At our September meeting, we discussed the book, Dear Edward, by Ann Napolitano. Everyone really liked the book, and it was a great discussion! Even though the story moved between before and after the crash, we all felt the author did a great job by labelling the section by time (before) and by date (after). We loved the characters and felt the book ended in a hopeful manner. 

Our October book is Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. Books can be picked up at the front desk. Discussion sheets are also available for pickup or online. We'll be meeting on Monday, October 26 at 3pm at the LME Library. We'll also start picking books for 2027. 

Summary: "Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world's largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore. Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting herself, starts imagining a future where she could belong to someone again. But Rowan isn't telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all must decide if they can trust one another enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it's too late--and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together"

At our last book club meeting, we discussed Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. This was a favorite for several club members, and all rated it very highly. We've read several of Hannah's books with the group, and everyone has enjoyed them.

Our next meeting is Monday, September 28th at 3pm in the LME Library's large meeting room. We will be discussing the book, Dear Edward, by Ann Napolitano. Copies are available for pickup at the front desk. Discussion sheets can also be picked up or are available online.

Book summary: "One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them are a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured veteran returning from Afghanistan, a business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor. Edward's story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a part of himself has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery--one that will lead him to the answers of some of life's most profound questions: When you've lost everything, how do you find the strength to put one foot in front of the other? How do you learn to feel safe again? How do you find meaning in your life? Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again."

We're going to be picking our books for 2027 shortly, and one of our members asked for the list of books we've read. It's posted several times on the blog, but I've redone the list so it is easier to search.

All the books we've read from 2004-2026 (23 years!) are available in this master list:

By year

By author

By title

There are some best books lists for 2026 so far and the borrowreadrepeat.com blog has the best compilation I've seen. It includes picks from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Page, the New York Times, and more--check out the link above!

At our July 27th book club meeting, we discussed Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard. We wished we could have watched her TED Talk first before reading. We are not a science-centered book club, and her book launches into more science than we were ready to wade through. We would have preferred a popular-science read, but we appreciated her honest portrayal of her life, even with its problems and issues.