Book clubs meet over next few weeks

Several local book clubs are planning meetings over the next few weeks. All groups are open to the general public, and there is still time to get this month’s books read:

The Whitefish Library Book Discussion Group meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

This month’s discussion will center around “The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World,” by Michael Pollan.

In the book, Pollan links four fundamental human desires — sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control — with four plants that satisfy them: apples, tulips, marijuana and potatoes. The author illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy people’s basic yearnings, as well as how people have been helped by the plants. Pollan wonders who is really domesticating whom.

Books may be available for checkout.

The group meets in the library meeting room. For additional information, call 862-9914.

Flathead Valley Community College’s Reading Group is back in session Sept. 12, with several books up for discussion.

Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” takes place in a post-apocalyptic North America. The Capitol rules 12 outlying districts, each of whom must supply one boy and one girl to compete to the death in the annual Hunger Games. The novel follows Katniss Everdeen as she competes in the games.

“Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” by Helen Simonson follows retired Maj. Ernest Pettigrew, a proper Englishman whose unexpected friendship with a Pakistani shopkeeper outrages village society. The novel explores the couple’s relationship in the face of culture and tradition.

Sarah Blake’s “The Postmistress” tells the story of a postmistress in a coastal New England town and a war correspondent in London during World War II. Both women must deliver news and find themselves unable to do so.

The group will meet at 6:30 p.m.

The group is open to the public. The only cost involved is the cost of the books.

For additional information or to sign up, call Sharon Randolph at 756-3981.

Bad Rock Book Club meets at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 to discuss “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” by Michael Pollan.

The book asks a simple question: What should we have for dinner? Pollan traces from source to table the food chains (industrial or organic, alternative or processed) that sustain us to develop a portrait of the American way of eating.

The group meets at Bad Rock Books on Nucleus Avenue in Columbia Falls. Books may be obtained from the bookstore or elsewhere.

Treats are provided at the meetings, and newcomers are welcome.

For additional information about the club, call Carol Rocks at the store, 892-0515.

The Montana History Book Club meets Sept. 13 to continue its discussion of “Roadside History of Montana,” by Don Spritzer.

The book goes beyond cowboy stories to tell of Montana’s dryland farmers, mining town residents, smokejumpers and park rangers. Each vignette introduces readers to the state’s independent, adventurous and sometimes eccentric people.

The book club meets at 6:30 p.m. in the basement meeting room at the Museum at Central School, 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. Books are available at the museum gift shop.

For additional information, call 756-8381.