10 years ago Hilary Kraus, Kari Mofford, and Alexis Teagarden started the Dystopian Book Club. Hilary and Kari went on to a new theme in 2016, the Science Fiction Book Club, and Olivia Piepmeier joined us to help organize and publicize the meetings.  During COVID, we tried to make things a bit more flexible with readers choosing their own titles with a common theme.  Now the group chooses the theme periodically, and we all vote to rank title suggestions and work through the list until we decide we need a new theme.

We will be choosing a new theme for Spring 2025 and we love to welcome new members, so please contact Kari Mofford if you would like to join us!

Here is the entire list of titles (and themes) throughout the years.  We have read A LOT of books… which ones were your favorites? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

Dystopian: 2014-2015

• 2014
  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• 2015
  • Spring
    • The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
    • The Giver by Lois Lowry
    • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  • Summer – Women Sleuths Theme
    • Nancy Drew (Original Series) – Reader’s pick
    • Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
    • Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers
  • Fall Titles
    • Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
    • Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Science Fiction: 2016-2019

• 2016
  • Spring
    • Watchmen by author Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons
    • The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
  • Magical Summer Theme
    • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
    • Peter & the Starcatchers by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson
    • So You Want to be a Wizard? by Diane Duane
  • Fall
    • More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
    • The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin
• 2017
  • Spring
    • Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
    • The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
  • Summer: Fantasy on Film
    • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
    • American Gods by Neil Gaiman
    • The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
  • Fall
    • Lumberjanes Volume 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by ND Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Shannon Watters, and Gus A. Allen
    • A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
    • The Martian by Andy Weir
• 2018
  • Spring
    • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
    • Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
    • Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
  • Summer: A Cinderella Summer
    • Cinder by Marissa Meyer
    • Ash by Malinda Lo, and the Original Grimm’s Fairy Tale
  • Fall
    • Timeline by Michael Crichton
    • Blackout by Connie Willis
    • Trillium by Jeff Lemire
• 2019
  • Spring
    • Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
    • His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
    • Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
  • Summer: A Summer of Comics
    • Here by Richard McGuire
    • Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal
    • On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
  • Fall: Space Exploration/Adventure
    • Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
    • Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Climate and Travel: 2020-2021

• Spring 2020: Climate Change
  • Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
  • The End We Start From by Megan Hunter (Cancelled)
  • A Friend of the Earth by T. Coraghessan Boyle (Virtual)
• Summer 2020: Choose your own title
• Fall 2020 – Spring 2021: Travel: Choose a book with geographical theme
  • October = Antarctica
  • November = South America
  • December = Asia
  • January = North America
  • February = Africa
  • March = Australia
  • April = Europe

Adventures, Quests, and Treasure Hunts: 2021

• Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
• The Secret Treasure of Oak Island: The Amazing True Story of a Centuries-Old Treasure Hunt by D’Arcy O’Connor
• Princess Bride by William Goldman
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Animals: 2022-2023

• Hollow Kingdom Kira Jane Buxton
• Watership Down Richard Adams
• The Bear by Andrew Kivak
• West With Giraffes: A Novel by Lynda Rutledge

Fantasy: 2023-2024

• Circe by Madeline Miller
• Fifth Season NK Jemisin
• Book of Night by Holly Black
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
• The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
• Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy
• The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin
• Fairy Tale by Stephen King  (December 2024)

Welcome and welcome back! The Library Book Club welcomes new members, and we have some great titles this semester as we continue to explore the Fantasy genre.

• Wednesday, October 16, Noon – 1pm: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
• Tuesday, December 3, 11:30am – 12:30pm: Fairy Tale by Stephen King

If you need any assistance with ordering a copy through the Library’s Interlibrary Loan service or the Commonwealth Catalog, please contact Kari Mofford. These books are a bit lengthy, so order early!

We will meet in Library 240. If you would like to join by Zoom, have any questions, or would like to be added to our email list, please contact Kari Mofford.

Here are the titles and dates for our spring meetings. All are welcome and there is no judgement if one doesn’t finish the book…but be aware there may be spoilers! If you need any assistance with ordering a copy through the Library’s Interlibrary Loan service or the Commonwealth Catalog, please contact kmofford@umassd.edu.

• Wednesday, February 21 at Noon:  The Once and Future Witches, by Alix E. Harrow (this title is a bit longer (516 pages), so order it early).
• Tuesday, April 16 at 12:30: Tea with the Black Dragon, by R.A. MacAvoy.

Our meeting is hybrid, so if you would like to come in person, we will be in Library 240 and if you would like to join by Zoom, please contact kmofford@umassd.edu.

The Library’s Virtual Book Club will be having a travel theme this year and we are picking a different continent for each meeting! Fiction/Non-Fiction is up to you and the genre is wide open so you can choose romance, mystery, sci-fi, horror, etc. We will also supply some suggestions of authors and titles with each month’s destination.

If you want to plan ahead, here’s where we’re heading this semester:

October = Antarctica (Oct. 14, Noon-1PM)
November = South America (Nov. 12, 2-3PM)
December = Asia (Dec. 4, 1-2PM)

Some Antarctica Ideas:
South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby
Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey by Nick Bertozzi
Antarctica, by Kim Stanley Robinson
List by King County Library System of 10 Books Set in Antarctica = https://kcls.bibliocommons.com/list/share/217754625/1159744938
List of Antarctica Books in Goodreads = https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/647636-antarctica

Questions? Contact either Olivia (olivia.piepmeier@umassd.edu) or Kari (kmofford@umassd.edu) for meeting Zoom links and if you would like to be added to our email list.