October Book Groups

Join us for these upcoming book discussions at Wilmette Public Library. 

Classics & Contemporary

Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector Tuesday, October 12th, 10:30am

Published in Rio de Janeiro in 1943, this novel introduced Brazil to what one writer called “Hurricane Clarice”: a twenty-three-year-old girl who wrote her first book in a tiny rented room and then baptized it with a title taken from Joyce: “He was alone, unheeded, near to the wild heart of life.” The book was an unprecedented sensation ― the discovery of a genius. Narrative epiphanies and interior monologue frame the life of Joana, from her middle-class childhood through her unhappy marriage and its dissolution to transcendence, when she proclaims: “I shall arise as strong and comely as a young colt.” (From the Publisher)

Copies of the book are available here. Ebook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app.

League of Women Voters/WPL Book Discussion

The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America by Carol Anderson Wednesday, October 27th, 11am

In The Second, historian and award-winning author Carol Anderson powerfully illuminates the history and impact of the Second Amendment, how it was designed, and how it has consistently been constructed to keep African Americans powerless and vulnerable. The Second is neither a “pro-gun” nor an “anti-gun” book; the lens is the citizenship rights and human rights of African Americans. Through compelling historical narrative merging into the unfolding events of today, Anderson’s penetrating investigation shows that the Second Amendment is not about guns but about anti-Blackness, shedding shocking new light on another dimension of racism in America. (Adapted from the publisher)

Copies of the book are available here. Ebook copies are available through or the Libby app.

Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.