The Evening Book Group meets on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:00pm. No registration is required, all are welcome. A limited supply of books is available for checkout at the circulation desk.

The former “Books on the Town” group has folded into the Evening Book Group. To view this group’s past selections, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

Selections for 2025

• January 8 – The Delight of Being Ordinary / Roland Merullo
• February 5 – French Braid / Anne Tyler
• March 5 – Everything Inside / Edwidge Danticat
• April 2 – The House of Doors / Tan Twan Eng

Previous Selections

2024

• January 3 – The Care and Management of Lies / Jacqueline Winspear
• February 7 -The Architect’s Apprentice / Elif Shafak
• March 6 – Euphoria / Lily King
• April 3 – A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court / Mark Twain
• May 1 – The Year of Magical Thinking / Joan Didion
• June 5 – Jade Dragon Mountain / Elsa Hart
• July 3 – Two Steps Forward / Graeme Simsion
• August 7 – The Giver of Stars / Jojo Moyes
• September 4 – The Liar’s Dictionary / Eley Williams
• October 2 – Remember Me / Mario Escobar
• November 6 – The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post / Allison Pataki
• December 4 – At the Water’s Edge / Sara Gruen

2023

• January – Dear Edward / Ann Napolitano
• February – Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent / Isabel Wilkerson
• March – Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan-Am / Julia Cooke
• April – The Indigo Girl / Natasha Boyd
• May – On Animals / Susan Orlean
• June – Raft of Stars / Andrew J. Graff
• July – How It All Began / Penelope Lively
• August – The Red Address Book / Sofia Lundberg
• September – Transcription / Kate Atkinson
• October – Fahrenheit 451 / Ray Bradbury
• November – After the End / Clare Mackintosh
• December – Lessons in Chemistry / Bonnie Garmus

2022

• January – A Journey to the Center of the Earth / Jules Verne
• February – Anxious People / Fredrik Backman
• March – Dangerous Women / Hope Adams
• April – Raceless / Georgina Lawton
• May – Outlawed / Anna North
• June – The Book That Matters Most / Ann Hood
• July – Fast Girls / Elise Hooper
• August – How Not to Die Alone / Richard Roper
• September – This Tender Land / William Kent Krueger
• October – Maiden Voyages / Sian Evans
• November – The Personal Librarian / Marie Benedict
• December – West With Giraffes / Lynda Rutledge

2021

• January – Mister Penumbra’s Twenty-Four Hour Bookstore / Robin Sloan
• February – The Night Circus / Erin Morgenstern
• March – Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered / Karen Kilgariff
• April – The Bees / Laline Paull
• May – Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? / Roz Chast
• June – Lanny / Max Porter
• July – At the End of the World, Turn Left / Zhanna Slor
• August – Mrs. Dalloway / Virginia Woolf
• September -Mudbound / Hillary Jordan
• October – Hidden Valley Road / Robert Kolker
• November – Searching for Sylvie Lee / Jean Kwok
• December – Caroline: Little House, Revisited / Sarah Miller

2020

• February – The Library Book / Susan Orlean
• April – Cancelled
• June – Cancelled
• August –  Becoming / Michelle Obama
• October – Educated: A Memoir / Tara Westover
• November – In the Midst of Winter / Isabel Allende
• December – An American Marriage / Tayari Jones

2019

• January – Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI / David Grann
• February – Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood / Trevor Noah
• March – Montaigne in Barn Boot: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy / Michael Perry
• April – A Gentleman in Moscow / Amor Towles
• May – Woman in the Window / A. J. Finn
• June – Beneath a Scarlet Sky / Mark Sullivan
• July – Flight of Dreams / Ariel Lawhon
• August – Lincoln in the Bardo / George Saunders
• September -Moll Flanders / Daniel Defoe
• October – Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir / Jennifer McGaha
• November – The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window & Disappeared / Jonas Jonasson
• December – The Underground Railroad / Colson Whitehead

2018

• January –  A Man Called Ove / Fredrik Backman
• February – The Aviator’s Wife / Melanie Benjamin
• March – The Picture of Dorian Gray / Oscar Wilde
• April – The Other Einstein  / Marie Benedict
• May – Bird in Hand / Christina Baker Kline
• June – The Nest / Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney *
• July – How to Find Love in a Bookshop / Veronica Henry *
• August – White Teeth / Zadie Smith *
• September – Before We Were Yours / Lisa Wingate
• October – Small Great Things / Jodi Picoult
• November – Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis/ J. D. Vance
• December – Ordinary Grace/ William Kent Krueger

* In June, July, and August the group met with the Books on the Town group

2017

• January – Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter / Kate Clifford Larson
• February – Girl on the Train / Paula Hawkins
• March – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde / Robert Louis Stevenson
• April – Deep Down Dark / Hector Tobar
• May – The Kitchen House / Kathleen Grissom
• June – My Name is Lucy Barton / Elizabeth Strout
• July – Court Martial: How Military Justice has Shaped America from the Revolution to 9/11 and Beyond / Chris Bray
• August – Commonwealth / Ann Patchett
• September – The Excellent Lombards / Jane Hamilton
• October – News of the World / Paulette Jiles
• November – Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War 1937-1948 / Madeleine Albright
• December – Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race / Margot Lee Shetterly

2016

• January – Shotgun Lovesongs / Nikolas Butler
• February –  Dream Lover / Elizabeth Berg
• March – Orphan Train / Christina Baker Kline
• April – The Bartender’s Tale / Ivan Doig
• May – Go Set a Watchman / Harper Lee
• June – A Walk in the Woods:  Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail / Bill Bryson
• July – The Wright Brothers / David McCullough
• August – All the Light We Can Not See / Anthony Doerr
• September – Circling the Sun / Paula McLain
• October – My Antonia / Willa Cather
• November – Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania / Erik Larson
• December – The Girl on the Train / Paul Hawkins

2015

• January – The Goldfinch / Donna Tartt
• February – The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Phillipp Sendker
• March – The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II / Denise Kiernan
• April – Invention of Wings / Sue Monk Kidd
• May – A History of Love / Nicole Krauss
• June – Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival / Jennifer Chiaverini
• July – Benediction / Kent Haruf
• August – Flight Behavior / Barbara Kingsolver
• September – The Round House / Louise Erdrich
• October – The Scarlet Sisters / Myra MacPherson
• November – A Room with a View / E. M. Forster
• December – All the Light We Cannot See / Anthony Doerr

2014

• January – Wolf House / Hilary Mantel
• February – Memoir of the Sunday Brunch / Julia Pandl
• March- Once Upon a River / Bonnie Jo Campbell
• April – Girl in Translation / Jean Kwok
• May – The Lifeboat / Charlotte Rogan
• June – The Light Between Oceans / M. L. Steadman
• July – Little Bee / Chris Cleave
• August – No Buddy Left Behind / Terri Crisp
• September – Sandcastle Girls / Chris Bohjalian
• October – Frankenstein / Mary Shelley
• November – The House Girl / Tara Conklin
• December – The Buddha in the Attic / Julie Otsuka

2013

• January – Wingshooters / Nina Revoyr
• February – The Language of Flowers / Vanessa Diffenbaugh
• March – In the Garden of Beasts / Erik Larson
• April – Harmless as Doves / Paul L. Gaus
• May – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks / Rebecca Skloot
• June – The Dressmaker / Kate Alcott
• July – Home Front / Kristin Hannah
• August – The Chaperone / Laura Moriarty
• September: -Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West / Dorothy Wickenden
• October – Gone Girl / Gillian Flynn
• November – Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker / Jennifer Chiaverini
• December – Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Tue Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother / Eve LaPlante

2012

• January – Sarah’s Key / Tatiana de Rosnay
• February – Cutting for Stone / Abraham Verghese
• March – The Kitchen Daughter / Jael McHenry
• April – The Murderer’s Daughters / Randy Susan Meyers
• May – A Moveable Feast / Ernest Hemingway
• June – State of Wonder / Ann Patchett
• July – To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee
• August – The Last Time I Saw You / Elizabeth Berg
• September – Whistling in the Dark / Leslie Kagen
• October – Kitchen Boy / Robert Alexander
• November – The Art of Fielding / Chad Harbach
• December – Prayers for Sale / Sandra Dallas

2011

• January – Desert Flower / Waris Dirie
• February – The Forgotten Garden / Kate Morton
• March – Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression / Mildred Armstrong Kalish
• April – The 19th Wife / David Ebershoff
• May – The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald
• June – Remarkable Creatures / Tracy Chevalier
• July – The Help / Kathryn Stockett
• August: -The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox / Maggie O’Farrell
• September – My Name is Mary Sutter / Robin Oliveira
• October – Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet / Jamie Ford
• November – The Postmistress / Sarah Blake
• December – A Gate at the Stairs / Lorrie Moore

2010

• January – My Stroke of Insight / Jill Bolte Taylor
• February – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas / John Boyne
• March – Flags of Our Fathers / James Bradley
• April – Mudbound / Hillary Jordan
• May – Chosen by a Horse / Susan Richards
• June – Cane River / Lalita Tademy
• July – The Shack / William P. Young
• August – Shanghai Girls / Lisa See
• September – Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea / Barbara Demick
• October – The Birth House / Ami McKay
• November – The Art of Racing in the Rain / Garth Stein
• December – Red Weather / Pauls Toutonghi

2009

• January – So Brave, Young and Handsome / Leif Enger
• February – The Book Thief / Markus Zusak
• March – Bel Canto / Ann Patchett
• April – The Story of Edgar Sawtelle / David Wroblewski
• May – Three Cups of Tea / Greg Mortenson
• June – The Alchemist / Paulo Coehlo
• July – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society / Mary Ann Shaffer
• August – The Space Between Us / Thrity Umrigar
• September – Crossing to Safety / Wallace Stegner
• October – Eye Contact / Cammie McGovern
• November – The Other Side of the River / Alex Kotlowitz
• December – Luncheon of the Boating Party / Susan Vreeland

2008

• January – The Mermaid Chair / Sue Monk Kidd
• February – Snow Flower and the Secret Fan / Lisa See
• March – One Thousand White Women: The Journals of Mary Dodd / Jim Fergus
• April – A Thousand Splendid Suns / Khaled Hosseini
• May – Before You Know Kindness / Christopher Bohjalian
• June – Mozart’s Sister / Nancy Moser
• July – March / Geraldine Brooks
• August – Uncommon Grounds / Sandra Balzo
• September – Tall Grass / Sandra Dallas
• October – People of the Book / Geraldine Brooks
• November – Eat, Pray, Love / Elizabeth Gilbert
• December – I Feel Bad About My Neck / Nora Ephron

2007

• January – Girl with a Pearl Earring / Tracy Chevalier
• February – The Shadow of the Wind / Carlos Ruiz Zafron
• March – Mount Vernon Love Story / Mary Higgins Clark
• April – Alice’s Tulips / Sandra Dallas
• May – For One More Day / Mitch Albom
• June – Crow Lake / Mary Lawson
• July – The Devil Wears Prada / Lauren Weisberger
• August – My Sister’s Keeper / Jodi Picoult
• September – Teacher Man / Frank McCourt
• October – The Tortilla Curtain / T. C. Boyle
• November – The Memory Keeper’s Daughter / Kim Edwards
• December – You Learn by Living / Eleanor Roosevelt & Silent Night / Mary Higgins Clark

2006

• January – Girl with a Pearl Earring / Tracy Chevalier
• February – The Saving Graces / Patricia Gaffney
• March – Hannah’s Daughters / Marianne Fredriksson
• April – The Kite Runner / Khaled Hosseine
• May – The Color of Water / James McBride
• June – Summer Island / Kristin Hannah
• July – A Place of Hiding / Elizabeth George
• August – Devil in the White City / Erik Larson
• September – The Dollmaker / Harriette Arnow
• October – Mountain Wolf Woman, Sister of Crashing Thunder: The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian / Mountain Wolf Woman
• November – Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis / Jimmy Carter
• December – Peace Like a River / Leif Enger

2005

• January – A Lesson Before Dying / Ernest J. Gaines
• February – Ishmael / Daniel Quinn
• March – Memoirs of a Geisha / Arthur Golden
• April – Empire Falls / Richard Russo
• May – Children of God / Mary Doria Russell
• June – The Da Vinci Code / Dan Brown
• July – The Lovely Bones / Alice Sebold
• August – Dancing at the Rascal Fair / Ivan Doig
• September – Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons / Lorna Landvik
• October – The Bonesetter’s Daughter / Amy Tan
• November – The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency / Alexander McCall Smith
• December – The Five People You Meet in Heaven / Mitch Albom

2004

• January – Watched an Agatha Christie Movie
• February – The Secret Life of Bees / Sue Monk Kidd
• March – The Reader / Bernhard Schlink
• April – The Winner / David Baldacci
• May – The Sparrow / Maria Doria Russell
• June – Where the Heart Is / Billie Letts
• July – One Hundred Years of Solitude / Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• August – Under the Tuscan Sun / Frances Mayes
• September – The Quiet American / Graham Greene
• October – Crooked River Burning / Mark Winegardner
• November – The Dogs of Babel / Carolyn Parkhurst
• December – Skipping Christmas / John Grisham and A Choice to Cherish / Alan Maki

2003

• January – Dance of Intimacy / Harriet Goldhor Lerner
• February – Undaunted Courage / Stephen Ambrose
• March – Girl in Hyacinth Blue / Susan Vreeland
• April – White Teeth / Zadie Smith
• May – Pope Joan / Donna Woolfolk Cross
• June -Seabiscuit / Laura Hillenbrand
• July – Welcome to the World, Baby Girl / Fannie Flagg
• August – Cold Mountain / Charles Frazier
• September – I Don’t Know How She Does It / Allison Pearson
• October – Midnight Champagne / A. Manette Amsay
• November – In the Lake of the Woods / Tim O’Brien
• December – The Bachelor’s Cat / L.F. Hoffman

2002

• January – A Conspiracy of Paper / David Liss
• February – Tara Road / Maeve Binchy
• March – Chocolat / Joanne Harris
• April – Red Tent / Anita Diamant
• May – It’s Not About the Bike / Lance Armstrong
• June – A Fine Balance / Rohinton Mistry
• July – Corelli’s Mandolin / Loius DeBernieres
• August – First Lady / Susan Elizabeth Phillips
• September – Pigs in Heaven / Barbara Kingsolver
• October – My Thomas, the Novel of Martha Jefferson’s Life / Roberta Grimes
• November – Hearts and Bones / Margaret Lawrence
• December – Catherwood / Marly Youmans

2001

• January – The Testament / John Grisham
• February – Bastard Out of Carolina / Dorothy Allison
• March – The Shipping News / E. Annie Proulx
• April – Horse Heaven / Jane Smiley
• May – Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood / Rebecca Wells
• June – At Home in Mitford / Jan Karon
• July – Possession / A. S. Byatt
• August – The Quilter’s Apprentice / Jennifer Chiaverini
• September – Bridget Jones’ Diary / Helen Fielding
• October – Plainsong / Kent Haruf
• November – A Painted House / Margaret Lawrence
• December – The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters / Paul Nagel

2000

• April – The Dean’s List / Jon Hassler
• May – The Poisonwood Bible / Barbara Kingsolver
• June – Tuesdays with Morrie / Mitch Albom
• July – The Greatest Generation / Tom Brokaw
• August – The Ladies of Covington Sent Their Love / Joan A. Medlicott
• September – All Over But the Shoutin’ / Rick Bragg
• October – Midwives / Christopher A. Bohjalian
• November – The Vision of Emma Blau / Ursula Heig
• December – Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China / Jung Chang

Books on the Town selections from previous years are listed below:

2020

• January – Out of the Easy / Ruta Sepetys
• March – The Bookshop of Yesterdays / Ann Meyerson
• May – Cancelled
• July – Orphan #8 / Kim van Alkemade
• September – The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek / Kim Richardson
• November – In the Midst of Winter / Isabel Allende
• December – An American Marriage / Tayari Jones

2019

• January – Where’d You Go, Bernadette? / Maria Semple
• March – The Last Town on Earth / Thomas Mullen
• May – Never Let Me Go / Kazuo Ishiguro
• July – The Weird Sisters / Eleanor Brown
• September – The Commoner / John Burnham Schwartz
• November – Last Bus to Wisdom / Ivan Doig

2018

• June – The Nest / Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
• July – How to Find Love in a Bookshop / Veronica Henry
• August – White Teeth / Zadie Smith
• September – The Ocean At the End of the Lane / Neil Gaiman
• November – Brooklyn / Colm Toibin