2026 Titles

At our December 8th book club meeting, we discussed our favorite books from 2025, and I shared our 2026 picks. For 2025, our fiction favorites were: The Frozen River, The Berry Pickers, and The Maid. For non-fiction, we enjoyed What the Bears Know and The Art Thief.

All our past and present titles (all 23 years!) can be found on this MASTER LIST.

“Talk About a Good Book” Book Club Discussion Group

Usually meets last Monday of the month at 3 pm

2026 (Our 23^rd year)

January 26	Anxious People	Fredrik Backman
February 23	James (featured author on ILP March 19)	Percival Everett
March 30	The Small and the Mighty	Sharon McMahon
April 27	Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books	Kirsten Miller
May 18	Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting	Clare Pooley
June 29	Lady Tan’s Circle of Women	Lisa See
July 27	Finding the Mother Tree	Suzanne Simard
August 31	Four Winds	Kristin Hannah
September 28	Dear Edward	Ann Napolitano
October 26	Wild Dark Shore	Charlotte McConaghy
November 30	By the Fire We Carry	Rebecca Nagle
December 7^th @ 3pm —Coffee Chat about your 2026 favorites & get our new list for 2027

Our next meeting is January 26th at 3pm in the large meeting room at the LME Library. We will discuss Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. Copies of the books are available at the front desk and discussion sheets are also available for pickup or online. We hope you join us!

Summary for Anxious People: "Taken hostage by a failed bank robber while attending an open house, eight anxiety-prone strangers--including a redemption-seeking bank director, two couples who would fix their marriages, and a plucky octogenarian--discover their unexpected common traits. Viewing an apartment normally doesn't turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that: a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the eight strangers begin opening up to one another. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people."

Berry Pickers - November 24, 2025

At our October meeting, we discussed The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane. Most of the group found the book less compelling than our usual book club titles, but it was a quick book to read. We also started voting on our book club picks for next year.

Our next meeting is Monday, November 24th at 3pm, and we'll meet in the LME Library's large meeting room. The November read is The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters. Books can be picked up at the front desk, and discussion sheets are also available for pick-up or here. We're also picking our titles for 2026--please join us!

Berry Pickers summary: "July 1962. A Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family's youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister's disappearance for years to come. In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren't telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret. For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time."--

Best books of 2025

It's not quite November yet and already I'm seeing some of the best of...lists for 2025! I'll update when I have more lists, so you don't miss out:

Amazon Best Books of 2025

Barnes & Noble Book of the Year finalists

BookBrowse - What Books Have You Enjoyed So Far in 2025 (blog post)

Booksmith Top 100 of 2025

Goodreads Best 2025 Books (So Far)

Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2025 broken down by category

added 11/14/25

Amazon's Best Books of 2025

Good Read's Best Books of 2025 - Reader's Choice

added 11/20/25

100 Must Read Books of 2025 - Time

added 12/3/25

Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best 2025

Replacement Wife - October 27

At our book group meeting on September 29th, we discussed What the Bears Know by Steve Searles. We welcomed two new book club members, and everyone enjoyed the book. Most felt they learned a lot about bears and how people need to be more accountable for their actions. Overall, it was a highly rated book and held our interest.

Our next book is The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane, and we'll meet on Monday, October 27th at 3pm at the LME Library. Copies are available in regular print, large print at the front desk and in electronic book and audio formats online. Discussion sheets are available for pickup or can be accessed online.

Summary for The Replacement Wife: Elisa Wright is a mom and wife, living a nice, quiet life in a nice, quiet town. She's also convinced her brother-in-law is a murderer. Josh has one dead wife and one missing fianceé, and though he grieved for them he starts dating someone new. Elisa fears for that woman's safety, and she desperately wants to know what happened to her friend, Josh's missing fianceé. Searching for clues means investigating her own family. And she doesn't like what she finds. A laptop filled with incriminating information. Other women. But when Elisa becomes friends with Josh's new girlfriend and starts to question things she thinks are true, Elisa wonders if the memories of a horrible incident a year ago have finally pushed her over the edge and Josh is innocent. With so much at stake, Elisa fights off panic attacks and a strange illness. Is it a breakdown or something more? The race is on to get to the truth before another disappearance because there's a killer in the family, or is there?

What the Bears Know - September 29

At our August 25th meeting, we discussed Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Our group members were big fans of the book, and everyone enjoyed the discussion. Members liked how the author incorporated history and fiction seamlessly, but gave an author note on how she adjusted this story around the real life of Martha Ballard. I brought pumpkin squares to share.

Our next meeting is Monday, September 29th, at 3pm at the LME Library. We will be discussing the book, What the Bears Know, by Steve Searles. Books can be picked up at the library or are also available through our ebook/eaudio resources. The discussion sheets can also be picked up or printed here.

Summary: "In this wonderous and eye-opening exploration, Steve Searles, the renowned and respected "Bear Whisperer" of Mammoth Lakes, takes the reader on a journey into the lives of these remarkable creatures and the world we share. In the late 1990s, the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, hired Steve Searles as a hunter to cull half its troublesome bear population. But as he began to prepare for the grim task, the bears soon won him over, and Searles realised there had to be a better way. As Searles shares his remarkable knowledge and we become immersed in the ursine world, you'll never look at bears or nature the same way again. Warm and poignant, and perfect for anyone who has been fascinated by the natural world, What the Bears Know shows that wisdom and fulfillment can come from unexpected places."--