The Biblio Files by Reference @ WPL

WPL’s Book Club books are passkeys to other worlds. To ancient times, to foreign countries, to new knowledge, to alternate ways of thinking, and sometimes, literally, to galaxies far, far away. 

And what could be better than reading? Sharing your reactions with your fellow readers!

WPL currently hosts three book clubs: 

Librarian Olivia leads our Snacks and Suspects: True Crime Book Club, Librarian Dot leads our Best Sellers and Bites: Popular Fiction Book Club, and Librarian Melody leads our Science Fiction Book Club. 

I [Melody] interviewed Olivia and Dot about their experiences in their respective clubs, and added my own thoughts about the SF Book Club. 

Here is what we three wanted to share (lightly edited): 

Snacks and Suspects: True Crime Book Club – nonfiction books discussing actual crimes  💀

Meeting Schedule: 1st Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM 

1. When did your book club start? 2021 

2. How long have you been leading it? Since the beginning! Did anyone else lead it before you? Nope! 

3. Do you meet in-person or online? Was online, but starting in September [2025], in person. 

4. Did that change during or after covid (or any other time)? Nope it had always been online. 

5. How many attendees usually attend? 3-4 

6. What was the title your patrons liked the most? Hell's Half Acre by Susan Jonusas and Blood in the Water by Casey Sherman.

7. Least? Eden Undone by Abbott Kahler and The Disquieting Death of Emma Gill 

8. Do you communicate with your regulars outside of book club meetings? Not really, unless someone emails me with a question. 

9. How is your club marketed? Facebook, Instagram and at first floor info desk. 

10. Have you ever had an author join you at a book club meeting? I have not. 

11. What’s the draw for you personally regarding the focus of your book club? I enjoy reading true crime so it is fun to me to be able to discuss the genre with other people who also enjoy it. 

12. How far ahead do you schedule titles? 3 months. 

13. What criteria do you use to pick books? I look at reviews on Goodreads or look at most popular true crime books of the year etc. 

14. Have your patrons ever asked for a specific title? They have not. 

15. Do you prepare discussion questions in advance? And, if so, how do the patrons respond to them? I have, and they usually respond well! It gets everyone talking.

16. Have you ever participated in another book club, library-based or not, as leader or not? I have not. 

17. What did you learn from this or your current book club experience? I've learned that not everyone will like the books I pick. Despite good reviews, sometimes the books are boring or not well written. If I have time, I will sometimes read a little bit of the book beforehand to see if it is a good fit for the club. 

18. Do you ever read books by an author previously read in your club? Yes. 

19. Do you wish we had a book club that focused on “X”? I would like to have a book club focused on romance books but unfortunately others have tried to start book clubs in that genre and they did not do very well. 

20. Have any of your books been cross-genre? No. 

21. What’s the best thing about your book club? Getting to chat with people who are also excited about the book. 

22. If you meet in-person, are there snacks? Snacks were offered starting in September [2025] when we began meeting in person. Goldfish crackers were a hit. 

Popular Reads – books featured in our Pop Reads book displays  💜

Meeting Schedule: 4th Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM 

1. When did your book club start? 2023 

2. How long have you been leading it? Since 2023.  Did anyone else lead it before you? No. 

3. Do you meet in-person or online? In-person  

4. Did that change during or after covid (or any other time)? The Popular Fiction book club did not start until after Covid. 

4) How many attendees usually attend? 6-10 

5) Favorites: a. What was the title your patrons liked the most? Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt was an overall favorite. Also, Horse by Geraldine Brooks. b. Least? Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead 

6) Do you communicate with your regulars outside of book club meetings? Not really, some regulars will tell me if they can’t make it. 

7) How is your club marketed? WPL Website, WPL Newsletter, flyers, Discover Central Mass website, Worcester BID newsletter, display at Info. Desk @ Main 

8) Have you ever had an author join you at a book club meeting? No 

9) What’s the draw for you personally regarding the focus of your book club? Reading diverse genres.

10) How far ahead do you schedule titles? 3 months ahead 

11) What criteria do you use to pick books? Many times, I select books read by celebrity book clubs or books featured on NPR. I try to choose books that I normally may not read and examine societal issues. I also try to align titles with cultural heritage months. For example, in October we are reading The Great Divide by Christina Henriquez for Hispanic Heritage Month and Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty for Native American Month. 

12) Have your patrons ever asked for a specific title? I always let them know that they are welcome to suggest a title, but they want me to choose so that they read something they normally wouldn’t. But this month Pop Reads book club will be reading Briar Club by Kate Quinn, which was a club member’s suggestion. 

13) Do you prepare discussion questions in advance? And, if so, how do the patrons respond to them? I prepare some questions in advance and use them after discussion has already begun. Patrons appreciate the questions, but also discuss other points of the book that really stood out to them, especially if it is something they really loved or disliked. 

14) Do you ever read books by an author previously read in your club? Yes, two books by Karl Ove. 

15) Have you ever participated in another book club, library-based or not, as leader or not? I joined a neighborhood book club several years ago but not as a leader. I didn’t enjoy some of the titles, but we could suggest some. a. What did you learn from this or your current book club experience? Books I absolutely love are not always liked by fellow members. It is interesting though to hear their viewpoints, and many times I would end up agreeing with them on some aspects. 

16) Have any of your books been cross-genre? Yes, December’s pick, Briar Club is a mystery and historical fiction genres. 

17) Do you wish we had a book club that focused on “X”? I have heard from several patrons that they would like a book club for mysteries. 

18) What’s the best thing about your book club? That I get a good size cohort of regular attendees who are welcoming to new members. 

19) If you meet in-person, are there snacks? Starting in September [2025] snacks! Cookies and chocolate were favored! 

20) Is anything else you’d like to share? Although the authors do not attend our book club, I and sometimes other members, will review their bios and read interviews with them, which we discuss.

Science Fiction   👽

Meeting Schedule: 3rd Tuesday of each month at 1:00 PM  

All our meetings are online via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89319645059 

1) When did your book club start? 2018 

2) How long have you been leading it? Except for a couple of months when I was on vacation, I’ve led all meetings of the SF Book Club since it started. 

3) Do you meet in-person or online? Initially in-person, but online since covid. 

4) How many attendees usually attend? 12-15, although once we had 27. 

5) What were the titles your patrons liked the most and least? Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower was the favorite title for 2024. Dark Run by Mike Brooks did not have many fans. 

6) Do you communicate with your regulars outside of book club meetings? Yes, weekly, with updates to the schedule, the Zoom link, news from the SF ‘verse, SF memes, etc. 

7) How is your club marketed? WPL website, WPL Newsletter, display at the Info Desk, FB, emails to the regular attendees, emails to librarians who have subscribed to certain listservs of the Massachusetts Library Association. And each quarter I print up SF Book Club bookmarks with the schedule for that quarter on one side; these are distributed in the SF stacks and on the black spinners in the library. I also recently updated a circa-2019 brochure for the club. 

8) Have you ever had an author join you at a book club meeting? Yes, many times, including Robert J. Sawyer, Allen Steels, Mira Grant, John Scalzi, Elizabeth Bear, Elizabeth Moon, Lois McMaster Bujold, David Walton, AG Riddle, and several others. Peter Cawdron couldn’t join us since he lives in Australia, but he recorded a short video of himself discussing his book and emailed it to me; I played it back during our meeting. 

9) What’s the draw for you personally regarding the focus of your book club? I love SF and I’m excited to share that “sensawunda” with fellow fans. 

10) How far ahead do you schedule titles? About a year, but not set in stone. 

11) What criteria do you use to pick books? A combination of award-winners, books I’ve loved, authors I want to introduce to the group, a mix of old classics and newer publications, a mix of male and female authors, books that received excellent reviews, etc. Selections must be under 450 pages (although there have been a few exceptions) and at least 6 copies available in our library consortium. Although fantasy is inter-shelved with SF in the library, the vast majority of our titles have been SF. 

12) Have your patrons ever asked for a specific title? Once in a while. 

13) Do you prepare discussion questions in advance? And, if so, how do the patrons respond to them? Yes, usually 4 or 5 pages worth. But I let the discussion meander wherever the attendees want to go, as long as the discussion is fairly on-topic. 

14) Do you ever read books by an author previously read in your club? Yes, we’ve read 4 books by Robert J. Sawyer, a novel and a novella by Allen Steele, 2 novels by Lois McMaster Bujold, 3 by John Scalzi (and another scheduled for spring 2026). Plus a few other authors. 

15) Have you ever participated in another book club, library-based or not, as leader or not? I participated in another science fiction-focused book club many years ago. It was not library-based. Another group member and I started the club and proposed most of the titles. What did you learn from this or your current book club experience? The interest level in a particular book is sometimes much higher or lower than I predicted. 

16) Have any of your books been cross-genre? Yes, one combined SF with humor, another with a murder mystery, and others were both SF and thrillers. Two related works were SF-and-romance, combined with a "comedy of manners."

17) Do you wish we had a book club that focused on “X”? I enjoy reading about medieval and ancient history, so I’d welcome a book club that focused on those subjects. 

18) What’s the best thing about your book club? After meeting for over 7 years, many of our attendees have gotten to know each other, and this feeling of community is fantastic. 

19) If you meet in person, are there snacks? When we met in person, pre-covid, there were snacks! `

20) Is anything else you’d like to share? Come join us for great discussions and comraderie!