The UHMC Book club brings UHMC faculty, staff, and community members together for discussion and sharing ideas based on books selected on topics relating to diversity, education, equity and the human condition. UHMC Librarian Dorothy Tolliver leads rich discussion that develops members’ expression and knowledge, while making connections with colleagues and community members.

Join the UHMC Book Club on the last Friday of the month, 8:30 am, in the UHMC Library Lounge. Dates are subject to change. Check our calendar for updates.

For information on the UHMC Book Club, contact UHMC Librarian Dorothy Tolliver (tolliver@hawaii.edu, 984-3583) .

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (January 25, 2019)

A captivating story of two very different women who build an unexpected friendship. Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to ‘aging out’ out of the foster care system. A community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance. Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life – answers that will ultimately free them both.

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon (February 22, 2019)

About a boy with autism who sets out to solve the murder of a neighbor’s dog and discovers unexpected truths about himself and the world. Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7, 057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, novels in recent years.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer (March 29, 2019)

In 1946, as London emerges from the shadow of World War II, author Juliet Ashton is having a terrible time finding inspiration for her next book. Then she receives a letter from Guernsey Island, and learns of a unique book club formed on the spur of the moment as an alibi to protect its members from arrest by the occupying Germans during the war. Captivated, she sets sail for Guernsey. and what she finds there will change her life forever.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (April 26, 2019)

“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitude towards race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man’s struggle for justice – but the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (April 26, 2019)

“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitude towards race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man’s struggle for justice – but the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (May 24, 2019)

An enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trails, and purpose. A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.

Threading My Prayer Rug: One Woman’s Journey from Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim by Sabeeha Rehman (June 28, 2019)

A timely reflection on being Muslim in the United States today, Threading My Prayer Rug is a story of Sabeeha Rehman’s many journeys: from Pakistan to the United States, from being a secular Muslim in an Islamic society to a devout Muslim in a society rife with misunderstandings about Islam, from immigrant to citizen. By challenging stereotypes and offering a new perspective on American life and society through Muslim eyes, Rehman offers a new perspective on what it means to be American.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova (July 26, 2019)

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life – and her relationship with her family and the world – forever. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what’s it’s like to literally lose your mind. As she struggles to cope with Alzheimer’s, she learns that her worth is comprised of far more than her ability to remember.

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende (August 23, 2019)

1939. As Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis, Alma Belasco’s parents send her to live with an aunt and uncle in San Francisco. There, as the rest of the world goes to war, she encounters Ichimei Fukuda, the quiet and gentle son of the family’s Japanese gardener. A love affair begins to blossom – until the two are pulled apart following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Decades later, Irina Bazili, a care worker, meet’s Alma’s grandson, Seth, as he visits at a San Francisco nursing home. Intrigued by a series of mysterious gifts and letters sent to Alma, they eventually learn about Ichimei and a secret passion that has endured for nearly seventy years.

Madam Secretary: A Memoir by Madeleine Albright (September 27, 2019)

For eight years, during Bill Clinton’s two presidential terms, Albright was a high-level participant in some of the most dramatic events of our time – from the pursuit of peace in the Middle East to NATO’s intervention in the Balkans to America’s troubled relations with Iran and Iraq. In this thoughtful memoir, one of the most admired women in the U.S. history reflects on her remarkable personal story, including her upbringing in war-torn Europe and the balancing of career and family responsibilities, and on America’s leading role in a changing world. Madam Secretary offers an inimitable blend of Albright’s warm humor, probing insights, and distinctive ideas.

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje (October 25, 2019)

A spellbinding story about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage. In the early 1950s, an eleven-year old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the “cat’s table” – as far from the Captain’s Table as can be – with a ragtag group of “insignificant” adults and two other boys. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another. As the narrative moves between the decks and holds of the ship and the boy’s adult years, it tells a spellbinding story about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage.

Where the Past Begins by Amy Tan (November 29, 2019)

Amy Tan is at her most intimate in revealing the truths and inspirations that underlie her extraordinary fiction. By delving into vivid memories of her traumatic childhood, confessions of self-doubt in her journals, and heartbreaking letters to and from her mother, she gives evidence to all that made it both unlikely and inevitable that she would become a writer. Supplied with candor and characteristic humor, Where the Past Begins takes readers into the idiosyncratic workings of her writer’s mind, a journey that explore memory, imagination, and truth, with fiction serving as both her diving rod and link to meaning.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin (December 13, 2019)

The scandalous, headline-making, and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley. Through Babe, Truman gains an unlikely entree into the enviable lives of Manhattan’s elite, along with unparalleled access to the scandal and gossip of Babe’s powerful circle. Sure of the loyalty of the man she calls “True Heart,” Babe never imagines the destruction Truman will leave in his wake. But once a storyteller, always a storyteller – even when the stories aren’t his to tell.