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Garfield Park Library Hot Topics Book Club

with local author, Susie Bright

Join our book club every second Tuesday to explore great reads and share engaging conversations with fellow book lovers.

A book club organized around discussing the “hot topic” titles in the news,  and book buzz— the controversies, the new classics or perhaps overexposed. 

The Hot Topics Book Discussion group meets on the second Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2pm.  All adults are welcome.

Conversation led by Susie Bright

Free. Registration required.
Include your email for more info: we’ll send you excerpts of the book, and
copies of its most talked-about reviews.

Garfield Park Branch Library, SCPL

705 Woodrow Avenue

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

The below information will be updated monthly to reflect the most current selection:

July 14, at 1:00pm.

We’ll be discussing “Strangers” by Belle Burden.

Below is a curated list of excerpts from the title, as well as author interviews, similar books in history, and opinion pieces. Enjoy browsing if you choose. 

Susie Bright, host of Garfield Book Club: I’ll be looking forward to leading our conversation with timely questions and behind-the-scenes publishing chatter.

Further Reading:
Belle Burden’s Strangers

EXCERPTS

Short Excerpt, Bookreporter:
https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/strangers-a-memoir-of-marriage/excerpt

Free Sample, on Kindle (for Kindle users)
https://amzn.to/4eo7o3s

Vanity Fair excerpt with photos
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/belle-burden-modern-love-book

AUTHOR BIO / WIKI

Wikipedia entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangers:_A_Memoir_of_Marriage

Author WebSite
https://www.belleburden.com

AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Vineyard Gazette
https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2026/06/09/belle-burden-opens-summer-author-series

Oprah Interview - video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctXbYb8OdEk

Town and Country interview w/ Mother and Daughter
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a69918876/belle-amanda-burden-strangers-memoir-interview-2026

NPR interview - audio
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s1-5791556/belle-burdens-marriage-ended-and-she-found-her-voice

SIMILAR THEMES IN LITERATURE

Ursula Parrott, Ex-Wife (1929)
The upper class NYC wife’s view of the Stock Market Crash and her own marriage collapse. A celebrity scandal of its day
https://literaryladiesguide.substack.com/p/a-2026-memoir-about-the-aftermath

Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) — A wife’s diary of a marriage to a man whose character emerges only after the vows; she flees with her child. Sister Charlotte Brontë suppressed its republication after Anne’s death, thinking the subject a misstep.

Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899) — An agreeable, self-effacing wife wakes up. Contemporary critics savaged it as morbid and immoral; it effectively ended Chopin’s career and was buried for decades before canonization.

Nora Ephron, Heartburn (1983) — Autobiographical novel of a husband’s affair discovered during the screenwriter wife’s pregnancy. Humor classic. A thin veil over authors real marriage to journalist Carl Bernstein.

Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879) — Heroine Nora discovers who her husband actually is and walks out, the door-slam reverberating. Some productions were forced to soften the ending.

OPINION

“What’s the Deal with Rich Guys?” - Sara Eckel
https://saraeckel.substack.com/p/whats-the-deal-with-rich-guys

“The Most Interesting Thing about Strangers Isn’t the Marriage” - Emilie Dayan Hill
https://financethatfeels.substack.com/p/belle-burden-strangers-wealth-advisor-takeaways

“Wealth Derangement Syndrome Comes for Belle Burden” - David Roberts
https://www.davidnroberts.com/p/wealth-derangement-syndrome-comes

“What’s Missing from Belle Burden’s Strangers” - The New Yorker
https://law.lsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Whats-Missing-from-Belle-Burdens-Strangers-_-The-New-Yorker.pdf

Calendar:

July 14: Strangers, by Belle Burden

August 11: Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke

September 8: Regime Change, by Maggie Haberman

October 13: Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

November 1: The Third Reich of Dreams, by Charlotte Beradt, editor

December 8: “Le Cookbook Special” - Your Favorites This Year

For More Info, email: patrickr@santacruzpl.org

All of the above listed titles can be found in the library catalog; inquire at any circulation desk or your SCPL online request account.

*** Reminder: request “any medium” of the Title (audio, ebook, print) 
Also,  if you're signed up for other California libraries, check their catalog - for example, San Francisco PL or Watsonville PL.