Laurentian Book Club

Participation is free! 

The Lost City of the Monkey God Book Cover

The book club will connect through a private forum where all participants can discuss the current book and network with each other.  Joining is completely free, you just have to get a copy of the book to enjoy.  The book club will read one book every two months so that you'll have plenty of time for each book.

To sign-up and create an online profile, please visit: https://www.pbc.guru/stlawu/ 

Current Book:

May 26 - July 28, 2023
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston

Book Synopsis: A five-hundred-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world's densest jungle.

Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location.

Three quarters of a century later, author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization.

Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn't until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease. (Synopsis Source: goodreads.com)

    Questions?

    Please contact our book club moderator, Jared, jared@pbc.guru and she will be happy to help!

    The Books So Far...

    Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

    Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

    April 29, 2019 - June 30, 2019

    A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

    A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

    June 27, 2019 - August 15, 2019

    Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

    Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

    August 29, 2019 - October 10, 2019

    An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

    An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

    October 17, 2019 - December 5, 2019

    Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

    Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

    January 6 - March 5, 2020

    A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell

    A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell

    March 19 - May 14, 2020

    Summer 2020 - Choose Your Own Adventure Book Club

    Choose Your Own Adventure: Summer 2020 - Read and discuss one, two or all three book options simultaneously!

    May 28 - July 30, 202

    • Contemporary Fiction - Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
    • Historical Non-Fiction - The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
    • Personal Development - The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

    Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

    Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

    August 6 - October 8, 2020

    Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    October 15 - December 17, 2020

    Talking to Strangers by Malcomb Gladwell

    Talking to Strangers by Malcomb Gladwell

    January 7 - March 11, 2021

    The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

    The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

    March 18 - May 20, 2021
     

    The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir by Michele Harper

    The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir by Michele Harper

    May 27th - July 29th

    The Leavers - A Novel by Lisa Ko book cover

    The Leavers: A Novel by Lisa Ko

    August 5 - October 4, 2021

    The Book of Longing by Sue Monk Kidd book cover

    The Book of Longing by Sue Monk Kid

    October 14 - December 29, 2021

    Artcurious - Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History by Jennifer Dasal

    Artcurious: Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History by Jennifer Dasal

    January 6 - March 10, 2022
     

    Book Cover of The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton

    The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton

    March 18 to May 13, 2022

    Nowhere Girl: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood by Cheryl Diamond

    Nowhere Girl: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood by Cheryl Diamond

    May 27 - July 22, 2022
     

    Great Circle: A Novel by Maggie Shipstead Book Cover

    Great Circle: A Novel by Maggie Shipstead

    August 5 - September 30, 2022

    Honor by Thrity Umrigar book cover

    Honor: A Novel by Thrity Umrigar

    October 14 - December 9, 2022 

    The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams Bookcover

    The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

    January 6 to February 24, 2023

    Trust by Hernan Diaz

    Trust by Hernan Diaz

    March 17 - May 17, 2023