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:

July 12 — Guests on Earth by Lee Smith

It’s 1936 when orphaned thirteen-year-old Evalina Toussaint is admitted to Highland Hospital, a mental institution in Asheville, North Carolina, known for its innovative treatments for nervous disorders and addictions. Taken under the wing of the hospital’s most notable patient, Zelda Fitzgerald, Evalina witnesses cascading events that lead up to the tragic fire of 1948 that killed nine women in a locked ward, Zelda among them.

Author Lee Smith has created, through a seamless blending of fiction and fact, a mesmerizing novel about a world apart — in which art and madness are luminously intertwined.

August 9 — Good Material by Dolly Alderton

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK. NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR FOR 2024 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 

Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy. And he can't work out why she stopped. Now he is. . . without a home, waiting for his stand-up career to take off, and wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn't looking. Set adrift on the sea of heartbreak, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of his ruined relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him. But Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend's side of the story.

In this sharply funny and exquisitely relatable story of romantic disaster and friendship, Dolly Alderton offers up a love story with two endings, demonstrating once again why she is one of the most exciting writers today, and the true voice of a generation.

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.

More upcoming titles:

October 11 — Violeta by Isabel Allende

November 8 — Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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. This is an online event. Join us on Zoom each month

For more information about our book clubs, please call (561) 868-7701.