Share your love of cooking and trying new recipes. Every month, the group selects a cookbook and each participant chooses a recipe from it to prepare for sharing. The group then meets to sample the dishes made and discuss the recipes. Stop by the Circulation Desk to choose a recipe from this month’s cookbook.

2024 meeting dates:

• July 1 | 5 Ingredients Mediterranean by Jamie Oliver
• August 5 | So Good: 100 recipes from my kitchen to yours by Richard Blais
• September 16 | Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen by Josef Centeno and Betty Hallock
• October 7 | Taste of Home All-American Cookbook
• November 18 | Thanksgiving Dinner Edition: we are celebrating Thanksgiving early. Please bring a favorite dish to share.
• December 2 | Good Housekeeping Family Italian Cookbook

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2025 meeting dates:

• January 6 | Everyone’s Table by Gregory Gourdet
• February 3 | TBD
• March 3 | TBD
• April 7 | TBD
• May 5 | TBD
• June 2 | TBD
• July 7 | TBD
• August 4 | TBD
• September 8 | TBD
• October 6 | TBD
• November 3 | Thanksgiving Dinner Edition: we are celebrating Thanksgiving early. Please bring a favorite dish to share.
• December 1 | TBD

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Join us in the library or online to discuss nature-themed books.

2024 meeting dates:

• January 3 | The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Bailey
• February 7 | Patterns in Nature: why the natural world looks the way it does by Philip Ball
• March 6 | The Song of the Cell: an exploration of medicine and the new human by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• April 3 | To Speak for the Trees: my life’s journey from ancient Celtic wisdom to the healing vision of the forest by Diana Beresford-Kroger
• May 1 | An Immense World: how animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us by Ed Yong, Chapters 1 – 6
• June 5 | An Immense World: how animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us by Ed Yong, Chapters 7 – 13
• July 3 | No meeting
• August 7 | Climate-wise Landscaping: practical actions for a sustainable future by Sue Reed
• September 4 | Old Growth: The Best Writing about Trees from Orion Magazine by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• October 2 | Beloved Beasts: fighting for life in an age of extinction by Michelle Nijhuis
• November 6 | Silent Earth: averting the insect apocalypse by Dave Goulson
• December 4 | The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World by Patrik Svensson

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2025 meeting dates are:

• January 8 | The Comfort of Crows : A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl
• February 5 | Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb
• March 5 | The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution by David Quammen
• April 2 | Love Your Mother: 50 States, 50 Stories, and 50 Women United for Climate Justice by Mallory McDuff
• May 7 | Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden by Eleanor Perenyi
• June 4 | Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees by William Bryant Logan
• July | No meeting
• August | No meeting
• September 3 | Figuring by Maria Popova
• October 1 | The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Marta McDowell
• November 5 | The Laws of Medicine: Field Notes From an Uncertain Science by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• December 3 | The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger

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The American Association of University Women sponsors a Notable Books discussion that meets on the first Thursday of the month.

2024 meeting dates:

• January 4 | Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
• February 1 | Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana
• March 7 | Trust by Herman Diaz
• April 4 | The Vortex: A True Story of History’s Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation by Scott Carney and Jason Miklian
• May 2 | Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
• June 6 | Bitch: On the Female of the Species by Lucy Cooke
• July 11* | Horse by Geraldine Brooks
• August 1 | The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
• September 5 | Share a book – each member is invited to bring a favorite book to share with the group
• October 3 | Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
• November 7 | The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
• December 5 | No meeting
  * Note change in meeting day due to the holiday.

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2025 meeting dates:

January 2 | Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine
February 6 | A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Tim Egan
March 6 | James by Percival Everett
April 3 | Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
May 1 | North Woods by Daniel Mason
June 5 | Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
July 3 | Y/N by Esther Yi
August 7 | In Memoriam by Alice Winn
September 4 | Share a Book – each member is invited to bring a favorite book to share with the group
October 2 | TBD
November 6 | TBD
December 4 | no meeting

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A partnership with the SDARJ, the Alliance Book and Film Group, celebrating its 5th year, meets in the library and online to discuss classic and contemporary works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and cinematic art.

2024 meeting dates:

• January 23 | Twice as Hard: Black Women Who Fought to Become Physicians by Jasmine Brown
• February 27 | The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
• March 26 | But Will You Love Me Tomorrow: An Oral History of the ‘60s Girl Groups by Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz
• April 23 | Origin (film) / Supplemental reading: Caste by Isabelle Wilkerson
• May 28 | I Saw Death Coming by Kidada Williams
• June 25 | Women of the Post by Joshunda Sanders / Supplemental viewing: Six Triple Eight (film)
• July 23 | Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
• August 27 | I Am Not Your Negro (film) / Supplemental reading: Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
• September 24 | Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether
• October 22 | Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (film) / Supplemental reading: Make Me Rain: Poems and Prose by Nikki Giovanni
• November 26 | Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
• December | no meeting

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2025 book selections:

• January 28 | Stamped from the Beginning (film) | Supplemental reading: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
• February 25 | Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People by Tiya Miles
• March 25 | James: A Novel by Percival Everett
• April 22 | Black Barbie (film)
• May 27 | Love and Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest by Fawn Weaver
• June 24 | The Nickel Boys: A Novel by Colson Whitehead
• July 22 | A Pair of Wings: A Novel by Carole Hopson
• August 26 | Rustin (film) | Supplemental reading: Bayard Rustin: A Legacy of Protest and Politics by Michael G. Long
• September 23 | The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns
• October 28 | Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on Health in America by Linda Villarosa
• November 26 | What Happened, Miss Simone? (film) | Supplemental reading: I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone
• December | no meeting

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A monthly book discussion group sponsored by Dewey Beer Co. New, seasonal brews will be sampled at discussion. Copies of the books are available to borrow at the Circulation Desk.
Book selections will be made for the rest of the 2023 year at the first discussion.

2024 meeting dates:
January 23 | The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
February 27 | Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
March 26 | Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes by Jessica Pan
April 23 | Circe by Madeline Miller
May 28 | The Humans by Matt Haig
April 23 | Circe by Madeline Miller
May 28 | Fairy Tale by Stephen King
June 25 | The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
July 23 | The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
August 27 | Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
September 24 | The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
October 22 | Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
November 26 | Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

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A monthly book discussion group. Copies of the books are available to borrow at the Circulation Desk.

2024 meeting dates:
January 25 | The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis
February 22 | All Adults Here by Emma Straub
March 28 | A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella
April 25 | The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
May 23 | The Maid by Nita Prose
June 27 | The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
July 25 | Chances Are by Richard Russo
August 22 | Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult
September 26 | When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain
October 24 | Horse by Geraldine Brooks
November | no meeting*
December 5 | Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
* the November and December meetings are combined and meet on December 5

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2025 book selections:
January 23 | The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh
February 27 | Day by Michael Cunningham
March 27 | The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth
April 24 | Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
May 22 | Night Road by Kristin Hannah
June 26 | Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
July 24 | Violeta by Isabel Allende
August 28 | Summer Love by Nancy Thayer
September 25 | The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
October 23 | TBD
November | no meeting*
December 4 | Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
* the November and December meetings are combined and meet on Thursday, December 4