Join us for June 2026 book discussions at Newton Public Library! In June, we’re introducing a new “Breakfast Book Club” that will meet at 9:30 a.m. on fourth Saturdays, June through September. See below for more info!
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 in June. These selections are available now:
Prime Suspects Book Club – 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 3
Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton. An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price. Until something goes wrong. . . .
Nonfiction Book Club – 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 9
The Lost City of Z, by David Grann. In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization located deep in the deadly wilderness. He never returned. In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann tells the epic story of Fawcett’s quest for this “Lost City of Z,” as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century.
Cozy Crimes Book Club – 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11
Track of the Cat, by Nevada Barr. Anna Pigeon has fled New York and her memories to find work as a ranger in the country’s national parks. In the remote backcountry of West Texas, however, she discovers murder and violence. Fellow park ranger Sheila Drury is mysteriously killed, presumably by a mountain lion. But the deep claw marks Anna finds across Drury’s throat, and the paw prints surrounding the body, are too perfect to be real. Eager to prevent the needless slaughter of her beloved cougars, Anna can’t let the matter rest.
Boundless Bookworms – 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 18
Less, by Andrew Sean Greer. When failed novelist Arthur Less gets an unwelcome wedding invitation from his ex-boyfriend of nine years, he casts around for any excuse to skip town. On his desk is a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world. What could possibly go wrong? A series of picaresque adventures follow, including scrapes with death, scrapes with destiny, and a desert-island encounter with the last person on earth he wants to face. Somewhere in there: he will turn fifty.
Sugar & Spice Book Club – 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 25
The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller. Achilles, “the best of all the Greeks,” son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods’ wrath. When all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows.
Breakfast Book Club – 9:30 a.m. Saturday, June 27
Standing in the Rainbow, by Fannie Flagg. The time is 1946 until the present. The town is Elmwood Springs, Missouri, right in the middle of the country, in the midst of the mostly joyous transition from war to peace, toward a dizzyingly bright future. Fannie Flagg gives us a story of richly human characters, the saving graces of the once-maligned middle classes and small-town life, and the daily contest between laughter and tears.