NOMADLAND
by Jessica Bruder
Our May eRead of the Month is here! Join us this month to read NOMADLAND by Jessica Bruder, the book upon which the recently announced Academy Award Best Picture of the Year is based.
NOMADLAND is a story of a new tribe of houseless temporary workers formed by economic hardship – “vanilies,” as they like to call their family-of-circumstance groups – finding community in campgrounds and at the annual Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.
Through the month of May, the eBook and eAudiobook are available to borrow immediately — NO WAITING — with a WCLS library card. Check it out now, and look for discussion questions every Friday on WCLS Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Happy reading!
Questions and Prompts for Readers
Question 1:
It’s Friday, and if you are hitting the road this weekend, our May eRead of the Month, NOMADLAND, is the perfect book to listen to on your travels!
In NOMADLAND, journalist Jessica Bruder temporarily joins the community of older Americans who have adopted a nomadic lifestyle, taking temporary work as campground hosts or as part of Amazon’s seasonal workforce, and living in their vehicles, vans, or RVs.
Some adopt this lifestyle by choice, others by economic necessity. Are there aspects of this lifestyle that you find intriguing? How do you think you would adapt to being ‘houseless’?
Check out the eBook and eAudio of NOMADLAND with NO WAIT if you have a WCLS library card. Get started reading or listening today and let us know what you think!
Question 2:
Happy Friday, readers! If you haven’t yet checked out NOMADLAND, this month’s eRead, do it now and join us in reading together!
The film NOMADLAND, based on Jessica Bruder’s book, was nominated for six Academy Awards and was recently named Best Picture of the Year. For those readers who have seen the movie and now are reading or have read the book, which was better – the movie or the book? Were there some parts of the story that were communicated more powerfully by reading or by watching? Share your thoughts in the comments!
And if you haven’t started reading yet, during the month of May, you can check out the eBook or eAudiobook with NO WAIT if you have a WCLS library card. Do it today!
Question 3:
We hope you’re enjoying our May eRead of the Month pick, NOMADLAND!
Jessica Bruder writes about the CamperForce program, which began as an experiment in one of Amazon’s far-flung warehouses that was struggling to recruit enough temporary workers for the holiday season. A temp agency brought in RVers for holiday staffing at a warehouse in Kansas, and the result was so successful Amazon branded the program CamperForce and expanded it to other warehouses.
Did you view Amazon in a different light after reading about the working conditions for employees of their CamperForce program?
If you haven’t started reading yet, what are you waiting for? In May, there’s NO WAIT for the eBook or eAudiobook of NOMADLAND with your WCLS library card. Read along and join us for more discussion next Friday!
Question 4:
May is almost over, but there’s still time to pick up our eRead of the Month – NOMADLAND!
In NOMADLAND, Jessica Bruder concludes that for Americans doing the math on the lower edge of the income spectrum, the question hangs: When you are no longer making ends meet, what part of your life will you cut out? And a question for us as a society: how many people need to resort to desperate choices in order to survive before we change the model and address rising housing costs and income inequality? Big questions – we’d love to hear your thoughts below in the comments!
Use your WCLS library card to check out the eBook or eAudio of NOMADLAND through May 30. Then look for our announcement of next month’s eRead on June 1!