Norman Book Club

Join us to discuss the 2020 humorous movie review collection "Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema" by Lindy West!

We'll be talking about the book and whatever subjects that discussion leads into. You don't have to finish the book to attend. You can also talk about one of our previous books if you missed an event. Hope to see you there!

Note that our upcoming events in November and December will be moved to the first and third Wednesdays to avoid the holidays.

Almost all of the books chosen for this group should be available in either the Pioneer or Metropolitan library system. Get a library card if you don't have one! You can also access eBooks and audiobooks from the library with the Libby or Hoopla apps.
https://pioneerlibrarysystem.org
https://www.metrolibrary.org

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New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author Lindy West was once the in-house movie critic for Seattle's alternative newsweekly The Stranger, where she covered film with brutal honesty and giddy irreverence. In Shit, Actually, Lindy returns to those roots, re-examining beloved and iconic movies from the past 40 years with an eye toward the big questions of our time: Is Twilight the horniest movie in history? Why do the zebras in The Lion King trust Mufasa—WHO IS A LION—to look out for their best interests? Why did anyone bother making any more movies after The Fugitive achieved perfection? And, my god, why don't any of the women in Love, Actually ever fucking talk?!?!

From Forrest Gump, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Bad Boys II, to Face/Off, Top Gun, and The Notebook, Lindy combines her razor-sharp wit and trademark humor with a genuine adoration for nostalgic trash to shed new critical light on some of our defining cultural touchstones-the stories we've long been telling ourselves about who we are. At once outrageously funny and piercingly incisive, Shit, Actually reminds us to pause and ask, "How does this movie hold up?", all while teaching us how to laugh at the things we love without ever letting them or ourselves off the hook.

Shit, Actually is a love letter and a break-up note all in one: to the films that shaped us and the ones that ruined us. More often than not, Lindy finds, they're one and the same.
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Join us to discuss the 2013 science fiction book "The Humans" by Matt Haig!

We'll be talking about the book and whatever subjects that discussion leads into. You don't have to finish the book to attend. You can also talk about one of our previous books if you missed an event. Hope to see you there!

Note that our upcoming events in November and December will be moved to the first and third Wednesdays to avoid the holidays.

Almost all of the books chosen for this group should be available in either the Pioneer or Metropolitan library system. Get a library card if you don't have one! You can also access eBooks and audiobooks from the library with the Libby or Hoopla apps.
https://pioneerlibrarysystem.org
https://www.metrolibrary.org

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When an extraterrestrial visitor arrives on Earth, his first impressions of the human species are less than positive. Taking the form of Professor Andrew Martin, a leading mathematician at Cambridge University, the visitor wants to complete his task and return home to his planet and a utopian society of immortality and infinite knowledge.

He is disgusted by the way humans look, what they eat, and the wars they witness on the news, and is totally baffled by concepts such as love and family. But as time goes on, he starts to realize there may be more to this weird species than he has been led to believe. He drinks wine, reads Emily Dickinson, listens to Talking Heads, and begins to bond with the family he lives with, in disguise. In picking up the pieces of the professor's shattered personal life, the narrator sees hope and redemption in the humans' imperfections and begins to question the very mission that brought him there--a mission that involves not only thwarting human progress... but murder.
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Join us to discuss the 2010 nonfiction book "Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It" by Jay M. Feinman!

We'll be talking about the book and whatever subjects that discussion leads into. You don't have to finish the book to attend. You can also talk about one of our previous books if you missed an event. Hope to see you there!

Note that our upcoming events in November and December will be moved to the first and third Wednesdays to avoid the holidays.

Almost all of the books chosen for this group should be available in either the Pioneer or Metropolitan library system. Get a library card if you don't have one! You can also access eBooks and audiobooks from the library with the Libby or Hoopla apps.
https://pioneerlibrarysystem.org
https://www.metrolibrary.org

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Over the last two decades, insurance has become less of a safety net and more of a spider's sticky and complicated, designed to ensnare as much as to aid. Insurance companies now often try to delay payment of justified claims, deny payment altogether, and defend these actions by forcing claimants to enter litigation.

Jay M. Feinman, a legal scholar and insurance expert, explains how these trends developed, how the government ought to fix the system, and what the rest of us can do to protect ourselves. He shows that the denial of valid claims is not occasional or accidental or the fault of a few bad employees. It's the result of an increasing and systematic focus on maximizing profits by major companies such as Allstate and State Farm.

Citing dozens of stories of victims who were unfairly denied payment, Feinman explains how people can be more cautious when shopping for policies and what to do when pursuing a disputed claim. He also lays out a plan for the legal reforms needed to prevent future abuses. This exposé will help drive the discussion of this increasingly hot- button issue.
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Join us to discuss the 2006-2010 award-winning science fiction trilogy "Remembrance of Earth's Past" by Liu Cixin, featuring "The Three-Body Problem" and its two sequels!

We'll be talking about the books and whatever subjects that discussion leads into. You don't have to finish the books to attend. You can also talk about one of our previous books if you missed an event. Hope to see you there!

Note that our upcoming events in November and December will be moved to the first and third Wednesdays to avoid the holidays.

Almost all of the books chosen for this group should be available in either the Pioneer or Metropolitan library system. Get a library card if you don't have one! You can also access eBooks and audiobooks from the library with the Libby or Hoopla apps.
https://pioneerlibrarysystem.org
https://www.metrolibrary.org

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During China's Cultural Revolution, astrophysicist Ye Wenjie witnesses her father beaten to death during a struggle session. A political outcast, Ye is initially sentenced to a labor camp but is then recruited to "Red Coast", a secret military initiative attempting to search for and communicate with extraterrestrial life.
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