The San Jose Museum of Art is launching a new book club this month.  In their first selection, Color: A Natural History of the Palette, author Victoria Finlay shares the history and stories of colors from around the world.  Library copies are available through Link+.     Finlay's title is a perfect fit for the museum's exhibit "Local Color," which runs through mid-January 2013.  Drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection, the exhibit explores the primacy of color in a range of works.   Enjoy the book and plan now to join the museum's Color Party and Book Club launch on Oct. 18.  Admission is only $5.00 after pm.  Five special color tours are also scheduled throughout November and December and are free with museum admission.  Speaking of museum admission, did you know that through the library's Discover & Go program your library card now offers you discounts to the San Jose Museum of Art and other museums and points of interest throughout the bay area?  For a complete list of available venues visit tickets.sjpl.org.  Museums and Libraries--a perfect partnership! 

For September 2012, our Online Book Club selection takes a step back in time, revisiting one of the most infamous events in San Jose’s history.  In his true life police procedural Swift Justice: Murder and Vengeance in a California Town , award-winning author Harry Farrell documents the 1933 kidnapping and subsequent murder of Brooke Hart, heir apparent to a family owned San Jose department store.  After Hart’s lifeless body is finally discovered, a mob gathers at the downtown jail leading to a night of violence and ultimately the lynching of the two suspects in custody.  Although most of the key figures in the case are now gone, today’s readers will still recognize many of the locations central to a case that captivated our city nearly eighty years ago.  For more information on the kidnapping and the violence that followed, visit the library's local history collection in the California Room of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library or visit key sites from the incident by grabbing your smart phone and retracing the steps of some of San Jose's greatest tragedies and calamities.

Each week, we'll put forth a different question to prompt reflection on the book and its ideas.  We hope you will participate in the discussion by contributing your comments.

For Week 1, we'd like to ask: What factors led to the mob violence of 1933?  Could such events happen in San Jose today?

Several factors contributed to the eruption of mob violence in 1933.  I think one of these factors was the size of San Jose itself.  San Jose was a much smaller town in 1933, before the rise of Silicon Valley.  Brooke Harte was recognizable to the residents, many of whom shopped at the downtown store where he worked.  They felt they knew him; many, in fact, did.  I think this familiarity, real or imagined, contributed to the city’s sense of outrage over his kidnapping and murder.  While most of us are saddened and disturbed by the disappearance of Sierra Lamar, for example, the majority of those searching for her, following her story and praying for her safe recovery do not know her personally.  I think that familiarity, often missing in today’s large metropolitan areas, was one of the key factors that incited the city to violence in 1933. How about you?  Do you think such events are still possible in San Jose today?

See our Online Book Club page for more information about this book and to preview the next weeks' questions

Do you enjoy reading and discussing what you read? If the answer is yes, the Edenvale Book Club is the club for you! Come to the fireplace area of the Edenvale Branch Library on Wednesday December 7, 2011 at 6:00 pm. This month, the Edenvale Book Club will discuss The Hunt Club by John Lescroart. Everyone is welcome.

This book is available in three formats:

Hardback Fiction

Large Print Fiction

Downloadable Digital Audio Book (via Overdrive Digital Library)

This month the Cambrian Library Mystery Club will be reading The Pallbearers by Stephen J. Cannell.

 LAPD Detective Shane Scully revisits his troubled past as a foster child. He hears the shocking news that Walter Dix, the head of Huntington House Group Home, where the policeman spent time in his youth, has blown his head off with a shotgun. Since Scully hadn't kept in touch with his former mentor, he's surprised to learn Dix left a note designating him a pallbearer. The other pallbearers at Dix's funeral, fellow alums of Huntington House, also doubt the official suicide verdict and join Scully in an effort to find the truth. ---Publisher's Weekly

Remember, because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the discussion will be held at Cambrian Branch Library on Wednesday, November 30th at 6:45 pm, in Study Room B. New members are always welcome to join this friendly group!

Do you enjoy reading and discussing what you read?  If the answer is yes, the Edenvale Book Club is the club for you! Come to the fireplace area of the Edenvale Branch Library on Wednesday October 5, 2011 at 6:00 pm. This month, the Edenvale Book Club will discuss Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler. Everyone is welcome.

This book is available in a variety print formats:

Hardback

Paperback

Large Print

Korean Fiction