Book Lovers Book Club: “Remarkably Bright Creatures”

This month’s Book Lovers Book Club selection is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.

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. Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

The titles chosen for the Book Lovers Book Club represent an array of genres, new and longtime authors, and a variety of viewpoints all in the spirit of encouraging lively discussion! These monthly selections are available for checkout with a SJCPLS library card in a variety of formats, both physical (via SJCPLS’s catalog) and downloadable (via Libby/Overdrive).

Please plan to join other members of the Book Lovers Book Club for lunch immediately following our discussion.

Thank you to the Friends of the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library for generously sponsoring our library’s Book Lovers Book Club.