Lincoln County’s Hooked on Reading Roundtable Discussion Group will be gathering at Spectrum Generations Coastal Community Center, 521 Main St., in Damariscotta December 21 at 1 p.m. 

Join the center’s book group as they enter into a lively discussion and interactive roundtable conversation about Erik Larson’s non-fiction book “The Devil in the White City.”

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men – the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. 

Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction. 

Food for thought and discussion December 21 when Spectrum’s Hooked on Reading gathers:

What satisfaction can be derived from a nonfiction book like “The Devil in the White City” that cannot be found in novels? In what ways is the book like a novel?  

At the end of “The Devil in the White City,” in Notes and Sources, Larson writes, “The thing that entranced me about Chicago in the Gilded Age was the city's willingness to take on the impossible in the name of civic honor, a concept so removed from the modern psyche that two wise readers of early drafts of this book wondered why Chicago was so avid to win the world's fair in the first place.”

What motives, in addition to “civic honor,” drove Chicago to build the Fair? In what ways might the desire to "out-Eiffel Eiffel" and to show New York that Chicago was more than a meat-packing backwater be seen as problematic?
Seasonal visitors, baby boomers, young people and home-schooled students are always welcome to join the group’s monthly discussions. Participation fee is $1.