SDL Book Club 

SDL's book discussion group meets the first Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. 

Share your love of books with others who enjoy reading!

June 4 at 5:30

The Women by Kristin Hannah  

Women can be heroes. When nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed and politically divided America.

July 2 at 5:30

Still Life by Louise Penny

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.

August 6 at 5:30

The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County by Clair Swinarski 

Esther has been cooking for funerals in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for seventy years. Known locally as the “funeral ladies,” she and her cohort have worked hard to keep the mourners of Ellerie County fed—it is her firm belief that there is very little a warm casserole and a piece of cherry pie can’t fix. But, after falling for an internet scam that puts her home at risk, the proud family matriarch is the one in need of help. Iris, Esther’s granddaughter, would do anything for her family and community. As she watches her friends and family move out of their lakeside town onto bigger and better things, Iris wonders why she feels so left behind in the place she is desperate to make her home. But when Cooper Welsh shows up, she finally starts to feel like she’s found the missing piece of her puzzle. Cooper is dealing with becoming a legal guardian to his younger half-sister after his beloved stepmother dies. While their celebrity-chef father is focused on his booming career and top-ranked television show, Cooper is still hurting from a public tragedy he witnessed last year as a paramedic and finding it hard to cope. With Iris in the gorgeous Ellerie County, though, he hopes he might finally find the home he’s been looking for. It doesn’t seem like a community cookbook could possibly solve their problems, especially one where casseroles have their own section and cream of chicken soup mix is the most frequently used ingredient. But when you mix the can-do spirit of Midwestern grandmothers with the stubborn hope of a boy raised by food plus a dash of long-awaited forgiveness—things might just turn out okay.

Previous Book Club Discussion Titles

If you enjoyed these books, check out SDL's Reader's Advisory for more suggestions. 

• All The Children Are Home by Patry Francis
• All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys 
• The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
• The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston
• The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons
• Chariot On The Mountain by Jack Ford
• The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
• Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
• The Doll Maker by Harriet Arnow
• The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew
• Educated: a memoir by Tara Westover
• Florence Gordon by Brian Morton
• The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
• Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
• Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart. Based on true events. Read the series.
• The Grapes of Wrath by Jon Steinbeck
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows 
• Harry's Tree by Jon Cohen
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
• Hostage by Clare Mackintosh
• House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
• How The Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior
• The Invention Of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd 
• Iona Iverson's Rules For Commuting by Clare Pooley 
• The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
• Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
• Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 
• The Monogram Murders: A New Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah
• The Martian by Andy Weir
• Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil by John Berndt
• Miss Cecily's Recipes For Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman 
• Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles
• Mockingbird Summer by Lynda Rutledge
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
• No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert
• The Only Woman In the Room by Marie Benedict
• The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
• The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
• The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
• Sea Biscuit: an American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand  Read the book. Watch the DVD.
• Seven Days Of Us by Francesca Hornak 
• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
• The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 
• The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg
• Things Past Telling by Sheila Williams
• The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• To Kill A Mockingbird - Lee Harper
• A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• The Truth According To Us by Annie Barrows
• Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
• Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience and redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
• Until I Come Back For You by P. A. White
• Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler 
• Wade In The Water by Nyani Nkruman
• A Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson
• Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
• The Women of Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell