October Book Club Meetings at Kona Stories

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

Book clubs meeting in October are:

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018, Fiction Group is discussing The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See.

Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. PC: Kona Stories

In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for generations—until a stranger appears at the village gate in a jeep, the first automobile any of the villagers has ever seen. The stranger’s arrival marks the first entrance of the modern world in the lives of the Akha people. Slowly, Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, begins to reject the customs that shaped her early life.

When she has a baby out of wedlock—conceived with a man her parents consider a poor choice—she rejects the tradition that would compel her to give the child over to be killed, and instead leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake tucked in its folds, near an orphanage in a nearby city. As Li-yan comes into herself, leaving her insular village for an education, a business, and city life, her daughter, Haley, is raised in California by loving adoptive parents. Despite her privileged childhood, Haley wonders about her origins. Across the ocean Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. Over the course of years, each searches for meaning in the study of Pu’er, the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for centuries. A powerful story about circumstances, culture, and distance, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond of family.

Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018, Travel Book Group is discussing Couchsurfing in Iran by Stephan Orth.

Couchsurfing in Iran. PC: Kona Stories

A modern-day glimpse into the surprising reality of life in Iran. Iran: A destination that is seldom seen by westerners yet often misunderstood. A country that simultaneously enchants and enrages those who visit it. A place where leading a double life has become the norm. In Couchsurfing in Iran, award-winning author Stephan Orth spends sixty-two days on the road in this mysterious Islamic republic to provide a revealing, behind-the-scenes look at life in one of the world’s most closed societies.

Experiencing daily what he calls the “two Irans” that coexist side by side—the “theocracy, where people mourn their martyrs” in mausoleums, and the “hide-and-seekocracy, where people hold secret parties and seek worldly thrills instead of spiritual bliss”—he learns that Iranians have become experts in navigating around their country’s strict laws. Getting up close and personal with locals, he covers more than 8,400 kilometers, peering behind closed doors and blank windows to uncover the inner workings of a country where public show and private reality are strikingly opposed.

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, Non-Fiction Book Club is discussing Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. PC: Kona Stories

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

You can choose to attend any or all of these groups at 6 p.m.

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.