Book Clubs
Love great books? So do we.
Second Friday Book Club
Join other book lovers every second Friday of the month for a lively discussion of selected books.
Informal book chatter begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by a moderated book discussion at Noon. No registration required. This is an online event. Join us on Zoom each month.
Upcoming Second Friday Book Club Titles
September 13 — The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
Women's Prize for Fiction Finalist. Reese's Book Club Pick. New York Times Best Seller
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed.
Full of the beauty and emotion with which she illuminated the Shakespearean canvas of Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell turns her talents to Renaissance Italy in an extraordinary portrait of a resilient young woman's battle for her very survival.
October 11 — Violeta by Isabel Allende
New York Times Bestseller. One of the Best Books of the Year: PopSugar, Real Simple, Reader’s Digest
Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family with five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.
Through her father’s prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses everything and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling.
She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting times of devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Her life is shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women’s rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, and ultimately not one, but two pandemics.
Through the eyes of a woman whose unforgettable passion, determination, and sense of humor carry her through a lifetime of upheaval, Isabel Allende once more brings us an epic that is both fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional.
More upcoming titles:
Millennials Ruin Book Club
Join us for a new kind of book club created and ruined by millennials. This book club is no-pressure: meaning, you read what you want! Join librarians Bethany and Luckas to talk about what you've read, what you're currently reading, and what you're reading next. New members are always welcome. No registration required. Join us on Zoom each month.
For more information about our book clubs, please call (561) 868-7701.