Adults
Book Club – Davis Public Library
Join others at the Davis Public Library’s book club on Tuesday, December 19th at 6:00 PM. Conversation, fellowship, and refreshments will be centered on popular book titles for adults to discuss. This month’s book, “Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers” by Jesse Q. Sutanto will be discussed.
Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?
Participants are encouraged to check out the book by visiting the Davis Public Library at 209 East Benton in Davis or call (580) 369-2468. The Davis Public Library is a branch of the Southern Oklahoma Library System.
Craft Your Own Holiday Masterpiece – Wilson Public Library
Unlock the Magic of the Holidays at Wilson Public Library! Join us Monday, December 11th at 4:00 PM as Nichole Hills helps guests of all ages craft a holiday masterpiece using mixed media materials and craft supplies. This “free create” time for families and children helps use imagination to create the perfect homemade holiday décor or gift. This program is free, but reservations are encouraged as spots are limited.
To sign up, contact the Wilson Public Library at (580) 668-2486. You can visit the library at 1087 US Hwy. 70A in Wilson. The Wilson Public Library is a branch of the Southern Oklahoma Library System (SOLS).
Let’s Talk About It – Atoka County Library
Atoka County Library will conclude the Let’s Talk About It series featuring “The Gilded Age” with “The Souls of Black Folk” by W. E. B. Du Bois on Thursday, December 7th at 6:00 PM. Scholar Sharon Burris will serve as the evening’s scholar.
“The Souls of Black Folk” is a classic work of American literature by W. E. B. Du Bois. It is a seminal work in the history of sociology and a cornerstone of African-American literary history. To develop this groundbreaking work, Du Bois drew from his own experiences as an African American in American society. Outside of its notable relevance in African American history, “The Souls of Black Folk” also holds an important place in social science as one of the early works in the field of sociology.
This book discussion will be led by Sharon Burris. Sharon Burris fully retired from Murray State College in 2021 after teaching for fourteen years in the Language Arts Department and three years as an adjunct in Murray’s Mass Communications Program, where she taught journalism-related courses and humanities. She has taught numerous literature classes for Murray, including British, Native American, and Science Fiction, as well as creative writing and composition I and II. She earned Associate Professor ranking in 2015 and was named Professor Emeritus after retiring in 2017.
This program is funded in part by Oklahoma Humanities (OH) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily represent those of OH or NEH.
This program is free and open to the public. Copies of the books are available at the library. For more information, call the Atoka County Library at (580) 889-3555 or visit us at 279 East A Street in Atoka. The Atoka County Library is a branch of the Southern Oklahoma Library System (SOLS).
Book Club – Champion Public Library
Join others at the Champion Public Library for a monthly book club on Thursday, December 7th at 5:30 PM. Conversation, fellowship, and refreshments will be centered on popular book titles for ages 18 and up to discuss. This month’s book, “The Only One Left” by Riley Sager will be discussed.
At seventeen, Lenora Hope, hung her sister with a rope. Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred. Stabbed her father with a knife, took her mother’s happy life. It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything. “It wasn’t me,” Lenora said, but she’s the only one not dead. As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.
Participants are encouraged to check out the book by visiting the Champion Public Library at 601 Railway Express in Ardmore or call (580) 223-3164. The Champion Public Library is a branch of the Southern Oklahoma Library System.