Book Clubs
Book clubs provide opportunities for readers to discuss books and their significance in society and culture. Share your reading experience and meet new people.
If you are interested in joining one of these groups, or if you would like to start a new book club, please contact bookclubs@mclvt.org.
Between Two Worlds
Manchester Community Library has been selected as one of 40 libraries nationwide to participate in the Yiddish Book Center’s Public Libraries Program on the theme “Between Two Worlds: Exploring Jewish Culture and Religion through Yiddish Literature.” Through this selective program, the Yiddish Book Center provides grants, resources, and training to public libraries across the country to host reading groups and related programming that explore how Yiddish literature can serve as a springboard for powerful conversations about religion, assimilation, identity, and immigration. Patron Experience Coordinator Emet Koffman is leading book discussions for three titles of Yiddish literature in translation, and three thematically related texts from March – August 2026. Discussions will take place on the fourth Thursday of each month from 5:30 – 6:30 pm, in person at MCL, with the option to join virtually. All are welcome to join the discussions and attend the series of Library events that support the initiative. Read more here.
Book Discussion Schedule:
March 26, 2026: Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor’s Son by Sholem Aleichem
April 23, 2026: Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott (in virtual discussion with the author)
May 28, 2026: The Zelmenyaners by Moyshe Kulbak
June 25, 2026: A Jewish Refugee in New York by Kadya Molodowsky
July 23, 2026: Deep North: Stories of Somali Resettlement in Vermont by Shadir Mohamad
August 27, 2026: Babel by R.F. Kuang
History Book Club:
Meetings take place the third Tuesday of every month at 4 PM. This club is currently CLOSED to new members. An idea of the group’s interests may be gained from selections for 2025:
January–The Showman: Inside the Invasion that Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky by Simon Shuster
February– On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
March– Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines, and the Health of Nations by Simon Schama
April– Twenty Years: Hope, War, and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation by Sune Engel Rasmussen
May– Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
June – Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation by Brenda Wineapple
July– God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man by Jack Kelly
August– Remembering Peasants: A Personal History of a Vanished World by Patrick Joyce
September– Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy by Colin Dickey
October– Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues by Jonathan Kennedy
November– Sea of Faith: Christianity and Islam in the Medieval Mediterranean World by Stephen O’Shea
December– An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Magical Reads Book Club:
The Magical Reads Book Club meets on the second Thursday of every month at 6 pm. This club is OPEN to new members. Please email bookclubs@mclvt.org if you are interested in joining. This group focuses on magical realism in stories across cultures and experiences. An idea of the group’s interests may be gained from their past selections:
March 2026: Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
April 2026: Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott
May 2026: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
MCL Book Club:
The MCL Book Club meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 4:30 PM. This club is CLOSED to new members. Please email bookclubs@mclvt.org if you are interested in joining. An idea of the group’s interests may be gained from selections for 2025:
January– Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
February– Whose Names Are Unknown by Sanora Babb
March– Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
April– National Poetry Month! Bring your own favorite or find a local poet.
May– The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
June– The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
July– James by Percival Everett
August– West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
September– This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women edited by Allison Jay, et al.
October– Table for Two by Amor Towles
Page Turners:
Meetings take place the third Thursday of every month at 5 PM. This club is CLOSED to new members. An idea of the group’s interests may be gained from selections so far for 2026:
January– The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
February– The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life by Helen Whybrow
March– The Names by Florence Knapp
April – No Meeting
May – Life and Death and Giants by Ron Rindo
June – How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
July – A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children by Haley Cohen Gilliland
Read It and Eat Cookbook Club
Karen Huerta leads the Read It and Eat cookbook club every first Tuesday of the month from 12:30 to 2 pm in the Library’s café. The concept is as simple as it is delicious: each monthly meeting, the group selects a new cookbook to read. Members will then choose two recipes from the book to prepare and bring to the next meeting, where they will be discussed and served to the group. What went wrong? What went right? What would you change if you made it again? All are invited to partake in recipe experimentation, good company, and (hopefully) good food.
This book club is currently OPEN to new members.
Totally Booked:
Meetings take place on the Third Thursday of every month at 2 pm. This club is currently OPEN to new, year-round members. An idea of the group’s interests may be gained from their selections for 2025 – 2026:
May 2025 – Homeseeking by Karissa Chen
June 2025 – The Awakening by Kate Chopin
July 2025 – Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips
August 2025 – The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei
September 2025 – Lion Women of Tehran by Marian Kamala
October 2025 – The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
November 2025 – The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
December 2025 – A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst
January 2026 – How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
February 2026 – Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
March 2026 – The Eights by Joanna Miller