Booked-n-Busy (Wednesday, May 1, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. CT)

We invite you to read or listen to Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, and to join our May 1 virtual book club gathering where there will be opportunities to share thoughts, opinions, impressions, and musings with peers, friends, and the Mather community!

We welcome everyone to participate in our discussion, and hope the following resources will help you find a copy of this story to read or listen to! Click on the blue links below to explore your options:

• Find a copy near you within the Chicago Public Library system (or your own local library) - Chicago Public Library Search
• Purchase the book at your local bookstore, or via Amazon or bookshop.org
• Access an audiobook or ebook version through your local library system's app, Libby

As you read the book or watch the movie over the month of April, we'd love to hear your thoughts on our Facebook group to help shape our discussion! Join us at https://www.facebook.com/groups/mathercreativeprograms

Remarkably Bright Creatures

For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

Book cover and summary found on the author's website, here: https://shelbyvanpelt.com/books/remarkably-bright-creatures/