Book Groups at the Library
Virtual, International Murder Mystery—we have something for everyone. Interested in starting a new book group? Let us know!
Climate Wayfinding Reading Group
Meets on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 5:30 - 6:30 at the Olive Free Library. Beginning September 10th, 2026.
Climate
Wayfinding
Reading Group (beginning September 10th, 2026)
This is a little different from a typical book club. We’ll meet once a month for 8 months to talk about each chapter. Through personal essays, wisdom, poetry, art, and song, “Climate Wayfinding” is designed to help us navigate from climate ache to action, doubt to possibility.
Whether you’re steeped in climate, newly curious or somewhere in the middle, this group offers a welcoming space for reflection, connection, and action. Led by Fara Warner.
Interested? Copies are limited. Sign up above.
To learn more: https://www.climatewayfinding.earth/book
Virtual Book Club
This online book club meets on the third Saturday of the month at 4:00 p.m.
July 18: Tell me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
It's autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive's apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known--"unrecorded lives," Olive calls them--reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.
2026 Book Club Selections
July 18: Tell me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
August 15: Home Inside the Globe by Gail Straub (local author who will join in the book club discussion)
Sept 19: The Boy From the North Country by Susan Sussamn
Oct 17: Confessions of A Bar Brat: Growing Up In Rosendale NY by Judith A. Boggess (local author who will join in the book club discussion)
Nov 21: Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Dec 19: The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
You can request a book, or ebook from the Mid-Hudson library system. Please call the library with any questions: 845-657-2482
International Murder Mystery Book Club
This book club meets in person at the library on the 3rd Monday of each month at 2 p.m., led by Henrietta Shannon.
July 20: – TWO BOOKS:
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind – 18th Century Paris
and
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley- #1 Flavia de Luce Series – England
In The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009), author Alan Bradley introduces readers to the charming and precocious eleven-year-old protagonist, Flavia de Luce. Set in 1950s England, this delightful first book in the Flavia de Luce series, follows Flavia's amateur detective skills as she investigates a murder in her own backyard. With wit, intelligence, and a passion for chemistry, Flavia navigates the complexities of adult intrigue while uncovering family secrets and unmasking the true culprit. Bradley's vivid prose and intricate plot make this book a captivating read, and an entertaining audio book, blending the allure of a classic whodunit with the innocence and curiosity of youth.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift—an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille’s genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the “ultimate perfume”—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.
2026 International Mystery Book Club Selections
July 20: – TWO BOOKS:
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind – 18th Century Paris
and
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley- #1 Flavia de Luce Series – England
August 17: Sleep Well my Lady by Kwei Quartey - #2 in Emma Djan Investigation Series -Ghana
September 28: Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonine Swann - #1 in the SheepDetective Series - England
October 19: Red Wolf by Liza Marklund - #5 Annika Bengtzon Series – Sweden
November 16: The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O’Donnell - #1 Cutter and Bliss Series - Victorian England
December 21: An Enemy in the Village the Woods by Martin Walker - #18 Bruno, Chief of Police – Rural France
Defending Democracy Book Club
In-person book club meeting the first Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m., led by author David Corbett.
July 7: Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America by Barbara McQuade
An urgent, comprehensive explanation of the ways disinformation is impacting democracy, and practical solutions that can be pursued to strengthen the public, media, and truth-based politics.
2026
July 7: Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America by Barbara McQuade
July 28: A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit (note special meeting date)
September 1: America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present, by John Ghazvinian
October 6: Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild)
November 3: The Price of Democracy by Vanessa Williamson
December 1: The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, by Michael Waldman