Book Clubs
Share your reading experiences and gain insight while getting to know other readers from all across the state. Wolfner Library proudly offers three book clubs for your reading pleasure! Each book club will feature a different type of reading experience.
- Novel Reads is the general fiction book club.
- Big Ideas is a non-fiction book club.
- Good Books is a mild reads book club. The Good Books club will read fiction and non-fiction books that feature little-to-no sex, violence, or strong language.
All three clubs will meet via conference call line.
How the club works:
Call Wolfner Library to register for the club or clubs you are interested in. Your books will be sent to you. We recommend registering at least two weeks in advance of your club meeting date.
1. Read the book for your club(s).
2. On the appointed day and time, call the toll-free number which will be provided at the time of registration.
3. Once everyone is on the line, we will discuss the book we have read!
Schedule:
April:
April 11 at 2 p.m. Novel Reads: Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule by Jennifer Chiaverini DB 90393, LP030225
Narrated by Christina Moore.
Shy debutante Julia Dent meets US Army lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant. His family doesn't approve of the marriage because Julia chooses to keep a slave, Jule. Jule acts as visually-impaired Julia's eyes, but when emancipation is declared, Jule has a choice to make. 2015.
April 18 at 2 p.m. Good Books (mild reads): Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin DB 50549, LP001487, BR 01583 (web-braille not available)
Narrated by Jennifer Mendenhall.
A classic novel of social customs in late eighteenth-century England. Depicts the personality clash between Elizabeth Bennet, one of five daughters of a country gentleman, and the neighboring aristocratic landowner Fitzwilliam Darcy, which eventually develops into courtship. 1813.
April 25 at 2 p.m. Big Ideas: Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story by Theo Aronson DB 33402
Narrated by George Holmes.
Aronson, who has had a lifelong fascination with the Napoleonic saga, offers a domestic biography of Napoleon's marriage to Josephine. Political, economic, and military events are discussed in detail only when they directly affect the relationship. Describing the Bonaparte union as one of an attraction of opposites, Aronson depicts the marriage from its early years through divorce and Napoleon's exile to Elba.
May:
May 16th at 2 p.m. Novel Reads: Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers DB 29775, BR 17796
Narrated by Earle Hyman.
With dreams of college fading, Ritchie Perry, a black youth from Harlem, enlists in the army. He is sent to Vietnam and into a bloody, violent nightmare where he sees desperate heroism and equally desperate cowardice. He struggles to survive racist officers, pitched battles, guerrilla raids, and multiple wounds. Strong language and violence. For high school and older readers.
May 23th at 2 p.m. Good Books (mild reads): A Flight of Arrows by Lori Benton DB 89741, LP030460
Narrated by Liz Pearce.
William, from The Wood's Edge (DB 82082), has joined the British Army to hide from his family as he tries to sort out his new identity. As the American Revolution reaches the Mohawk Valley, Two Hawks and Anna try to build a life together. Unrated. 2016.
May 30th at 2 p.m. Big Ideas: Nujeen: One Girl’s Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair by Nujeen Mustafa with Christina Lamb DB 88414
Narrated by Emily Ellet.
The story of Nujeen Mustafa, who was born with cerebral palsy and journeyed from Syria to Germany in a wheelchair. Denied education in Syria because of her condition, she taught herself English using American soap operas. Nujeen fled after her small town became the epicenter of conflict between ISIS militants and Kurdish troops. Some violence. 2016.
June:
June 13th at 2 p.m. Novel Reads: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin DB 45742, BR 21103
Narrated by Roy Avers.
In a bygone world of decades-long seasons, three families struggle for the throne. When honorable Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell is sent south to be the hand of the king, he faces many ambitious and ruthless people. Meanwhile the king contends with wildlings and creatures beyond the domain wall. A Song of Ice and Fire series, book 1. Some descriptions of sex, some strong language, and some violence. 1996.
June 20nd at 2 p.m. Good Books: Where Courage Calls by Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan DB 78313, LP030814, BR 20446
Narrated by Theresa Conkin.
Beth Thatcher from Toronto takes a teaching post in a remote coal-mining town in western Canada. She adjusts to outdoor plumbing and oil lamps while organizing the one-room school, Bible studies, and English lessons. Meanwhile, two Mounties come courting. Return to the Canadian West, book 1. 2014.
June 27th at 2 p.m. Big Ideas: The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard DB 88736, BR 17738
Narrated by Jeremy Gage.
An account of the Golden Age of Piracy and the "Flying Gang," a group of eighteenth-century pirate captains who joined forces, including Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch and "Black Sam" Bellamy. Examines why many of those involved turned to piracy and how they self-governed before their ultimate downfall at the hands of Captain Woodes Rogers. 2007.
July:
July 11th at 2 p.m. Novel Reads: Artemis by Andy Weir DB 89733, LP033119, BR 22166
Narrated by Rosario Dawson.
Jazz Bashara smuggles contraband into the moon city of Artemis as a way to make extra money. After she takes on a particularly lucrative job, however, she soon finds herself entangled in a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself. Some strong language. 2017.
July 18th at 2 p.m. Good Books (mild reads): Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew by Michael D. Leinbach DB 90380
Narrated by Gregory Maupin.
Chronicle of the investigation of the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia over Texas on its return in 2003. Discusses the cause of the accident, interagency work protocols, and the contributions of volunteers, which allowed for the recovery of crew remains and forty percent of debris. 2018.
July 25th at 2 p.m. Big Ideas: Space Race: The Epic Battle between America and the Soviet Union for Dominion of Space by Deborah Cadbury DB 64644
Narrated by Butch Hoover.
Examines the superpower rivalries that fueled the race to the moon and the engineering masterminds behind it: Sergei Korolev in the Soviet Union and Wernher von Braun, a former Nazi, in the United States. Discusses the political paranoia of the cold war era and the technological advances it produced. 2006.
August:
August 15th at 2 p.m. Novel Reads: The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman DB 73853
Narrated by Jill Fox.
70-77 C.E. Among the nine hundred Jews holding off the Romans at Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert, are four women: Yael, an assassin's daughter; Shirah, called the Witch of Moab; Shirah's warrior daughter Aziza; and Revka, a grandmother whose daughter is dead. Violence. Bestseller. 2011.
August 22th at 2 p.m. Good Books (mild reads): Animal Farm by George Orwell DB 38959; BR 20910; LP000141
Narrated by Gillian Wilson.
An allegorical political satire of communism in which the animals on a farm overthrow their master and live a utopian life until the intelligent pigs take over and one establishes himself as dictator. 1946.
August 29th at 2 p.m. Big Ideas: The Bonehunter’s Revenge: Dinosaurs, Greed, and the Greatest Scientific Feud of the Gilded Age by David Rains Wallace DB 50723
Narrated by Roy Avers.
Account of the historical feud between two nineteenth-century American paleontologists--Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. After the Civil War both men amassed large collections of dinosaur bones discovered in the West, but their intense rivalry led to muckraking and scandal rather than scientific cooperation. 1999.
September:
September 12th at 2 p.m. Novel Reads: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare DB 22927; BR 14849; LP050006
Narrated by Patricia Beaudry.
When sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler tries to aid a woman accused of witchcraft in colonial New England, she herself is brought to trial as a suspect. Kit's young friend, Prudence, whom she has taught to read, and Nat, a sailor who has fallen in love with Kit, come to her defense. For grades 6-9 and older readers. Newbery Award.
September 19th at 2 p.m. Good Books (mild reads): “I Am Man:” Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice by Joe Starita DBC00756
Narrated by Alice Timm.
In 1877, Chief Standing Bear's people, the Ponca, were removed from their ancestral lands in Nebraska's Niobrara River Valley to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). When his only son dies in 1879, Standing Bear undertakes a 600-mile journey back to Nebraska in order to bury him. This action sets the stage for a federal trial to determine whether or not Native Americans were entitled to equal protection under the law, and had they been deprived of their property, homeland, and even their lives without due process.
September 26th at 2 p.m. Big Ideas: The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln by Kate Clifford Larson DB 66976
Narrated by Laural Merlington.
Author of Bound for the Promised Land (RC 64511) investigates the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Focuses on the involvement of boarding-house owner Mary Surratt. Reexamines primary documents to assert that Mary and her son John, both Confederate sympathizers, participated in John Wilkes Booth's plot. Commercial audiobook. 2008.
October:
October 17th at 2 p.m. Novel Reads: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis DB 16982; BR 11912; LP000012
Narrated by Paul Watson.
Four English children find their way through a huge wardrobe in an old house to the mysterious land of Narnia, which is suffering under the spell of the White Witch. Chronicles of Narnia, book 2. For grades 4-7 and older readers. 1950.
October 24th at 2 p.m. Good Books (mild reads): Orphan Trains to Missouri by Michael Patrick and Evelyn Trickel DBC05758
Narrated by Tom Collier.
Discusses the use of orphan trains to place orphaned or abandoned children in home in nineteenth-century Missouri. For senior high and older readers. 1997.
October 31th at 2 p.m. Big Ideas: The Train to Crystal City: FDR’s Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America’s Only Family Internment Camp During World War II by Jan Jarboe Russell DB 81065; LP030471
Narrated by Patrick Downer.
Author of Lady Bird (DB 49783) examines the history of the Crystal City internment camp, which operated between 1942 and 1948 and housed families of Japanese, German, and Italian descent, many American-born, who had been decreed dangerous enemy aliens. Describes life at the camp and repatriation to foreign countries. 2015.