Book Discussion Groups

The Library offers several book clubs catering to a wide range of reading interests. Please join us. Check our online calendar for specific dates. The titles listed below are available from the Information Desk.

We also have online book clubs, where you receive excerpts of new titles via e-mail. Sign up today!

Discussion Group Schedule

Read Anything Good Lately?
Tuesdays at 12:00 p.m. in the Collins Room

Bring your lunch and join members of the WPL staff on the first Tuesday of the month to talk about books! Share what you’ve been reading and pick up some recommendations for more great reads.

Lists of titles from previous discussions:

• April 2013
• May 2013

Mystery Book Club
Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. in the Community Room

Mystery Book Club meets the 1st Wednesday of the month at 3:00 p.m., February through June. Everyone is welcome. Refreshments are served. Discussions are moderated by Dr. Carole Shmurak.

Winter/Spring 2013: Objets d’art
Objets d’art can also be objects of crime. In this series of selected mysteries, some well-known writers use painters and paintings as the focus for their mysteries.

• June 5
  Nobody’s Perfect by Donald Westlake

Fall 2013: Female Detectives Through Time
There were female detectives in fiction long before Sherlock Holmes solved his first case. The first was Mrs. Paschal, who appeared in 1861, and she was followed by a handful of young, beautiful and plucky Victorian heroines. But female detectives as we know them today evolved slowly during the 20th century — from spinsters to seductresses to tough private eyes and feisty amateurs.

• September 4
  Murder at the Vicarage (1930) by Agatha Christie
• October 2
  Miss Pym Disposes (1946) by Josephine Tey
• November 6 (snow date: Thursday, November 7)
  An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972) by P.D. James
• December 11 (snow date: Thursday, December 12) [NOTE: 2nd week of December]
  A is for Alibi (1982) by Sue Grafton

Spring 2014: The Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip undertaken as an educational rite of passage by mainly upper-class British young men. They began in Dover, crossing the English Channel to France, travelling to Paris, then Switzerland (Geneva or Lausanne), and into northern Italy, where Venice was considered the epitome of Italian culture. From there, the travellers went to Florence and Rome, perhaps to Munich or Heidelberg, then to the Netherlands, before returning across the Channel to England. Our mystery tour will begin instead in Bath and take a side trip to Stockholm, but then we’ll visit Paris, Venice and Amsterdam just as they did.

• February 5 (snow date: Thursday, February 6)
  The Last Detective (1991) by Peter Lovesey
• March 5 (snow date: Thursday, March 6)
  The Laughing Policeman (1970) by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
• April 2 (snow date: Thursday, April 3)
  Maigret Bides His Time (1966) by Georges Simenon
• May 7
  Acqua Alta (1996) by Donna Leon
• June 4
  Outsider in Amsterdam (1975) by Janwillem van de Wetering

Thursday Night Book Club
Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in the Collins Room

• June 20
  The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones