UHMC Book Club 2024 Book List
The UHMC Book Club brings UHMC faculty, staff, students, and community members together for discussion and sharing ideas based on books selected on topics relating to diversity, education, equity and the human condition. Dorothy Tolliver, Retired UHMC Librarian, leads rich discussion that develops members’ expression and knowledge, while making connections with colleagues and community members.
Copies of the books are available in HSPLS.
Join the UHMC Book Club on the last Friday* of the month, 8:30 am, virtually led by Professor Dorothy Tolliver.
*Dates and books are subject to change.
Check our calendar for updates. For information on the UHMC Book Club, contact Joyce Yamada (yamadajo@hawaii.edu; 984-3663). Sponsored by: the UHMC Faculty & Staff Development & the UHMC Library
January 26, 2024
TRUST by Herman Diaz
An overarching novel that becomes more exhilarating and profound with each new layer and revelation, engaging the reader in a treasure hunt for the truth that confronts the reality-warping gravitational pull of money, and how power often manipulates facts. (Pulitzer Prize Book)
February 23, 2024
THE SWEETNESS OF WATER by Nathan Harris
In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm. Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. When their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos, including a murder, unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community.
March 29, 2023
THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS by Laurie Frankel
Claude is five years old, the youngest of five brothers. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl. Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.
April 26, 2024
THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC by Julie Otsuka
Tells the story of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as “picture brides” a century ago and traces the extraordinary lives of these women, from their arduous journeys by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; from their experiences raising children who would later reject their culture and language, to the uprooting arrival of war.
May 31, 2024
REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES: A NOVEL by Shelby Van Pelt
A widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium – and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance 30 years ago.
