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Shelf Conscious Book Club

at Maxville Branch Library

Whether you’re an avid reader or struggle to find the time to complete just one book, we welcome you to attend Shelf Conscious! Join us the fourth Tuesday of every month at our Maxville Branch Library book club where we explore various fiction and nonfiction titles and chat about our selection of the month. We’d love to see you!

Tuesday, July 25, 2023: This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

On the eve of her fortieth birthday, Alice's life isn't terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn't exactly the one she expected. She's happy with her apartment, her romantic status, and her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning, she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her sixteenth birthday. But it isn't just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush--it's her dad, the vital, charming, forty-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?

Tuesday, August 22, 2023: The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

"The beautifully ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is completely silent one weekday morning, until a woman's terrified scream echoes through the room. Security guards immediately appear and instruct everyone inside to stay put until they determine there is no threat. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers who had been sitting in the reading room get to chatting and quickly become friendly. Harriet, Marigold, Whit, and Caine each have their own reasons for being in the reading room that morning--and it just happens that one of them may turn out to be a murderer. For readers of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, with shades of The Secret History, The Woman in the Library is an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most dangerous weapons of all."-- Provided by publisher.

Tuesday, September 26, 2023: Olive Kitteredge by Elizabeth Strout

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive's own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse. As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life--sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition--its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.

Registration is required for this event, and must be completed two hours prior to the start time. A library card and PIN is required for registration. If you do not have a card, click HERE to obtain one.

Accommodations for persons with disabilities are available upon request. Please ask for Learning Services at 255-2665 or email JPLprograms@coj.net.

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