The Mascoutah Library Book Club has been meeting monthly at the library since January of 1994 (officially 30 years!) Unless holidays interfere, meetings are held on the second Monday of the month. Participants must be at least 18 years of age to join the monthly book club meeting.
Books are chosen through rigorous and painstaking research as well as “intense” deliberation courtesy of our own Ms. Regan Leidholm (who totally didn’t write this.)
The books selected cover a wide variety of authors, subjects and genres, including fiction and nonfiction; mysteries, biographies, historical, sci-fi, oh my! Books published within a year of the current date are not up for selection due to lack of system availability. Feel free to reach out to make suggestions! The more the merrier.
2024 Book Club Reads
September – The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
August – At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities by Heather Webber
July – The Adventures of Amina Al-Sarafi by Shannon Chakraborty
June – The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
May – Leech by Hiron Ennes
April – Book of Night by Holly Black
March – In The Woods by Tana French
February – The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore
January – The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
2023 Book Club Reads
January – Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
February – Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
March – I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
April – Reminders of Him by Coleen Hoover
May – Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
June – The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
July – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
August – Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
September – Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
October – Weyward by Emilia Clarke
November – Upgrade by Blake Crouch
December – Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
2022 Book Club Reads
January – Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini
February – The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
March – Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
April – Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
May – Dream Girl by Laura Lipmann
June – Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay
July – Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
August – Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
September – Beach Read by Emily Henry
October – Anne of Green Gables Graphic Novel + Anne of West Philly
November – Of Women and Salt by Gabriella Garcia
December – Christmas: A Biography by Judith Flaunders
2021 Book Club Reads
January to October – N/A (No Meetings)
November – The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt by Andrea Bobotis
2020 Book Club Reads
January – The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
February – Where the Crawdad’s Sing by Delia Owens
March – The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
April to December – N/A (No Meetings)
2019 Book Club Reads
January – Carnegie’s Maid: A Novel by Heather Terrell
February – Rin Tin Tin: Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean
March – Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
April – The Library Book by Susan Orlean
May – Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
June – The Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee
July – We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
August – The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
September – Murder at the Mansion by Sheila Connolly
October – The Witch’s Tree by M.C. Beaton
November – One Day in December by Josie Silver
December – N/A (No Meeting)
2018 Book Club Reads
January – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
February – The Lincoln League by Doug Peterson
March – The Woman in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
April – Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan
May – An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
June – The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
July – Summer Hours at the Robber’s Library by Sue Halpern
August – Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
September – The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by Jennifer Ryan
October – Collecting the Dead by Spencer Kope
November – The Christmas Town by Donna VanLiere
December – Carnegie’s Maid: A Novel by Marie Benedict
2017 Book Club Reads
January – In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter by Carol Burnett
February – A Full Life: Reflections at Ninty by Jimmy Carter
March – The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
April – The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
May – The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders
June – A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
July – The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick
August – N/A (No Meeting)
September – The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
October – Keepsake Crimes by Laura Childs
November – The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers
December – N/A (No Meeting)
2016 Book Club Reads
January – God’s Bankers: A History of Money and Power At the Vatican by Gerald Posner
February – Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia Macneal
March – Cookie Encounter: A Chance Encounter Inspirational Romance by Michelle Connell
May – The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
June – How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson
July – The Ancient Minstrel by Jim Harrison
August – Alexander Hamilton: American by Richard Brookhiser
September – Reader’s of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katrina Bivald
October – Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
November – The Turkey Day Murder by Leslie Meier
December – The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans
2015 Book Club Reads
January – Billy Boyle by James R. Benn
February – Unsolved Mysteries of American History by Paul Aron
March – The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough
April – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
June – Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
July – A Circle of Wives by Alice Laplante
August – When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning
September – The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
October – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
November – Emperor’s of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey’s and Mars by Joel Glenn Brenner
December – Kissing Christmas Goodbye by M.C. Beaton
