Edible Island: Japanese Sushi
2025-10-11 14:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Healthy Island Project Kitchen, 91 S Burnt Cove Rd, Stonington, ME
Learn how to make sushi with Frederica Marshall and Herman Kidder. We will make both vegetarian and seafood sushi. For food safety, no raw seafood will be used in the workshop. Participants are recommended to bring a wooden spoon or shamoji (flat bamboo rice paddle).
There is no fee to participate in the workshop. Donations are welcome and go toward future Edible Island workshops. Registration is required. Contact SPL at the phone or email below to sign up.

Reader's Choice: James
2025-10-27 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Reader’s Choice: Katherine Page
Monthly SPL book club that meets on Zoom. Contact SPL at email below to join the book club mailing list.
James by Percival Everett
MILS catalog record
“When Jim hears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. This brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before.” – From cover jacket
About Katherine
Hometown: Livingston, New Jersey (Essex County, north Jersey about an hour from NYC).
Current residence: Lincoln, Massachusetts and Deer Isle, Maine.
Connection to the island: We came to the island in 1958 to Goose Cove Lodge. I had my 11th birthday there that July. It was a very rustic place in a breath-taking location with three delicious squares a day from the island women working there and nature walks and excursions, including ones on his large sloop, provided by the owner, botanist Dr. Ralph Waldron. My parents, Alice and William Page, bought 2 acres of shorefront on Southeast Harbor in 1964 and built a small cottage in 1969. My husband and I bought a small house next door in 1998. I haven’t missed a year and this July marked my husband’s 50th, our son’s 40th. My parents rest in Mt. Adams cemetery, so we’ll be here a while longer.
Why do you read? All of the above [listed in the original question to readers: information, escape, relaxation, commitment to a specific topic]. I don’t really know why I read except for the fact that I can’t remember not being able to read, (I wasn’t an infant prodigy, but growing up in a house filled with books, probably teethed on some). Reading is an everyday activity like waking up, eating, moving around, talking, sleeping and breathing.
What genre do you hate to read? Horror.
Last book you LOVED: North Woods by Daniel Mason.
Currently reading: Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch, The Black Box by Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo, and Something Lost, Something Gained by Hillary Rodham Clinton (I usually have a few going at a time).
Why did you choose James? I have read other books by Percival Everett and admire his writing very much. When I read about James: A Novel before it came out, I was intrigued. I put a hold at the library and when I picked it up, read it straight through. Aside from the link to Twain, it works as a stand alone book. However, what made it special for me as a former teacher was the correction it offered on the racism in Huckleberry Finn. That was always a problem teaching it. I think the group will have much to say about James and, if possible, reading Huckleberry Finn afterwards would add to our discussion (but not mandatory!!). Stephen Spielberg has acquired the rights. The film will be out in 2026, so more to talk about then!

Rosswords
2025-11-02 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-12-07 13:00 - 14:00 | Stonington Public Library, 64 Main Street, Stonington, ME, 04681
Grab your pencils and sharpen your minds! Join Chris Ross for a group crossword solve with other word nerds and puzzlers. All ages and levels welcome.

Second Saturday Story Time
2025-11-08 10:00 - 11:00 | Stonington Public Library, 64 Main Street, Stonington, ME, 04681
Monthly read aloud story time with hands-on craft or activity. Theme and location vary. Check website and/or Instagram for details as they become available.

Edible Island: Out on a Limb Apples with Chef Teri Hardy
2025-11-08 14:00 - 16:00 | Healthy Island Project Kitchen, 91 S Burnt Cove Rd, Stonington, ME
SPL and Healthy Island Project are back with Out on a Limb apples. This year Teri Hardy will lead the workshop and teach participants how to make chicken Normandy and apple fritter cake. The workshop will also feature an apple tasting. Space is limited. To register, contact SPL at the phone or email below.

Read with Tenny – a Pre-K program
2025-11-11 11:00 - 11:30, 2025-12-09 11:00 - 11:30 | Stonington Public Library, 64 Main Street, Stonington, ME, 04681
Visit and read with certified therapy dog, Tenny. His person, Jessica Shively, will bring him by SPL to meet some of our youngest patrons and their families. It’s a chance for kids to learn new ways of interacting with a dog and with each other in a (loosely) structured activity. Tenny is a 3 year old, 105 pound Great Pyrenees mix who grew up on the Maine coast. He loves love and sharing it with other people. His human, Jessica, moved to Stonington from Castine in the summer and spends her days beachcombing with Tenny and exploring new hiking trails. Follow Tenny and Jessica on Instagram.

SPL Group Exhibit Reception
2025-11-22 14:00 - 16:00 | Stonington Public Library, 64 Main Street, Stonington, ME, 04681
Join SPL and the exhibiting artists for a reception with light bites & beverages. Rugosa Rose, an trio of Stonington women, will perform live music at the reception.
Six artists have each installed a selection of works in six separate rooms of the library. The exhibit runs from Tuesday, November 4 through Saturday, January 31.
FABIOLA ZAMBON
Fabiola was raised in Milan, Italy. She spent 20 years in California as a lighting & design consultant for Ron Rezek and in corporate retail with Design Within Reach and Vitra Design Museum. Though a lifelong urban dweller, Fabiola couldn’t resist the allure of the magnificent Down East coast. In 2018, she became a year-round resident of Blue Hill, embracing small-town living. In 2020, she began capturing her perspectives on Maine’s beauty by painting its landscapes and, a year later, added portraits of local friends and her family to her focus.
Boy with Balloon at Blue Hill Harbor • Oil on canvas by Fabiola Zambon
JESSICA SHIVELY
J. L. Shively lives on an island in Maine where she is continuing her search for old cemeteries and abandoned places while completing her collection of short horror stories. She has a Master of Letters from Drew University where she studied creative writing and the psychological fascination of modern ruin. In her writing, Shively focuses on character-driven fiction and adventure stories that are thrilling or even speculative in nature. Her photography reflects her interest in both nature and ruins and how the two worlds often intertwine. You can follow her @entertheruin.

Letchworth Powerplant • Photograph by J. L. Shively
JUDY RADER
Judy Rader is a retired art teacher who moved to Maine for “full-time” painting. The beauty, variety, and character of the Maine landscape provide an endless source of inspiration. All paintings are oil, painted on site and sometimes finished up in the studio.
Almost Home • Oil on canvas by Judy Rader
KRISTIE BILLINGS
Kristie Billings was born and raised on Deer Isle. Kristie comes from a long line of lovers of the sea. She is a poet, a collector, and an observer. Kristie tends to gravitate to things others may pass by, and that some may find unsettling. Kristie shoots 35mm and 120mm film. Both color and black and white. Kristie has had her shown in many galleries and venues and also was a featured artist for the Word Literary Arts Festival in Blue Hill. Kristie also is the proud author of Sea Witch: Photographs, Poems and Forget-Me-Nots from a Mainer Growing Up published by Seapoint Books and Media LLC. You can follow her @kristiebillingsphotography.
Pitcher • 35mm film 2025 by Kristie Billings
LINDA SMILEY
“My passion for sea kayaking left me with a fascination and love for the unique beauty of the Maine coast, and Deer Isle/Stonington in particular. I am thrilled to call Stonington home, which allows me to explore all the nooks and crannies of the land and sea in great detail, in all seasons. Many of my paintings are done ‘plein air’ (in the open air, on site). I paint for the joy and at times great challenge of it, and also to make note of and learn to look more carefully at the world around me. My career as an architect required a more pragmatic and precise kind of creativity. I love now having the creative freedom that being a landscape painter offers. Painting what I see and experience allows me to share the beauty of sometimes fleeting moments with all those who see my work.“
Winter Warmth • Oil painting by Linda Smiley
MEG WOLFE
Meg Wolfe is an interdisciplinary artist and gardener based in Deer Isle, Maine since 2019; with a 30+ year history working as a choreographer, performer, curator, and producer in Los Angeles and New York. Their projects rove across media, spaces, and intuitive practices; enacting non-narrative sensory experiences, both intimate and epic. You can learn more about Meg and their art and choreography on their website.
Strange Weather • Acrylic and sequins by Meg Wolfe
WILL TERNAY III
Will Ternay III is a native of Philadelphia. As a child he spent summers on Deer Isle, while his parents attended classes at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. At 16, he took a kitchen position at Haystack, setting him on a life long course, pursuing the culinary arts. His second passion, photography, captures a variety of subject matter. Will is most fascinated by the beauty of times’ artful hands of natural decay, inviting the viewer to contemplate the storyline of what once was. He and his wife Stacey, reside in Sunset, Deer Isle.
Buick “Estate” • Photograph by Will Ternay III

Reader's Choice: The Sympathizer
2025-11-24 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Reader’s Choice: Sally McConnell
Monthly SPL book club that meets on Zoom. Contact SPL at email below to join the book club mailing list.
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
MILS catalog record
“The Sympathizer is a blistering, award-winning exploration of identity, politics, and America, wrought in electric prose. The narrator, a Vietnamese army captain, is a man of two minds and divided loyalties, a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist sleeper agent in America after the end of the Vietnam War. A powerful story of love and friendship, and a gripping espionage novel, The Sympathizer examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today.” – From back cover
About Sally
Hometown: Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Current residence: Williamsburg, Virginia and Stonington, Maine.
Connection to the island: Our connection to the island dates to 1985 when we visited Deer Isle for the first time and rented a cottage belonging to Robert McCloskey. We’ve spent time here every summer since then and now reside in Stonington from April through November.
Why do you read? Reading is the greatest gift!! I used to read fiction almost exclusively, but now that I’m retired, I read more non-fiction and memoirs.
What genre do you hate to read? I can’t tolerate superficial or poorly researched biographies.
Last book you LOVED: The last book I LOVED was The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck.
Currently reading: I just finished reading These Precious Days by Ann Patchett, and I’m now reading The Hours by Michael Cunningham.
Why did you choose The Sympathizer? I chose The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, because the author creates a character with a dual identity who defies American stereotyping.

Farewell Potluck Brunch
2025-12-14 11:30 - 13:30 | Stonington Public Library, 64 Main Street, Stonington, ME, 04681
Join the SPL board and friends in honoring outgoing SPL director Chris Ross. Chris has done lots to build community and enrich the cultural and educational offerings for islanders over this five-year tenure, and he is leaving a thriving library behind for his successor. Help send him off with a celebration worthy of his contributions!

Reader's Choice: A Christmas Carol
2025-12-15 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Reader’s Choice: Sue Stoessel
Monthly SPL book club that meets on Zoom. Contact SPL at email below to join the book club mailing list.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
MILS catalog record (SPL edition does not match edition pictured above)
“As much a part of Christmas as mistletoe and carolers, Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ was once read publicly on Christmas Eve each year by Dickens himself. This heart-warming tale continues to stir in us the same feelings of repentance, forgiveness, and love that transformed Ebenezer Scrooge from grumbling, ‘Bah! Humbug!’ to sharing Tiny Tim’s happy ‘God bless us, every one!’” – From Penguin Random House website
About Sue
Hometown: Andrew and I are from Marblehead, MA.
Current residence: We built a house in Stonington in 2018, and were there seasonally until 2022 when we both retired and became permanent residents.
Connection to the island: Andrew and I spent summer vacations on Little Deer Isle for over 30 years, although Andrew’s first time there was as a teenager. We’ve also stayed in Stonington for a few winter breaks beforehand. We got to know the area and the people well and knew we’d like to retire here.
Why do you read? I read for all the reasons you’ve listed [in the original question to readers: information, escape, relaxation, commitment to a specific topic], but lately, maybe more for escape. 😉
What genre do you hate to read? I read everything, with a preference for science, nature, non-fiction and poetry. My least favorite genre is the post-war wealthy suburban/urban angst novel. First world problems.
Last book you LOVED: I adored Still Life with Oysters & Lemons by Mark Doty that we read in [SPL] book club [2023]. I have gotten my own copy and already re-read it a couple of times.
Currently reading: I’m currently reading a compilation of the writings of 13th century Islamic poet and mystic, Rumi.
Why did you choose A Christmas Carol? I chose A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens because I have an antique volume that belonged to my mom that she read to us every year as kids, and that I have continued reading every Christmas since. I think a lot of folks have seen film versions or plays of A Christmas Carol but not as many have read it. I especially liked the section of the Ghost of Christmas Present who shows Scrooge the poverty hidden under the magnificence of the Victorian British Empire. It was one of the first books that made me aware that not everyone benefited from the capitalist expansion brought about by the industrial revolution.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-01-26 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune • Selected by Elaine Gallagher
Winner: Alex Award (2021)

“It’s a witty, wholesome fantasy that’s like to cause heart-swelling.” –The Washington Post
Find The House in the Cerulean Sea in MILS
“Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He’s tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world.
Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place―and realizing that family is yours.” –From the author’s website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-02-23 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher • Selected by Sally McConnell
Winner: Hugo Award for Best Novel (2023)
“Kingfisher’s combination of comedy with feminist rage in a complex fairytale setting makes for a wholly entertaining read.” –Buzzfeed
Find Nettle & Bone in MILS
“This isn’t the kind of fairytale where the princess marries a prince.
It’s the one where she kills him.
Marra never wanted to be a hero.
As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn’t so fortunate—and after years of silence, Marra is done watching her suffer at the hands of a powerful and abusive prince.
Seeking help for her rescue mission, Marra is offered the tools she needs, but only if she can complete three seemingly impossible tasks:
—build a dog of bones
—sew a cloak of nettles
—capture moonlight in a jar
But, as is the way in tales of princes and witches, doing the impossible is only the beginning.
Hero or not—now joined by a disgraced ex-knight, a reluctant fairy godmother, an enigmatic gravewitch and her fowl familiar—Marra might finally have the courage to save her sister, and topple a throne.” –From author’s website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-03-23 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee • Selected by Anneli Sundqvist
Winner: Nobel Prize in Literature (2003)
“A subtly brilliant commentary on the nature and balance of power in his homeland…Disgrace is a mini-opera without music by a writer at the top of his form.” –Time
Find Disgrace in MILS
“Refusing to apologise after an impulsive affair with a student, David Lurie, a 52-year-old professor in Cape Town, seeks refuge on his daughter’s farm. Here, a savage and disturbing attack brings into relief the faults in their relationship.
Pitching the moral code of political correctness against the values of Romantic poetry, Disgrace examines dichotomies both in personal relationships and in the unaccountability of one culture towards another.” –From The Booker Prizes website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-04-27 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein • Selected by Morgan Witham
Winner: Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction (2024)
“A dazzling, hallucinatory tour de force that takes the reader through shadow selves and global fascism, leaving them gasping by the end.” –Molly Crabapple, author of Drawing Blood
Find Doppelganger in MILS
“What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired a double? Someone almost like you, and yet not you at all?
When Naomi Klein discovered that a woman who shared her first name, but had radically different, harmful views, was getting chronically mistaken for her, it seemed too ridiculous to take seriously. Then suddenly it wasn’t. She started to find herself grappling with a distorted sense of reality, becoming obsessed with reading the threats on social media, the endlessly scrolling insults from the followers of her doppelganger. Why had her shadowy other gone down such an extreme path? Why was identity – all we have to meet the world – so unstable?
To find out, Klein decided to follow her double into a bizarre, uncanny mirror world: one of conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers and demagogue hucksters, where soft-focus wellness influencers make common cause with fire-breathing far right propagandists (all in the name of protecting ‘the children’).” –From the publisher’s website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-05-25 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx • Selected by Andrew Stoessel
Winner: Pulitzer Prize in Fiction (1994)
“The Shipping News is that rare creation, a lyric page-turner.” –Stephen Jones, Chicago Tribune
Find The Shipping News in MILS
“At thirty-six, Quoyle, a third-rate newspaperman is wrenched violently out of his world when his two-timing wife meets her just desserts. He retreats with his two daughters to his ancestral home on the starkly beautiful Newfoundland coast, where a rich cast of local characters all play a part in Quoyle’s struggle to reclaim his life. As three generations of his family cobble up new lives, Quoyle confronts his private demons—and the unpredictable forces of nature and society—and begins to see the possibility of love without pain or misery.” –From the publisher’s website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-06-22 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian • Selected by Shannon Lindsay
Winner: Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award (2024)
“Only This Beautiful Moment is a queer epic, a defiant piece of art that transmutes the rallying cry of ‘we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it’ into even more beautiful poetry that will almost certainly change the lives of those who read it.” –BookPage
Find Only This Beautiful Moment in MILS
“2019. Moud is an out gay teen living in Los Angeles with his distant father, Saeed. When Moud gets the news that his grandfather in Iran is dying, he accompanies his dad to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture, and himself.
1978. Saeed is an engineering student with a promising future ahead of him in Tehran. But when his parents discover his involvement in the country’s burgeoning revolution, they send him to safety in America, a country Saeed despises. And even worse–he’s forced to live with the American grandmother he never knew existed.
1939. Bobby, the son of a calculating Hollywood stage mother, lands a coveted MGM studio contract. But the fairy-tale world of glamour he’s thrust into has a dark side. Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this tale of intergenerational trauma and love is an ode to the fragile bonds of family, the hidden secrets of history, and all the beautiful moments that make us who we are today.” –From the publisher’s website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-07-27 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Mudlark: In Search of London’s Past Along the River Thames by Lara Maiklem • Selected by Sue Stoessel
Winner: Indie Book Award in Non-Fiction (2020)
“Engrossing…evokes the subculture of the ‘mudlarks,’ who scour the banks for fragments of London’s past.” –The New Yorker
Find Mudlark in MaineCat
“The international bestseller that mesmerizingly charts quixotic journeys through London’s past, Mudlark thrills Anglophiles and history lovers alike. Long heralded as a city treasure herself, beloved ‘Mudlark’ Lara Maiklem tirelessly treks along the Thames’ muddy shores, unearthing a myriad of artifacts and their stories—from Roman hairpins and perfectly preserved Tudor shoes to the clay pipes that were smoked in riverside taverns. Seamlessly interweaving reflections from her own life with meditations on the art of wandering, Maiklem ultimately delivers a treatise ‘as deep and as rich as the Thames and its treasures’ (Stanley Tucci).” –From the publisher’s website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-09-28 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood • Selected by Laura Watson
Winner: Giller Prize (1996)
“Alias Grace has all the pacing of a commercial novel and all the resonance of a classic.” –The Washington Post Book World
Find Alias Grace in MILS
“It’s 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress.
Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders. An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories?” –From the publisher’s website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-10-26 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Three Junes by Julia Glass • Selected by Ellen Shockro
Winner: National Book Award (2002)
“Enormously accomplished….rich, absorbing, and full of life.” –The New Yorker
Find Three Junes in MILS
“In June of 1989 Paul McLeod, a newspaper publisher and recent widower, travels to Greece, where he falls for a young American artist and reflects on the complicated truth about his marriage.
Six years later, again in June, Paul’s death draws his three grown sons and their families back to their ancestral home. Fenno, the eldest, a wry, introspective gay man, narrates the events of this unforeseen reunion. Far from his straitlaced expatriate life as a bookseller in Greenwich Village, Fenno is stunned by a series of revelations that threaten his carefully crafted defenses.
Four years farther on, in yet another June, a chance meeting on the Long Island shore brings Fenno together with Fern Olitsky, the artist who once captivated his father. Now pregnant, Fern must weigh her guilt about the past against her wishes for the future and decide what family means to her.” –From the publisher’s website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-11-23 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
Settled in the Wild: Notes from the Edge of Town by Susan Hand Shetterly • Selected by Kendra Chubbuck
Winner: Maine Literary Award for Nonfiction (2011)
“Shetterly’s penetrating observations resonate with an undeniable sense of what matters most in life: the preservation of self, the protection of wilderness, and appreciation for the passage of time…” –Booklist
Find Settled in the Wild in MILS
“Settled in the Wild takes us into the woods and along the shorelines, mudflats, and paths of rural Maine, where Susan Hand Shetterly has lived and written about nature for the past thirty years. Now, she turns her attention to the ways humans and animals share the land, especially as our mutual habitat is changing. Her observations start small, looking out her window at the many living things in just one dead tree in her yard, at the wild turkeys and coyotes in the field. Then she expands to the surrounding forest, to the seaside, and to the lives of her neighbors, many of whom have always made a living off the land or sea.
Whether writing about a displaced garter snake, witnessing the paving of a beloved dirt road, catching a cricket with her young son, rescuing a fledgling raven, or rejoicing with the town at the return of the alewife migration, Shetterly pays tribute to the resilience that abounds. She argues for a consciousness that honors the values of wilderness, protects the beauty and vigor of rural communities, and teaches our children to love the gifts of the land.” –From the dust jacket
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.

SPL Book Club: Award-Winning Books
2026-12-14 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, Virtual
March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell • Selected by Pat Dobbs
Winner: RFK Book Award (2014)
“A riveting and beautiful civil-rights story…Lewis’s gripping memoir should be stocked in every school and shelved at every library.” –The Washington Post
Find March in MILS
“March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.
Book One spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.
Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1958 comic book ‘Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.’ Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.” –From the publisher’s website
Eleven readers chose 11 books, and they will lead 11 discussions in 2026. The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on Zoom. There are two exceptions: there is no discussion in August when the book club takes a summer break, and the last meeting is bumped up to the second Monday, December 14, to minimize scheduling conflicts around the holidays. New readers—near and far—are always welcome. To sign up for the book club email list, please send a request to the email below.
