Book Discussion Groups

The Plot is Murder by V.M. Burns

Samantha Washington has dreamed of owning her own mystery bookstore for as long as she can remember. Now that she’s preparing for her store’s grand opening, she’s also realizing another dream – penning a cozy mystery that’s set in England between the wars. While Samantha hires employees and fills the shelves, her pen has quick-witted Lady Penelope Marsh, long-overshadowed by her beautiful sister Daphne, refusing to lose the besotted Victor Carlston to her sibling’s charms and stepping in to solve the murder of one of Daphne’s other suitors….

But as Samantha indulges her imagination, the unimaginable happens in real life. A shady realtor turns up dead in her backyard, and the police suspect her – after all, the owner of a mystery bookstore might know a thing or two about murder, right? Aided by her feisty grandmother and an ensemble of colorful retirees, Samantha is determined to close the case before her store opens. But will she live to conclude her story now that the killer has a revised ending in mind for her? – Amazon

August 6 – Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

James by Percival Everett

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers/listeners of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature. – Amazon

August 7 – The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

What have you been reading? There are so many books out there! It’s time to share. You’ll have a chance to talk about your recent read…good, bad, or mediocre.

Stars in an Italian Sky by Jill Santopolo

In 2017 New York, Luca and Cassandra, the perfect match for each other, find their blossoming relationship changed forever when a chance meeting between their grandparents reveals a long-buried family secret linked back to two star-crossed lovers in post-World War II Italy.  – Baker & Taylor

August 13  – The Stolen Child by Ann Hood

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER From Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring—and surviving—an attempt on his life thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Town & Country, New York Post, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews

On the morning of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black—black clothes, black mask—rushed down the aisle toward him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey toward physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie at the peak of his powers, writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable, an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art—and finding the strength to stand up again.  – Amazon

August 11– We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

The Twilight Garden by Sara Nisha Adams

In a small pocket of London, between the houses of No.77 and No.79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was a beautiful thing once, a little oasis in a bustling city for neighbors by day and the local foxes at twilight. Now it’s overgrown and neglected, an empty patch of greenery lost to time.

Once a sanctuary, the garden’s gate is now firmly closed. And that’s exactly how Winston at No.79 likes it – anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. Their houses may share the garden, but they’re not exactly neighborly.

But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston’s doormat. It contains no note, only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago—vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. Is someone trying to tell them something? The seed of an idea is planted…

Somewhere out there, a secret gardener made a decades-old promise to keep the community’s spirit alive. Now it’s time for The Twilight Garden to come out of hibernation.  – Baker & Taylor

August 19 – The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez

Love in Bloom by Jenny Proctor

Hating Cameron Hunter shouldn’t be this easy.
I’m basically a golden retriever puppy. I love everyone and want everyone to love me.
But Cameron is the singular exception to my “love everyone” rule, and the hatred goes both ways.
First of all, he’s one of THOSE guys. The kind who looks like he belongs on the cover of Yacht Club Weekly. Second of all, he’s way too good at his job. The man is a walking Wikipedia. His walking tours of historic downtown Charleston stay booked weeks in advance.
Did I mention I run tours along the same route?
When we’re both up for a magazine feature that could kick our respective careers to the next level, our rivalry turns into a heated competition.
Then we unexpectedly kiss (it’s a looooong story), and things get really complicated. Now my blood is boiling over Cameron for an entirely different reason.

Only one of us can win. Can I trust a man who used to be my enemy, or is everything—even our relationship—just a part of his plan to take me down? – Amazon

August 20 – The Sister Effect by Susan Mallery

We will gather in the library parking lot and then walk the *trail while we talk about what we’ve been reading, listening to, or watching…whatever comes to mind!

Meets in June and July.

*Weather permitting.

What An Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds by Douglas Preston

For millennia, owls have captivated and intrigued us. Our fascination with these mysterious birds was first documented more than thirty thousand years ago in the Chauvet Cave paintings in southern France. With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Though our fascination goes back centuries, scientists have only recently begun to understand in deep detail the complex nature of these extraordinary birds. Some two hundred sixty species of owls exist today, and they reside on every continent except Antarctica, but they are far more difficult to find and study than other birds because they are cryptic, camouflaged, and mostly active in the dark of night.

Jennifer Ackerman illuminates the rich biology and natural history of these birds and reveals remarkable new scientific discoveries about their brains and behavior. She joins scientists in the field and explores how researchers are using modern technology and tools to learn how owls communicate, hunt, court, mate, raise their young, and move about from season to season. We now know that the hoots, squawks, and chitters of owls follow sophisticated and complex rules, allowing them to express not just their needs and desires but their individuality and identity. Owls duet. They migrate. They hoard their prey. Some live in underground burrows; some roost in large groups; some dine on black widows and scorpions.

Ackerman brings this research alive with her own personal field observations about owls and dives deep into why these birds beguile us. What an Owl Knows is an awe-inspiring exploration of owls across the globe and through human history, and a spellbinding account of their astonishing hunting skills, communication, and sensory prowess. By providing extraordinary new insights into the science of owls, What an Owl Knows pulls back the curtain on the nature of the world’s most enigmatic group of birds. – Baker & Taylor

August 28 – The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening by Ari Shapiro

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten. – Amazon

January 9  – King: A Life by Jonathan Eig