Hosted by the Tyngsborough Public Library
This book club, run by staff here at the Tyngsborough Library, will be meeting on the last Wednesday of the month in March through June.
The book club is meant to be all-encompassing when it comes to the types of books we will be reading since it’s currently the only book club run by the library. The main goal is to break you out of your comfort zone, the genre of the book selected alternating each month. We might read a genre you never thought about picking up before. Different outlooks and reading histories will inspire our conversations, reflecting on similar themes and character dynamics that appear in these various settings, writing styles, and genres; embarking us on a journey to explore the vast diversity that is the book world!
No registration required. Copies of each title are available at the circulation desk approximately one month before each meeting. Drop in to any meeting regardless of prior attendance or completion of the book (though there will be spoilers in our discussions). Email [email protected] with any questions.
2023 Schedule
March 29th at 6:30pm
The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Genre: Historical Fiction
On a summer evening in 1931, Lilly Blackwood glimpses circus lights from the grimy window of her attic bedroom. Lilly isn’t allowed to explore the meadows around Blackwood Manor. She’s never even ventured beyond her narrow room. Momma insists it’s for Lilly’s own protection, that people would be afraid if they saw her. But on this unforgettable night, Lilly is taken outside for the first time–and sold to the circus sideshow. More than two decades later, nineteen-year-old Julia Blackwood has inherited her parents’ estate and horse farm. For Julia, home was an unhappy place full of strict rules and forbidden rooms, and she hopes that returning might erase those painful memories. Instead, she becomes immersed in a mystery involving a hidden attic room and photos of circus scenes featuring a striking young girl…It will fall to Julia to learn the truth about Lilly’s fate and her family’s shocking betrayal, and find a way to make Blackwood Manor into a place of healing at last.
April 26th at 6:30pm
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
Genre: Magic Realism, Romance
Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.
When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at the Dellawisp she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a young woman with a past, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and a lonely chef, and three ghosts. The sudden death of one of Zoey’s new neighbors sets off a search that leads to the island’s famous author and to a long-estranged relative of the sisters.
Each of them has a story, and each story has an ending which hasn’t yet been written.
May 31th at 6:30pm
Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson
Genre: Graphic Novel
“Speak up for yourself–we want to know what you have to say.” From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless–an outcast–because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her.
–I encourage you to read the graphic novel, however, if you are struggling to get through it, there is a regular novel version. (Feel free to read both versions!)
June 28th at 6:30pm
The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris
Genre: Biography
A dramatic account of how 19th-century Quaker surgeon Joseph Lister developed an antiseptic method that indelibly changed medicine, describes the practices and risks of early operating theaters as well as the belief systems of Lister’s contemporaries.
The group will take a brief hiatus and start back up again in September. Subscribe to our Library Newsletter to keep up to date on book club meetings & picks! Subscribe Here
September 27th at 6:30pm
October 25th at 6:30pm
November 29th at 6:30pm
December 27th at 6:30pm