold Rush, a domesticated dog named Buck is kidnapped from his home and taken to the Yukon territory as a sled dog, where he must learn to adapt to harsh conditions and reawaken instincts for surviving in the wild.
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Faulkner’s 1929 novel of the south contains the three separate narratives of Compson brothers, Benjy, Quentin, and Jason, following the family’s steady decline and their obsession with their beautiful sister Caddy.
The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
Hard-boiled, Montana detective C.W. Sughrue is killing time working in a topless bar. When he is hired to find an author, he stumbles upon the trail of a missing girl and sets off on a journey across the American West.
The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
Hard-boiled, Montana detective C.W. Sughrue is killing time working in a topless bar. When he is hired to find an author, he stumbles upon the trail of a missing girl and sets off on a journey across the American West.
The Gathering by Anne Enright
When Liam Hegarty drowns, his nine siblings come together in Dublin, Ireland for the wake. One of those siblings must continue to keep a secret only she and Liam shared. Winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize, The Gathering is a novel about family and memory, loss and love.
The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner
At 16, Princess Juana of Castile is sent away from Spain by her parents, Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand, to marry Philip of Flanders and increase the family’s favor with the Hapsburg Empire. Years later, Juana must return to Spain amidst tragedy and turmoil as the next in line for the Spanish crown.
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Set in 1918, a 16-year-old orphan named Hattie Brooks sets off for Montana to build a new life and take over a homestead left to her by her uncle. Winner of the 2006 Montana Book Award, selected as a 2007 Newberry Honor Book, and chosen for the 2008 One Book Montana title.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
It is 1946 and British author Juliet Ashton is looking to distance herself from her war-time, “look on the bright side” alter ego Izzy Bickerstaff. When a farmer on the island of Guernsey writes to Juliet, the story of Guernsey life under German occupation and the mystery of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society begin to unfold, sending Juliet on a journey in search of her next book.
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
Internationally acclaimed Chilean author Isabel Allende’s first novel follows the saga of the Truebas family in an unnamed South American country. The viewpoint shifts between the proud patriarch, mystical matriarch, the daughter who has a forbidden love affair, and the child born from that affair.
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.
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.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
In this perennial classic, the spirited Elizabeth Bennett is one of five unmarried sisters. When a wealthy gentleman moves to the neighborhood and brings his even wealthier friend, Mr. Darcy, with him, a series of misconceptions drive a wedge between the Bennett sisters and their chance a marital bliss until Mr. Darcy can check his pride and Elizabeth can see past her prejudice.
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 Watchmen by Alan Moore
In Moore’s graphic novel, it's 1985, the USSR and USA are on the brink of nuclear war, and Richard Nixon is still president. Superheroes, in this case real people with real problems who are hardly super or heroic, have been outlawed for years. Unfortunately they are humanity's only hope, but quis custodiet ipsos custodes [who watches the watchmen]?
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.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A perennial favorite with readers young and old, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel follows Scout and Jem Finch along with their friend Dill as they learn about the issues of race, justice, cruelty and courage in a small Alabama town in the 1930s.
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 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.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Set in London, this novel follows three generations of the families of two World War II veterans, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. White Teeth touches on issues of friendship, class, family, ethnicity, identity and questions the difference between choice and fate.
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.
Red Rover by Deirdre McNamer
This novel by Missoula author McNamer is a fictionalized account based on the true story of her uncle’s mysterious death after World War II. The novel follows the lives of three Montana men through glimpses of their childhood and lives during and after World War II. When one of the men is shot, the circumstances of his death will haunt the other two until late in life when the incident is brought to light again.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The narrator of The Book Thief, Death, tells the story of a young girl in Nazi Germany who discovers the power of words and books while she struggles to cope with the loss of her family and with the horrors around her.
The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage
Set in 1920s Horse Prairie, MT, a boy is initiated into the secrets of ranch life and finds the link between tragedy and desire.
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.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
In this modern day Western, Llewelyn Moss discovers several dead men, heroin and over $2 million in cash while on a hunting trip. Moss decides to take the money and soon he’s in danger and on the run.
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.
Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
A circus rolls into Green Town, Illinois on a cold October evening and two boys discover that Halloween has come early this year. What price would you pay if someone could make your greatest wish come true?
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.
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.
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.
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl
“Every restaurant is a theater,” writes Gourmet editor in chief Ruth Reichl in Garlic and Sapphires, a memoir chronicling her experience as restaurant critic for The New York Times. As restaurants began rolling out the red carpet whenever she walked in the door, Reichl took to donning disguises and assuming new personalities in order to accurately capture a restaurant’s experience – an experience quite different from that of the critics.
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 Maytrees by Annie Dillard
Often compared to Henry David Thoreau for her writing on the natural world, Annie Dillard's novel, The Maytrees, traces decades of love and longing on the tip of Cape Cod.
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.
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
In a modern variation on E.M. Forster’s Howard’s End, Smith investigates questions of politics and culture in her book, On Beauty. Liberal Rembrandt scholar Howard Belsey’s oldest son falls in love with the daughter of an extreme right-wing family and the two families are forced to reconsider what they really believe as they wage a political and personal war.
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.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
This fictional account of two very different families details the consequences of a father’s secret decision to give up one of his newborn twins, a daughter—named Phoebe—who is born with Down Syndrome. Despite her father’s fears, Phoebe, raised by the sympathetic and supportive Caroline, grows into a healthy young woman; meanwhile Phoebe’s twin brother, Paul, grows up under the care of the twins’ biological parents.
When Madeline was Young by Jane Hamilton
In this novel, by award-winning author of The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, young and beautiful Madeline suffers a head injury that leaves her with the mental capabilities of a child. Her husband and his second wife care for her as their daughter, even as they raise children of their own.
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Mary Boleyn is sent to the court of Henry VIII at the age of fourteen help her ambitious family. Mary is successful and attracts the attention of the king. When the king’s favor begins to be bestowed on her sister Anne, Mary must choose whether or not to step aside.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Inspired by the courtship of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s own parents, Love in the Time of Cholera follows Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza from the moment Florentino first declares his love for Fermina, through her marriage to another man, until the day, fifty years later, that Florentino can declare his love for Fermina again.
No! I Don’t Want to Join a Book Club by Virginia Ironside
Nearing her sixtieth year, Marie Sharp decides to begin a diary. She is perfectly content remembering the excitement of her youth and doesn’t need exotic vacations or book clubs to pass the time. However, a new grandchild and the reawakening of an old romance may mean the excitement is far from over.
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.
Blindness by Jose Saramago
In this book by Nobel Prize-winning author Saramago, a city is struck by a plague of “white blindness.” When authorities send the blind to an old mental hospital, a criminal takes control, raping the women and stealing food. One lone woman bears witness, faking blindness in order to try to help the others around her.
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.
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.
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 Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises follows a group of American and English expatriates, members of the Lost Generation in the post-World War I era, on a journey from Paris to Pamplona for the July fiesta and bullfight.
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
McEwan’s 11th novel begins in 1962 on the wedding night of Florence, a musician, and her new husband Edward. As both fight to suppress their fears about the wedding night in an age of innocence prior to the sexual revolution, a misunderstanding leads to disastrous consequences.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
In this true crime classic, Berendt observes the eccentricities of life in Savannah, Georgia, while investigating antique dealer Jim Williams’ shooting of his sometimes lover Danny Hansford.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Anna was conceived as a genetic match for her older sister in order to help in her sister’s fight against leukemia. After years of blood transfusions and surgeries, Anna decides to stand up for her own interests, taking action that could tear her family apart.
The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
Pretty, popular, and in love, high school freshman Trixie Stone has everything going for her until an act of violence turns her life upside down, changing her perceptions of herself and her father, whom she idolized, forever.
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
A judge attempting peaceful retirement in a Himalayan village must share his home with his newly orphaned granddaughter. Their cook is concerned for his son, an illegal alien living in New York City and all three must brace themselves as political unrest takes over the region
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
At ninety, or perhaps ninety-three, Jacob Jankowski drifts in and out of memories of the circus where he served as a veterinarian, fell in love with a married woman and bonded with an elephant named Rosie
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.
Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky
Intended to be a set of five novels describing life under Nazi occupation in France, Suite Française consists of the two novels Jewish author Nemirovsky was able to write before being deported to Auschwitz. The novels remained hidden for sixty-four years before being rediscovered and published
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.
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.
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.
Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
A sufferer of chronic insomnia, Bostonian Julian West enlists the help of a hypnotist to help him get some rest. However, West awakes to find that he is no longer in the Boston of 1887, but that of the year 2000. Bellamy’s novel became the second American novel to sell over a million copies.
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.
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.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
In this twist on the traditional Dracula story, a young girl discovers a mysterious book from her father’s past. The book holds clues connecting the disappearance of a professor with Dracula, but before the girl’s father can explain, he too vanishes.
Saturday by Ian McEwan
Neurosurgeon Henry Perowne is an ordinary man, content with his life and loving family. His Saturday begins with plans of squash games and family dinners, plans that are put aside when a confrontation at a post-9/11 anti-war protest changes his life forever.
Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan
When eleven Americans travel to Burma on an art expedition, they do not expect that a Christmas morning tour will leave them trapped in the jungle. Tan’s book is based on the real-life disappearance of American tourists in Myanmar.
Flight by Sherman Alexie
Fifteen-year-old Zits is out for revenge. An abused foster child whose father never claimed him, Zits attempts to take out his anger and pain on a group of innocent bystanders, but is catapulted into a series of time-traveling adventures instead.
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
Three unsolved cases fall into the lap of private eye Jackson Brody, an ex-cop who empathizes with his clients as he mourns the break up of his marriage and separation from his daughter.
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.
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).
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.