Long Island Reads Picoult

She may be “the best-selling author of 23 novels,” as the promotional materials say, but did you know Jodi Picoult wrote five issues of Wonder Woman for DC Comics? Just one tidbit from the Nesconset native’s long and successful writing career, which began with getting two short stories into Seventeen magazine while she was still at Princeton. 

And now her latest novel, “Leaving Time,” has been selected for the yearly Long Island Reads mass book group, one gathering of which will take place at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served at the discussion, which is limited to 18 participants, so registration in advance is required. Those looking to put together their own book groups can find guides for doing so at the library’s website. 

The talk will include a screening of parts of a documentary about elephants — in the novel, the protagonist’s mother vanishes from a sanctuary where she had been studying grief among the giant beasts. A search involving a down-on-her-luck psychic and a hard-bitten private investigator ensues.