Join us for May 2026 book discussions at Newton Public Library! These friendly gatherings are open to the public, no registration needed. Books are available to borrow about a month before each discussion. You’re welcome to check out any or all of the book club picks and read along with us, whether or not you can attend. To sign up for an email list with the latest book club announcements and reminders, click here and check “Book Discussions” when you fill out the form.

Here’s what we’re reading next month (and on April 23). These selections are available now:

Sugar & Spice Book Club – 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23

Ready or Not, by Cara Bastone. Eve Hatch lives for surprises! Just kidding. She expects every tomorrow to be pretty much the same as today. She loves her cozy apartment in Brooklyn that’s close to her childhood best friend Willa, and far from her midwestern, traditional family who has never really understood her. While her job is only dream-adjacent, it’s comfortable and steady. She always knows what to expect from her life . . . until she finds herself expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.

TALK Book Discussion – 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 5

The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig. Join us for the final discussion in our spring 2026 TALK series, led by special guest Rachel Epp Buller. Dr. Buller is professor of visual arts and design at Bethel College. Burdened with regrets, Nora finds herself in a space between life and death: The Midnight Library. Each book contains a version of Nora, a life story that could have existed if she had made different choices. Before her time runs out, Nora must decide for herself what is important, and why life is worth living.

Prime Suspects Book Club – 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 6

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevenson. Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate. Of course there’s also the little matter of a serial killer known as the Black Tongue who gets mixed up in all this, and $267,000 in cash.

Nonfiction Book Club – 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 12

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, by Jonathan Blitzer. A history of the disastrous humanitarian crisis at the southern border told through the lives of the migrants forced to risk everything and the policymakers who determine their fate. Blitzer argues that the immigration crisis is the result of decades of misguided policy and sweeping corruption. Weaving the stories of Central Americans whose lives have been devastated by chronic political conflict and violence with those of American activists, government officials, and politicians, Blitzer reveals a layered picture of this vast and unremitting conflict.

Cozy Crimes Book Club – 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 14

Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala. When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.

Boundless Bookworms – 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21

Normal People, by Sally Rooney. At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange connection grows between the two teenagers. Throughout their years in college, they stray toward other people and possibilities but are always magnetically, irresistibly, drawn back together. Sally Rooney explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.

Sugar & Spice Book Club – 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 28

Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan. When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn’t know is that Nick’s family home happens to look like a palace, that she’ll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia’s most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back.