Book Discussion Groups

The library's Mystery Book Club meets at 1 PM on the first Tuesday of each month. All are welcome.

Registration is optional. Click the date below to register and get reminders for upcoming book clubs!

This club will be held in hybrid format. Come in person at the library, or attend online! Click this link to connect via Zoom. Password: 3GWdHC

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Tuesday January 7 

Vera Wong is a lady of a certain age who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. One morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing – a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. As she begins to watch an increasing number of customers to figure out which is the killer, she does not expect to form friendships and start to care for each and every one of them...

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun
Tuesday February 4

Former award winning news reporter Jim Qwilleran is assigned to the art world as his new news beat. When a murderer sicks a knife in the neck of a local gallery owner and goes berserk among the works on show, Qwilleran gets help from his Siamese cat solving the mystery.

Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon
Tuesday March 4

Nothing brings an estranged family together like a murder next door. High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of: her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she's built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage – and hoping that boredom won't kill her before the cancer does. Then Jack stumbles upon a dead body and quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the headstrong Rubicon women must learn do the one thing they've always resisted: depend on each other.

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger
Tuesday April 1

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn's death threatens to expose.

The library's Fiction Book Club meets the second Monday each month at 1 PM and 7 PM. Attend at either time!

Registration is optional. Click the date below to register and get reminders for upcoming book clubs!

This club will be held in hybrid format. Come in person at the library, or attend online! Click this link to connect via Zoom. Password: 3GWdHC

Graceland by Nancy Crochiere
Monday January 13

Hope Robinson can't seem to please anyone lately: not her pink-haired teenage daughter Dylan, and especially not her mother, flamboyant soap-star, Olivia Grant. Now that she's on oxygen, Olivia insists Hope take her on a final trip to Graceland. That's the one place Hope can't go: she fled Memphis years ago with a shameful secret and a vow never to return. Olivia gets Dylan to drive her from Boston to Memphis with the promise of meeting her father. Hope chases after, determined to stop them before they expose the truth and all hell breaks loose.

The Promise by Damon Galgut
Monday February 10

A modern saga that could only have come from South Africa, written in gorgeous prose by the Booker Prize-shortlisted author Damon Galgut. Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life's unfulfilled promises; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt. Reunited by four funerals over three decades, the dwindling family reflects the atmosphere of its country - an atmosphere of resentment, renewal, and - ultimately - hope. The Promise is an epic drama that unfurls against the unrelenting march of national history, sure to please current fans and attract many new ones.

Dust Child by Nguyẽ̂n Phan Qué̂ Mai
Monday March 10

In 1969, sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts, leave their rural village to work at a bar in Sài Gòn. Once in the big city, the young girls are thrown headfirst into a world they were not expecting. As the war moves closer to the city, the once-innocent Trang gets swept up in an irresistible romance with a handsome and kind American helicopter pilot she meets at the bar.

Decades later, an American veteran, Dan, returns to Việt Nam with his wife, Linda, in search of a way to heal from his PTSD; instead, secrets he thought he had buried surface and threaten his marriage. At the same time, Phong – the adult son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman – embarks on a mission to find both his parents and a way out of Việt Nam...

The Maid by Nita Prose
Monday April 14

A charmingly eccentric hotel maid discovers a guest murdered in his bed, turning her once orderly world upside down and inspiring a motley crew of unexpected allies to band together to solve the mystery. 

The library's Nonfiction Book Club meets the third Monday each month, at 1 PM.

Registration is optional. Click the date below to register and get reminders for upcoming book clubs!

This club will be held in hybrid format. Come in person at the library, or attend online! Click this link to connect via Zoom. Password: 3GWdHC

The Chiffon Trenches by Andre Leon Talley
Monday December 16

Discover what truly happens behind the scenes in the world of high fashion in this detailed, storied memoir from style icon, bestselling author, and former Vogue creative director André Leon Talley. During André Leon Talley's first magazine job assisting Andy Warhol at Interview, a fateful meeting with Karl Lagerfeld began a decade's long friendship with the enigmatic, often caustic designer. Propelled into the upper echelons by his knowledge and adoration of fashion, Talley moved to Paris as bureau chief of John Fairchild's Women's Wear Daily, befriending fashion's most important designers. But as Talley made friends, he also made enemies. A racially tinged encounter with a member of the house of Yves Saint Laurent sent him back to New York and into the offices of Vogue under Grace Mirabella. There, he developed an unlikely but intimate friendship with Anna Wintour, and as she rose to the top of Vogue's masthead, Talley became the most influential man in fashion. The Chiffon Trenches is a candid look at the who's who of the last fifty years of fashion, and proof that fact is always fascinatingly more devilish than fiction. André Leon Talley's engaging memoir tells the story of how he not only survived but thrived – despite racism, illicit rumors, and all the other challenges of this notoriously cutthroat industry – to become one of the most legendary voices and faces in fashion. 

In the Garden Behind the Moon by Alexandra Chan
Monday January 27

We’re very excited to announce that the author Alexandra Chan will join us for this discussion! 
Alexandra Chan thinks she has life figured out until, in the Year of the Ram, the death of her father--her last parent--brings her to her knees, an event seemingly foretold in Chinese mythology. In an epic story that travels from prerevolution China to the South under Jim Crow, from the Pacific theater of WWII to the black sands of Reynisfjara, Iceland, and beyond, Chan takes us on a universal journey to meaning in the wake of devastating loss, sharing the insights and tools that allowed her to rebuild her life and resurrect her spirit. Part memoir, part lyrical invitation to new ways of seeing and better ways of being in dark times, the book includes beautiful full-color original Chinese brush paintings by the author and fascinating vintage photographs of an unforgettable cast of characters. In the Garden Behind the Moon is a captivating family portrait and an urgent call to awaken to the magic and wonder of daily life.

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Monday February 24

The tale of American heroes and astronauts Yeager, Conrad, Grissom, and Glenn – men who were willing to put their lives on the line in pursuit of the final frontier. With stunning accuracy and captivating prose, Wolfe recounts the details of the lives of these men, their families, and of NASA's Project Mercury program. The result is a vivid history that could only be enhanced by actual historic photographs.

My Life in France by Julia Child
Monday March 17

Julia Child was not always a master chef. Indeed, when she first arrived in France in 1948 with her husband, Paul, who was to work for the USIS, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself.

But as she dove into French culture, buying food at local markets and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu, her life changed forever with her newfound passion for cooking and teaching. Julia's unforgettable story — struggles with the head of the Cordon Bleu, rejections from publishers to whom she sent her now-famous cookbook, a wonderful, nearly fifty-year long marriage that took the Childs across the globe – unfolds with the spirit so key to Julia's success as a chef and a writer, brilliantly capturing one of America's most endearing personalities.

The Devil's Element by Dan Egan
Monday April 14

The story of phosphorus spans the globe and vast tracts of human history. The race to mine phosphorus took people from the battlefields of Waterloo, which were looted for the bones of fallen soldiers, to the fabled guano islands off Peru, the Bone Valley of Florida, and the sand dunes of the Western Sahara. Over the past century, phosphorus has made farming vastly more productive, feeding the enormous increase in the human population. Yet, as Egan harrowingly reports, our overreliance on this vital crop nutrient is today causing toxic algae blooms and "dead zones" in waterways from the coasts of Florida to the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes and beyond. Egan also explores the alarming reality that diminishing access to phosphorus poses a threat to the food system worldwide — which risks rising conflict and even war.

The Portsmouth Public Library Speculative Fiction Book Club will meet on the final Tuesday of each month at 7 PM. Spec Fic is a genre that encompasses fantasy, science fiction, horror and everything in between. Speculative fiction asks, what if? 

Registration is optional. Click the date below to register and get reminders for upcoming book clubs!

This club will be held in hybrid format. Come in person at the library, or attend online! Click this link to connect via Zoom. Password: 3GWdHC

Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor
Tuesday December 17

From the moment Sunny Nwazue discovered she had mystical energy flowing in her blood, she sought to understand and control her powers. Throughout her adventures, she had to navigate the balance between nearly everything in her life-America and Nigeria, the "normal" world and the one infused with juju, human and spirit, good daughter and powerful Leopard Person.

Now, those hard lessons and abilities are put to the test in a quest so dangerous and fantastical, it would be madness to go... but the world may be destroyed if she does not. With the help of her friends, Sunny embarks on a mission to find a precious object hidden deep in an otherworldly realm. Defeating the guardians of the prize will take more from Sunny than she has to give, and triumph will mean she will be forever changed. 

Note: this is the third in a series. Read Akata Witch and Akata Warrior first for the full story! 

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Tuesday January 28

In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, a stranger with piercing blue eyes presents a new father with a gift - a precious jewel on a delicate chain, intended for his young daughter. Uncertain of its meaning, Pytor hides the gift away and Vasya grows up a wild, willful girl, to the chagrin of her family. But when mysterious forces threaten the happiness of their village, Vasya discovers that, armed only with the necklace, she may be the only one who can keep the darkness at bay.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Tuesday February 25

During a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident – or that Mahit might be next to die. Now Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion – all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret--one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life – or rescue it from annihilation.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Tuesday March 25

When an American is captured by German soldiers during World War II, he becomes unstuck in time and jumps into different parts of his life, including when he was captured by aliens and put in their zoo, his marriage, and even his own death.

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
Tuesday April 29

A young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green were prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility – until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story: one of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.

How now good friends? Dost thou seek a monthly pasttime to broaden the mind and entice the senses? Look no further than Shakespearean Discussion Group! Enjoy the selected play of the month in the way ‘twas presented: to the masses! Pick up a video recording of the play to view at your leisure, and then join us on the last Tuesday of the month at 4 PM to discuss your experience with The Bard’s work. Mayhaps thou shalt stumble upon some new friends there as well… Be not perturbed of your knowledge of Shakespeare’s works, for we encourage fellows of all ages, areas of interest and expertise to attend!

Shakespeare Discussion Group meets in person, in the library's MacLeod Board Room. Registration is optional - register to receive reminders. Visit our library calendar to register!

Print and DVD copies of this play will be available for checkout with a library card. Library cardholders also have streaming access to the BBC production on Kanopy – visit cityofportsmouth.com/library/kanopy to connect. Or, watch any of the freely available productions linked from the calendar.

Coriolanus
Tuesday January 30

The story takes place in Rome shortly after the expulsion of the Tarquin kings. Ordinary citizens are rioting after stores of grain were withheld. The rioters are particularly angry at Gaius Martius, a brilliant Roman general whom they blame. War breaks out with a neighboring Italian tribe, the Volscians, who are led by Martius' great rival, Tullus Aufidius.

Venus and Adonis 
Tuesday February 25

The goddess of love pleads with the beautiful boy to submit to her advances and become her love – but he only wants to hunt boar.

Merchant of Venice
Tuesday March 25

As the citizens of Venice compete for advantageous marriages, wealth, and status, a moneylender is intent on deadly revenge. Mistrust and resentment thrive in Shakespeare's dark comedy.

Twelfth Night
Tuesday April 29

A pair of twins are separated by a shipwreck, each believing the other has drowned. A lovesick duke woos a countess deep in mourning for her brother, while her rowdy household plots the downfall of her puritanical steward. Disguise, confusion, and mistaken identity follow in Shakespeare's great comedy of love in all its manifestations.