Classics & Contemporary Book Discussion: Hades, Argentina by Daniel Loedel
Tuesday, October 8, 10:30-11:30am, Adults, Auditorium
A decade after fleeing for his life, a man is pulled back to Argentina by an undying love. In 1976, Tomás Orilla is a medical student in Buenos Aires, where he has moved in hopes of reuniting with Isabel, a childhood crush. But the reckless passion that has long drawn him is leading Isabel ever deeper into the ranks of the insurgency fighting an increasingly oppressive regime. Tomás has always been willing to follow her anywhere, to do anything to prove himself. Yet what exactly is he proving, and at what cost to them both? It will be years before a summons back arrives for Tomás, now living as Thomas Shore in New York. It isn’t a homecoming that awaits him, however, so much as an odyssey into the past, an encounter with the ghosts that lurk there, and a reckoning with the fatal gap between who he has become and who he once aspired to be. Raising profound questions about the sometimes impossible choices we make in the name of love, Hades, Argentina is a gripping, ingeniously narrated literary debut. (From the publisher)
Copies of the book are available here. Ebook and audiobook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app.
For those who would like to purchase a copy of Hades, Argentina, please support our local independent bookstore, The Book Stall at 811 Elm Street in Winnetka.
Book Club Discussion: The Lost Art of Dying: Reviving Forgotten Wisdom by L.S. Dugdale, MD
Thursday, October 24, 10-11am, Adults, Media Room
The Lost Art of Dying is a vital, affecting book that reconsiders death, death culture, and how we can transform how we live each day, including our last.
Centuries ago, in the wake of the Black Plague, a text was published offering advice to help the living prepare for a good death. Written during the late Middle Ages, ars moriendi—The Art of Dying—made clear that to die well, one first had to live well and described what practices best help us prepare. When L.S. Dugdale, MD discovered this Medieval book, it was a revelation. Inspired by its holistic approach to the final stage we must all one day face, she draws from this forgotten work, combining its wisdom with the knowledge she has gleaned from her long medical career. The Lost Art of Dying is a twenty-first century ars moriendi, filled with much-needed insight and thoughtful guidance that will change our perceptions. By recovering our sense of finitude, confronting our fears, accepting how our bodies age, developing meaningful rituals, and involving our communities in end-of-life care, we can discover what it means to both live and die well.
Registration required; the discussion will take place in the Media Room.
To obtain a copy of the book, place a hold through the library's website, or obtain a downloadable audiobook or ebook via hoopla.
For those who would like to purchase a copy of The Lost Art of Dying, please support our local independent bookstore, The Book Stall at 811 Elm Street in Winnetka.