SCPL Logo
Readers

Readers

Upcoming Book Group Meetings

Branciforte Branch Library
 (4:30 PM-5:30 PM)
Location: Branciforte
Room: Community Room
Virtual Location
 (10:30 AM-11:30 AM)
Location: Virtual Library
Room: Online
Register Now!
Felton Branch Library
 (6:00 PM-7:30 PM)
Location: Felton
Room: Felton Teen Multipurpose Room
Scotts Valley Branch Library
 (11:00 AM-1:00 PM)
Location: Scotts Valley
Room: Fireside Community Room
La Selva Beach Branch Library
 (10:30 AM-12:00 PM)
Location: La Selva Beach
Register Now!

Book Discussion Kits

The Kits

To help your book discussion group, we've gathered a collection of popular paperback titles and sorted them into kits. Each bag contains eight paperback copies of the selected title and a list of suggested discussion questions. The loan period is normally two months, but a maximum of three months can be given upon request at check out. You can borrow three kits at one time and they aren't renewable.

If a Book is Lost

If your group loses a copy of the book, we just ask that you replace it with another paperback copy of the book, new or second hand, that is clean and readable.

Book Discussion Kit

Book Kits (Search Results)

We found results for your search "author"

Browse Book Kits

Authors - W

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The Color Purple

by Alice Walker

The lives of two sisters--Nettie, a missionary in Africa, and Celie, a southern woman married to a man she hates--are revealed in a series of letters exchanged over thirty years.

The Golem and the Jinni

by Helene Wecker

Combines elements of Jewish and Arab folk mythology in the story of two supernatural creatures, Chava, a golem brought to life by a disgraced rabbi, and Ahmad, a jinni made of fire, who form an unlikely friendship on the streets of turn-of-the-century New York.

The Martian

by Andy Weir

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Harlem shuffle

by Colson Whitehead

Harlem Shuffle is a set of three loosely-related stories about furniture salesman and reluctant crook Ray Carney. He wants to lead an honest life, but that's not easy as a Black man in 1960s Harlem. So due to necessity and unfortunate circumstances, he keeps getting pulled into dodgy business.

The Underground Railroad

by Colson Whitehead

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. Their first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels.

Black cake

by Charmaine Wilkerson

Black Cake is a novel about two estranged siblings, Byron and Benny, who discover their mother's hidden past after her death. Eleanor Bennett leaves her children a voice recording and a traditional Caribbean black cake made from a family recipe. The recording tells the story of a young swimmer who flees her island home after being suspected of murder. The siblings' journey to discover the truth takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with the black cake.

The Warmth of Other Suns

by Isabel Wilkerson

In an epic history covering the period from the end of World War I through the 1970s, a Pulitzer Prize winner chronicles the decades-long migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West through the stories of three individuals and their families.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

by Isabel Wilkerson

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Refuge: an unnatural history of family and place

by Terry Williams

The author of Leap describes her Mormon upbringing, juxtaposing these reminiscences with discussions of the flooding of a wildlife bird sanctuary and its effect on that ecosystem, and her family's legacy of cancer.

Elegy For Eddie

by Jacqueline Winspear

When Eddie Pettit's death is ruled an accident by the police, many believe that this gentle soul was murdered and Maisy Dobbs, determined to do right by Eddie, searches for the truth amid the working-class of Lambeth.

The Ginger Tree

by Oswald Wynd

A young Scottish woman, in 1903, travels to Peking to marry a British military attachee. She becomes a scandal to the British community by having an affair with Count Kuriha, a Japanese soldier. She is shunned by her own people, and not really accepted by the Japanese either. We are given the account of a hard, lonely, but fascinating life in an alien culture.

Resources for Your Book Group

BookBrowse Book Club Resources

BookBrowse offers a wealth of resources for book clubs, including: Top 10 Book Club Recommendations, advice, reading guides, online book discussions, book club interviews - and much, much more. Free for patrons - just login with your library card!

Additional Resources

  • Amazon.com

    Amazon.com's recommendations for book discussion groups. Browsable by category.

  • SCPL Books & Reading Resources

    Links to online resources that will help you find new books, lists of award winners, and author information.

How to Start

  • Book Club How-to's

    Everything you need to start and run a successful and fun book club. -- Advice from Book Browse