CHRISTMAS EVE: The Community Library will close EARLY today, at 3:00 pm.
The Community Library Lecture Room
“A Leg in Oklahoma City” Reading & Signing with author Greg Hoetker
“No one can say this story is not true.”
So begins A Leg In Oklahoma City, the debut novel by Boise author Greg Hoetker. Conspiracy theories and unanswered questions have long surrounded the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing. In the novel, Hoetker offers some answers while also examining bigger questions about love, death, trauma and closure.
The novel centers on a grisly detail from the bombing: a leg was discovered and consequently attributed to the wrong person. Authorities were puzzled by the extra member, known as P-71, and the owner of the limb was never found. Hoetker’s novel examines these discrepancies, while presenting a story of passion, pain, and memory. The book was released in Boise and recently procured a film-screenplay option.
Join us for an evening with author Greg Hoetker as he reads from his debut novel and shares stories of its creation. Books will be available for sale and signing.
All profits from book sales are donated to charities, nonprofits, and educational institutions, including: the Oklahoma City National Memorial And Museum, the Global Gardens refugee farmer program in Boise, the Wyakin Foundation of Boise, the Boise Bicycle Project, Idaho Rivers United, and the BRENDA Arts Program in Portland, Oregon.
Books will be available for sale and signing, courtesy of Chapter One Bookstore.
Greg Hoetker lives in Boise, Idaho. He works as an English teacher at Timberline High School.
Early Close: 3:00 pm
“Pride and Prejudice” Discussion Group
Join The Community Library for a two-part book group on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Come discuss this classic romantic novel, its characters and themes of morality, familial dedication, class, and self knowledge. We will particularly focus on the often overlooked character of Mary Bennett, the middle of the five sisters whose serious disposition and moral lectures fail to subdue her unruly sisters and mother.
Wednesday, December 11 | 4:00 – 5:30 pm
During our first meeting we’ll enjoy tea and cookies and discuss the novel’s themes and character of Mary Bennett.
Thursday, December 19 | 4:00-5:30 pm
For the second meeting, participants are encouraged to have seen the Company of Fools’ production of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon. The play, opening December 11, focuses on the ever-dependable Mary, who is growing tired of her role as dutiful middle sister in the face of her siblings’ romantic escapades. When the family visits for Christmas, an unexpected guest sparks Mary’s hopes for independence, an intellectual match — and possibly even love? This charmingly imagined sequel to Jane Austen’s masterwork promises to delight Austen aficionados and new-comers alike. Company of Fools Producing Artistic Director, Scott Palmer, will join us for this conversation.
The discussion group will be led by Martha Williams, Programs and Education Manager at The Community Library.
Winter Read Closing: “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” with Jamie Ford
The Community Library’s 2020 Winter Read concludes with a presentation and book signing with Jamie Ford, author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
This program will be live streamed and can be viewed on The Community Library’s LIVESTREAM page during and after the event.
Seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors for the program will open at 5:00 p.m.
Jamie Ford is a Northwest author most widely known for his bestselling Seattle-based novels. His debut, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list, won the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the Langum Prize for Historical Fiction. Hotel was named the #1 Book Club pick in 2010 by the American Bookseller Association and is now read widely in schools all across the country. This multi-cultural tale was adapted by Book-It Repertory Theatre, and has recently been optioned for a stage musical, and also for film, with George Takei serving as Executive Producer.
Jamie’s second book, Songs of Willow Frost, was also a national bestseller. His third novel set in Seattle, Love and Other Consolations Prizes, was published in 2017 and Library Journal named it one of the Best Historical Fiction Novels of 2017. An award-winning short-story writer, his work has been published in multiple anthologies, from Asian-themed steampunk set in Seattle in the Apocalypse Triptych, to stories exploring the universe of masked marvels and caped crusaders from an Asian American perspective in Secret Identities: The first Asian American Superhero Anthology, and Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology. His essays on race, identity, love, heroes, and complex families have been published nationwide and his work has been translated into 35 languages. He says he’s holding out for Klingon, because that’s when you know you’ve made it.
Jamie is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer, Min Chung, who emigrated from Kaiping, China to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name “Ford,” thus confusing countless generations. Having grown up near Seattle’s Chinatown, he now lives in Montana where he’s on a never-ending search for decent dim sum.
The Community Library’s 2020 WINTER READ explores the history and effects today of the incarceration of Japanese Americans in the U.S. during World War II. Throughout February and March we invite the community to read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jamie Ford’s novel that focuses on two families, of Chinese and Japanese ancestry, who experience discrimination, incarceration, loss, and friendship during the early war years in Seattle. The novel features the Minidoka War Relocation Center, Idaho’s own site of war-time incarceration where more than 9,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned from 1942-45. The site is located just eighty miles south of Ketchum. Join us as we engage in conversation around this important regional and national civil liberties history.
The 2020 Winter Read has been generously sponsored by the Spur Community Foundation and Carlyn Ring.
“Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp” and Q&A with Hanako Wakatsuki
As part of our WINTER READ and focus on the Minidoka National Historic Site and Japanese American incarceration during World War II, The Community Library welcomes Hanako Wakatsuki, Chief of Interpretation at Minidoka National Historic Site.
The evening will feature a screening of Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp, produced by North Shore Productions for the National Park Service. The 30-minute film tells the story of a group of Americans and their incarceration by the U.S. government in the High Desert of southern Idaho, purely on the basis of race. The film also explores the lasting impact of incarceration on Japanese-Americans, through decades of shame and silence, before the community took a stand for redress, and examines the relevance of their story for civil rights today.
A Q&A with Hanako Wakatsuki will follow the screening.
The Community Library’s 2020 WINTER READ explores the history and effects today of the incarceration of Japanese Americans in the U.S. during World War II. Throughout February and March we invite the community to read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jamie Ford’s novel that focuses on two families, of Chinese and Japanese ancestry, who experience discrimination, incarceration, loss, and friendship during the early war years in Seattle. The novel features the Minidoka War Relocation Center, Idaho’s own site of war-time incarceration where more than 9,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned from 1942-45. The site is located just eighty miles south of Ketchum. Join us as we engage in conversation around this important regional and national civil liberties history.
The 2020 Winter Read has been generously sponsored by the Spur Community Foundation and Carlyn Ring.
