With Books at Home, Your Next Book Group Meets Online

Posted on April 16, 2020

by Library News

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, people are searching for ways to interact without leaving the safety of their homes. Toledo Lucas County Public Library is supporting these personal connections with a digital book group series.

Join librarian Franco Vitella at 7 p.m. on May 7 for Books at Home. Readers can easily log into the Zoom online platform and videoconference with other participants. The conversation will focus on News of the World, a western novel by Paulette Jiles.

Books at Home helps break down that barrier with the Library’s resources.
Franco Vitella
Assistant manager at King Road Branch

Vitella, an assistant manager at King Road Branch, said he enjoys hosting book groups and finding a novel’s nuances among fellow readers. Books at Home recreates this in a format anyone can join.

“These sessions are especially important now. They give readers an opportunity to talk with people outside of their home and on a topic other than the news,” Vitella said.

News of the World tells the story of a young girl kidnapped by Kiowa raiders and raised as their own. Four years later, a former Civil War captain begins the journey of transporting the orphan from her new home to her surviving relatives.

The eBook is available to borrow now on OverDrive and hoopla. The novel was honored as a finalist for the National Book Award. It will soon be adapted into a major film release starring Tom Hanks. Vitella said this novel provides a valuable escape. Readers can flex their imaginations into a different era.

Vitella expects to continue Books at Home after Library locations reopen. The program can reach additional populations, such as those in assisted living or nursing homes. A shared book and conversation help combat loneliness.

“There are people who cannot leave their homes or choose not to. Books at Home helps break down that barrier with the Library’s resources,” he said.

A Book Group of Your Own

This is also a perfect time to start a book discussion of your own. Reach out to family, neighbors, and old friends with a suggested title. (We have more than a few here.) Share some insights and laughs with the people you care about.

No matter your perfect book group, the Library has you covered every step of the way.
https://www.toledolibrary.org/blog/with-books-at-home-your-next-book-group-meets-online
www.toledolibrary.org
crawl=CC-MAIN-2022-49
326212
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:OJ7VIKHCRPHIL44AZCUSWLI22JCV7YJW
<urn:uuid:b09dd756-ef56-431a-b56c-3ba516d99482>
2022-11-30T23:38:55Z
162.159.135.42
text/html
sha1:44CN57525CEUJSUBYF5BNWJR2K2KW2SA
<urn:uuid:29887453-75fd-41d6-8a0d-95da1f132420>
https://www.toledolibrary.org/blog/with-books-at-home-your-next-book-group-meets-online
response
<urn:uuid:287d6586-8640-452c-ab81-58aa27000c57>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2022-49
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for November/December 2022
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-146
software: Apache Nutch 1.19 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.4-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/