Plano Reads: August Book Clubs
6 mins read

Plano Reads: August Book Clubs

Beat the Texas heat with a great book. Whether you prefer print books, audiobooks, and downloadable titles to read on-the-go, our book clubs are back with another round of great titles for August. Join Plano Public Library book clubs in person or online to discuss and share your latest reads. Choose from virtual, in person, and hybrid meeting options.

Check out the 2022 Book Club catalog (PDF) for all sessions this year, with titles and themes. Continue reading for what’s coming up in August.

What Are You Reading Now?

Monday, August 1 at 3 p.m. 

Hybrid, meeting in person at Haggard Library and virtually on Zoom 

Read and discuss great books you’ve read. Check out past recap book lists here on the blog


Second Tuesday Book Club

Tuesday, August 9 at 7 p.m. 

In-person at Schimelpfenig Library 

The Loneliest Polar Bear: A True Story of Survival and Peril on the Edge of a Warming World by Kale Williams 

Available as Print | eBook | eAudiobook 

Six days after giving birth, a polar bear named Aurora got up and walked away from her den at the Columbus Zoo, leaving her tiny squealing cub to fend for herself. Hours later, Aurora still hadn’t returned. The cub was furless and blind, and with her temperature dropping dangerously, the zookeepers entrusted with her care felt they had no choice: They would have to raise one of the most dangerous predators in the world by hand. Over the next few weeks, a group of veterinarians and zookeepers worked around the clock to save the cub, whom they called Nora. Humans rarely get as close to a polar bear as Nora’s keepers got to their fuzzy charge. But the two species have long been intertwined. Three decades before Nora’s birth, her father, Nanuq, was orphaned when an Inupiat hunter killed his mother, leaving Nanuq to be sent to a zoo. That hunter, Gene Agnaboogok, now faces some of the same threats as the wild bears near his Alaskan village of Wales, on the westernmost tip of the North American continent. As sea ice diminishes and temperatures creep up year after year, Agnaboogok and the polar bears – and everyone and everything else living in the far north-are being forced to adapt. Not all of them will succeed. 


Chinese Book Talk

中文书谈论会

中文书谈论会 

Thursday, August 11 at 7 p.m. 

Register here for Zoom meeting 

Read and discuss great Chinese books you’ve read. 

分享一本您读过的中文好书。 


Cook the Book

Tuesday, August 16 at 1 p.m. 

In person at Davis Library 

Out of the Box Lunches 

Choose your favorite recipe for the monthly topic, prepare the dish and participate in a robust discussion on cooking. 

Examples:

Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day by Leanne Brown, available as eBook 

Beating the Lunch Box Blues: Fresh Ideas for Lunches on the Go! by J.M. Hirsch, available as Print 

Paleo Lunches and Breakfasts on the Go by Diana Rodgers, available as Print 

Lunch Boxes and Snacks: Over 120 Healthy Recipes, from Delicious Sandwiches and Salads to Hot Soups and Sweet Treats by Annabel Karmel, available as Print 


Mystery Book Club

Thursday, August 18 at 7 p.m. 

Hybrid, meeting in person at Haggard Library and virtually on Zoom 

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden 

Available as Print | ebook | eAudiobook 

Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop. They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost. 


Brown Bag Book Club

Thursday, August 25 at 12 p.m. 

In person at Parr Library – bring your lunch and discuss the featured book 

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates 

Available as Print | Large Print | eBook | eAudiobook 

Bill Gates shares what he’s learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions. Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can avoid the most dire effects of the climate crisis. Gates says, “We can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.” His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of the efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen firsthand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and by deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. According to Gates, “to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate is complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe.” 


For more reading suggestions, check out our Plano Reads posts

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