Evening Book Group
The evening group is a mix of people, young and not-so young who meet at 7 pm on the fourth 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 Jessica FitzHanso, jfitzhanso@chelmsfordlibrary.org – connect with her or any of our librarians via phone or email for questions or suggestions!
Please note: All meetings will be via Zoom until further notice. Contact the group leaders for access details.
Sign up for email announcements and reminders about this group!
Selected titles for this group
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