Amsterdam Reads 2012Home
Book Selections
Upcoming Events
Books History
CLICK HERE for the FLYER

 
Mission Statement:
The purpose is to enrich the lives of many in the Amsterdam community through reading and related activities thereby enhancing literacy and a sense of community and promoting the Amsterdam Free Library.

Chairman:
JOHN NAPLE

Honorary Chairpersons:
~KEVIN MCCLARY, Recorder Publisher

~BOB CUDMORE, WVTL Radio Personality

~GINA DEROSSI, Amsterdam 3rd Ward Alderwoman

~DANIEL WEAVER, Proprietor of THE BOOK HOUND and editor of UPSTREAM— A Mohawk Valley Journal

Steering Committee:
Joan Baumler
Bill Blance
Maria Cinquanti
Joan Decker
Laura Falco
Maureen Hand
Gloria Martuscello
Linda Naple
Donna Palczak
Stephanie Persico
Dianne Santos
Ann Sherman

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET
by Jamie Ford
In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japan Town. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War 11. Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a Japanese girl from the 1940’s with whom he had formed a bond and an innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel’s basement looking for the girl’s family’s belongings and especially a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, and for country.
       
THE KITCHEN HOUSE
by Kathleen Grissom

In 1791, a seven year old Irish girl witnesses the death of her parents on board their ship bound for America. A wealthy plantation owner on board the ship takes charge of her and takes her to his plantation in Southern Virginia. He puts her under the care of Belle, his illegitimate daughter, who is the “head” slave in charge of the plantation’s kitchen house. In the kitchen house, Lavinia bonds with her adopted family even though her white skin sets her apart from them. Eventually, she is accepted into the world of the “big house” where the master is absent and the mistress battles an opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself torn between two very different worlds and bonds with the slaves in the kitchen house. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question and dangerous truths unfold that put lives at risk.

 
     
AN AFFINITY FOR MURDER (A LAKE GEORGE MYSTERY) by Anne White
A journalist plans to write a story on Georgia O’Keefe who spent her summers at Lake George. When she visits an art critic for background material, she discovers a fire in the house and a body burned beyond recognition with a knife stuck in his back. Then a group of paintings hidden in a locked closet vanish. Are these the missing O’Keefe paintings?
As the journalist researches her O’Keefe story, danger lurks and a murderer begins to follow her. As well as unraveling the mystery, this book explores Lake George history and O’Keefe’s work as well as her history in Lake George. The author offers sensuous descriptions of O’Keefe’s flower paintings and discusses the artist’s technique and her relationship with the famous photographer, Alfred Steiglitz.
 
       
UNBROKEN
by Laura Hillenbrand

As a young man, Louis Zampirini was an angry juvenile delinquent. He broke into homes and became adept at running from the police. He learned to release his anger by running and this talent led him to the Berlin Olympics in 1936. But then World War 11 erupted and Zampirini enlisted in the Army Air Corps. In 1943, his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean and of the 11 men on board, only three survived. Zampirini was one of them. They pulled themselves aboard a life raft and began a horrific 47 day journey on a treacherous ocean with sharks and little food or water. One of the men died on day 33, and on day 46 they spotted land. On day 47, they were captured by the Japanese. As a POW, Zampirini was subjected to unrelenting forms of torture. Ultimately the war ended and he came home. This is a true story of character, fortitude, and survival.

 
     
THE GREAT GATSBY
by F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
This classic depicts the decadence and excess of the “roaring twenties.” The first chapter introduces the readers to Nick Carroway, the narrator of the novel. He is a cousin to Daisy Buchanan, the heroine and ex-lover of Jay Gatsby who owns a huge mansion next door to Nick. Daisy is now married to Tom Buchanan, a playboy polo player who has a mistress named Myrtle Wilson who also happens to be married. Much of the novel is spent reflecting on Gatsby’s past and how he got all his money. Rumors abound. Gatsby holds lavish parties every Saturday night that are open to anyone who wants to come. Liquor flows freely at these parties even though the 18th Amendment had established Prohibition. Bootlegging, adultery, and murder wind around a love story that is doomed from the beginning.
 

Home | Book Selections | AmsterdamReads.com

In cooperation with Amsterdam Free Library

Last updated: January 06, 2012
Website designed & hosted by
Spin-A-Web Technologies