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, 10:00 am, virtually led by Professor Tolliver. Dates 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 29, 2021

THE MONEY DRAGON by Pam Chun

The saga of L. Ah Leong, the Money Dragon, one of the legends of Hawaiʻi and the founder of Honolulu’s Chinatown. A tale of a family struggling between love, greed, jealousy and loyalty. Pam Chun reaches into her family history to deliver a story that shows the tumult and opportunity that occurs when the deep-rooted traditions of the Chinese people meet the sweeping advance of the Western world.

February 26, 2021

THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM by Marie Benedict

Hedy Kiesler’s beauty leads to a starring role in a controversial film and marriage to a powerful Austrian arms dealer, allowing her to evade Nazi persecution despite her Jewish heritage. One night in 1937, desperate to escape her controlling husband and the rise of the Nazis. She disguises herself and flees her husband’s castle. She lands in Hollywood, where she becomes Hedy Lamarr, screen star. Hedy is also a scientist. She has an idea that might hep the county and that might ease her guilt for escaping alone – if anyone will listen to her. A powerful novel based on the incredible true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication.

March 26, 2021

THE GREAT ALONE by Christine Hannah

Alaska, 1974. Ernt Allbright came home from the Vietnam War a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes the impulsive decision to move his wife and daughter north where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier. But as winter approaches and darkness descends, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates. Soon the perils outside pal in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own.

April 30, 2021

HOMEGOING by Yaa Gyasi

The story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver.

Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.

May 28, 2021

NEXT YEAR IN HAVANA, A Historical Novel by Chantel Cleeton

A family saga alternating between Havana in 1958 during the revolution, modern Cuba and exiles from Cuba living in Miami during these times. After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity–and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution .Courage, sacrifice, exile and hope are themes.

June 25, 2021

SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid

When Emira, a Black babysitter for a white child, is accused of kidnapping that child at a grocery store, the encounter goes viral. Alix, the woman employing Emira, is determined to make things right, testing the boundaries of their transactional relationship. And when Alix and Emira’s lives becomes more intertwined by a surprising connection, the story unravels quickly for a final reckoning. Explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone “family,” the complicated reality of being a grown up, and the consequences of doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

July 30, 2021

SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT by Beth Hoffman

For years twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille, a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. When Camille is killed by a truck, CeeCee’s previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell, whisks CeeCee away to Savannah, a world seemingly run entirely by women.

August 27, 2021

THE STATIONERY SHOP by Marjan Kamali

A novel set in 1953 Tehran, against the backdrop of the Iranian Coup, about a young couple in love who are separated on the eve of their marriage, and who are reunited sixty years later, after having moved on to live independent lives in America, to discover the truth about what happened on that fateful day in the town square.

September 24, 2021

NOTORIOUS RBG: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg never asked for fame – she was just trying to make the world a little better and a little freer. But along the way, the feminist pioneer’s searing dissents and steely strength have inspired millions. Takes you behind the myth for an intimate, irreverent look at the justice’s life and work. As America struggles with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, Ginsburg stays fierce.

October 29, 2021

THE GIVER OF STARS by Jojo Moyes

Volunteering for Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library in small-town Kentucky, an English bride joins a group of independent women whose commitment to their job transforms the community and their relationships.

November 19, 2021

SHARKS IN THE TIME OF SAVIORS by Kawai Strong Washburn

Folds the legends of Hawaiian gods into an engrossing family saga; a story of exile and the pursuit of salvation. Old myths clash with new realities, love is in a ride or die with grief, faith rubs hard against magic, and comic flips with tragedy so much that they meld into something new.

December 17, 2021

THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY by Natalie Jenner

The British village of Chawton was home to Jane Austen right before she died, and now her cottage and her legacy are threatened – sparking a group of local Austen aficionados to take action to preserve both Jane Austen’s home and her legacy. These people – a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others – could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen.