Book Discussion Groups

Salem Public Library hosts two book discussion groups: Books for Lunch and Books for Dessert. The groups are organized and led by staff members. Meetings are free and open to the public. The Salem Public Library Foundation and the Friends of the Salem Public Library have teamed up to sponsor the purchase of book kits for the book discussion groups. Books for the upcoming month's discussion are available for checkout at each meeting and then, up to the date of the meeting, at the Information/Reference Desk. More information is available from the Information/Reference Desk in person or by phone at 503-588-6052.

Book kits are also available for check-out and use by area book groups.
A complete listing of available book kits and instructions for reserving the kits is available online.

Books for Lunch is a book discussion group meeting monthly from September to May. Meetings are held at 12 noon on the third Wednesday of each month.

NEXT MEETING ...

Member Social and Booktalk
12 noon Wednesday, December 16
Anderson Room A

This special Books for Lunch event offers fun and fellowship for book-lovers and book groups. Salem Public Library Readers' Advisor Robin Beerbower will whet literary appetites by talking about what's new and buzzworthy in books for discussion groups and will also have many free advance reading copies from which to choose. She will also leave time for socializing among the members. Attendees are encouraged to bring yummy, easy-to-eat food to share.

This special holiday edition of Books for Lunch will run a little longer than most, with a scheduled end time of 1:30 p.m.

Still to come in the 2009-2010 Season!

Wednesday, January 20
Moloka’i by Alan Brennert

Wednesday, February 17
Best Books of 2009 Presentation

Wednesday, March 17
A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher

Wednesday, April 21
The Local News by Miriam Gershow

Wednesday, May 19
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Books for Dessert is a book discussion group designed to meet the needs of working people. The group meets on the first Tuesday of each month from October to June.

NEXT MEETING ...

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Diaz
7 p.m. Tuesday, December 1
Anderson Room A

Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, nerdy, and lovesick young Dominican-American.

From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations.

Still to come in the 2009-2010 Season!

Tuesday, February 2
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Tuesday, March 2
Best Books of 2009 Presentation

Tuesday, April 6
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

Tuesday, May 4
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Tuesday, June 1
Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter
by Adeline Yen Mah