Book Discussion Group

The Friends of the Ripon Public Library book discussion group meets once a month in the library's Nash Room. Books are selected by members of the group, and the library borrows copies from other libraries for everyone who is interested. Books are usually by American or English authors, but may include some by authors writing in a foreign language.

Farther down the page you will find a list of books read by the group during previous years.

The discussions are usually held the fourth Monday of the month, begin at 7:00 p.m. and last about 90 minutes. Beverages and snacks are provided. If you are interested in joining the Book Discussion Group, stop in at the Library and our helpful staff will give you all the information you need.

Past book discussion titles - 2008

• March - Palace Walk, by Nagib Mahfuz
• February - Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
• January - Annie John, by Jamaica Kincaid

Past book discussion titles - 2007

• December - Thirteen Moons, by Charles Frazier
• October / November - Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
• September - The Agony and the Ecstasy, by Irvin Stone
• August - Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, by Dee Alexander Brown
• July - Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
• May / June - The Autobiography of Henry VIII, by Margaret George
• April - Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol
• March - The Time Traveler's Wife, by Carla Niffenegger
• February - My Antonia, by Willa Cather

Past book discussion titles - 2006

• November - Curlew: Home, by Tom Montag
• October - Sister of my Heart, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
• September - Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
• August - Undaunted Courage (second half), by Stephen Ambrose
• July - Undaunted Courage (first half), by Stephen Ambrose
• June - Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
• May - Weight of Water, by Anita Shreve
• April - Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel DeFoe
• March - Population: 485, by Michael Perry
• February - Known World, by Edward P. Jones
• January - Time and Again, by Jack Finney

Past book discussion titles - 2005

• December - Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
• November - Disgrace, by J. M. Coetze
• October - The Woman In White, by Wilkie Collins
• September - Atonement, by Ian McEwan
• August - The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
• June/July - American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
• May - The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• April - Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• March - A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry
• February - Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton
• January - Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

Past book discussion titles - 2004

• December - Next of Kin, by Thomas Reilly
• November - Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown
• October - Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne
• September - Under the Banner of Heaven, by John Krakauer
• August - The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy
• July - The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
• June - Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes
• May - Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
• April - The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• March - Crow Lake, by Mary Lawson
• February - Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf
• January - A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines

Past book discussion titles - 2003

• December - Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
• November - Stupid White Men, by Michael Moore
• October - Last of the Mohicans, by James Fennimore Cooper
• September - The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
• August - Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
• July - Caramelo, by Sandra Cisneros
• June - All quiet on the western front, by Erich Maria Remarque
• May - A son of the middle border, by Hamlin Garland
• April - Polar, by T. R. Pearson
• March - Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
• February - Their eyes were watching God, by Nora Zeal Hurst
• January - John Adams, by David McCullough (second half)

Past book discussion titles - 2002

• December - John Adams, by David McCullough (first half)
• November - The grapes of wrath, by John Steinbeck
• October - Slaughterhouse five, by Kurt Vonnegut
• September - A confederacy of dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
• August - Guns, germs & steel, by Jared Diamond
• July - The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chalbon
• June - The bell jar, by Sylvia Plath
• May - Empire Falls, by Richard Russo
• April - Marjorie Morningstar, by Herman Wouk
• March - In the heart of the sea, by Nat Philbrick
• February - Native son, by Richard Wright
• January - A Sand County almanac, by Aldo Leopold

Past book discussion titles - 2001

• December - A tale of two cities, by Charles Dickens
• November - Lie down with lions, by Ken Follet
• October - In cold blood, by Truman Capote
• September - The story of my boyhood and youth, by John Muir
• August - Love medicine, by Louise Erdrich
• July - To kill a mockingbird, by Harper Lee
• June - On the road, by Jack Kerouac
• May - The kitchen god's wife, by Amy Tan
• April - The heart is a lonely hunter, by Carson McCullers
• March - The cider house rules, by John Irving
• February - Uncle Tom's cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• January - Beloved, by Tony Morrison

Past book discussion titles - 2000

• December - The sword in the stone, by T. H. White
• November - Daughter of fortune, by Isabel Allende
• March - Look homeward angel, by Thomas Wolfe
• October - A light in August, by William Faulkner
• September - This present darkness, by Frank Peretti
• August - none
• July - The age of innocence, by Edith Wharton
• June - Galileo's daughter, by Dava Sobel
• May - The good earth, by Pearl Buck
• April - The poyson garden, by Karen Harper
• March - Look homeward angel, by Thomas Wolfe
• February - Harry Potter and the sorceror's stone, by J.K. Rowling
• January - The jungle, by Upton Sinclair

Past book discussion titles - 1999

• December - The chosen, by Chaim Potok
• November - The poisonwood bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
• October - The color of water, by James MacBride
• September - Bloodsmoor romance, by Joyce Carol Oates
• August - One hundred years of solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• July - Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
• June - Wise blood, by Flannery O'Connor
• May - For whom the bell tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
• April - The Maltese Falcon, by Daniel Hammett
• March - A passage to India, by E.M. Forster
• February - The souls of black folks, by W.E.B DuBois
• January - Giants in the earth, by Ole Rolvaag