What Book Clubs are reading this month!

Virtual OCFPL Book Club

Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
 
Discussion October 15th
 
"Knives Out meets Kim's Convenience in this captivating mystery by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady-ah, lady of a certain age-who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her college-aged son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing-a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?"
OC READS 2025
West with giraffes : a novel
by Lynda Rutledge

Author Talk and Book Signing October 18th!

Inspired by true events, this part adventure, part historical saga and part coming-of-age love story follows Woodrow Wilson Nickel as he recalls his journey in 1938 to deliver Southern California's first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo.
Local Book Clubs
Nonfiction
The girl with seven names : escape from North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee
The girl with seven names : escape from North Korea
by Hyeonseo Lee

An extraordinary insight into the lives of North Koreans and one woman's struggle to escape.
The Spinach King : the rise and fall of an American dynasty by John Seabrook
The Spinach King : the rise and fall of an American dynasty
by John Seabrook

One of The New Yorker's most acclaimed storytellers unravels the riveting saga of the Seabrook family.
Fiction
Before we were yours : a novel by Lisa Wingate
Before we were yours : a novel
by Lisa Wingate

"Two families, generations apart, are forever changed by a heartbreaking injustice in this poignant novel, inspired by a true story, for readers of Orphan Train and The Nightingale. Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family's Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge--until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents--but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility's cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty. Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiance, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis,a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family's long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead eitherto devastation or to redemption. Based on one of America's most notorious real-life scandals--in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country--Lisa Wingate's riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong"
The book club for troublesome women : a novel by Marie Bostwick
The book club for troublesome women : a novel
by Marie Bostwick

In suburban Virginia of the 1960s, Margaret Ryan forms an impromptu book club with three neighbors, discovering shared dissatisfaction with societal expectations, as the group bonds over personal struggles, feminist ideas and the transformative power of friendship during a life-changing year. Original.
The brilliant life of Eudora Honeysett : a novel by Annie Lyons
The brilliant life of Eudora Honeysett : a novel
by Annie Lyons

Wanting to organize an assisted death on her own terms, world-weary octogenarian Eudora Honeysett forges an unexpected bond with exuberant ten-year-old Rose, who drags her to tea parties, shopping sprees, and other social excursions
Broken country : a novel by Clare Leslie Hall
Broken country : a novel
by Clare Leslie Hall

Reese's Book Club

When her brother-in-law's actions reconnect her with a former love, Gabriel, whose son eerily resembles her deceased child, Beth's carefully constructed life unravels as past secrets and jealousies resurface, leading to deadly consequences and a difficult choice.
The frozen river : a novel by Ariel Lawhon
The frozen river : a novel
by Ariel Lawhon

In 1789 Maine, midwife and healer Martha Ballard, who is good at keeping secrets, investigates a shocking murder linked to an alleged rape that has shaken her small town, especially when her diary lands at the center of the scandal, threatening to tear both her family and her community apart.
The goddess of Warsaw : a novel by Lisa Barr
The goddess of Warsaw : a novel
by Lisa Barr

A legendary Hollywood screen goddess, Lena Browning uses her power and fame to get revenge on the Nazis who escaped justice after the war, hoping to right the past's wrongs, but when an old enemy resurfaces, she must use her skills to protect herself and those she loves, then and now.
The housemaid by Freida McFadden
The housemaid
by Freida McFadden

"'Welcome to the family,' Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I'll soon learn that the Winchesters' secrets are far more dangerous than my own... Every day I clean the Winchesters' beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny roomon the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew's handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it's hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina's life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband. I only try on one of Nina's pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it's like. But she soon finds out... and by the timeI realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it's far too late. But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don't know who I really am. They don't know what I'm capable of..."
The last letter : a novel by Rebecca Yarros
The last letter : a novel
by Rebecca Yarros

Beckett, a solider in Afghanistan, falls in love with Ryan's sister through her letters to him and despite feeling guilty over his friend's death, seeks her out to fulfill his promise to watch over her. Original.
The Paris library : a novel by Janet Skeslien Charles
The Paris library : a novel
by Janet Skeslien Charles

Based on a true story, describes how a lonely, 1980s teenager befriends an elderly neighbor and uncovers her past as a librarian at the American Library in Paris who joined the Resistance when the Nazis arrived
The stolen queen : a novel
by Fiona Davis

In 1978, as a valuable Egyptian artifact disappears during the Met Gala, Met curator Charlotte Cross and young assistant Annie Jenkins embark on a high-stakes search that leads them to Egypt, where Charlotte must confront an ancient curse and the haunting tragedy of her past.
The tenant by Freida McFadden
The tenant
by Freida McFadden

Blake Porter, desperate to keep his life afloat after losing his job, rents a room to the seemingly perfect Whitney, but as strange occurrences escalate and secrets unravel, he realizes too late that she's woven a deadly trap within his own home.
The violin conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
The violin conspiracy
by Brendan Slocumb

When, right before the cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition--the Olympics of classical music, his priceless Stradivarius is stolen, with a ransom note for five million dollars in its place, Ray McMillian must piece together the clues to reclaim the violin before it's too late
The wedding people : a novel by Alison Espach
The wedding people : a novel
by Alison Espach

Mistaken for a wedding guest while staying at the grand Cornwall Inn, Phoebe Stone, at rock bottom, is determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself, and unexpectedly becomes bride's confidant and through her, meets a cast of surprising characters who help her start anew.
Celebrity Book Club Picks for October
Twice : a novel by Mitch Albom
Twice : a novel
by Mitch Albom

GMA Book Club

Young Alfie Logan can rewind any moment for a do-over -- but must accept the results of his second try -- and having navigated through adolescence and finding seemingly lasting love with Gianna, he must confront an impossible choice when his power unravels during a casino arrest.
All the way to the river : love, loss, and liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert
All the way to the river : love, loss, and liberation
by Elizabeth Gilbert

Oprah's Book Club

A raw and unflinching memoir of love, addiction, heartbreak, and transformation from the author of Eat Pray Love traces her journey from deep friendship to destructive passion and the hard-won freedom from patterns that once felt impossible to escape. Illustrations.
The Irish goodbye : a novel by Heather Aimee O'Neill
The Irish goodbye : a novel
by Heather Aimee O'Neill

Read with Jenna

Three adult sisters grapple with a shared tragedy over a Thanksgiving weekend spent in their childhood home, navigating complex relationships and old tensions. A first novel.
Celebrity Book Club Picks for September that you may have missed
The book of lost hours : a novel by Hayley Gelfuso
The book of lost hours : a novel
by Hayley Gelfuso

GMA Book Club

In 1938, 11-year-old Lisavet Levy becomes trapped in a mysterious library of memory called the time space, where her path intertwines with American timekeeper Ernest Duquesne, whose 1965 death compels his niece Amelia to uncover buried truths amid shifting histories and shadowy CIA intrigue.
Bridge of sighs by Richard Russo
Bridge of sighs
by Richard Russo

Oprah's Book Club

After sixty years of living in the upstate New York town of Thomaston with his wife of forty years, indominable mother, and grown son, Louis Charles and his wife Sarah prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy to visit his childhood friend, an artist who had fled his hometown many years earlier, where he hopes to come to terms with the secrets of small-town life and their individual fates. 
Buckeye : a novel by Patrick Ryan
Buckeye : a novel
by Patrick Ryan

Read with Jenna

In postwar Ohio, a stolen moment between Cal Jenkins and Margaret Salt reverberates through generations, as a small town's buried secrets and a wife's spiritual gift expose the longing for love and goodness.
To the moon and back : a novel by Eliana Ramage
To the moon and back : a novel
by Eliana Ramage

Reese's Book Club

After fleeing domestic violence for the Cherokee Nation, Steph Harper dedicates her life to escaping Oklahoma and reaching NASA, but her relentless pursuit of independence strains her ties with her sister Kayla, her girlfriend Della and her mother Hannah.
Short questionnaire and you could find your next favorite book!
The Ocean City Free Public Library
1735 Simpson Ave.
Ocean City, New Jersey 08226
(609) 399-2434

https://www.oceancitylibrary.org/