What we’re about
Come meet local book lovers in our Williamsburg Book Club! We read many different genres (fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, historical fiction, and mystery/suspense/thriller/horror), and we read a different book (and author!) every month. Come share your interest in books, expand your list of authors whose work you'd like to read more of, and make some new friends! Club is open to both women and men, and open to new members.
Below is a list of what the group has read so far (title, author, date, genre) - also see our upcoming selections at the bottom of this list):
"Angels and Demons" Dan Brown 5/30/09 thriller
"Ender's Game" Orson Scott Card 6/27/09 sci fi
"Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves" P.G. Wodehouse 7/25/09 humor
"Three Cups of Tea" Greg Mortensen 9/12/09 nonfiction
"Slaughterhouse Five" Kurt Vonnegut 10/18/09 sci fi
"Out of the Silent Planet" C.S. Lewis 11/14/09 fantasy
"Pillars of the Earth" Ken Follett 12/12/09 historical fiction
"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" Junot Diaz 1/23/10 modern fiction
"Assassination Vacation" Sarah Vowell 2/20/10 nonfiction/history
"The Sun Also Rises" Ernest Hemingway 3/20/10 classic
"Personal Injuries" Scott Turow 4/17/10 legal/crime fiction
"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" Michael Chabon 5/15/10 modern fiction
"Gone to Gonega" Brenda Lee Renwick 6/12/10 sci fi/comedy
"The Coffin Dancer" Jeffrey Deaver 7/17/10 mystery/suspense
"Kindred" Octavia Butler 8/14/10 historical scifi/fantasy
"The Postman" David Brin 9/18/10 post-apocalyptic
"The Cabinet of Curiosities" Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child 10/16/10 thriller
"Memoirs of a Geisha" Arthur Golden 11/13/10 historical fiction
"To Kill a Mockingbird" Harper Lee 12/11/10 classic
"Presidential Courage" Michael Beschloss 1/15/11 nonfiction/history
"The Handmaid's Tale" Margaret Atwood 2/12/11 sci-fi, dystopia
"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" Muriel Barbery 3/12/11 modern French literature
"Cutting for Stone", Abraham Verhese 4/16/11 historical/medical fiction, Ethiopia
"A Tale of Two Cities" Charles Dickens 5/21/11 classic fiction
"Gaudy Night" Dorothy Sayers 6/11/11 suspense
"The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that changed America"
Erik Larson 7/9/11 nonfiction/history/crime
"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" Rebecca Skloot 8/13/11 nonfiction/medical/ethical
"House Rules" Jodi Picoult 9/10/11 fiction/topical/Asperger's
"Summer of Night" Dan Simmons 10/15/11 fiction/horror
"2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America" Albert Brooks 11/12/11 dystopia/comedy
"Rebecca" Daphne Du Maurier 12/10/11 classic/gothic [movie following meeting]
"Lonesome Dove" Larry McMurtry 1/14/11 fiction/western
"The Art of Racing in the Rain" Garth Stein 2/18/12 fiction/literature
"In Cold Blood" Truman Capote 3/17/12 nonfiction/biography/true crime
"The Silver Pigs" Lindsey Davis 4/14/12 historical fiction/detective story
"The Left Hand of Darkness" Ursula K. Le Guin 5/12/12 sci fi
"The Hunger Games" Suzanne Collins 6/9/12 sci fi
"An Instance of the Fingerpost" Iain Pears 7/7/12 historical mystery
"The Uncommon Reader" Alan Bennett 8/4/12 novella
"Lincoln" Gore Vidal 9/8/12 historical novel
"World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War" Max Brooks 10/13/12 horror
"At Home" Bill Bryson 11/10/12 nonfiction
"East of Eden" John Steinbeck 12/08/12 classic novel
"American Gods" Neil Gaiman 1/19/13 fantasy
"Einstein's Dreams" Alan Lightman 2/09/13 fiction (more poetical than physics)
"Middlesex" Jeffrey Eugenides 3/16/13 modern fiction
"In the Woods" Tana French 4/20/13 detective fiction
"Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood" Marjane Satrapi 5/18/13 nonfiction
"Noon at Tiffany's" Echo Heron 6/15/13 historical fiction
"The Caves of Steel" Isaac Asimov 7/13/13 sci-fi
"The Good Soldier" Ford Madox Ford 8/10/13 classic novel
"Atonement" Ian McEwan 9/07/13 modern novel
"The Shining" Stephen King 10/26/13 (postponed from 10/19) horror [movie following meeting]
"The Poisoner's Handbook" Deborah Blum 11/16/13 nonfiction
"I, Claudius" Robert Graves 12/14/13 historical fiction
"Wool" Hugh Howey 1/11/14 science fiction
"One of Ours" Willa Cather 2/08/14 classic/Pulitzer prize winner
"The Orphan Master's Son" Adam Johnson 3/08/14 modern fiction/Pulitzer
"The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World" Michael Pollan 4/12/14 nonfiction/botany/ecology
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" Mark Haddon - 5/10/14 - modern fiction/mystery/autism
"Rendevous with Rama" Arthur C. Clarke - 6/07/14 - sci fi
"Jane Eyre" Charlotte Bronte - 7/12/14 - classic/English Gothic
"The Round House" Louise Erdrich - 8/09/14 - mod fiction/Native American
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" John le Carre - 9/06/14 - spy novel
"Ghost Story" Peter Straub - 10/18/14 - horror/thriller [movie following meeting]
"The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery that fed the world but fueled the rise of Hitler" Thomas Hager - 11/15/14 - nonfiction
"People of the Book" Geraldine Brooks - 12/13/14 - historical fiction
"The Gate to Women's Country" Sheri Tepper - 1/10/15 - fantasy
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" Oscar Wilde- 2/7/15 - classic
"Empire Falls" Richard Russo - 3/7/15 - modern fiction
"The Eight" Katherine Neville - 4/11/15 - thriller
"Destiny of the Republic: Madness, Medicine, and Murder" Candace Millard - 5/9/15 - nonfiction
"Cloud Atlas" David Mitchell - 6/6/15 - sci fi/fantasy
"The Quiet American" Graham Greene - 7/11/15 - classic/50's Saigon & CIA
"The Brothers K" David James Duncan - 8/8/15 - modern fiction
"The Goldfinch" Donna Tartt - 9/12/15 - modern fiction
"Hell House" Richard Matheson - 10/10/15 - horror
"The First 15 Lives of Harry August" Claire North - 11/7/15 - historical fiction
"The Name of the Rose" Umberto Eco - 12/5/15 - mystery/thriller/suspense [movie following meeting]
"Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep" David K. Randall - 1/9/16 - nonfiction
"BUtterfield-8" John O'Hara - 2/6/16 - classic [movie following meeting]
"Old Man's War" John Scalzi - 3/5/16 - sci fi
"The Girl on the Train" Paula Hawkins - 4/2/16 - modern fiction
"Jackson - A Novel" Max Byrd - 5/7/16 - historical fiction
"Gone Girl" Gillian Flynn - 6/11/16 - mystery/thriller/suspense [movie following meeting]
"The Secret History of Wonder Woman" Jill Lepore - 7/16/16 - nonfiction
"The Violent Bear It Away" Flannery O'Connor - 8/13/16 - classic
"The Martian" Andy Weir - 9/10/16 - sci fi/fantasy [movie following meeting]
"I Am Not A Serial Killer" Dan Wells- 10/15/16 - horror
"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" Ransom Riggs - 11/19/16 - mystery/thriller/suspense/fantasy
"Boy's Life" Robert McCammon - 1/7/17 - modern fiction
"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story" John Berendt - 2/4/17 - nonfiction [movie following meeting]
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" Mark Twain - 3/4/17 - classic
"Timeline" Michael Crichton- 4/1/17 - sci-fi/fantasy
"The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" Dorothy Gilman - 5/6/17 - mystery/thriller/suspense
"The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window" Jonas Jonasson - 6/10/17 - modern fiction
"Confederates in the Attic" Tony Horwitz - 7/15/17 - nonfiction
"Mrs. Dalloway" Virginia Woolf - 8/12/17 - classic
"14" Peter Clines - 9/9/17 - sci-fi/fantasy/horror
"Foreign Affairs" Alison Lurie - 10/14/17 - modern fiction
"A Midwife's Tale (based on Martha Ballard's diary, 1785-1812) Laurel Thatcher Ulrich - 11/18/17 - nonfiction/biography
1/13/18 - "The Alienist" Caleb Carr - detective/historical fiction
2/10/18 - "Mansfield Park" Jane Austen - classic
3/10/18 - "The Bear and the Nightingale" Katherine Arden - fantasy/historical fiction
4/7/18 - "A Man Called Ove: A Novel" Fredrik Backman - modern fiction
5/5/18 - "Self-Made Man: One Woman's Year Disguised as a Man" Norah Vincent - nonfiction/memoir
6/2/18 - "Istanbul Passage" Joseph Kanon - spy thriller/historical fiction
7/14/18 - "Little Women" Louisa May Alcott - classics
8/11/18 - "CyberStorm" Matthew Mather - sci fi
9/15/18 - "Still Life" Louise Penny - modern fiction
10/13/18 - "The Devourers" Indra Das - horror
11/10/18 - "The Ghost Map" Steven Johnson - nonfiction
1/12/19 - "Outlander" (Book 1), Diana Gabaldon - fantasy/historical fiction
2/9/19 - "Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood" Oliver Sacks - memoir
3/9/19 - "The Last Tycoon/The Love of the Last Tycoon" F. Scott Fitzgerald - classics
4/6/19 - "The City & The City" China Mieville - sci fi/fantasy
5/4/19 - "Still Life with Woodpecker" Tom Robbins - modern fiction
6/8/19 - "Educated" Tara Westover - memoir
7/13/19 - "My Name is Red" Orhan Pamuk - historical fiction
8/10/19 - "The Last Days of Night" Graham Moore - historical fiction
9/7/19 - "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States" Sarah Vowell - nonfiction/humor
10/5/19 - "Dracula" Bram Stoker - horror/classic
11/16/19 - "The Man in the High Castle" Philip K. Dick - sci fi/fantasy
1/11/20 - "The Wine of Angels" Phil Rickman - supernatural/occult mystery
2/8/20 - "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" Sherman Alexie - modern fiction
3/21/20 - CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS "SOCIAL DISTANCING" - SEE BELOW FOR NEW SCHEDULE
4/18/20 - CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS "SOCIAL DISTANCING" - SEE BELOW FOR NEW SCHEDULE
5/16/20 - CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS "SOCIAL DISTANCING" - SEE BELOW FOR NEW SCHEDULE
6/20/20 - "Blue Latitudes: Boldly going where Captain Cook has gone before" Tony Horwitz - memoir
7/18/20 - "Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague" Geraldine Brooks - historical fiction
8/15/20 - MEETING CANCELLED DUE TO POOR SIGNUP - BOOK TO BE DISCUSSED AT NEXT MEETING "Seven Gothic Tales" Isak Dinesen - classic/short stories
9/12/20 - "Circe" Madeline Miller - Historical fiction (ancient, military)/mythology
10/24/20 - "The Magician's Nephew" C.S. Lewis - fantasy
11/21/20 - "Salt: A World History" Mark Kurlansky - nonfiction
*NOW 03/06/21 - "The Stand" Stephen King - sci fi/horror [2/3 - this meeting date has been postponed until next month because weather.com does not predict any warm enough weather for having windows open where we meet]
*NOW 04/10/21 - Two short comedic novels by P.G. Wodehouse: 1) The Adventures of Sally and 2) Love Among the Chickens [2/3 - this meeting date has been postponed because February's date needed to be postponed (see above)]
* 05/15/21 - "Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607" Benjamin Woolley - nonfiction
06/12/21 - "Maybe you should talk to someone" Lori Gottlieb - memoir
07/17/21 - "One for the Money" Janet Evanovich - humorous fiction
08/14/21 - "Wyrd Sisters" Terry Pratchett - humorous fantasy/parody
09/18/21 - "Murder Must Advertise: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery" Dorothy Sayers - mystery
10/23/21 - "Not in Kansas Anymore: Dark Arts, Sex Spells, Money Magic, and other things your neighbors aren't telling you" Christine Wicker - nonfiction
11/20/21 - "Novel Problems: Some Books Should Stay Buried!" George T. Morrison - sci-fi [Note: Meeting cancelled due to low projected attendance]
01/08/22 - "Doomsday Book" Connie Willis - historical fiction/sci-fi/fantasy/time travel
02/05/22 - "One Summer: America, 1927" Bill Bryson - popular culture, social science, history
03/05/22 - "Mobituaries" Mo Rocca - humor, popular culture, history
04/02/22 - "Perelandra" C. S. Lewis - fantasy
05/07/22 - "The Beautiful Mystery" Louise Penny - mystery
06/04/22 - "Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, Book 1)" Dan Simmons - science fiction
07/09/22 - "Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)" Jerome K. Jerome - classic fiction/humor
08/13/22 - "Mythos" Stephen Fry - mythology
09/10/22 - "Old New York" Edith Wharton - classic novellas
10/08/22 - "Something Wicked This Way Comes" Ray Bradbury - classic horror/fantasy
11/12/22 - "The Reivers" William Faulkner - classic literature/humor/adventure
1/7/23 - "Chesapeake: A Novel" James A. Michener - historical fiction/thriller/suspense
2/4/23 - "Redshirts" John Scalzi - humorous sci-fi adventure
3/25/23 - "The Likeness" Tana French - psychological suspense/thriller/murder mystery
4/22/23 - "The Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" David Grann - nonfiction/1920's Indian history
6/3/23 - "A Woman of No Importance" Sonia Purnell - nonfiction/1940's WWII history
7/8/23 - "Infinity Born" Douglas E. Richards - sci-fi/techno-thriller
8/5/23 - "Remarkably Bright Creatures" Shelby Van Pelt - literary fiction/humor
9/9/23 - "Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History" Erik Larson - nonfiction/history, natural disaster, 1900
10/7/23 - "Coraline" Neil Gaman - Halloween/horror/fantasy & magic
11/4/23 - "Trust" Hernan Diaz - Historical/literary fiction
12/2/23 - "The Wind's Twelve Quarters" Ursula K Le Guin - Science fiction short stories
01/20/24 - "Ben Franklin" Walter Isaacson - Biography
02/24/24 - "Lessons in Chemistry" Bonnie Garmus - Fiction
03/23/24 - "The Hidden Life of Trees" Peter Wohlleben - Nonfiction
04/20/24 - "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery" Agatha Christie - Mystery
05/18/24 - "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir" Bill Bryson - Biography/Humor
06/22/24 - "All Systems Red" and "Artificial Condition" (Murderbot Diaries # 1 and # 2) Martha Wells - Sci-Fi/Fantasy
07/20/24 - "To Say Nothing of the Dog" Connie Willis - Time Travel/Historical Sci-Fi/Fantasy
08/24/24 - "Reading Lolita in Tehran" Azar Nafisi - Memoir/Foreign Political/Women
09/21/24 - "The Great Gatsby" F. Scott Fitzgerald - 20th century classic
10/19/24 - "The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter" Theodora Goss - historical fantasy/our Halloween pick
11/16/24 - "David Crockett: The Lion of the West" Michael Wallis - biography
1/11/25 - "Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius" Marc Seifer - biography
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