Reading in the Dark Book Club
What to Expect
Join Marja on zoom for a lively and thought-provoking discussion about the current book being read. Help decide what the next good read will be. Call the office to register by clicking on the button below or dialing 503.668.6195
Book to be discussed on April 22, 2025: “A Fall of Marigolds” by Susan Meissner DB88683, 10:15
Book to be discussed on May 13, 2025: “Old Man”s War” by John Scalzi DB64670
Book to be discussed on May 27, 2025: “The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd DB78079.
Reading in the Dark Book Club is the 2 and 4 Tuesday of every month!
April 22, 2025
Today we had a great discussion on “A Fall of Marigolds” by Susan Meissner DB88683. We all enjoyed the book, though it was an emotional read for many of us with discussions about the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire in 1911 and the 9/11 attacks. I’ve included the link to an interview I listened to (and may be the same one Lois listened to) with author, Meissner about the writing of this book. I found it very interesting and gave me a different perspective about the intertwined stories. Here it is.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6LNlei6qc88
Before we started discussing the book I gave a couple of updates from Oregon Talking Books Library.
-Oregon has gotten a grant to offer 100 licenses to Bookshare, it is already free to students but non-students pay $80 a year. It is the best source for text books and more technical writing-things like fiber arts, theology, geology… To learn more about Bookshare go to
Hadley was mentioned as a way to get Bookshare at no cost by taking classes through Hadley. To find out more go to
-Oregon will be offering an online application that is more streamlined, great news for people like me who can certify people for Talking Books. This will make things much faster and easier!
-New cartridge players are coming (this applies nationwide), they are square instead of rectangular, are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled. There are other new features as well.
-The funding for Oregon Talking Books and Braille program is currently solid! The NLS was enacted by Congress and they have control of it, it is not under The Institute of Museum and Library Services. Not all states TB programs are on financial solid ground. The Oregon TB director said that there are already conversations among strong TB&B libraries with states that are on rocky ground to plan how potential disruption in services could be covered by other states. This was a huge relief to hear.
In May we will be choosing our books for June, July, August, and September, here are the potentials we have so far. Let me know if you have any books you would like to see added. I’ll give you title and author and I’ll let you find the annotations.
“A Bakery in Paris” by Aimie K. Runyan
“The Women” by Kristin Hannah
“The Little Liar” by Mitch Albom
“The Klansman’s Son” by R Derek Black
“Landlines” by Raynor Winn
“The Crazieladies of Pearl Street” by Trevanian
“The Ladies Room” by Carolyn Brown
“By Any Other Name” by Jodi Picoult
“The Language of Flowers” by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
“The Wives” by Tarryn Fisher
“Cold Sassy Tree” by Olive Ann Burns
“My Grandmother AskedMe to Tell You She’s Sorry” by Fredrik Backman (A Man Called Ove)
Our next book (3 weeks away) is-
5/13 “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi DB64670, 10:02.
“75-year-old widower, John Perry relinquishes his earthly existence and enlists in the Colonial Defense Forces. John and fellow aging recruits are restored to their youthful bodies to battle enemy aliens in the interstellar race to colonize the universe.”
5/27 “The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd DB78079, 14:29.
“Charleston, 1803. 11-year-old Sarah Grimké is given a 10-year-old slave girl named Handful as a gift. They become close friends and are both punished when Handful learns to read. Sarah goes up to become an abolitionist, and Handful retains her independent spirit.”
Marja Byers
Sight Loss Instructor
Hull Foundation
April 08, 2025
Today we discussed “My Ántonia” by Willa Cather DB13491. Our opinions were mixed though many of us had trouble remembering the details of the book. I found that Cather’s writing style elicited clear mental pictures and left me with emotional impressions (the plow, magnified by the red sunset). I’ve talked with several people who were in high school in the 1960’s and “My Ántonia” was required reading in high school. I was in high school in the ‘70’s and had never heard of Cather. Though some of her language is now archaic, she recreates a picture of the struggles faced by immigrants as well as some of their successes (and sometimes success was a matter of perspective.)
A special thank you to Darlene, who is in flight today, but took the time to email some of her thoughts, it was a nice addition to our discussion!
April 22 “A Fall of Marigolds” by Susan Meissner DB88683, 10:15 is our next book.
“In 2011, Taryn is still mourning the loss of her husband in the 9/11 attacks. Newly released photos from that day sent her searching for the scarf she briefly held. It leads to Clara, who works on Ellis island and lost someone she loved in the 1911 Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire.“
We chose our books for May today, 13th “Old Man”s War” by John Scalzi DB64670, May 27th “The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd DB78079.
Over the next couple of book club meetings I’m hoping we can decide on our summer reading list so come with your suggestions. We still have about 5 more books left on the list we compiled last December but if you’re like me, many books have crossed my BARD bookshelf since then!
Also mentioned today:
The Earth’s Children series by Jean Auel, all available on BARD.
“The Clan of the Cave Bear”
“The Valley of the Horses”
“The Mammoth Hunters”
“The Plains of Passage”
“The Shelters of Stone”
“The Land of Painted Caves”
“And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, DB92109, 9 minutes, this is a children’s book ( Rey sweet in my opinion).
I hope to see you in a couple of weeks, until then, enjoy reading in the dark.
Marja Byers, CPSS
Sight Loss Instructor
Hull Foundation