Book Clubs @ Your Library
By Elizabeth Swift, Jefferson County Library Cooperative
In the early 1990s, I attended a meeting at the Little Professor bookstore of people interested in starting or joining a book group. From that meeting, I, with a number of other women started my first book group. Since then I have been a member of three book groups. Being a member of a book group can be a very satisfying thing. As the novelist Margaret Atwood has observed: “The real, hidden subject of a book group discussion is the book group members themselves.”
What an incredible phenomenon book clubs are! If you have ever wanted to join a book group, many of JCLC’s libraries have them. There are a great variety of them around the county. Hoover Public Library has three: Library Nonfiction Book Discussion Group, Second Thursday Fiction Book Club, and the First Thursday Fiction Book Club. Shannon Haddock of Hoover’s Fiction Department said “Recently, we tweeted about our upcoming book group meeting to discuss Lisa See's Shanghai Girls and Lisa See herself saw the tweet and responded. She wanted to attend the book group! So we Skyped with her for both book sessions in order to learn more about her, her writing process and, of course, Shanghai Girls.” The Genre Reading Group at Emmet O’Neal Library is different from a traditional book group. Each member reads a book in the genre but the books can be different titles. According to Holley Wesley, “The members frequently tell me how much they enjoy not only the relief of getting away from the traditional group format but also the exposure to books they may not ever have come across on their own.”
Homewood Library has three book clubs. Each has its own personality. The Oxmoor Page Turners Book Group, which meets every second Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m., the Better Than Therapy Book Club meets the last Wednesday of each month at 2 p.m., and Just the Facts Book Club a non-fiction book club, which meets on the last Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m. Leslie West, the Adult Services Librarian at Homewood said that “Book Clubs are one of my favorite things....to lead or be a part of. I think one of life's greatest pleasures is to read a great book and then discuss it with friends.”
The Springville Road Regional Library’s Reading Roadies meets at 6:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month. They read and discuss fiction titles chosen by the group and welcome all adult and young adult readers. For more information, please contact Kelly Laney at the Springville Road Adult Department. Pizza & Pages is Trussville's Book Club for kids 6th grade and up. It meets the third Wednesday of each month (except when school is out) at 4 p.m. Avondale Regional Library’s group Adaptations is a book-to-film group. For each title, they host a screening party, where you watch the movie, and an After Party, where they discuss the book and film. You are invited to attend either program, and may attend both for the full experience.
Here is a list of some of the groups:
Adamsville Library's Pageturners call 205-674-3399 or more information
Avondale Regional Library’s group Adaptations Screening Parties meet on a Sunday at 2:30 p.m. and
After Parties meet on a Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., both are once a month
Botanical Gardens/Emmet O'Neal Thyme to Read Book Group call
205-445-1118 or 205-414-3920 for more
information
Clay Library’s Book Club email Joy at jlee@bham.lib.al.us or call 205-680-3812 for more information
Emmet O'Neal Library’s The Bookies Group meets second Tuesday of each month at 10:00 a.m.
Emmet O'Neal Library’s Great Books Reading & Discussion Group meets the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m.
Emmet O'Neal Library’s Genre Reading Group meets last Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m.
Homewood Library's Oxmoor Page Turners meets every second Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.
Homewood Library's Just the Facts Book Group meets on the last Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m.
Homewood Library's Better Than Therapy Book Group meets the last Wednesday of each month at 2:00 p.m.
Hoover Library’s Nonfiction Book Discussion Group meets the fourth Thursday of the month from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Hoover Library’s Second Thursday Fiction Book Club meets the second Thursday of the month at 10:00 a.m.
Hoover Library’s First Thursday Fiction Book Club meets the first Thursday of the month at 10:00 a.m.
Irondale Library's Book Club meets the second Monday of the
month at 2:00 p.m.
North Avondale Branch Library's Chapter Chatters Book Club
meets the last Wednesday of the month at 10:30 a.m.
Springville Road Regional Library’s Reading Roadies meets at 6:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month
Trussville's Book Club for kids 6th grade and up, Pizza & Pages, meets the third Wednesday of each month (except when school is out) at 4:00 p.m.
Vestavia Hills Library's Alisha's Afternoon Book Club meets every third Wednesday of each month at 2:00 p.m.
Vestavia Hills Library's Olivia's Evening Reads Book Club meets every second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m.
Vestavia Hills Library's Teen Galley Group for grades 7th to 12th meets the third Wednesday of each month at 5:00 p.m.
Find out more by visiting JCLC's Calendar of Events