August Book Clubs at Kona Stories

Kona Stories community bookstore offers many choices of book clubs. Groups meet monthly to discuss books of fiction, travel, classics and non-fiction. Book groups are free if books are purchased from Kona Stories or a $5 donation is appreciated.

Bring pupu or beverage to share and come prepared to discuss the following books. You can choose to attend any or all of these groups. Kona Stories is located in the Keauhou Shopping Center in the courtyard shops on the KTA side. If you need more information call Brenda or Joy at (808) 324-0350 or check it out online.

Book clubs meeting this month are:

1. Tuesday, Aug.14, 2018, the Fiction Group is discussing: The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen with the same incisiveness as in The Sympathizer, in The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen gives voice to the hopes and expectations of people making life-changing decisions to leave one country for another, and the rifts in identity, loyalties, romantic relationships, and family that accompany relocation.

From a young Vietnamese refugee who suffers profound culture shock when he comes to live with two gay men in San Francisco, to a woman whose husband is suffering from dementia and starts to confuse her for a former lover, to a girl living in Ho Chi Minh City whose older half-sister comes back from America having seemingly accomplished everything she never will, the stories are a captivating testament to the dreams and hardships of migration. This group meets at 6:30 p.m at Kona Stories Book Store.

2. August 28, 2018 Non-Fiction Book Club is discussing: Sapiens-A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.

Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become? This group meets at 6 p.m. at Kona Stories Book Store.