The Austin Books and Chatter Group

Non-fiction. 272 pages. Who works for the government and why does their work matter? An urgent and absorbing civics lesson from an all-star team of writers and storytellers.

The government is a vast, complex system that Americans pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss, and celebrate. It’s also our shared resource for addressing the biggest problems of society. And it’s made up of people, mostly unrecognized and uncelebrated, doing work that can be deeply consequential and beneficial to everyone.

Instead of reading and discussing a book, we're doing our annual book exchange. Here's how it works...

Bring book(s) you no longer wish to own, add it/them to the pile, and select book(s) to take home with you.
If you don't have books to give away come anyway.
Do you have suggestions for future book club titles? Add them to the comments. Remember they must be fewer than 500 pages long and it is best if the public library has 3 copies sitting on the shelf.

400 pages. 2022. Based on a true story, an epic historical novel that illuminates the lives of two
characters: a girl shipwrecked on an island off Western Australia and, three hundred years
later, a boy finding a home with his grandfather on the very same island. 1629: A newly
orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of
the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the
long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical
monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks. 1989: A lonely boy named Gil
is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where
his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of
an infamous shipwreck...