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)

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.

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."--

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

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.

 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.

Sorry I'm late posting on our July 28th meeting! We read The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, and the group enjoyed this novel. They liked the characters, the friendship between Lily and Odile, and the descriptions about life in occupied France. Overall, it was very highly rated!

At our June 30th meeting, we discussed the Girl Who Disappeared Twice by Andrea Kane. It was okay, but we felt it did not have enough substance for book group. Some felt the mystery wasn't very suspenseful, and others thought the title was misleading. Overall, it was a quick and easy read - good for those who just need a beach read.

Our May 19th book club had low attendance, but we had a lot to discuss with The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. This true crime non-fiction work profiles Stéphane Breitwieser, who stole more than 300 art objects from museums, churches, and auction houses over nearly ten years. His narcissistic behavior and the lack of repercussions for his crimes stunned us. Finkel was very thorough and presented the details with startling clarity. 

Book Summary: When they are hired by veteran family court judge Hope Willis to find her missing daughter, Forensic Investigators--a team of renegade investigators comprised of a behaviorist, a techno-wizard, an intuitive, and a former Navy SEAL--must race against time to bring Krissy back alive.

At our book club meeting on April 28th, we discussed The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. The group liked that it was a quick, engaging read. Even though the timeline jumped around a bit, it was still easy to follow since there was only one point of view. All rated it highly.

 At our March 31st meeting, we discussed The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA by Liza Mundy. It was a well-researched book, but the topic was difficult to read. Some readers had trouble following due to the many individuals included, and others found it difficult due to how the women were treated by their superiors, co-workers, and the organization. However, all felt that this was an important part of history and should be read by all.

Our next meeting is Monday, April 28th at 3pm at LME Library. We will discuss The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. Copies of the book are available at the front desk, and discussion sheets can be picked up or are available online. 

Summary of  The Last Thing He Told Me: "When her husband of a year disappears, Hannah quickly learns he is not who he said he was and is left to sort out the truth with just one ally- her husband's teenage daughter, who hates her."

At our February 24, 2025 meeting, we discussed The Maid by Nita Prose. Most of our readers did not have high expectations, but they all loved the book! It was a quick read, but we liked the mystery and the characters. Overall, our group gave it the highest rating.

Summary: "The New York Times bestselling author of Code Girls reveals the untold story of how women at the CIA ushered in the modern intelligence age, a sweeping story of a "sisterhood" of women spies spanning three generations who broke the glass ceiling, helped transform spycraft, and tracked down Osama Bin Laden. Upon its creation in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency instantly became one of the most important spy services in the world. Like every male-dominated workplace in Eisenhower America, the growing intelligence agency needed women to type memos, send messages, manipulate expense accounts, and keep secrets. Despite discrimination-even because of it-these clerks and secretaries rose to become some of the shrewdest, toughest operatives the agency employed. Because women were seen as unimportant, they moved unnoticed on the streets of Bonn, Geneva, and Moscow, stealing secrets under the noses of the KGB. Back at headquarters, they built the CIA's critical archives-first by hand, then by computer. These women also battled institutional stereotyping and beat it. Men argued they alone could run spy rings. But the women proved they could be spymasters, too. During the Cold War, women made critical contributions to U.S. intelligence, sometimes as officers, sometimes as unpaid spouses, working together as their numbers grew. The women also made unique sacrifices, giving up marriage, children, even their own lives. They noticed things that the men at the top didn't see. In the final years of the twentieth century, it was a close-knit network of female CIA analysts who warned about the rising threat of Al Qaeda. After the 9/11 attacks, women rushed to join the fight as a new job, "targeter," came to prominence. They showed that painstaking data analysis would be crucial to the post-9/11 national security landscape-an effort that culminated spectacularly in the CIA's successful efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden and, later, Ayman al-Zawahiri. With the same meticulous reporting and storytelling verve that she brought to her New York Times bestseller Code Girls, Liza Mundy has written an indispensable and sweeping history that reveals how women at the CIA ushered in the modern intelligence age"

We just discussed Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone on January 27th. The book discussion guide is available here. It had a mixed reception--several members liked it and others thought there were too many characters and too much going on. Overall, the feeling that the book was a literary exercise kept it lighter even though there were a lot of murders. One group member suggested that it was similar to the book, Killers of a Certain Age, which we read in July 2024.

Well, that's a wrap on 2024! At today's meeting, we discussed our favorite book club titles for 2024 and the titles we picked for 2025. We also had holiday treats supplied by members.

“Talk About a Good Book” Book Club Discussion Group

Usually meets last Monday of the month at 3 pm

 2025 (Our 22^nd year)

Resources and blog available online at: http://talkaboutagoodbook.blogspot.com/