The Manchester City Library is pleased to offer to our patrons two book clubs. Each club meets once per month.
Do you like talking about books as much as you enjoy reading them? Join our Wednesday Evening Book Club! Selections are chosen by the group, and include fiction, nonfiction and biography. We try to offer titles that are available in a wide variety of formats (large print, audiobook on CD, ebook, etc.) whenever possible. Many books for the Wednesday Evening Book Club can be found on Hoopla, and there is no wait to check out and download the book. To place a hold on a physical book, please call the library at 603-624-6550 x 7619. Meeting dates and times subject to change.
Click here to jump to the Brown Bag Book Club list!
Wednesday Evening Book Club: Wednesdays @ 6:30 PM in the Hunt Room and via ZOOM. Email Steve Viggiano for an invitation to join the meeting.
September 13, 2023
Ferrante, Elena. My Brilliant Friend. 2015, 331 p. Fiction
Beginning in the 1950s Elena and Lila grow up in Naples, Italy, mirroring two different aspects of their nation.
October 11, 2023
Gallagher, Winifred. How the Post Office Created America: a History. 2016, 326 p. Nonfiction
A history of the U.S. Post Office traces its origins and leaders and describes its role in every major event in American history, from the Revolutionary War to the dawn of the Internet age.
November 8, 2023
Keyes, Daniel. Flowers for Algernon. 1966, 300 p. Classic Fiction
Charlie Gordon, a youth with limited mental capabilities, along with a laboratory rat named Algernon become the joint objects of a scientific alteration to see if Charlie can become "normal."
December 13, 2023
Charles, Janet Skeslien. The Paris Library. 2021, 353 p. Fiction
Based on a true story, describes how a lonely, 1980s teenager befriends an elderly neighbor and uncovers her past as a librarian at the American Library in Paris who joined the Resistance when the Nazis arrived.
January 10, 2024
Haig, Matt. The Midnight Library. 2020, 288 p. Fiction
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life..
February 14, 2024
Wilkerson, Charmaine. Black Cake. 2022, 385 p. Fiction
Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor's true history, and fulfill her final request to 'share the black cake when the time is right'?
March 13, 2024
Reid, Taylor Jenkins. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. 2017, 391 p. Fiction
When an aging and reclusive Hollywood icon selects an unknown magazine reporter to write her life story, the baffled journalist forges deep ties with the actress during a complicated interview process that exposes their tragic common history
April 10, 2024
Ariely, Dan. The Upside of Irrationality: the Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home. 2021, 334 p. Nonfiction
Looks at the irrational decisions that influence people's relationships, workplace experiences, and temptation to cheat in any area of their lives and explains how to move beyond this to greater success.
May 8, 2024
Walters, Jess. The Cold Millions. 2020, 342 p. Fiction
Enduring a harsh existence as day laborers, orphaned brothers Gig and Rye Dolan are drawn to a feminist activist and a vaudeville singer whose experiences reflect an unjust world on the brink of upheaval.
June 12, 2024
Toobin, Jeffrey. American Heiress: the Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst. 2016, 371 p. Nonfiction/Biography
An account of the sensational 1974 kidnapping and trial of Patty Hearst describes the efforts of her family to secure her release, Hearst's baffling participation in a bank robbery and the psychological insights that prompted modern understandings about Stockholm syndrome.
The Brown Bag Book Club meets on the last Tuesday of each month from 12:15-1:30
Call the Info Desk at 603-624-6550 Ext. 7619 for more information on how to participate.
This group meets in the Hunt Room.
September 26, 2023
Schmidt, Jean Delores. Wake Up With a Purpose! What I've Learned in My First Hundred Years.
Known simply as “Sister Jean,” the Loyola College matriarch and college basketball icon invites you into her remarkable memoir filled with history, wonder, and common-sense wisdom for this century and beyond.
October 31, 2023
Hannah, Kristin. The Four Winds: a Novel.
Texas 1934. The Dust Bowl has arrived with a vengeance. Elsa Martinelli must choose to fight for the land she loves or go West to California in search of a better life for her family.
November 28, 2023
Brown, Amy Belding. Flight of the Sparrow: a Novel of Early America.
Mary Rowlandson was held captive after an Indian attack. Her true narrative explores the meanings of freedom, faith and acceptance.
December 26, 2023
Bryson, Bill. I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years.
A love letter, at times bemused and humorous, to the home Bryson returned to after an absence of twenty years
January 30, 2024
Allende, Isabel. The Japanese Lover.
A sweeping multigenerational love story spanning a number of topics including antisemitism and fascism.
February 27, 2024
Gagne, Ty. Where You'll Find Me: Risk, Decisions, and the Last Climb of Kate Matrosova.
An attempt to answer why an experienced, thirty-two year old climber, perished in the northern Presidential Range of the New Hampshire White Mountains..
March 26, 2024
Purnell, Sonia. A Woman of No Importance.
The biography of a masterful spy and a reminder of what can be done with a few brave people and a little resistance.
April 30, 2024
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Janie Crawford went from a vibrant but voiceless teenage girl to a woman with her finger on her own destiny.
May 28, 2024
Brower, Kate Anderson. First Women: the Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies.
The stories of ten remarkable women who have defined the role of First Lady of the United States since 1960.
June 25, 2024
Grann, David. The Wager: a Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.
In the late 1700’s a group of shipwrecked British sailors returned to England with tales of heroism and survival. Months later another group of men from the same ship returned claiming the first group were murderous mutineers.