Join the Morning Coffee Book Club where Scott Biegen, a PSPL Librarian (and English Teacher in a previous life), leads a book club at the Welwood Murray Memorial Library.

The group meets the 3rd Wednesday of the month from 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (PST). The Morning Coffee Book Club meets in person in the Cornelia White Community Room at the Welwood Murray Memorial Library in downtown Palm Springs. Coffee and muffins are graciously provided by Aspen Mills.

To receive meeting information and/or join the email list for the Morning Coffee Book Club, please email Librarian and Book Club Coordinator Scott Biegen in advance of the meeting.

November 20, 2024

Bewilderment by Richard Powers

—Shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize

—Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction
and for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

—A heartrending new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory

The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain…

With its soaring descriptions of the natural world, its tantalizing vision of life beyond, and its account of a father and son’s ferocious love, Bewilderment marks Richard Powers’s most intimate and moving novel. At its heart lies the question: How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?

Assisted Listening Devices (ALDs) are instruments designed to amplify sounds to make it easier for persons who are hearing‑impaired to enjoy a library program.

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication, or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity of the City of Palm Springs, should contact the ADA Coordinator, as soon as possible but no later than 48 hours before the scheduled event.