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.

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