The HLAA-TC Book Club meets every month throughout the year on the fourth Tuesday of the month. We alternate between reading fiction and nonfiction books each month and our selections often deal with hearing loss, deafness or disability. We are meeting virtually on Zoom and have had several authors and special guests join us to discuss the books. We meet in the evenings on Zoom (with computer/AI captions). For more information about the book club, please email Laura Hagemann (HLAA-TC Social Media Specialist) at social@hlaatc.org
NLS= National Library Service for the Blind (BARD); LOC= Library of Congress
Now Reading: APRIL 2024: “My Maggie” by Richard King (nonfiction) BARD/NLS: Yes, both Braille: BR 1772 BARD: DB 66445 Tuesday, APRIL 23, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.[ZOOM-Register Here]
Amazon Book Summary: “My Maggie is a rare and real love story. Rich and Maggie King were two people who never gave up on each other a testament to a love few have the will to attain. She was his childhood sweetheart and wife of thirty two years. Diagnosed with hearing loss at the age of four, she wore cumbersome hearing aids and felt the humiliation of being different. Slowly, an insidious disease robbed her of vision. She fought three different cancers, changed careers in the middle of her life and fought to realize her dreams…”
Future Books:
MAY 2024: “The Sign for Home: A Novel” by Blair Fell (fiction) BARD/NLS: In process: Braille BR 24152; BARD: DB 11605. Tuesday, MAY 28, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. [ZOOM- Register Here]. Amazon: Book Summary “Arlo Dilly is young, handsome, and eager to meet the right girl. He also happens to be DeafBlind, a Jehovah’s Witness, and under the strict guardianship of his controlling uncle. His chances of finding someone to love seem slim to none.”
JUNE 2024: “But You Look So Normal: Lost and Found in a Hearing World” by Claudia Marseille [book not in BARD but author will be attending and audiobook will be released when the book is]. To be released May 14, 2024, you can pre-order on Amazon. WITH SPECIAL GUEST AUTHOR CLAUDIA MARSEILLE. Tuesday, JUNE 25, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. [ZOOM-Registration Link To Come]. Amazon Book Summary: By age four, Claudia Marseille had hardly uttered a word. When her parents finally had her hearing tested and learned she had a severe hearing loss, they chose to mainstream her, hoping this would offer her the most “normal” childhood possible. With the help of a primitive hearing aid, Claudia worked hard to learn to hear, lipread, and speak even as she tried to hide her disability in order to fit in. As a result, she was often misunderstood, lonely, and isolated—fitting into neither the hearing world nor the Deaf culture.
JULY 2024: “The Dolphin House” by Audrey Schulman BARD/NLS: DB 110165. WITH SPECIAL GUEST AUTHOR AUDREY SCHULMAN. Tuesday, JULY 23, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. [ZOOM-Registration Link To Come]. Amazon Book Summary: Based on the true story of the 1965 “dolphin house” experiment, this spellbinding novel captures the tenor of the social experiments of the 1960s in award-winning author Audrey Schulman’s tightly paced and evocative style.
AUGUST 2024: “Reflections from a different journey : what adults with disabilities wish all parents knew / edited by Stanley D. Klein and John D. Kemp ; foreword by Marlee Matlin; BARD: DB 58425. Tuesday, AUGUST 27, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. [ZOOM-Registration Link To Come]. Amazon Book Summary: [This book] presents 40 stories by successful adults who grew up with disabilities. They provide insights into what it is like to persevere in the face of community prejudices, and what it takes for families and children with disabilities to work together toward fulfillment.
SEPTEMBER 2024: “The unheard: a memoir of deafness and Africa” by Josh Swiller (nonfiction/memoir) BARD/NLS: BARD only: DB 67060. Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 24, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. [ZOOM-Registration Link To Come]. Amazon Book Summary: A young man’s quest to reconcile his deafness in an unforgiving world leads to a remarkable sojourn in a remote African village that pulsates with beauty and violence.
OCTOBER 2024: “Resurrection Bay” By Emma Viskic BARD/NLS: DB 110305. WITH SPECIAL GUEST AUTHOR EMMA VISKIC. Tuesday, OCTOBER 22, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. [ZOOM-Registration Link To Come]. Amazon Book Summary: Caleb Zelic’s childhood friend has been brutally murdered—fingers broken, throat slit—at his home in Melbourne. Tortured by guilt, Caleb vows to track down the killer. But he’s profoundly deaf; missed words and misread lips can lead to confusion, and trouble.
NOVEMBER 2024: “Deaf Republic” by Ilya Kaminsky (Poems). Ilya Kaminsky’s astonishing parable in poems asks us, What is silence? BARD/NLS: Yes, Braille: BR 22694, BARD: DB 94920. Tuesday, NOVEMBER 26, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. [ZOOM-Registration Link To Come]. Amazon Book Summary: Ilya Kaminsky’s astonishing parable in poems asks us, What is silence?
DECEMBER 2024: “Sitting pretty: the view from my ordinary, resilient, disabled body” by Rebekah Taussig (nonfiction), BARD: DB 101063. Tuesday, DECEMBER 24, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. [ZOOM-Registration Link To Come]. Amazon Book Summary: A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most. Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older…
Past Read Books:
April 2021: Book (novel): “Deaf Sentence” by David Lodge
May 2021: Book (memoir): “Life After Deaf” by Noel Holston (with special guest Noel Holston)
July 2021: Book (novel): “Not a Sound” by Heather Gudenkauf (with special guest Heather Gudenkauf)
August 2021: Book (memoir): “Shouting Won’t Help” by Katherine Bouton (with special guest Katherine Bouton)
October 2021: Book (novel): “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers
November 2021: Book (memoir) “Invisible” by Ruth Silver (with special guests Joan Schneider and Dani Kaslow from Center for DeafBlind Persons (the organization Ruth Silver founded)
December 2021: Book (novel): “The Art of Hearing Heartbeats” by Jan-Philipp Sendcker
January 2022: Book club on break- no book selection
February 2022: Book (Memoir): Signs of Survival: A Memoir of the Holocaust.” by Renee Hartman with Joshua M. Greene (Children’s Nonfiction/Memoir)
March 2022: Book (novel) “The Listening Eye” by Patricia Wentworth (mystery)
April 2022: Book (memoir): “Burn Down the Ground: A Memoir” by Kambri Crews (Nonfiction/Memoir) (With special guest Kambri Crews). Read the blog post about this book here.
May 2022: Book (novel):“Deafening” by Frances Itani
June/July 2022: ”Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece” by Hugo Vickers (nonfiction/biography)- In LOC and NLS DB064788 WITH SPECIAL GUEST AUTHOR HUGO VICKERS.
August 2022: ”A Maiden’s Grave” by Jeffrey Deaver (Fiction/Mystery) In NLS not in LOC.
September 2022: “The Radical Lives of Helen Keller (The History of Disability, 1)” by Kim E. Nielsen (nonfiction)- In LOC and NLS (DB05798). Meeting with special guest author & professor Kim E. Nielsen.
October 2022: “The Quality of Silence” by Rosamund Lupton (fiction/novel) In LOC and NLS (DBC16541) Meeting on Tuesday, October 25th at THE SPECIAL TIME OF 1:00 PM.
November 2022: “A loss for words: The story of deafness in a family” by Lou Ann Walker (nonfiction). In LOC and NLS (DB029327) (with special guest author Lou Ann Walker)
December 2022: “Rules for Visiting” by Jessica Francis Kane (Fiction). In LOC and NLS (DB295255)
January 2023: “I’ll Scream Later” by Marlee Matlin (nonfiction/memoir)
FEBRUARY 2023: “I never promised you a rose garden” by Joanne Greenberg (Fiction) BARD/NLS: Yes, Braille: BR 18074, BARD: DB 12303 WITH SPECIAL GUEST AUTHOR JOANNE GREENBERG
March 2023: “Chasing Space: an astronaut’s story of grit, grace and second chances” by Leland Melvin (nonfiction/memoir) BARD/NLS: Yes: Braille BR 22112 and BARD: DB 89168
April 2023: “True Biz” by Sara Novic (Fiction). BARD/NLS: Yes, BARD only: DB 107579
May and June 2023: “What’s that pig outdoors: Memoir of Deafness” by Henry Kisor (nonfiction/memoir) BARD/NLS: Yes, Braille: BR 08392; BARD: DB 31492.
July 2023: “Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller” by Georgina Kleege(nonfiction/memoir) BARD/NLS: Yes, Braille: BR 16939, BARD: DB 63900. With special guest Georgina Kleege.
August 2023: “The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn” by Colin Dexter (fiction/mystery). BARD/NLS: BARD only: DB 108526
September 2023: “Not Fade Away: A Memoir of Senses Lost and Found” by Rebecca Alexander.(nonfiction/memoir). BARD/NLS: Yes, Braille: BR 20582; BARD: DB 80043. With SPECIAL GUEST author Rebecca Alexander.
October 2023: “Murder on Lexington Avenue: A Gaslight Mystery” by Victoria Thompson (Fiction/Mystery). BARD/NLS: Yes, BR 24532 in process; BARD: DB 81245
November/December 2023: “Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law” by Haben Girme (Nonfiction/memoir).
January 2024: “Keeping Lucy: A Novel” by T. Greenwood (Fiction) BARD/NLS: BARD only: DB 96120
February 2024: “The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales” by Oliver Sacks. BARD: DB 23901. FEBRUARY BOOK CLUB: Tuesday, FEBRUARY 27, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
March 2024: ”The Silent House” By Nell Pattison (fiction) BARD/NLS: DB 111629. Tuesday, March 26th, 7:00pm – 8:30pm (CST)
