TAKE A BREAK: September 24, 2026, at 6:30 pm

MIDDAY MEET-UP: November 12, 2026, at 11:30 am

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Miranda rated it ★★★★★ and said "A great read where the reader knows exactly what is going to happen, but they get to follow the characters along as they make the discoveries for themselves. Plus I really enjoyed the perspective of Marcellus and how he interacted with the people in his world."

Cathy rated it ★★★★ and said "Ah, the longing that saturates this book, home, family, friendship, meaning, love, freedom, belonging, all those things that all of us desperately need and all of us seem to lack to a degree in one way or another. I ached for Tova, Cameron, and Marcellus, for the profound losses that kept them from moving forward and joyed in the connections that developed. This an amazing tale told with pathos, wonder, humor, and insight."

Take a Break: October 22, 2026, at 6:30 pm

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Cry, the Beloved Country, the most famous and important novel in South Africa’s history, was an immediate worldwide bestseller in 1948. Alan Paton’s impassioned novel about a black man’s country under white man’s law is a work of searing beauty.

Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.

Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Ina rated it ★★★★★.

Cathy rated it ★★★★★.

MIDDAY MEET-UP: September 10, 2026, at 11:30 am

TAKE A BREAK: November 19, 2026, at 6:30 pm

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant.

It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world.

Drawing on the boys’ own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man’s personal quest.

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Cathy rated it ★★★★ and said "A great sports story. A great WWII prequel story. An absolutely amazing human story. It gave me a lot to think about."

Midday Meet-Up: October 8, 2026 at 11:30 am

Take a break: January 28, 2027, at 6:30 pm

The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama XIV and Desmond Tutu

Two great spiritual masters share their own hard-won wisdom about living with joy even in the face of adversity.

The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together in Dharamsala for a talk about something very important to them. The friends were His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The subject was joy. Both winners of the Nobel Prize, both great spiritual masters and moral leaders of our time, they are also known for being among the most infectiously happy people on the planet.

From the beginning the book was envisioned as a three-layer birthday their own stories and teachings about joy, the most recent findings in the science of deep happiness, and the daily practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. Both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu have been tested by great personal and national adversity, and here they share their personal stories of struggle and renewal. Now that they are both in their eighties, they especially want to spread the core message that to have joy yourself, you must bring joy to others.

Most of all, during that landmark week in Dharamsala, they demonstrated by their own exuberance, compassion, and humor how joy can be transformed from a fleeting emotion into an enduring way of life.

Take a Break: February 25, 2027, at 6:30 pm

Stay Where You Are and Then Leave by John Boyne

The day the First World War broke out, Alfie Summerfield's father promised he wouldn't go away to fight—but he broke that promise the following day. Four years later, Alfie doesn't know where his father might be, other than that he's away on a special, secret mission.

Then, while shining shoes at King's Cross Station, Alfie unexpectedly sees his father's name—on a sheaf of papers belonging to a military doctor. Bewildered and confused, Alfie realises his father is in a hospital close by—a hospital treating soldiers with an unusual condition. Alfie is determined to rescue his father from this strange, unnerving place . . .

Take a break: March 25, 2027, at 6:30 pm

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

This is our selection for this year’s community reading event On the Same Page.
Free copies will be given away starting February 22.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare stages the workings of love. Theseus and Hippolyta, about to marry, are figures from mythology. In the woods outside Theseus’s Athens, two young men and two young women sort themselves out into couples—but not before they form first one love triangle, and then another.

Also in the woods, the king and queen of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, battle over custody of an orphan boy; Oberon uses magic to make Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom, whose head is temporarily transformed into that of a donkey by a hobgoblin or “puck,” Robin Goodfellow. Finally, Bottom and his companions ineptly stage the tragedy of “Pyramus and Thisbe.”

Rich with supernatural elements and creative imagination, the play gives lyrical expressions to themes like love, dream, and blessings of nature on mankind—all in a lighter vein. Unlike many of Shakespeare’s works A Midsummer Night’s Dream does not drawn upon any historical or previous literary work, making it one of his most original compositions.

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Emily rated it ★★★★★.

take a break: April 22, 2027, at 6:30 pm

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston

‘Would you mind terribly, old boy, if I borrowed the rest of your life? I promise I’ll take excellent care of it.'

Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car, he’d return it washed with a full tank of gas. The problem is there’s nobody left in Fred’s life to borrow from. At eighty-two, he’s desperately lonely, broke, and on the brink of homelessness. But Fred’s luck changes when, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, he takes the place of grumpy Bernard Greer at the local nursing home. Now he has warm meals in his belly and a roof over his head—as long as his poker face is in better shape than his prostate and that his look-alike never turns up.

Denise Simms is stuck breathing the same disappointing air again and again. A middle-aged mom and caregiver at Bernard's facility, her crumbling marriage and daughter's health concerns are suffocating her joy for life. Wounded by her two-faced husband, she vows never to let a man deceive her again.

As Fred walks in Bernard’s shoes, he leaves a trail of kindness behind him, fueling Denise's suspicions about his true identity. When unexpected truths are revealed, Fred and Denise rediscover their sense of purpose and learn how to return a broken life to mint condition.

Bittersweet and remarkably perceptive, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is a hilarious, feel-good, clever novel about grief, forgiveness, redemption, and finding family.

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Miranda rated it ★★★★★ and said "This made me laugh, it made me cry, and it also brings all the feels for anyone who has experience working with healthcare and the elderly. What a great inside glimpse into the things they go through and how much life they still have to live, even if their world has become much smaller."

Cathy rated it ★★★★ and said "The beginning premise stretched my "willing suspension of disbelief" so necessary for fiction. A homeless man stumbles across his doppleganger just as he dies. The dead man is swept away by the river leaving the homeless man to fill in his shoes. Of course, the dead man's acquaintances have noticed nothing and won't let the homeless man straighten them out. The dead man had dementia, of course, so telling them what really happened is just more of his craziness. It could happen . . . Right? Well, if you can swallow the start, you're in for a delightfully sweet tale. Can one kind man make a difference in the lives of those around him? Of course he can!"

Take a break: May 27, 2027, at 6:30 pm

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Michelle rated it ★★★★ and said "I thought this story was going to be a depressing read. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending and how heart warming it was. The message of how a young, poor woman is treated in those times is an important message to keep relaying to society. It's also important for people to take away from this that even the little guy can become great when given the opportunity. Very beautiful story."

take a break: June 24, 2027, at 6:30 pm

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Melding the true and the fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews blood at every little shock he gets.

But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a feisty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his Utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launched on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder.

book 1 in the Norvelt series

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Johnathan rated it ★★★★ and said "I liked this book very much. If I hadn't been tipped off that it is a mystery book I wouldn't have caught what was going on to the end. It is a great book and the mystery is pretty cool."