CURRENT BPL BOOK CLUBS
 
 
The Library offers a variety of book clubs to cover many genres. You can meet new people and expand your literary interests! We provide the book at each meeting or you can ask for it from the Customer Service Desk. All of our clubs work on a drop-in basis, and you are welcome to come even if you didn't finish (or start!) your title. More info is below.
 
  
 
ADULT BOOK CLUBS
 
Noon Book Club
Discussion on September 2 at 12PM
This group meets the first Wednesday of the month in the Library. Pick up a copy of the book at the Customer Service Desk. Supplies are limited.
 
 
 
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
The Calamity Club
by Kathryn Stockett

So immersive, exciting, and downright fabulous, you never want it to end.--Oprah Daily#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The multimillion-copy-selling author of The Help returns with a bold, big-hearted novel about a group of unbreakable women, fighting for what's rightfully theirs--and the power of friendship to change everything.Pure, hell-raising entertainment.--The New York Times Book ReviewOxford, Mississippi, 1933.Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. Now one of the unadoptable big girls at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she's left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister's seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies. Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose. When their fates--and Meg's--converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan for them to take control of their lives. But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women's freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences. The Calamity Club will make you laugh, cry, and cheer--an epic testament to underestimated women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings. This is Kathryn Stockett at her most confident, heartfelt, and hilarious--the triumphant return of one of the most beloved storytellers of our time.

Kids' Books for Adults Book Club
August 18 at 7PM 
This group meets the third Tuesday of the month via Zoom. If you need a copy of the book, ask at the Customer Service Desk. Supplies are limited.

Join Zoom Meeting by computer:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83580667298?pwd=o9nAXi9lHltfF3GJK2zZUXbKkQ2xlF.1
Or by phone: 1-669-900-6833
Meeting ID 835 8066 7298
Email aangell@ci.benicia.ca.us for the passcode.
 
The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day
The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity
by Nicholas Day

The tale of a stunning art heist with a contagious love of stranger-than-fiction true stories!--Steve Sheinkin, Newbery Honor-winning author of Bomb The true story of how Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece became the most famous painting in the world after being stolen from the Louvre, written as a witty thriller (The New York Times) and featuring black-and-white illustrations throughout. SIBERT MEDAL WINNER - BOSTON GLOBE--HORN BOOK AWARD WINNER - ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, NPR, The New York Public Library, The Chicago Public Library, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books On a hot August day in Paris, just over a century ago, a desperate guard burst into the office of the director of the Louvre and shouted, La Joconde, c'est partie! The Mona Lisa, she's gone! No one knew who was behind the heist. Was it an international gang of thieves? Was it an art-hungry American millionaire? Was it the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who was about to remake the very art of painting? Travel back to an extraordinary period of revolutionary change: turn-of-the-century Paris. Walk its backstreets. Meet the infamous thieves--and detectives--of the era. And then slip back further in time and follow Leonardo da Vinci, painter of the Mona Lisa, through his dazzling, wondrously weird life. Discover the secret at the heart of the Mona Lisa--the most famous painting in the world should never have existed at all.

Cook the Book Book Club
August 25 at 12PM
This group usually meets the fourth Tuesday of the month in the Library. Members cook a dish based on the theme or from an assigned cookbook and come discuss what they think about the dish. Member often bring food from their cookbook to share, and it ends up being a big potluck! Email Patrice (psartor@ci.benicia.ca.us) with questions.
 
THEME: This theme (a member suggestion by Simone) is: Fresh from the Market. Get inspired at the Benicia Farmers Market! There you’ll find a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, plus local meats, cheeses, and yogurt. Pick one of those to use in a dish, or even incorporate some of the other offerings (local honey, chutneys, sauces, bread, etc.) in your dish. Happy marketing!

 
Mystery Book Club
August 27 at 7PM
This group meets the fourth Thursday of the month in the Library. Pick up a copy of the book at the Customer Service Desk. Supplies are limited.
 
 
 
A Heart Full of Headstones: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin
A Heart Full of Headstones: An Inspector Rebus Novel
by Ian Rankin

John Rebus stands accused: on trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. But what drove a good man to cross the line? Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke may well find out. Clarke is tasked with the city's most explosive case in years, an infamous cop, at the center of decades of misconduct, has gone missing. Finding him will expose not only her superiors, but her mentor John Rebus. And Rebus himself may not have her own interests at heart, as the repayment of a past debt places him in the crosshairs of both crime lords and his police brethren. One way or another, a reckoning is coming and John Rebus may be hearing the call for last orders--Provided by publisher.