Book Club
August 2026
RIVER OF THE GODS by Candice Millard
River of the Gods by Candice Millard is a non-fiction book detailing the 19th-century race to find the source of the Nile River, focusing on the rivalry between British explorers Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke, and their guide Sidi Mubarak Bombay. The book chronicles their perilous journey, the immense hardships they faced, and the bitter betrayal that followed when Speke claimed to have found the source (Lake Victoria) before Burton, leading to a famous public feud. It’s a story of adventure, colonial ambition, and the complex legacy of exploration, highlighting the crucial role of African guides like Bombay.
September 2026
THIS BOOK MADE ME THINK OF YOU by Libby Page
When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. But mainly because Joe died five months ago….
October 2026
THE AUTHENTICITY PROJECT by Clare Pooley
The story of a solitary green notebook that brings together six strangers and leads to unexpected friendship, and even love.
An eccentric, lonely artist and septuagenarian believes that most people aren’t really honest with each other. But what if they were? And so he writes—in a plain, green journal—the truth about his own life and leaves it in his local café. It’s run by the incredibly tidy and efficient Monica, who furtively adds her own entry and leaves the book in the wine bar across the street. Before long, the others who find the green notebook add the truths about their own deepest selves—and soon find each other In Real Life at Monica’s Café.
November 2026
THEO OF GOLDEN by Allen Levi
A literary fiction novel about an enigmatic 86-year-old Portuguese man who moves to the small town of Golden, Georgia. He begins a heartwarming mission of purchasing local pencil portraits from a coffee shop and quietly returning them to their rightful subjects, sparking transformative connections and acts of kindness throughout the community.
December 2026
No book selection for December. Meeting to be determined
January 2027
THE BIRD HOTEL by Joyce Maynard
A sweeping, emotionally rich novel about grief, reinvention, and chosen family. After a devastating tragedy in San Francisco, the protagonist, Irene, travels to a fictional Central American village and takes over a decaying, magical lakefront hotel called La Llorona.
