book
DISCUSSIONS
The library has seven book discussion series that meet regularly. Patrons will enjoy lively discussion and connecting to community members at each session.
Books are available at the Adult and Teen Services Desk one month before the discussion, or any time through our catalog or eLibrary. Didn't finish the book? No problem, everyone is welcome to join in!
Real Reads
coffee, doughnuts, and true stories you can't put down
Evergreen: The Trees That Shaped America
by Trent Preszler
Tuesday, October 20
9:30 - 11 a.m.
A sweeping natural history of the humble trees that built nations, sparked wars, and became the world's most cherished holiday tradition. In Evergreen, Cornell University professor Trent Preszler weaves together a captivating story of humanity's deeply rooted relationship with evergreens, revealing how the trees shaped economies, launched cultural movements, and propelled America's rise to global prominence.
The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald
by John U. Bacon
Tuesday, November 17
9:30 - 11 a.m.
In The Gales of November, award-winning journalist John U. Bacon presents the definitive account of the disaster, drawing on more than 100 interviews with the families, friends, and former crewmates of those lost. Bacon explores the vital role Great Lakes shipping played in America’s economic boom, the uncommon lives the sailors led, the sinking’s most likely causes, and the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind—"the wives, the sons, and the daughters,” as Gordon Lightfoot sang in his unforgettable ballad.
No December Discussion.
Real Reads will be back in January!
Pages and Pints
join us at Goldfinger Brewing Company to discuss fiction titles.
Ages 21+
A Guardian and a Thief
by Megha Majumdar
Tuesday, October 6
Wednesday, October 7
8 p.m.
In a near-future Kolkata beset by climate blight, Ma and her family are days from joining her husband in Michigan. After procuring long-awaited visas, they awaken to discover their treasured documents stolen. This propulsive novel alternates between Ma’s frantic search for the thief to save her family’s future, and Boomba, the thief whose desperate hunger drives him to a life-altering crime.
Old School Indian
by Aaron John Curtis
Tuesday, November 3
Wednesday, November 4
8 p.m.
Abe Jacobs is Kanien'keh̀:ka from Ahkwes̀hsne--that's People of the Flint, from Where the Partridge Drums--or, if you ask a white dude, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. Whichever way you cut it--and Dominick Deer Woods, our irreverent, wisecracking narrator, cuts it six ways to Sunday--at eighteen Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back. Now forty-three, Abe is suffering from a rare disease--one his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a failing marriage, Abe returns to the Rez, where he's convinced to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle Budge.
Land
by Maggie O'Farrell
Tuesday, December 1
Wednesday, December 2
8 p.m.
On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomâas and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomâas, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster. The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomâas is unexpectedly sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse.
Stellar Reads
explore new worlds and magic in sci-fi/fantasy reads
The Witch Roads
by Kate Elliott
Wednesday, October 14
7 - 8 p.m.
Status is hereditary, class is bestowed, trust must be earned. When an arrogant prince (and his equally arrogant entourage) gets stuck in Orledder Halt as part of brutal political intrigue, competent and sunny deputy courier Elen-once a child slave meant to shield noblemen from the poisonous Pall-is assigned to guide him through the hills to reach his destination. When she warns him not to enter the haunted Spires, the prince doesn't heed her advice, and the man who emerges from the towers isn't the same man who entered. The journey that follows is fraught with danger. Can a group taught to ignore and despise the lower classes survive with a mere deputy courier as their guide?
All That We See or Seem
by Ken Liu
Wednesday, November 11
7 - 8 p.m.
Julia Z, a young woman who gained notoriety at fourteen as the "orphan hacker," is trying to live a life of digital obscurity in a quiet Boston suburb. But when a lawyer named Piers -- whose famous artist wife, Elli, has been kidnapped by dangerous criminals -- barges into her life, Julia decides to put the solitary life she has painstakingly created at risk as she can't walk away from helping Piers and Elli, nor step away from the challenge of this digital puzzle. Elli is an oneirofex, a dream artist, who can weave the dreams of an audience together through a shared virtual landscape, live, in a concert-like experience by tapping into each attendee's memories and providing an emotionally resonant narrative experience. While these collective dreams are anonymous, Julia discovers that Elli was also dreaming one-on-one with the head of an international criminal enterprise, and he's demanding the return of his dreams in exchange for Elli. Unraveling the real and unreal leads Julia on an adventure that takes her across the country and deep into the shadows of her psyche.
Automatic Noodle
by Annalee Newitz
Wednesday, December 9
7 - 8 p.m.
You don't have to eat food to know the way to a city's heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food-the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around-for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war. But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they'll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other-and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn't built for them.
Celebrity Reads
read books written by or about celebrities and discuss their lives and impact
**This book discussion will be renamed to Memoirs & Biographies starting January 1, 2026
How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plentyby Bonny Reichert
Tuesday, October 13
1 - 2 p.m.
A memoir that explores intergenerational trauma, identity, and healing through the lens of food, connecting the author's life with her Holocaust survivor father's story. The book uses the central metaphor of an egg to discuss themes of hunger, love, and plenty, weaving together Reichert's experiences as a chef and journalist with her father's harrowing past in concentration camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau.
A Very Punchable Face
by Colin Jost
Tuesday, December 8
1 - 2 p.m.
From growing up in a family of firefighters on Staten Island to commuting three hours a day to high school, to attending Harvard while Facebook was created, Jost shares how he has navigated the world like a slightly smarter Forrest Gump. You’ll go behind the scenes at SNL and Weekend Update (where he’s written some of the most memorable sketches and jokes of the past fifteen years). And you’ll experience the life of a touring stand-up comedian—from performing in rural college cafeterias at noon to opening for Dave Chappelle at Radio City Music Hall. Told with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, A Very Punchable Face reveals the brilliant mind behind some of the dumbest sketches on television, and lays bare the heart and humor of a hardworking guy—with a face you can’t help but want to punch.
An Inconvenient Widow
by Lois Romano
Tuesday, February 9
1 - 2 p.m.
Former Washington Post writer and columnist Lois Romano rectifies the tortured legacy of Mary Todd Lincoln, who was failed at nearly every turn in her widowhood—by her family, by her government, by medical professionals ill-equipped to diagnose her mental illness, and finally, by history. Romano draws on hundreds of archives, letters, and memoirs to provide the most complete portrait—of not simply of an inconvenient widow, but of a brilliant and flawed woman, who possessed uncommon tenacity in the face of extraordinary adversity and personal torment, and helped launch one of America’s greatest presidents.
Walk & Talk Book Club
take a walk around Barth Pond in this book discussion in partnership with the Downers Grove Park District
The Whistler
by Ann Patchett
Thursday, November 4
9:30 a.m.
When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn’t seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again.
The Walk & Talk Book Club will return in Spring!
Next Chapter Book Club
literacy program for adults (ages 18+) with intellectual and developmental disabilities
About the Next Chapter Book Club
- Get together to enjoy books, make friends, and have fun
- Books will be read together during the meeting
- All are welcome, regardless of the ability to read
- Books will be provided to all participants
- Meet twice a month online, via Zoom
Meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 6:30 p.m.