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The Bookworm
Loveland Centre
90th & Center Streets
2501 South 90th Street, Suite 111
Omaha, NE 68124 

The Bookworm offers in-house book clubs that you can attend when the featured books fit your interests and schedule. Readers receive a 20% book club discount on the books selected for discussion. The Bookworm provides facilitators to help lead the discussions for many of the in-house book clubs. If you have suggestions for groups, or are willing to facilitate discussions, please let us know. 

Monday, March 2 / 6:30 p.m. | The I Should Have Read That in School classics group will discuss To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf ($10.99). To the Lighthouse is considered the epitome of high modernism, that by abandoning the traditional narration (he said, she said-as told by the narrator), transforms the genre with the new technique of stream of consciousness. The text focuses on the Ramsays, their friends and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920.The novel contains three sections. In the first we see the Ramsays and their friends spending an afternoon and evening in the Isle of Skye. The second section is an interlude of ten years which memorializes not only the great beauty that was Mrs. Ramsay, but also the house and its surroundings. The third section shows how the family and friends have changed as they make a final visit ten years later, and how they feel when they finally reach the lighthouse.

Tuesday, March 3 / 1 p.m. | The Art Discussion Group will discuss Lee Krasner: A Biography by Gail Levin (Morrow, $16.99). Lee Krasner is best known as the artist-wife of Jackson Pollock, the renowned abstract expressionist painter. Yet in this first full-length account of her colorful life, Krasner emerges as a significant artist who deserves her place in the twentieth century's cultural lexicon. Art historian Gail Levin probes Krasner's relationship with Pollock, examining how this strong woman struggled to meet the challenges of their poverty, as well as her husband's alcoholism and extramarital affair, all the while encouraging his art. Drawing on new sources and numerous personal interviews--including with Krasner herself--Levin has written a dynamic and moving portrait of a brilliant woman, a most welcome work that recovers Krasner's voice and allows us to understand how her life intersected with and informed her art.

Wednesday, March 4 / Noon - 1 p.m. | What Are You Reading? book chat. Join us to chat about favorite reads, books that changed your life, or the book you just couldn’t put down. No need to make reservations--just come and enjoy a little conversation about books. Carol Lynch facilitates the discussions.

Wednesday, March 4 / 6 p.m. | Jennifer Chiaverini will sign Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule (Dutton, $26.95). In 1844, Missouri belle Julia Dent met Lieutenant Ulysses S Grant. Four years passed before their parents permitted them to wed, and the groom's abolitionist family refused to attend the ceremony. Since childhood, Julia owned as a slave another Julia, known as Jule. Jule guarded her mistress's closely held twin secrets: She had perilously poor vision but was gifted with prophetic sight. So it was that Jule became Julia's eyes to the world. The Grants vowed never to be separated, but as Ulysses rose through the ranks--becoming general in chief of the Union Army--so did the stakes of their pact. During the war, Julia would travel, often in the company of Jule and the four Grant children, facing unreliable transportation and certain danger to be at her husband's side. Yet Julia and Jule saw two different wars. While Julia spoke out for women--Union and Confederate--she continued to hold Jule as a slave behind Union lines. Upon the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Jule claimed her freedom and rose to prominence as a businesswoman in her own right.

Saturday March 7 / 10 a.m. | The U.S. Presidents group will discuss Jimmy Carter by Julian E. Zelizer (Times, $23.00). Jimmy Carter rose to national power through mastering the strategy of the maverick politician. But running as an outsider was easier than governing as one, as Zelizer shows in this examination of Carter's presidency. Once in power, Carter faced challenges sustaining a strong political coalition, as he focused on policies that often antagonized key Democrats, whose support he desperately needed. By 1980, Carter stood alone in the Oval Office as he confronted a battered economy, soaring oil prices, American hostages in Iran, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Carter's unpopularity enabled Ronald Reagan to achieve a landslide victory, ushering in a conservative revolution. But during Carter's post-presidential career, he has emerged as an important voice for international diplomacy and negotiation, remaking his image as a statesman for our time.

Sunday, March 8 / 11 a.m. | The book group Books and Bagels will discuss the 2014 Omaha Reads selection, The Meaning of Names by Karen Gettert Shoemaker (Red Hen, $15.95). Stuart, Nebraska is a long way from the battlefields of Western Europe, but it is not immune to the horrors of the first Great War for Peace. Like all communities, it has lost sons and daughters to the fighting, with many more giving themselves over to the hatred only war can engender. Set in 1918 in the farm country at the heart of America, The Meaning of Names is the story of an ordinary woman trying to raise a family during extraordinary times. Estranged from her parents because she married against their will, confronted with violence and prejudice against her people, and caught up in the midst of the worst plague the world has ever seen, Gerda Vogel, an American of German descent, must find the strength to keep her family safe from the effects of a war that threatens to consume the whole world.

Monday, March 9 / 6:30 p.m. | The pop-up discussion group discussing books about World War I will conclude with Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger (Penguin, $17.00). A memoir of astonishing power, savagery, and ashen lyricism, Storm of Steel illuminates not only the horrors but also the fascination of total war, seen through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier. Young, tough, patriotic, but also disturbingly self-aware, Jünger exulted in the Great War, which he saw not just as a great national conflict but-more importantly-as a unique personal struggle. Leading raiding parties, defending trenches against murderous British incursions, simply enduring as shells tore his comrades apart, Jünger kept testing himself, braced for the death that will mark his failure. Published shortly after the war's end, Storm of Steel was a worldwide bestseller.

Wednesday, March 11 / 6:30 p.m. | The Wednesday Bookworms will discuss Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago (Mariner, $15.95). What happens when the grim reaper decides there will be no more death? On the first day of the new year, no one dies, causing consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration--flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home--families are left to care for the permanently dying, life-insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral parlors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots. Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with scythe and filing cabinets, and contemplates her experiment: What if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small "d, " became human and were to fall in love?

Thursday, March 12 / 6 p.m. | Amiable Adult Readers Discussing Books Almost Always Read by Kids (Aardbaark) will discuss Yaqui Delgado Wants To Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina (Candlewick, $7.99). One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn't even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she's done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn't Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn't kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying to find out more about the father she's never met and how to balance honors courses with her weekend job at the neighborhood hair salon. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy's life. Is there any way for Piddy to survive without closing herself off or running away?

Tuesday, March 17 / 6:30 p.m. | The International Intrigue Book Group’s book has not yet been selected.

Thursday, March 19 / 6 p.m. | The World War II At Night Group will discuss Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned The Tide in the Second World War by Paul Kennedy (Random House, $16.00). Kennedy provides a new and unique look at how World War II was won. Engineers of Victory is a fascinating nuts-and-bolts account of the strategic factors that led to Allied victory. Kennedy reveals how the leaders' grand strategy was carried out by the ordinary soldiers, scientists, engineers, and businessmen responsible for realizing their commanders' visions of success. The story of World War II is often told as a grand narrative, as if it were fought by supermen or decided by fate. Here Kennedy uncovers the real heroes of the war, highlighting the creative strategies, tactics, and organizational decisions that made the lofty Allied objectives into a successful reality. In an even more significant way, Engineers of Victory has another claim to our attention, for it restores "the middle level of war" to its rightful place in history.

Thursday, March 19 / 6:30 p.m. | The As the Worm Turns Book Group will discuss After Visiting Friends: A Son’s Story by Michael Hainey (Scribner,$16.00). Hainey was a boy of six when his father, a bright and shining star in the glamorous, hard-living world of 1960s Chicago newspapers, died under mysterious circumstances. His tragic absence left behind not only a young widow and two small sons but questions about family and truth that would obsess Michael for decades. Years later, Michael undertakes a risky journey to uncover the true story about what happened to his father. Prodding reluctant relatives and working through a network of his father's old colleagues, Michael begins to reconcile the father he lost with the one he comes to know. At the heart of his quest is his mother, a woman of courage and tenacity--and a steely determination to press on with her life. A universal story of love and loss and the resilience of family, After Visiting Friends is the account of a son who goes searching for his father, and in the journey discovers new love and admiration for his mother. Barry Combs will lead the discussion.

Monday, March 23 / 2 p.m. | The World War II Book Group will discuss Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings (Vintage, $17.95). One of our finest military historians gives us a magnificent, single-volume history of the entire conflict. Through his strikingly detailed stories of everyday people--of soldiers, sailors and airmen; British housewives and Indian peasants; SS killers and the citizens of Leningrad--Hastings provides a singularly intimate portrait of the world at war. Remarkably informed and wide-ranging, Inferno is both elegantly written and cogently argued. Above all, it is a new and essential understanding of one of the greatest and bloodiest events of the twentieth century. Discussion will continue in the April meeting.

Tuesday, March 24 / 6:30 p.m. | The Crime Through Time Book Group will discuss The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (Mariner, $15.95). The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon--all sharpened to a glistening edge by wry humor and a ferocious curiosity. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey, where "the most interesting things happen at night.”

Wednesday, March 25 / 6 p.m. | The Louise Penny Discussion Group will continue with her ninth novel How the Light Gets In (Minotaur, $15.99). Christmas is approaching but shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn't spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna's reluctance to reveal her friend's name, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo. As events come to a head, Gamache is drawn ever deeper into the world of Three Pines. Increasingly, he is not only investigating the disappearance of Myrna's friend but also seeking a safe place for himself and his still-loyal colleagues. Is there peace to be found even in Three Pines, and at what cost to Gamache and the people he holds dear?

Friday, March 27 / 7 - 7:30 p.m. | Momaha Night Time Story Time for preschoolers, ages 1 – 5. Put the kids in their pajamas, bring along their favorite stuffed animal, and treat them to an early bedtime story. Expect a little singing, dancing and other fun activities. We’ll have the milk and cookies ready. See www.momaha.com for more information.

Saturday, March 28 / 10 a.m. | The Civil War Book Group will discuss Mathew Brady: Portrait of a Nation by Robert Wilson (Bloomsbury, $18.00). Mathew Brady's attention to detail, flair for composition, and technical mastery helped establish the photograph as a thing of value. In the 1840s and '50s, he photographed such dignitaries as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Dolley Madison, Horace Greeley, the Prince of Wales, and Jenny Lind. But it was during the Civil War that Brady's photography became an epochal part of American history. The Civil War was the first war in history to leave a detailed photographic record, and Brady knew better than anyone the dual power of the camera to record and excite, to stop a moment in time and preserve it. More than ten thousand war images are attributed to the Brady studio. But while Brady accompanied the Union army to the first major battle at Bull Run, he was so shaken by the experience that throughout the rest of the war he rarely visited battlefields except well before or after a major battle, instead sending teams of photographers to the front.