Book Clubs Bring People Together
By M. CLARE HAEFNER | Covers courtesy of the publishers
Books bring people together.
Since elementary school when my English teachers would put us into groups to read and discuss books, I’ve been hooked on the idea of book clubs. I started a newsletter in fifth grade to review good reads and soon had contributions and lively discussions with friends.
Whether in person or online, I’ve been involved in book clubs of some kind ever since. A great way to meet people with common interests and stay connected, I’ve read and discussed more books than I can remember with friends over the past 30 years.
That’s definitely why an email announcing a new book about people in Maine who come together during World War II to form a book club and forge unlikely friendships caught my attention a few weeks ago.
In The Blackout Book Club by Amy Lynn Green (Bethany House, November 2022), Avis Montgomery agrees to take her brother’s place as head librarian when he ships off to fight in Europe in 1942. Even though she doesn’t like to read, Avis starts a book club to keep the library open when the building’s owner wants to turn it into a daycare center.
At first glance, struggles on the home front are all the book club members seem to have in common, but they discover a camaraderie that binds them together as they share their secrets and learn to rely on each other. Green does an incredible job giving voice to each character while tying in the struggles they faced with the threat of U-boats and air raid sirens along the coast of Maine, offering a fresh perspective on small-town life during WWII.
After I finished The Blackout Book Club, I wasn’t surprised to see more recommended books about book clubs in my Kindle app. I’ve often used its suggestions to discover new authors or to explore different genres that I may otherwise overlook.
The colorful cover of The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore (Sourcebooks Casablanca, March 2023) snagged my attention so I decided to read it next.
I was quickly caught up in the story as quirky, young librarian Sloane Parker starts sparring with Arthur McLachlan, a retired English professor who likes to terrorize the library staff. When Arthur fails to show up one day, Sloane takes it upon herself to find out why, breaking library protocol to look up his address. Finding him nearly bedridden, Sloane decides to start a book club at his house. Along the way, Sloane and Arthur are joined by other lonely hearts — the woman next door, another librarian, Arthur’s estranged grandson and Arthur‘s old nemesis — as they forge new friendships and find a place to belong. Several of the characters reminded me of my book club friends — people
I never would have gotten to know without a shared love of books.
I followed that with a laugh-out-loud novel by Gretchen Anthony. The Book Haters’ Book Club (Park Row, September 2022) transported me to Over the Rainbow Bookshop just after the passing of beloved co-owner Elliot. When his business partner, Irma, decides to sell the shop to condo developers, her daughters and Elliot’s life partner, Thom, band together to save the shop, with a little snooping, gossip and sabotage.
Elliot believed that it only takes the right book to turn any book hater into a book lover. If reading’s not your thing, this might be the book to change your mind.
By the time I finished The Book Haters’ Book Club, I picked up Ellery Adams’ new novel Paper Cuts (Kensington Cozies, April 2023). Adams is one of my favorite authors, and the sixth installment in her Secret, Book and Scone Society mystery series had been on my must-read list for several months as I counted down to its release. Devouring it in a single day, it was the best one yet as Nora Pennington’s past catches up with her and she has to sleuth her way out of a murder accusation with a little help from her friends in Miracle Springs, North Carolina.
While Paper Cuts can definitely be read as a stand-alone novel, it’s better if you start at the beginning with The Secret, Book & Scone Society. Each book that follows — The Whispered Word, The Book of Candlelight, Ink & Shadows and The Vanishing Type — offers a new mystery for Nora and her friends to solve and brings new characters to Miracle Springs as they search for healing.
I enjoyed all of these books about book clubs because they bring people together. The characters forge friendships that help each become a better version of themselves — just like my book club buddies and I have done for each other over the years.
