Books to Go : For Book Groups
Mount Prospect Public Library offers book discussion kits specifically designed for book groups. Each kit may be checked out for 6 weeks and includes 10 copies of a title as well as a binder containing information about the book, biographical information on the author, and questions for discussion. To reserve a kit, contact the Fiction/AV/Teen desk in person, by calling 847-590-4070, or by e-mailing us at readers@mppl.org. This service is funded by Friends of the Mount Prospect Library.
Book Discussion Kit Guidelines
Book Discussion Kit Titles
Fiction
The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander more info » Based on the 1918 Bolshevik revolutionary murder of Czar Nicholas II and the rest of the Russian royal family, this story is told from the perspective of the event’s only surviving witness, a young kitchen boy.
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather more info » In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour becomes Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico, and over the next forty years he faces the lawlessness and loneliness of the frontier as he tries to spread his faith.
The Ox-Box Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark more info » When cattle rustlers murder a citizen of Bridger's Gulch, others form a posse and illegally lynch them.
In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant more info » In 1527, when the city of Rome is sacked and burned by an invading army, the famed courtesan Fiammetta Bianchini and her dwarf companion, Bucino Teododi, escape to the wealthy and powerful city of Venice in order to rebuild their business, but they soon discover unexpected temptations and challenges that willl have profound repercussions for them all.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards more info » In a tale spanning twenty-five years, a doctor delivers his newborn twins during a snowstorm and, rashly deciding to protect his wife from their baby daughter's affliction with Down Syndrome, turns her over to a nurse, who secretly raises the child.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides more info » Calliope’s friendship with a classmate and her sense of identity are compromised by her discovery in adolescence that she is a hermaphrodite, a condition with roots in her grandparents’ desperate struggle for survival in the 1920s.
Three Junes by Julia Glass more info » Three Junes is set on both sides of the Atlantic during three fateful summers in the lives of a Scottish family. Told in three parts, each set in the month of June, this novel portrays tales of love, loss, and the bonds between members of the complicated family.
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory more info » The daughters of a ruthlessly ambitious family, Mary and Anne Boleyn are sent to the court of Henry VIII to attract the attention of the king, who first takes Mary as his mistress, in which role she bears him an illegitimate son, and then takes Anne as his wife.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon more info » Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor’s dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.
Plainsong by Kent Haruf more info » An unlikely extended family is formed when a high school teacher helps a pregnant student make a home with two elderly bachelor ranchers.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini more info » An epic, moving tale that traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant’s son and spans the final days of Afghanistan’s monarchy through the atrocities of the present day.
The Known World by Edward P. Jones more info » When a plantation proprietor and former slave die, things begin to change at home. Beyond his estate, white patrollers stand watch as slave “speculators” sell free black people into slavery, and rumors of slave rebellions set white families against their once loyal slaves.
Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos more info » Margaret Hughes, a woman in her seventies living in Seattle, takes in a series of boarders who help her cope with her illness and whose lives become unexpectedly connected to each other.
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd more info » While summoned home to tiny Egret Island to take care of her estranged mother, Jessie Sullivan meets Brother Thomas, a monk who is about to take his final vows, and encounters the legend of a mysterious chair dedicated to a saint who had originally been a mermaid.
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri more info » A portrait of the immigrant experience follows the Ganguli family from their traditional life in India through their arrival in Massachusetts in the late 1960s and their difficult melding into an American way of life.
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik more info » From the initial formation of The Freesia Court Book Club and over the course of the next thirty years, five women in small-town Minnesota share the events, triumphs, tragedies, hardships, joys, and sorrows of their lives.
The Photograph by Penelope Lively more info » Finding a mysterious photograph of his late wife, Kath, holding hands with another man, Glyn begins a search that proves shocking to Kath’s family and friends.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel more info » Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper’s son Pi Patel sets sail for America. When the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.
Atonement by Ian McEwan more info » In 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives brings about a crime that will change all their lives. Atonement follows that crime’s repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, moving between the exploration of guilt and the struggle for forgiveness.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneggar more info » This is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare’s passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap.
The Things They Carried: a Work of Fiction by Tim O'Brien more info » Heroic young men carry the emotional weight of their lives to war in Vietnam in a patchwork account of a modern journey into the heart of darkness.
When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka more info » A story, told from five different points of view, chronicles the experiences of Japanese Americans caught up in the nightmare of the World War II internment camps.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson more info » As the Reverend John Ames approaches the hour of his own death, he writes a letter to his son chronicling three previous generations of his family, a story that stretches back to the Civil War and reveals uncomfortable family secrets.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See more info » A story of friendship set in nineteenth-century China follows an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes, dreams, joys, and tragedies through a unique secret language.
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve more info » Remembering the December afternoon twenty years earlier when her father and she found an abandoned infant in the snow, Nicky recalls her father’s efforts to escape society after a tragedy and a young woman’s struggles to live with her choices.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie more info » Two hapless city boys are exiled to a remote mountain village for re-education during China’s infamous Cultural Revolution. There the two friends meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, the two friends find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined.
The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler more info » Marrying quickly during World War II after falling in love at first sight, a mismatched couple discovers that their very different personalities and approaches to life are taking a toll on their lives, their relationship, and their family, in the compelling novel spanning three generations.
Nonfiction
The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner more info » In a candid memoir, a successful entrepreneur traces his journey from growing up with an abusive stepfather, to life on the streets as a homeless man with a small toddler in tow, to his triumphant battle to the top as a self-made millionaire.
Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario more info » The story of one Honduran boy's difficult and dangerous journey to find his mother, who had made the trek northward to the United States in search of a better life when Enrique had been five years old, but who had never made enough money to return home for her children. This poignant account addresses the issues of family and the implications of illegal immigration.
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama more info » As the son of a black African father and a white American mother, Barack Obama searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American in the compelling memoir.
Book Discussion Kit Guidelines
- Book discussion kits may be checked out for 6 weeks. They may not be renewed.
- Kits may be reserved up to a year in advance through the Fiction/AV/Teen desk in person, by calling 847-590-4070, or by e-mailing us at readers@mppl.org.
- Kits should be picked up at the Fiction/AV/Teen desk.
- Kits are checked out to one person. Members of the group should get their copies from the person who checked out the kit. Kits come as a set. Individual items from the kit may not be checked out.
- Only one kit at a time may be checked out to an individual.
- The individual who checks out the kit is responsible for the return of the complete kit, including the bag, the books, and the binder.
- Overdue book discussion kits will be fined $5.00 per day per kit.
- Failure to return book discussion kits on time may infringe on future borrowing privileges of such kits.
- Book discussion kits must be returned to the Check Out (Circulation) desk during regular Library hours (Monday through Friday 9 a.m. – 10 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sunday 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.) They may not be returned in the book drop.
- Book discussion kits are available for reciprocal borrowing but may not be interlibrary loaned.
