Clelia Sweeney

This week I wanted to highlight one of our mainstay library services: book clubs. We have three monthly adult book clubs, each run by a librarian on staff. We also offer a monthly homeschooling book club for youth during the school year.

028: Real Reads is our book club for recently published, popular non-fiction. The name is a reference to the Dewey decimal classification for “Books and Reading.” Recent popular choices include “Empire of Pain” and “Four Lost Cities”. Our librarian Cathy started this one in January 2017 and has continued to run it since. I pinch-hit for her a couple of times last year and enjoyed the lively, nuanced discussion. This one is a great choice for anyone interested in history, science, and learning about the world at large. Their next meeting is May 11^th.

Mystery Lovers is what it sounds like: a book club for anyone who loves mysteries! One perk of this club is participants don’t all read the same book. Each month Anessa selects an author or theme to choose a title from. The author for May is Margaret Truman and June’s theme is “any mystery with a historical setting.” This is perfect for anyone who likes to sink their teeth into a captivating mystery and wants freedom of title choice. Their next meeting is May 3^rd.

View from the Margins is the book club I lead. We read fiction and personal non-fiction books, like memoirs or personal essays, that explore social and cultural topics from marginalized perspectives. These varied titles provoke discussion about how these topics manifest in modern society, and what it means to hold these identities. Our next meeting is May 14^th, where we will be discussing “The Swimming-Pool Library.”

Last but not least we have a Homeschool Book Club for families that homeschool or learn remotely, run by Genya in Youth Services. They read from a diverse selection of books that mirror our world. The meeting includes discussion and a related activity. All ages are welcome. This is only offered during the school year, so the last meeting until fall will be on May 4^th.

Our adult book clubs do not require registration beforehand, unless you would like to attend virtually. In that case, visit our events calendar and register to get the Zoom link. The youth book club is held in person at the Library, and there’s no registration.