Adult Summer Book Discussion Series Set

In partnership with the Arizona Humanities Council, the Copper Queen Library and its Friends group will sponsor three book discussions and one film screening in May and June with local AHC scholars Chris Dietz and Nancy Williams.

All discussions are set to meet in the CQL Meeting Room, Ms. Williams' at 6:30 pm and Mr. Dietz' at 7:30 pm.

The first title, featured on May 17 and facilitated by Williams, is James D. & Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment. This book is part of the “We the People” initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities, sharing the lessons of history with all Americans.

The following night, May 18, Come See the Paradise, a 1991 film featuring a love story set on the West Coast during the internment of Japanese-Americans, will be screened at 6:30 pm.

In describing Farewell to Manzanar, its publisher wrote, “Jeanne Wakatsuki was seven years old in 1942 when her family was uprooted from their home and sent to live at Manzanar internment camp – with 10,000 other Japanese Americans. Along with searchlight towers and armed guards, Manzanar ludicrously featured cheerleaders, Boy Scouts, sock hops, baton twirling lessons and a dance band called The Jive Bombers who would play any popular song except the nation's #1 hit: Don't Fence Me In.

Farewell To Manzanar is the true story of one spirited Japanese American family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention . . . and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States.”

Other titles featured in the Summer Discussion Series include Yann Martel’s Life of Pi on June 7 at 7:30 pm and Azar Nafisi’s Reading ‘Lolita’ in Tehran: A Memoir in Books on June 28 at 7:30 pm, both facilitated by Dietz.

Those interested in participating in book discussions may register beforehand at the Library Circulation Desk to receive a book and discussion guide.

For further information, call the Copper Queen Library at 432-4232.