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<channel><title><![CDATA[Rensselaerville Library - Book Chat]]></title><link><![CDATA[https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat]]></link><description><![CDATA[Book Chat]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:39:59 -0400</pubDate><generator>Weebly</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Book Chat 8/24/2026]]></title><link><![CDATA[https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat/book-chat-8242026]]></link><comments><![CDATA[https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat/book-chat-8242026#comments]]></comments><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:25:30 GMT</pubDate><category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat/book-chat-8242026</guid><description><![CDATA[We had a great meet-up on Monday! Here are the books we discussed.  FANTASYThe Magician's Daughter&nbsp;by H.G. PerryA young woman raised on an isolated island by a magician discovers things aren&rsquo;t as they seem and must venture into early 1900s England to return magic to the world in this lush and lyrical historical fantasy.&nbsp;FICTIONDon't Let Him In by Lisa JewelNina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is lo [...] ]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="paragraph">We had a great meet-up on Monday! Here are the books we discussed.</div>  <div class="paragraph" style="text-align:left;"><u><strong>FANTASY</strong></u><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=d5f0932f-6f08-53d6-af32-c4eb4eaac36b&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">The Magician's Daughter</a>&nbsp;</strong>by H.G. Perry<br />A young woman raised on an isolated island by a magician discovers things aren&rsquo;t as they seem and must venture into early 1900s England to return magic to the world in this lush and lyrical historical fantasy.&nbsp;<br /><br /><u><strong>FICTION</strong></u><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=03831049-c229-5f72-9c82-65e8d2ab7007&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">Don't Let Him</a></strong> In by Lisa Jewel<br /><span style="color:rgb(30, 25, 21)">Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband&rsquo;s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina&rsquo;s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick&rsquo;s past. What she finds is more than unsettling&hellip;<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=4bb68668-3d19-5236-9926-41fa14b76285&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">What Moves the Dead</a></strong> by T. Kingfisher</span><br />Retired soldier Alex Easton, formerly of the Gallacian army, receives word that his childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying. Ka journeys to the Ushers' ancestral home in Ruravia and finds it in disrepair, surrounded by fungus and a dark, unsettling tarn.&nbsp;<span style="color:rgb(32, 33, 34)">It is based on the short story "</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_House_of_Usher">The Fall of the House of Usher</a><span style="color:rgb(32, 33, 34)">" by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe">Edgar Allan Poe</a><span style="color:rgb(32, 33, 34)">.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=7594ec8d-7e28-5e51-a285-27c612c172da&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">The Last Morning</a></strong> by Camden Baird</span><br /><span style="color:rgb(15, 17, 17)">Sadie Wilson&rsquo;s heart stops the moment the phone rings. Deep in her soul, she knows what&rsquo;s coming, and the voice on the other end only confirms her fears: Emma never made it to school. Her sweet, scared five-year-old climbed onto the bus for her very first day of kindergarten&hellip;and then vanished.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=00c795f3-35f3-5008-a9ac-94a8ec98e5ad&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">Little Wonder</a></strong> by </span><span style="color:rgb(30, 25, 21)">Sophie Chen Keller</span><br />A musical prodigy and his mother spend years searching for each other in this beautiful novel of hope, perseverance, and love.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=cbd4621d-0ebb-5a3c-923d-733c8c508255&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead </a></strong>by&nbsp;Olga Tokarczuk<br>&#8203;<span style="color:rgb(51, 71, 91)">n a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big</span><span style="color:rgb(51, 71, 91)"> Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit.</span><br /><br /><u><strong>NONFICTION</strong></u><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=c354fcad-c86f-55ce-857d-a0437378f233&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">When Breath Becomes Air </a></strong>by&nbsp;<span style="color:rgb(30, 25, 21)">Paul Kalanithi&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color:rgb(30, 25, 21)">At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade&rsquo;s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.&nbsp;</span>This memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question, What makes a life worth living?<br /><br /></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Books Discussed 7/24/2026]]></title><link><![CDATA[https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat/books-discussed-7242026]]></link><comments><![CDATA[https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat/books-discussed-7242026#comments]]></comments><pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:48:20 GMT</pubDate><category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat/books-discussed-7242026</guid><description><![CDATA[At our very first Book Chat get-together we discussed the following books:NONFICTIONI'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killerby Michelle McNamaraA&nbsp;true crime book&nbsp;about the investigation of the Golden State Killer. The book was released on February 27, 2018, nearly two years after McNamara's death and two months before Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested in the case. In 2020, DeAngelo plead guilty to multiple charges,&nbsp;and was sentenced to li [...] ]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="paragraph">At our very first Book Chat get-together we discussed the following books:<br /><br /><strong><u>NONFICTION</u></strong><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=89403522-7cfa-5cca-9542-d16b7a0a3982&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank"><span><span><span><span><span><span>I'll Be Gone in the Dark: </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer</span></span></span></span></span></span></a></strong><br /><span style="color:rgb(15, 17, 17)">by Michelle McNamara</span><br /><font color="#202122">A&nbsp;</font>true crime<span style="color:rgb(32, 33, 34)"> book</span><span style="color:rgb(32, 33, 34)">&nbsp;about the investigation of the </span>Golden State Killer<span style="color:rgb(32, 33, 34)">. The book was released on February 27, 2018, nearly two years after McNamara's death and two months before Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested in the case. In 2020, DeAngelo plead guilty to multiple charges,</span><span style="color:rgb(32, 33, 34)">&nbsp;and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.<br /><br /><strong><u>FICTION</u></strong></span><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=60ff981b-02d7-52ca-bd23-5a945ac8db64&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">Seabreeze Summer</a></strong><br />by Jan Moran<br />A sweet summer beach read and the second novel in the Summer Beach series after the Seabreeze Inn.&nbsp;<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=c4e9c66d-22ac-5563-8ae9-a9ceb4848c0f&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">Mad Mabel</a></strong><br />by Sally Hepworth<br /><span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0)">Meet Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick: eighty-one years old, gloriously grumpy, fiercely independent, and never without a hot cup of tea&mdash;or a cutting remark. She minds her own business in her quiet Melbourne suburb, until a neighbor turns up dead and the whispers start flying...<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=d023c667-9691-5ca8-a76f-4f112ba56a0d&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">Hotel Portofino</a></strong><br />by<strong>&nbsp;</strong></span>J.P. O'Connell<br />A heady historical drama about a British family who opens an upper-class hotel on the magical Italian Riviera during the Roaring Twenties.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=d8881419-5024-5328-b32b-3d5d4aaacbc5&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">Invisible Girl</a></strong><br />by Lisa Jewell<br />A psychological thriller that follows three distinct lives that collide when a 17-year-old girl goes missing on Valentine's night, leaving a web of dark secrets, neighborhood suspicion, and psychological tension.<br /><br /><strong><span><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=fd2cb70f-6ade-551c-8200-449ddc9b9a87&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings</a></span></strong><br />by Stephen O'Connor<br />A novel about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, in whose story the conflict between the American ideal of equality and the realities of slavery and racism played out in the most tragic of terms.<br /><br /><strong>We Want So Much to Be Ourselves (available in the New Reads section of our library)</strong><br />by Stephen O'Connor<br /><span style="color:rgb(30, 25, 21)">A heartrending story of love in a time of hatred, an absorbing investigation into the Nazis&rsquo; exploitation of psychoanalysis, and a cautionary tale about self-deception and the failures of a people to recognize the lies of their charismatic leader,</span>&nbsp;"We Want So Much to Be Ourselves"&#8203;<span style="color:rgb(30, 25, 21)">&nbsp;examines the ways science can be corrupted and one&rsquo;s very identity transformed by historical circumstance.</span><br /><br /><strong><u><span style="color:rgb(32, 33, 34)">YA</span></u></strong><br /><strong><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=b8fffc06-f6cd-5f07-997d-5897038e0a48&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">A Thousand Kisses</a> &amp; <a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=29ea2ec7-d8c5-59d9-b9d4-53279f7638bd&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">A Thousand Broken Pieces</a></strong><br /><span style="color:rgb(42, 42, 42)">by Tillie Cole</span><br />"A Thousand Boy Kisses" is a young adult that tells the tragic romance of childhood sweethearts whose lives are shaped by terminal illness and death. After gaining attention on TikTok, the book became a bestseller. It is followed by a sequel, A Thousand Broken Pieces.<br /><br /><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=fd2cb70f-6ade-551c-8200-449ddc9b9a87&amp;entityType=FormatGroup" target="_blank">Thomas Jefferson dreams of Sally Hemings : a novel</a><a href="https://catalog.uhls.org/search/card?id=c0abbe90-7f65-11ef-95b7-d7716b44b7ec&amp;entityType=Agent">O'Connor, Stephen</a></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Book Chat - a new kind of book club]]></title><link><![CDATA[https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat/book-chat-a-new-kind-of-book-club]]></link><comments><![CDATA[https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat/book-chat-a-new-kind-of-book-club#comments]]></comments><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/book-chat/book-chat-a-new-kind-of-book-club</guid><description><![CDATA[ Book Chat is a low-key kind of book club &ndash; we meet to discuss the books we are reading, share thoughts on favorites, and suggest new reads. There is no mandatory reading, just bring a book you would like to discuss with the group.  [...] ]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<span class='imgPusher' style='float:left;height:0px'></span><span style='display: table;width:auto;position:relative;float:left;max-width:100%;;clear:left;margin-top:0px;*margin-top:0px'><a><img src="https://www.rensselaervillelibrary.org/uploads/2/6/4/8/26489851/published/aug-book-chat.png?250" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; border-width:0; max-width:100%" alt="Picture" class="galleryImageBorder wsite-image" /></a><span style="display: table-caption; caption-side: bottom; font-size: 90%; margin-top: -10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;" class="wsite-caption"></span></span> <div class="paragraph" style="display:block;"><span style="color:rgb(41, 42, 44)">Book Chat is a low-key kind of book club &ndash; we meet to discuss the books we are reading, share thoughts on favorites, and suggest new reads. There is no mandatory reading, just bring a book you would like to discuss with the group.</span></div> <hr style="width:100%;clear:both;visibility:hidden;"></hr>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>