BIAGB Book Club
Bring your lunch and your love of reading to this midday book club. Each month, we discuss a different book in a welcoming and relaxed environment. From bestselling fiction to compelling non-fiction, there’s always something new to explore. For a complete list of the books we've read, click here.
For more information, please contact: reference@chathamlib.org
When: Third Wednesday of each month at 12:00 PM
Where: Library Conference Room
December 17
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Human foibles and early nineteenth-century manners are satirized in this romantic tale of English country family life as Elizabeth Bennet and her four sisters are encouraged to marry well in order to keep the Bennet estate in their family.
January 21
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Back in American after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes -- and to a writer with a comic genius, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson's acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America's last great wilderness.
February 18
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
In the early 1960s, chemist and single mother Elizabeth Zott, the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show due to her revolutionary skills in the kitchen, uses this opportunity to dare women to change the status quo.
Hooked On Books
Whether you’re into contemporary fiction, historical drama, or page-turning mysteries, Hooked on Books is perfect for readers who enjoy a wide variety of genres. Join us for lively evening discussions that dive deep into each month’s featured title. For a complete list of the books we've read, click here.
For more information, please contact: reference@chathamlib.org
When: Second Wednesday of each month at 6:00 PM
Where: Library Conference Room
March 11
Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict
Clara Kelley is not the experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of Pittsburgh's grandest households. She's a poor farmer's daughter with nowhere to go and nothing in her pockets. But the other woman has vanished, and pretending to be her just might save Clara. But serving as a lady's maid in the household of Andrew Carnegie requires skills she doesn't have. What Clara does have is a resolve as strong as Pittsburgh steel coupled with an uncanny understanding of business. But Clara can't let her guard down, as revealing her past might ruin her future -- and her family's.
April 8
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
As a child, Helen Macdonald was determined to become a falconer. She learned the arcane terminology and read all the classic books. But when her father dies and she is knocked sideways by grief, she becomes obsessed with the idea of training her own goshawk. She buys goshawk Mabel and takes her home. Then she fills the freezer with hawk food and unplugs the phone, ready to embark on the long, strange business of trying to train this wildest of animals.
May 13
The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana R. Chambers
Before mastering the art of French cooking, Julia Child found herself trading in secrets in World War II Asia. Single and thirty years old, Julia McWilliams took a job working for America's first espionage agency, years before cookbooks or Paris. Julia transforms from ambitious blue blood to file clerk, to head of the secret File Registry at the Office of Strategic Services. The wartime journey takes her to the frontlines of Ceylon, India, and China, where she finds purpose, adventure, self-knowledge – and love with mapmaker Paul Child.
Outer Edge
Explore new worlds and daring adventures with Outer Edge, our book club dedicated to science fiction, fantasy, and horror lovers. From epic space operas to magical realms, we celebrate the imagination in every form. For a complete list of the books we've read, click here.
For more information, please contact: kclardy@chathamlib.org.
When: Third Thursday of each month at 6:00 PM
Where: Library Galleries B&C
December 18
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
In the predawn hours, in a distressed American city, hundreds of unemployed men and women line up for the opening of a job fair. They are tired and cold and desperate. Emerging from the fog, invisible until it is too late, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent. Eight people are killed, fifteen are wounded, and the killer escapes. Months later, an ex-cop is still haunted by the unresolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from "the perk", claiming credit for the murders, he wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, fearing another even more diabolical attack and hell-bent on preventing it.
January 15
Wool: The Graphic Novel by Hugh Howey
This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.
February 19
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission to save Earth. Except right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery - and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone. Or does he?