Jump ahead thirteen years and living in San Francisco is the journalist and future author Mark Twain who has become friends with Tom Sawyer, one of the men who fought the serial fires. Twain is fascinated by Sawyer’s story and eventually Sawyer would become the namesake of the lead character in Twain’s classic novel. Black Fire: The True Story of the Original Tom Sawyer- and of the Mysterious Fires That Baptized Gold Rush-Era San Francisco is the thrilling account of the hunt for the serial killer and the story of Sawyer and the lawless boom town. Robert Graysmith is both writer and illustrator for this true story, and he is also the author of Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer and The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shower: A Murder that Becomes a Real-life Mystery.

Discuss at the library on Monday, July 8, 2013, 1:30–3:00 pm in the Marvin Auditorium 101C.

“No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; …With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. “
Book I, Ch. 1, War of the Worlds

 The War of the Worlds Book Discussion Resources

• Download the free ebook from Project Guterberg
• Download the free audiobook from Librivox
• The Way or the Worlds Discussion questions
• Classics Made Modern Book Discussion The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells presentation – Get more out of your experience with a quick overview including: author bio, historical context, pop culture trivia, memorable characters, the critics’ take, and quotes
• Discuss the book at the Goodreads Classic Made Modern eBooks Discussion or in the comments below.

Classics Made Modern eBook Discussion Group

The Classics Made Modern eBook Discussion encourages participants to read and discuss free ebook editions of classic literature and meet to discuss and enrich their experience.

YES! You can still read the traditional book. Request a book, large print, audiobook or movie version at http://catalog.tscpl.org. Classics are more fun when you read them with friends! Discussions prepared and led by Lissa Staley estaley@tscpl.org

Nick was going home to his family and the woman he had never forgotten, but it was only temporary since he was on a mission to find the Talisman and once completed he would be brought back to the present day dead or alive. This is a formidable task because no one knows what the Talisman is and to complicate matters Nick discovers The Guild has enemies and secrets too. The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway is a novel that combines time travel, intrigue, and romance turning it into a Regency adventure.

	1  INFERNO, by Dan Brown. The symbologist Robert Langdon, on the run in Florence, must decipher a series of codes created by a Dante-loving scientist.
	2  AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED, by Khaled Hosseini. A multigenerational family saga centers on a brother and sister born in Afghanistan; from the author of “The Kite Runner.”
	3  DEEPLY ODD, by Dean Koontz. (Bantam.) Odd Thomas, who can communicate with the dead, must forestall a crime by discovering the three innocent people who have been targeted by an evil killer.
	4  ZERO HOUR, by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown. Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala and the rest of the Numa team search for a physicist’s machine, buried in an ocean trench, that can cause deadly earthquakes in the 11th Numa Files novel.
	5  THE HIT, by David Baldacci. The government hitman Will Robie uncovers a serious threat as he attempts to take out a fellow assassin who has gone rogue.
	6  DEAD EVER AFTER, by Charlaine Harris. The telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse searches for the truth about the death of the former barmaid Arlene.
	7  SILKEN PREY, by John Sandford. Lucas Davenport is drawn into the investigation of a Minnesota political scandal and the disappearance of an operative.
	8 12TH OF NEVER, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. One week after the birth of her baby, Detective Lindsay Boxer must return to work to investigate a string of grisly murders; a Women’s Murder Club novel.
	9  GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn. A woman disappears on the day of her fifth anniversary; is her husband a killer?
	10 THE SON, by Philipp Meyer. More than 150 years in a Texas family, from Comanche raids to the present, and its rise to money and power in the cattle and oil industries.

NonFiction

	1   LEAN IN, by Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell. The chief operating officer of Facebook urges women to pursue their careers without ambivalence.
	2  HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, by Phil Robertson with Mark Schlabach. The Duck Commander pays tribute to “faith, family and ducks.”
	3  ELEVEN RINGS, by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. An autobiography by the successful coach, who led his teams to 11 N.B.A. championships.
	4   LET’S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS, by David Sedaris. Essays from the humorist on subjects like French dentistry and a North Carolina Costco.
	5  THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT, by Rick Atkinson. The final volume of the Liberation Trilogy describes the Allied victory in Europe, from D-Day to the German surrender.
	6  MY GREEK DRAMA, by Gianna Angelopoulos. A memoir by a lawyer who was instrumental in rescuing the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens from possible disaster.
	7  KEEP IT PITHY, by Bill O’Reilly. A “highlight reel” of previous writings, updated, from the host of “The O’Reilly Factor.”
	8  THE UNWINDING, by George Packer. The collapse of American institutions, politics and culture and their replacement by organized money, told through the stories of ordinary people and significant figures.
	9   DAD IS FAT, by Jim Gaffigan. Life with five kids in a two-bedroom New York City apartment.
	10 THE OUTSIDER, by Jimmy Connors. A memoir by the bad boy of 1970s tennis, who was for a time the world’s top-ranked, and probably most obnoxious, player.

She was born in Inglewood, California on August 8, 1921 to Kansas natives Robert and Bula Williams.  Esther learned to swim at the local pool, winning three U.S. National championships before finishing high school.  She joined Billy Rose’s Aquacade to pay her way through college.  Her plans to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics were derailed when the games were cancelled due to the onset of World War II.

Esther soon caught the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer chief Louis B. Mayer.  After a handful of minor parts, she co-starred with Red Skelton in Bathing Beauty (1944).  It’s success led to a series of lavish musicals, often including elaborate production numbers in the studios massive 700,000 gallon pool.  She starred in five films with Van Johnson, including Thrill of a Romance (1945) and Easy to Wed (1946), three with Howard Keel, and twice with Ricardo Montalban (including Neptune’s Daughter (1949) in which they duet the popular song “Baby, it’s Cold Outside”).  She even swam with animated favorites Tom and Jerry in Dangerous When Wet (1953).

Her “aquamusicals” presented numberous challenges to studio technicians, leading to advanced camerawork and costume design.  She later sought to expand her acting skills in non-swimming vehicles, including Take Me Out To the Ballgame (1949) with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, but the studio insisted that she have at least one swimming scene.  By the mid-1950s, the Esther Williams movie began to fall out of favor with the viewing public, in 1956 she drove off the MGM lot, only returning 40 years later to host a segment in 1994′s That’s Entertainment III.

Esther Williams was married four times, most famously to screen star Fernando Lamas from 1969 to his death in 1982 (she taught step-son Lorenzo Lamas how to swim).  During her retirement, she designed a line of swimwear, leant her name to swimming pool manufacturers, and even served as synchronized swimming commentator for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Many of Esther Williams’ feature films are available on DVD.  Which is your favorite?

The Caretaker by A. X. Ahmad
Ranjit Singh was a former Indian army captain who fled to the U.S. and is now barely able to make a living as a landscaper at Martha’s Vineyard. He is desperate for work when he is offered a job as a caretaker of a Senator’s home. Ranjit secretly moves his family into the Senator’s home. Things are starting to go better for them until one night the home is broken into by men with guns. This is a thrilling novel where the outsider, Ranjit, must enter a world full of insider’s secret deals. Learn the truth about the Senator in The Caretaker by A.X. Ahmad. – Christina Callison, tscpl.org blogger

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Protagonist Trudi Montag, a Zwerg, a term for German dwarf woman, shares her secrets to survival living through two wars and describes her community in intimate detail. Trudi has a special way with people. She’s the collector of her community’s secrets. Trudi goes through a lot and exposes a lot to the reader throughout this complex novel. This story deals with tough subject matter and gets a little strange sometimes, but these were unspeakable times in Germany.  – Lisa Coble-Krings, tscpl.org blogger

Ghostman by Roger Hobbs
In Atlantic City a casino robbery that was planned to the very last detail went terribly wrong leaving one of the robbers dead and the other one shot and in hiding with over a million in cash. A massive manhunt is underway. Marcus, the mastermind behind the robbery, doesn’t know if the surviving robber is hurt, dead or worse — planning on taking the money and run. Marcus needs someone to clean up the mess and retrieve the money, so he calls in on a debt and asks for help from Jack. Jack, who keeps his identity a closely guarded secret, becomes just another obstacle to be eliminated. He risks his life while trying to repay a mistake he made years ago that still haunted him.
– Christina Callison, tscpl.org blogger

The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio
An American couple and an English flower thief’s lives are intertwined beautifully in this romantic novel. Addison and Rex arrive at the English country estate, and unbeknownst to Rex, Addison wants to leave the U.S. to escape a secret. While exploring, she learns of the flower thief’s objective to capture the rare camellia, hidden in the orchard on the estate. Addison’s secret is at stake of being revealed the more she pursues the story of the camellia, which leads to a secret of several missing women in town.
– Christina Callison, tscpl.org blogger

A Memoir from China: A Little Red Guard by Wenguang Huang
In the midst of the Cultural Revolution in China, the government was banning many of the traditional practices like burials and coffins. Wenguang Huang’s grandmother wanted her family to defy the ban and plan a traditional funeral complete with a coffin. At the time their grandmother’s health was fine, but she was obsessed with her funeral, and in spite of her family’s attempt to dissuade her, she continued her campaign. The family finally gave up and had a coffin built despite the threat of exposure and punishment from the government. The secret coffin brought the family together, but also caused friction as the family argued about grandma’s funeral while she continued to live for many more years. Huang’s memories of his family are tempered by time and distance as he has grown up and moved to the U.S., and the result is a touching memoir that chronicles the complicated ties that bind families together.  – Christina Callison, tscpl.org blogger

Suddenly Ranjit’s world is turned upside down as assailants try to kill him, and he is separated from his wife and daughter who now face deportation. The only way Ranjit can possibly save himself and his family is to discover what was behind the break-in and discover the truth about the Senator in The Caretaker by A. X. Ahmad. This is a thrilling novel where the outsider, Ranjit, must enter a world full of insider’s secret deals.

As Mitchell discovered, almost from the start of that fateful July day in 1981 when Adam disappeared from a Sears store, the Hollywood, Florida Police Department were in over their heads. An inexperienced and arrogant lead detective plus a disorganized police force meant that the investigation never really got off the ground. Even more astonishingly, there was a confession, make that multiple confessions, from a truly evil individual who knew details that only the killer would have known, but again the lead detective was unable to do his job. It would take Joe Mitchell combing through all the files and following up on leads to finally prove that the confessed killer was telling the truth.

Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction That Changed America by Les Standiford and Detective Sergeant Joe Matthews is a must-read for true crime fans.

	1  INFERNO, by Dan Brown. The symbologist Robert Langdon, on the run in Florence, must decipher a series of codes created by a Dante-loving scientist.
	2   AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED, by Khaled Hosseini. A multigenerational family saga centers on a brother and sister born in Afghanistan; from the author of “The Kite Runner.”
	3  DEAD EVER AFTER, by Charlaine Harris. The telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse searches for the truth about the death of the former barmaid Arlene.
	4 12TH OF NEVER, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. One week after the birth of her baby, Detective Lindsay Boxer must return to work to investigate a string of grisly murders; a Women’s Murder Club novel.
	5 THE HIT, by David Baldacci. The government hitman Will Robie uncovers a serious threat as he attempts to take out a fellow assassin who has gone rogue.
	6  SILKEN PREY, by John Sandford. Lucas Davenport is drawn into the investigation of a Minnesota political scandal and the disappearance of an operative.
	7   A CHAIN OF THUNDER, by Jeff Shaara. A novel about the siege of Vicksburg in 1863; the second book in a trilogy about the Civil War.
	8  GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn. A woman disappears on the day of her fifth anniversary; is her husband a killer?
	9  A DELICATE TRUTH, by John le Carré. A young man investigates a private-public antiterrorist operation, supposedly a great success but actually a disaster.
	10  THE FALL OF ARTHUR, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. An unfinished narrative poem in Old English alliterative meter, written before “The Hobbit,” with notes and commentary by Tolkien’s son Christopher.

NonFiction

	1  ELEVEN RINGS, by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. An autobiography by the successful coach, who led his teams — the Chicago Bulls six times, and the Los Angeles Lakers five — to N.B.A. championships.
	2  HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, by Phil Robertson with Mark Schlabach. The Duck Commander pays tribute to “faith, family and ducks.”
	3   LEAN IN, by Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell. The chief operating officer of Facebook urges women to pursue their careers without ambivalence.
	4   LET’S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS, by David Sedaris. Essays from the humorist on subjects like French dentistry and a North Carolina Costco.
	5  THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT, by Rick Atkinson. The final volume of the Liberation Trilogy describes the Allied victory in Europe, from D-Day in June 1944 to the German surrender 11 months later.
	6  MY GREEK DRAMA, by Gianna Angelopoulos. A memoir by a lawyer who was instrumental in rescuing the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens from possible disaster.
	7  KEEP IT PITHY, by Bill O’Reilly. A “highlight reel” of previous writings, updated, from the host of “The O’Reilly Factor.”
	8   COOKED, by Michael Pollan. The writer masters recipes and argues that regaining control of cooking will make Americans healthier.
	9  THE OUTSIDER, by Jimmy Connors. A memoir by the bad boy of 1970s tennis, who was for a time the world’s top-ranked, and probably most obnoxious, player.
	10  BUNKER HILL, by Nathaniel Philbrick. Eighteen months in pre-Revolutionary Boston, and the events leading up to the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The Last Zero Fighters describes the exploits of Japanese airmen, putting to paper stories of 5 survivors. A highlight of the book includes the story of  93 year old man Kaname Harada.  Mr. Harada participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor.  He saw action throughout the war and survives to this day.  The Last Zero Fighters gives a look into the mind of the enemy.   As he says, they had the same feeling of patriotism, and love of family that prompted Allied fliers to perform their duties as well.  As the book points out, “War is ugly, senseless and cruel.  We must never forget.”

Mr. King is in town to present his book at the Combat Air Museum and has graciously offered to tell his story to the general public.  I think this is rare opportunity to hear and learn an unspoken story of World War II.  I have been wanting to read this kind of book for a long time, and look forward to the event.  I hope you will plan to attend on June 10th.