Brookline Reads -SKIP TO CONTENT​

BY MAGDALENEMORAN | SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 · 12:13 AMBROOKLINE READS 2015 SELECTS EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU BY CELESTE NG“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet…” Everything I Never Told You,Celeste Ng’s exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio, begins with these startling words.
A gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait that explores divisions between cultures, Everything I Never Told You is the selection for this year’s Brookline Reads, the Brookline Library’s town-wide reading event.
Everything I Never Told You is Cambridge-based author Celeste Ng’s first novel. It was named Amazon’s Best Book of 2014, has spent more than twelve weeks on the New York Times’s bestseller list, and was described in the Times as “a deep, heartfelt portrait of a family struggling with its place in history. . .a novel about the burden of being the first of your kind—a burden you do not always survive.”
The ideas raised in this thought-provoking and suspenseful novel will be the focus of a series of Brookline Reads programs this October.
On October 27, Ng will be in Brookline to discuss her book. “An Evening with Celeste Ng,” the culminating event of Brookline Reads, will take place in the auditorium of Pierce School at 50 School Street, beginning at 7 PM (doors open at 6:30) and all are welcome.
Several exciting events lead up to Ng’s presentation.
On October 5, The Rev. Liz Walker, award-winning TV journalist, humanitarian, and Pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church, will moderate the panel discussion, “Chasing Expectations,” focusing on issues of bias, identity, and the pressures to belong. She will be joined by Robin Brenner, Brookline’s teen librarian; Chris Chanyasulkit of the Mass. Asian-American Commission and the Commission on the Status of Women; and Nadia Chamblin-Foster, Director of Steps to Success, Brookline’s achievement program for low-income students. The discussion will begin at 7 PM in Hunneman Hall at the Main Library.
On October 15, the Brookline Senior Center, in partnership with Brookline Reads, will show the film “Eat Drink Man Woman,” directed by Ang Lee. The film will be screened at the Coolidge Corner Library at 1 PM; refreshments will be served.
On October 21, Stephen Hull, Acquisitions Editor for the University Press of New England, will lead a conversation with author and editor Francesca Coltrera, acclaimed first-time novelist Patricia Park, and literary agent Janet Silver, about getting a first book published. “You Wrote a Book—Now What? Publishing Insiders Tell All,” will take place in Hunneman Hall beginning at 7 PM.
Brookline Booksmith will sell discounted copies of Everything I Never Told Youas well as of Park’s debut novel, Re Jane, during the month of October.   Books will also be for sale at “An Evening with Celeste Ng” on October 27 and at “So You’ve Written Your First Novel,” the panel discussion on October 21.
Brookline Reads is sponsored by the Trustees of the Brookline Library. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, please see the Library’s website http://www.brooklinelibrary.org/get/
The Town of Brookline does not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission to, access to, or operation of its programs, services, or activities. Individuals, who are in need of auxiliary aids for effective communication in Town programs and services, may make their needs known to Robert Sneirson, at (617) 730-2328. Those who need effective communication services should dial 711 and ask the operator to dial the relevant Town Department.