Book Clubs Meeting at Kona Stories in May

Brenda McConnell and Joy Vogelgesang. Kona Stories courtesy photo.

Kona Stories Bookstore hosts a number of book clubs each month. Groups meet to discuss works of fiction, travel and non-fiction.

The fiction group meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month; travel meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m.; and non-fiction meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m.

Book club meetings are free if the books are purchased from Kona Stories. Otherwise a $5.00 donations is requested and appreciated.

Participants may bring a pūpū or beverage to share, and come prepared to discuss the following books. Readers may attend any or all of the groups as they wish.

Kona Stories is located in the Keauhou Shopping Center in the courtyard shops near KTA. For more information, call Brenda or Joy at (808) 324-0350 or visit www.konastories.com.

May 9, 2017 Fiction Group is discussing: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro

Synopsis: Nearly 25 years after the infamous art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum–still the largest unsolved art theft in history–one of the stolen Degas paintings is delivered to the Boston studio of a young artist. Claire Roth has entered into a Faustian bargain with a powerful gallery owner by agreeing to forge the Degas in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But as she begins her work, she starts to suspect that this long-missing masterpiece–the very one that had been hanging at the Gardner for one hundred years–may itself be a forgery. The Art Forger is a thrilling novel about seeing (and not seeing) the secrets that lie beneath the canvas.

May 16, 2017 Travel Group is discussing: Deep South by Paul Theroux

Description: Paul Theroux has spent the last 50 years roaming the globe, describing his encounters with remote people and far-flung places in ten best-selling travel books. Now, for the first time, he explores a part of America–the Deep South. Setting out on a winding road trip, Theroux discovers a region of architectural and artistic wonders, incomparable music, mouth-watering cuisine–and also some of the worst schools, medical care, housing and unemployment rates in the nation.

Yet, no matter where he goes, Theroux meets the unsung heroes of the South, the people who, despite it all, never left, and also those who found their way home and devoted their lives to rebuilding a place they could never live without.

May 23, 2017 Non-Fiction Group is discussing: The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

Summary: In 1939, the Germans have invaded Poland. The keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, survive the bombardment of the city, only to see the occupiers ruthlessly kill many of their animals. The Nazis then carry off the prized specimens to Berlin for their program to create the “purest” breeds, much as they saw themselves as the purest human race. Opposed to all the Nazis represented, the Zabinskis risked their lives by hiding Jews in the now-empty animal cages, saving as many as 300 people from extermination. Acclaimed, best-selling author Diane Ackerman, fascinated both by the Zabinskis’ courage and by Antonina’s incredible sensitivity to all living beings, tells a moving and dramatic story of the power of empathy and the strength of love.