Please join the Adult Contemporary Book Discussion Group on Monday, February 20 at 7:00 PM in the Purple Room to discuss:

Safe haven by Nicholas Sparks — When an enigmatic stranger shows up out of the blue, the folks of sleepy Southport become suspicious of her past. Katie tries to keep herself from becoming involved with anybody in town, but as time goes on, she slowly falls in love with Alex, a widowed store owner and father of two. However, when her dark past finally catches up with her, Katie must make the painful choice between fleeing or facing her fears and fighting for her new found life.

Shanghai girls: a novel by Lisa See — Join us on Monday, January 16 at 7:00 PM in the Purple Room to discuss this historical thriller: Pearl and May are beautiful girls in Shanghai, "the Paris of Asia." Their carefree days are over when their father informs them that to pay off his debts, he must sell his daughters as wives. As bombs fall on Shanghai and the world goes to war, the sisters flee to America to start new lives with their husbands. Along the way, they have to make sacrifices and promise to keep a secret that threatens to tear them apart.

Shanghai girls: a novel by Lisa See — Join us on Monday, January 16 at 7:00 PM to discuss this historical thriller. Pearl and May are beautiful girls in Shanghai, "the Paris of Asia." Their carefree days are over when their father informs them that to pay off his debts, he must sell his daughters as wives. As bombs fall on Shanghai and the world goes to war, the sisters flee to America to start new lives with their husbands. Along the way, they have to make sacrifices and promise to keep a secret that threatens to tear them apart.

The guardian by Nicholas Sparks — On Christmas Eve, a young widow receives an unexpected present from her late husband; a great dane puppy named Singer, who turns out to be a better judge of character than his pet-parent. After four years of mourning her husband's death, Julie begins dating again. Does she or Singer know what's best for her happiness and safety? Join us on Monday, December 19 at 7:00 PM in the Community Room to find out.

The guardian by Nicholas Sparks — Join us Monday, December 19 at 7:00 PM in the Community Room for this discussion. "On Christmas Eve, newly-widowed, 25 year-old Julie Berenson receives an unexpected present from her late husband, Jim: a Great Dane puppy. Julie names her new dog, Singer, who turns out to be a better judge of human character than she is."

The girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson ; translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland — Join us Monday, November 21 at 7:00 PM in the Purple Room a discussion. This, the first book in a trilogy, begins with a decades-old cold case of missing teen heiress and the unlikely coupling of a disgraced journalist and a misunderstood and maligned superhacker.

Join us on Monday, October 17, in the Purple Room at 7:00 PM to discuss our book club selection, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. The story begins in Seattle where Henry Lee sees a crowd gathered outside a hotel that has been boarded up for decades. The new owner discovers the belongings of Japanese families left behind before they were sent to internment camps. The owner opens up a parasol and it takes Henry back to 1942 and his secret love.

The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian is about a road trip. An elderly married couple from the Detroit area decide to take their RV on a nostalgic ride along Route 66 to Disneyland for one last vacation to remember and relive the past. It's not so much about the destination, as it is getting there. So take a journey with us and be a tourist on Monday, September 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the Purple Room.

The British government transfers newly married couple Martin and Claire Pendleton to Hong Kong in 1952. While her husband works, Claire teaches piano to a wealthy Chinese family. Bored and intrigued by the exotic cultural surroundings, she begins an affair with the family’s chauffeur. As his past and her present collide, Claire's carefully orchestrated world unravels. Join us on Monday, August 15 at 7:00PM in the Purple Room to discuss, The Piano Teacher.

Please join the Adult Contemporary Book Discussion on Monday, June 20th, 7:00-8:00PM, in the Purple Room to discuss Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel, The Help. Set during the early Civil Rights era in Mississippi, the story focuses on three extraordinary women whose determination to change how things are in their town will also change how they view one another.

Please join us on Monday, April 18 in the Purple Room for a book discussion on Rhoda Janzen's laugh-out-loud memoir of life with her Mennonite family called, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress. After going through a painful divorce and recovery from a debilitating car accident, Ms. Janzen returns to her parents' home to regroup. Hilarity ensues.

Death, the narrator of this World War II-era story, is overwhelmed collecting the souls from battlefields and bombings. He takes an interest of an orphan, Liesel, and her foster parents after she steals a book. After she learns to read, she starts stealing books from everywhere and then writes her own story. Join us on Monday, February 21, in the Children's Library Purple Room at 7:00PM for our discussion of The Book Thief.

Join the Adult Contemporary Book Group on Monday, January 17th, in the Purple Room for a book discussion on The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. In post-World War II Spain, Daniel is taken by his father to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where books are guarded from oblivion. Told to choose one book to protect, he selects The Shadow of the Wind. He reads it, loves it, and soon learns it is both very valuable and very much in danger of being destroyed by someone burning every copy of the book.

Please join our book group in Group Study Room A on Monday, November 15th, from 7:00-8:00PM for an interesting and lively discussion of this month's selection, City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling. The early history of Manhattan is chronicled through six generations of a remarkable clan of surgeons, physicians and apothecaries.

The novel begins in post-World War II in Japan when a nineteen-year old pearl diver discovers she has leprosy and she is exiled to a leprosarium on the island of Nagashima. She must forget her past and change her name now that her family and society have banished her. Join the Adult Contemporary Book Group for the discussion of The Pearl Diver, on Monday, July 19, at 7:00PM in Group Study Room A.

A daughter and father join in on an after-school walk through the snow-covered woods near their New England farmhouse. They hear the cries of an abandoned newborn infant. As they rushed the baby to the hospital, the incident unleashing repressed anguish both father and daughter feel since they lost her mother and baby sister in a car accident. Please join our discussion of Anita Shreve's Light on Snow on Monday, June 21. See Program Calendar for more details.

The Adult Contemporary Book Discussion Group meets the third Monday of each month in the library Conference Room. This self-directed group discusses contemporary fiction and non fiction at 7:00PM. There is no registration necessary. The 2010 book list was just published, so please join us for some fine reading:

Every Monday morning, my email contains a special book. The email book club sends out a few pages every day in email. By the end of the week, you have read two to three chapters of a new book. You can then decide whether you want to check it out at the library or purchase it. It's a great way to discover new authors and genres. There are twelve categories from which to choose - pick one or all of them, including fiction, audio, romance, teen, good news, thrillers, classics and more. Your only requirement is an email account. The next Monday, it starts all over again with new books. What a great idea! This service is sponsored by the Friends of the Canton Public Library and is free to our patrons. Just log onto our web site at www.cantonpl.org, go to the column on the left and click on services. Next, click on book clubs and scroll down to email book club.

Metro Detroit Book and Author Society will present their 75th luncheon on Monday, October 19th at the Burton Manor in Livonia. Our guest authors include Nicholson Baker, The Anthologist; Rita Mae Brown, Animal Magnetism; Bruce Feiler, America's Prophet; David Alan Grier, Barack Like Me; and Jacquelyn Mitchard, No Time to Wave Goodbye.
Tickets are $30. each and are available by mail order only at Book & Author Luncheon, P.O. Box 82013, Rochester Hills, MI 48308. If you wish to sit together, please send your checks together made out to MDB&A Society.

Author Bich Minh Nguyen, who wrote Stealing Buddha's Dinner will speak at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 17th at the Penn Theatre in Plymouth.

Nguyen and her family left Vietnam in 1975, and relocated to Michigan. Stealing Buddha's Dinner is a memoir of the author's childhood and experiences of assimilation into American culture. This is Nguyen's only appearance in the Detroit area; and her presentation is not to be missed.