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Book Club!

Discussion Book: TThe Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
June 27, 7:00 pm on Zoom
Discussion Leader: TBA
Nuri is a beekeeper and Afra, his wife, is an artist. Mornings, Nuri rises early to hear the call to prayer before driving to his hives in the countryside. On weekends, Afra sells her colorful landscape paintings at the open-air market. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the hills of the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo—until the unthinkable happens. When all they love is destroyed by war, Nuri knows they have no choice except to leave their home. But escaping Syria will be no easy task: Afra has lost her sight, leaving Nuri to navigate her grief as well as a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece toward an uncertain future in Britain.
Nuri is sustained only by the knowledge that waiting for them is his cousin Mustafa, who has started an apiary in Yorkshire and is teaching fellow refugees beekeeping. As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss but dangers that would overwhelm even the bravest souls.Above all, they must make the difficult journey back to each other, a path once so familiar yet rendered foreign by the heartache of displacement.
Moving, intimate, and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a book for our times: a novel that at once reminds us that the most peaceful and ordinary lives can be utterly upended in unimaginable ways and brings a journey in faraway lands close to home, never to be forgotten.

Please contact Clint Bastin, Ann Aagaard or Roger Steinke for additional information about the Book Club, which meets the fourth Tuesday of the month . A copy of this Featured Book of the Month is available in the First Lutheran Church Library. Please join us!  

As you enjoy the summer months and new adventures, remember to take photos for our Share your Favorite 2023 Photocontest. We are creating a new youth category for next year( 2024). Watch for submission instructions coming soon! 
Check it Out!


From Book Club Coordinator, Clint Bastin
The FLC Book Discussion Group has been meeting regularly, via Zoom on the fourth Tuesday of each month, since August of 2020. We have read and discussed a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books, including poetry, a graphic novel, racial and social justice themes, religious/spiritual stories, and mysteries/thrillers. We typically spend about 60-75 minutes discussing symbolism, themes, storylines, and how the book might relate to our present life. Many of our discussion participants often say that they learned as much about the book during the discussion as they did reading the book.
The FLC Library Committee and I recently solicited nominations for future books, voted on them, and assigned them to upcoming months. We try to rotate discussion leaders for the books; if you see a book that strikes your interest, and would like to volunteer to lead the discussion, please let the Library Committee or me know. We hope you can join us in our future interesting, challenging, and fun discussions!
Here are the books for upcoming months:
March: The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem by Marcus J. Borg, John Dominic. Discussion Leader: Ann Aagaard
April: Search by Michelle Huneven
May: The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck
June: Beekeeper from Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
July: Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown
August: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
September: West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge 
October: Findings by Kathleen Jamie
November: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman