Honors + PELP Book Club

Welcome to the Honors + PELP Book Club! We will meet in the Honors Commons lounge at the end of every month to discuss the monthly book club pick. If you have any questions, please email Zoe Huffman, Book Club Head, at zhuffman@my.apsu.edu! 

January 2023 Pick:

For January, we have chosen Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and Geoffrey Trousselot (Translator)! We will meet on January 31st at 5:00 p.m. to discuss the novel.  You can find a copy here: Audible, Hoopla: Audiobook and eBook, Libby: Audiobook, Clarksville-Montgomery County Library: Book

Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot, Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving Before the Coffee Gets Cold explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

Trigger and content warnings: Alzheimer's disease, car accident, chronic illness, death, pregnancy

February 2023 pick: 

For February, we have chosen Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura! You can find a copy here: Amazon: $16.56, B&N: $14 (Nook devices and app). 

Seven students are avoiding going to school, hiding in their darkened bedrooms, unable to face their family and friends, until the moment they discover a portal into another world that offers temporary escape from their stressful lives.

Trigger and content warnings: bullying, mental illness, child death, sexual assault, suicidal thoughts, death, adult/minor relationship, child abuse

March 2023 pick 

For March, we have chosen The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. We will meet March 30th at 5:00 p.m. You can find a. copy here: Audible, Hoopla, Clarksville-Montgomery County Library, APSU library, and Thriftbooks. 

Set in Morrison’s hometown of Lorain, Ohio, in 1940–41, the novel tells the tragic story of Pecola Breedlove, an African American girl from an abusive home. Eleven-year-old Pecola equates beauty and social acceptance with whiteness; she therefore longs to have “the bluest eye.” 

Trigger warnings: incest, racism, child molestation/sexual assault, animal abuse, child abuse, alcohol abuse, death of an infant, rape, sexual harrassment, toxic parents, domestic abuse, premature birth

April 2023 Pick: 

For April, we have chosen The Inheritance Games by Jennfer Lynn Barnes. You can find it here: Libby (Audiobook and ebook), Audible, Clarksville-Montgomery County Library, Thriftbooks,

It follows a teenage girl, Avery Kylie Grambs, who is unexpectedly left a billion-dollar fortune by a mysterious philanthropist, Tobias Hawthorne. In his will, Tobias stipulates that Avery must live in his mansion, Hawthorne House, for one year if she’s going to inherit. Avery shares the home with the Hawthornes, who are angry and confused as to why Tobias left his fortune to Avery. The book follows Avery’s journey as she unravels the clues Tobias left behind, hoping to understand why a man she doesn’t remember meeting left her billions of dollars. In her sleuthing, Avery is joined by the four Hawthorne boys, Tobias’s brilliant grandsons, and discovers sordid secrets about the Hawthorne family’s history.Trigger warnings: Abusive relationship (emotional/physical), alcohol abuse (implied), cheating, death of loved one/family member (including parental/grandparental, gun violence, manipulation, murder/attempted murder, underage drinking

Former book club picks:

October 2022 Pick: 

For October, we have chosen Stephen King's The Shining! We will meet on October 28 at 5:00 p.m. to discuss the novel and watch the movie.  You can find a copy here: ThriftBooks, Libby (free with public library card), Audible, Clarksville-Montgomery County library (audiobook and physical copy). 

Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

Trigger and content warnings:

Racism & racial slurs, parental abuse, domestic abuse, alcoholism, suicide, self harm, death of a parent

November 2022 Pick: 

For November, we have chosen Kevin Wilson's Nothing to See Here! You can find a copy here: ThriftBooks, Hoopla (free with public library card), Libby (free with public library card),  Audible, Clarksville-Montgomery County Library. 

Madison’s twin stepkids are moving in with her family and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: the twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a startling but beautiful way. Lillian is convinced Madison is pulling her leg, but it’s the truth.

Thinking of her dead-end life at home, the life that has consistently disappointed her, Lillian figures she has nothing to lose. Over the course of one humid, demanding summer, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other—and stay cool—while also staying out of the way of Madison’s buttoned-up politician husband. Surprised by her own ingenuity yet unused to the intense feelings of protectiveness she feels for them, Lillian ultimately begins to accept that she needs these strange children as much as they need her—urgently and fiercely. Couldn’t this be the start of the amazing life she’d always hoped for?

Trigger and content warnings:

Death of a mother from suicide, attempted infanticide by overdose