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Island Books Open Book Club

We like to discuss books with you over the counter, but even better is getting together to rehash a good title. In the spirit of enhancing a great read, we host an open book club that typically meets at Island Books the last Thursday of each month at 7:30 pm (if that Thursday coincides with a holiday, the meeting date will be adjusted). Our staff facilitator chooses both fiction and nonfiction titles. Everyone is welcome to attend even if you haven't read the book, and if you purchase your copy from Island Books you'll always get a 10% discount.

Join our Facebook group, browse below for selections, and check our events calendar for further information!

2023

The Promise by Damon Galgut (26 January)

Still Life by Sarah Winman (23 February) on Zoom

Saturn Run by John Sandford and Ctein (30 March)

Joan is Okay by Weike Wang (20 April)

The Beauty of Dusk: on vision lost and found by Frank Bruni (25 May)

Small World by Jonathan Evison (29 June)

Trust by Hernan Diaz (27 July)

 

2022 

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

  • Old School, by Tobias Wolff
  • Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter, by Thomas Cahill
  • The Known World, by Edward P. Jones
  • Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood
  • My Invented Country, by Isabella Allende
  • Washington Square, by Henry James
  • Dancer, by Colum Mcann
  • Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
  • Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, by Azar Nafisi
  • As Above, So Below: A Novel of Peter Bruegel, by Rudy Rucker
  • The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World, by Jenny Uglow
  • The Little Friend, by Donna Tartt

2003

  • Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie
  • The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
  • Bad Blood, by Lorna Sage
  • The Translator, by John Crowley
  • Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
  • Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician, by Anthony Everitt
  • Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks
  • Breaking Clean, by Judy Blunt
  • Atonement, by Ian McEwan
  • The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen
  • Wine & War: The French, The Nazis & the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure, by Don & Petie Kladstrup
  • Embers, by Sandor Marai

2002

  • Folly, by Laurie R. King
  • Seabiscuit: An American Legend, by Laura Hillenbrand
  • Holes, by Lois Sachar
  • Secrets of the Tsil Cafe, by Thomas Fox Averill
  • Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, by Joseph J. Ellis
  • Back When We Were Grownups, by Anne Tyler
  • The Family Orchard, by Naomi Eve
  • Paris to the Moon, by Adam Gopnik
  • The Feast of Love, by Charles Baxter
  • The Fellowship of the Ring, by JRR Tolkien
  • Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women, by Geraldine Brooks
  • White Teeth, by Zadie Smith

2001

  • Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth, by Naguib Mahfouz
  • Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love, by Dava Sobel
  • Anil's Ghost, by Michel Ondaatje
  • The Human Stain, by Philip Roth
  • Tulipomania, by Mike Dash
  • The Dress Lodger, by Sheri Holman
  • Ahab's Wife, by Sena Jeter Naslund
  • Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic, by Martha Beck
  • Pilgrim, by Timothy Findley
  • A Month in the Country, by J.L. Carr
  • The Lexus and the Olive Tree; Understanding Globalization, by Thomas L. Friedman
  • Motherless Brooklyn, by Jonathan Lethem

2000

  • The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
  • Catfish and Mandala, by Andrew X. Pham
  • Headlong, by Michael Frayn
  • The Late Mr. Shakespeare, by Robert Nye
  • Lenin's Embalmers, by Ilya Zbarsky
  • The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, by Richard Zimler
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J. K. Rowling
  • King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero, by David Remnick
  • The Farming of Bones, by Edwidge Danticat

1999

  • The Voyage of the Narwhal, by Andrea Barrett
  • The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester
  • The American, by Henry James
  • The Chimney Sweeper's Boy, by Barbara Vine
  • When Elephants Weep, by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
  • Last Day, by Glenn Kleier
  • The Englishman's Boy, by Guy Vanderhaeghe
  • The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman
  • The Witch of Exmoor, by Margaret Drabble

1998

  • The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells
  • Old Books, Rare Friends, by Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern
  • Straight Man, by Richard Russo
  • Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks
  • Fragments, by Binjamin Wilkomirski
  • Reading in the Dark, by Seamus Deane
  • Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood
  • Desert Places, by Robyn Davidson
  • Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, by Hilary Mantel

1997

  • Behind the Scenes at the Museum, by Kate Atkinson
  • An Unquiet Mind, by Kay Redfield Jamison
  • Audrey Hepburn's Neck, by Alan Brown
  • Ishmael, by David Quinn
  • Paula, by Isabel Allende
  • Morality Play, by Barry Unsworth

1996

  • Salvation on Sand Mountain, by Dennis Covington
  • Saving Grace, by Lee Smith
  • The Riders, by Tim Winton
  • An Imaginary Life, by David Malouf
  • A Very Long Engagement, by Sebastian Japrisot
  • The Princes in the Tower, by Alison Weir
  • Independence Day, by Richard Ford
  • Bombardiers, by Po Bronson
  • Autobiography of a Face, by Lucy Grealy
  • Rocking the Babies, by Linda Raymond
  • Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
  • Daisy Bates in the Desert, by Julia Blackburn
  • Northern Borders, by Howard Frank Mosher
The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found By Frank Bruni Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781982108588
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster - February 7th, 2023

Small World: A Novel By Jonathan Evison Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780593184134
Availability: Usually Available in 1-5 Days
Published: Dutton - January 10th, 2023

Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner) By Hernan Diaz Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780593420324
Availability: Usually Available in 1-5 Days
Published: Riverhead Books - May 2nd, 2023