OWL has both Fiction and Non-Fiction Book Discussion Groups that are open to all! Come to one or all meetings. Books are available for check out at OWL.
Non-Fiction Discussion Group
When: Second Thursday of each month from 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Where: Meeting will be held In the Library’s Jamie Gagarin Community Room.
Staff Contact: Olivia DeFiore
Selection List for 2024–25
January 9
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
In the U.S., one in eight children go without basic necessities, some citizens live and die on the streets,
and some corporations pay poverty wages. The author, a sociologist, shows how affluent Americans
knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. This book gives us new ways of thinking about a
morally urgent problem, calling on us all to become poverty abolitionists. Moderated by Corinne
February 13
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? Our culture tends to
provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence. The author argues that the key to
manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us versus them attitudes all comes down to language.
Cultish language is something we hear – and are influenced by – every single day. Moderated by Tricia
March 13
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen
In New Rochelle in 1973, the author and his best friend were keen competitors while they succeeded
academically. But at one point the friend suffered a psychotic break and entered a psychiatric hospital.
Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he continued to pursue ambitious goals until a terrible event.
The book is a heartbreaking account of good intentions and tragic outcomes. Moderated by Margaret
Fiction Discussion Group
When: Second Thursday of each month from 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Where: Meeting will be held In the Library’s Jamie Gagarin Community Room.
Staff Contact: Olivia DeFiore
Selection List for 2024–25
January 9
If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio
This is an unorthodox take on rivalry, friendship, and truth. Seven young Shakespearean actors and friends
play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras. But good-natured rivalries
turn ugly, and real violence invades the world of make-believe. The actors find themselves facing their very
own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that
they are innocent. Moderated by Olivia
February 13
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
A New Zealand farm is abandoned, presenting an opportunity for Birnam Wood, a sometimes-criminal,
sometimes-philanthropic gardening collective that plants crops where no one will notice. But an
American billionaire also has an interest in the place. They’re poles apart politically, but the billionaire
and the group might have enemies in common. Can Birnam Wood trust him? Moderated by Margaret
March 13
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey - Movie will also be discussed
In this classic novel, a fun-loving rebel named McMurphy swaggers into the world of a mental hospital.
He rallies the other patients around him by challenging the dictatorship of Nurse Ratched. His defiance
turns into an all-out war between two relentless opponents: Nurse Ratched, backed by the full power of
authority, and McMurphy, with his own indomitable will. Moderated by Nancy