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.

Daughter of Fortune (Isabel Allende)

An orphan raised in Chile, by a Victorian spinster and her rigid brother, young, vivacious Eliza Sommers follows her lover to California during the Gold Rush of 1849—a danger-filled quest that will become a momentous journey of transformation.

The Devil in the White City (Erik Larson)

A spellbinding bestseller that intertwines the true tale of two men—the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death.

March (Geraldine Brooks)

As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the Civil War, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs.

Everyone's Reading Finding My Voice (Diane Rehm) and The Nick Adams Stories (Ernest Hemingway)

The first title is the Everyone's Reading selection for 2009, in which a leading radio personality describes her rise from an abusive childhood in an Arab-American household in Washington, D.C., to success in the field of radio and details her determined battle with spasmodic dysphonia, the rare neurological disorder that nearly destroyed her career.

To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells (Linda O. McMurry)

In the generation following Frederick Douglass, no African American was more prominent or outspoken than Ida B. Wells. Her fiery personality and uncompromising approach sometimes lost her friendships even as it won great victories.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See)

Foot binding; nu shu, a 1000-year-old secret language used by women of Hunan Province, and laotong, the arranged friendship between little girls meant to last a lifetime, provide the framework for this look at a chapter in Chinese history.

The Wonder Spot (Melissa Banks): Struggling with ambivalent feelings toward the passions and identities that are important to other members of her Jewish Pennsylvania family, Sophie Applebaum makes observations about her family life over the course of 20 years. By the author of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing.

Best Friends (Martha Moody): From their first meeting at Oberlin College in 1973, the friendship of two very different women - one from a working-class, Protestant family in Ohio and the other from a wealthy, Jewish family in L.A. - spans two decades and endures family and career demands.

Jitterbug Perfume (Tom Robbins): This philosophical epic, with a large cast of characters, addresses the fervent desire of the human race to overcome the tyranny of aging and physical death.

Cannery Row (John Steinbeck): Vividly depicts the colorful, sometimes disreputable, inhabitants of a run-down area in Monterey, California.

A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hesseini): Two women born a generation apart witness the destruction of their home and family in war-torn Kabul, losses incurred over the course of thirty years that test the limits of their strength and courage. By the author of The Kite Runner.