Evening Book Group
The evening group is a mix of people, young and not-so young who meet at 7 pm on the FIRST Monday of every month (with the exception of Monday holidays and summer months) for lively conversation. We read a mix of fiction and non-fiction titles. We laugh a lot. The group meets in a hybrid format – you may choose to join virtually, or come in and meet in-person in the conference room on the lower level. The group is led by Lesley Kimball lkimball@chelmsfordlibrary.org – connect with her or any of our librarians via phone or email for questions or suggestions!
Please note: All meetings will be hybrid via Zoom or in person at the main library.
Sign up for email announcements and reminders about this group!
Selected titles for this group
2023-2024:
- September 11th: Apeirogon : a novel / Colum McCann
- October 2nd: Beartown : a novel / Fredrik Backman ; translated by Neil Smith
- November 6th: Yellow wife : a novel / Sadeqa Johnson
- December 4th: How not to drown in a glass of water / Angie Cruz
- January 8th: A dangerous business / Jane Smiley
- February 5th: The biggest bluff : how I learned to pay attention, master the odds, and win / Maria Konnikova
- March 4th: Maame / Jessica George.
- April 1st: One Book The Kind Worth Killing / Peter Swanson
- May 6th: The passenger / Cormac McCarthy.
- June 3rd:The mothers : a novel / Brit Bennett.
2022-2023:
- September 19th: One Two Three / Laurie Frankel.
- October 24th: The woman they could not silence / Kate Moore.
- November 28th: The guest book : a novel / Sarah Blake.
- December 19th: A place for us : a novel / Fatima Farheen Mirza.
- January 23rd: The survivors / Jane Harper.
- February 27th: The personal librarian / Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
- March 27th: Migrations / Charlotte McConaghy.
- April 24th: The paper palace / Miranda Cowley Heller.
- May 22nd: The sweetness of water / Nathan Harris.
- June 26th: TBD
2021-2022:
- September 13, 2021 – The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
- October 4, 2021 – Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
- November 1, 2021 – Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
- December 6, 2021 – Libertie: A Novel by Kaitlyn Greenidge
- January 3, 2022 – Miss Benson’s Beetle : A Novel by Rachel Joyce
- February 7, 2022 – Unsheltered: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
- March 7, 2022 – Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera
- April 4, 2022- On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong- Our 2022 One Book Chelmsford Selection!
- May 2, 2022 – Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
- June 6, 2022 – The Dutch House: A Novel by Ann Patchett
- June 20, 2022 – Selection Meeting for 2022-2023
2020-21:
- September 14, 2020 – An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
- October 5, 2020 – The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
- November 2, 2020 – The Secrets We Kept – Lara Prescott
- December 7, 2020 – The Fountains of Silence – Ruta Sepetys
- January 4, 2021 – The Widow’s War – Sally Gunning
- February 1, 2021 – This Is How It Always Is – Laurie Frankel
- March 1, 2021 – The Engineer’s Wife – Tracey Enerson Wood
- April 5, 2021 – How To Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals – Sy Montgomery our 2021 Chelmsford One Book selection!
- May 3, 2021 – Valentine – Elizabeth Wetmore
- June 7, 2021 – The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice & Virtue – Mackenzi Lee
- June 21, 2021 – Selection meeting for 2021-2022
2019-20:
- September 9, 2019 – The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
- October 7, 2019 – The Power by Naomi Alderman
- November 4, 2019 – To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
- December 2, 2019 – The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui
- January 6, 2020 – The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
- February 3, 2020 – Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
- March 2, 2020 – One Book: Kitchen Yarns, by Ann Hood and Relish by Lucy Knisley
- April 6, 2020 – Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
- May 4, 2020 – This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
- June 1, 2020 – An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
- June 15, 2020 – Selection meeting for 2020-2021
Still to be determined is our 2020 One Book selection, so this calendar will shift depending on when our One Book pick is selected.
2018-19:
- September 10, 2018 – Beneath a scarlet sky by Mark Sullivan
- October 1, 2018 – Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran
- November 5, 2018 – White Houses by Amy Bloom
- December 3, 2018 – Let’s pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson
- January 7, 2019 –The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Counting Descent by Clint Smith 2019 One Book Chelmsford selection!
- February 4, 2019 – Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
- March 4, 2019 – Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI by David Grann
- April 1, 2019 – Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
- May 6, 2019 – Becoming Nicole : The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt
- June 3, 2019 – Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
2017-18:
- September 11, 2017 – Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- October 2, 2017 – The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs
- November 6, 2017 – A Lesson Before Dying by Earnest Gaines
- December 4, 2017 – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- January 8, 2018 – The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
- February 5, 2018 – The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah – 2018 One Book Chelmsford selection!
- March 5, 2018 – Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor
- April 2, 2018 – Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
- May 7, 2018 – Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
- June 4, 2018 – The Girls by Emma Cline
2016-17:
- September 12, 2016 – We are not ourselves by Matthew Thomas
- October 3, 2016 – A Constellation of vital phenomena by Anthony Marra
- November 7, 2016 – Our souls at night by Kent Haruf
- December 5, 2016 – Daughter of time by Josephine Tey
- January 9, 2017 – My grandfather would have shot me by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair
- February 6, 2017 – My brilliant friend by Elena Ferrante
- March 6, 2017 – Gutenberg’s apprentice by Alix Christie
- April 3, 2017 – 2017 One Book Chelmsford selection!
- May 1, 2017 – Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- June 5, 2017 – All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr
2015-16:
- September 14, 2015 – The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
- October 5, 2015 – Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- November 2, 2015 – Rabbit Run by John Updike
- December 7, 2015 – Can We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast
- January 4, 2016 – Cascade by Maryanne O’Hara
- February 1, 2016 – Euphoria by Lily King
- March 7, 2016 – The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan
- April 4, 2016 – 2016 One Book Chelmsford selection!
- May 2, 2016 – Complications by Atul Gawande
- June 5, 2016 – The Children Act by Ian McEwan
2014-15:
- September 8, 2014 – 11/22/63 by Stephen King
- October 6, 2014 – Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman
- November 3, 2014 – The Round House by Louise Erdrich
- December 1, 2014 – Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
- January 5, 2015 – Good Lord Bird by James McBride
- February 12, 2015 – Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
- March 2, 2015 – 2015 One Book Chelmsford selection!
- April 6, 2015 – Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
- May 4, 2015 – Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
- June 1, 2015 – One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper
2013-14:
- September 9, 2013 – Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
- October 7, 2013 – Stiff by Mary Roach
- November 4, 2013 – The Dinner by Herman Koch
- December 2, 2013 – End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
- January 6, 2014 – Bartender’s Tale by Ivan Doig
- February 3, 2014 – Looking for Alaska by John Green
- March 3, 2014 – A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
- April 7, 2014 – Art Forger by Barbara A. Shapiro – 2014 One Book Chelmsford selection!
- May 5, 2014 – Arcadia by Lauren Groff
- June 2, 2014 – Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
2012-13:
- September 10, 2012 – Art of fielding by Chad Harbach
- October 1, 2012 – The leftovers by Tom Perrotta
- November 5, 2012 – Brothers Bulger by Howie Carr
- December 3, 2012 – Sense of an ending by Julian Barnes
- January 7, 2013 – Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller
- February 4, 2013 – People of the book by Geraldine Brooks
- March 4, 2013 – Just kids by Patti Smith
- April 1, 2013 – Townie by Andre Dubus III – One Book Chelmsford 2013!
- May 6, 2013 – Crooked letter, crooked letter by Tom Franklin
- June 3, 2013 – Trans-Sister radio by Chris Bohjalian
2011-12:
- September 12, 2011 – Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – (Pevear, Volokhonsky, translators)
- October 3, 2011 – The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart
- November 7, 2011 – Distant Hours by Kate Morton
- December 5, 2011 – Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
- January 9, 2012 – Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
- February 6, 2012 – 1984 by George Orwell
- March 5, 2012 – A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger
- April 2, 2012 – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- May 7, 2012 – Garden of the Last Days by Andre Dubus
- June 4, 2012 – Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
2010-11:
- September 13, 2010 – Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- October 4, 2010 – Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
- November 1, 2010 – Coop: a Family, a Farm and the Pursuit of One Good Egg by Michael Perry
- December 6, 2010 – Mrs. Somebody Somebody: Stories by Tracy Winn
- January 3, 2011 – Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston
- February 7, 2011 – Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
- March 7, 2011 – Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- April 4, 2011 – One Book title
- May 2, 2011 – Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- June 6, 2011 – Tinkers by Paul Harding
2009-10:
- September 14, 2009 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
- October 5, 2009 – The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- November 2, 2009 – Given Day by Dennis Lehane
- December 7, 2009 – Lemon Tree: an Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan
- January 4, 2010 – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- February 1, 2010 – Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- March 1, 2010 – Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
- April 5, 2010 – Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
- May 10, 2010 – Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
- June 7, 2010 – Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery