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Book Clubs


Want to join a Mayo Library book club? We have a few! Here are details on where they are held and what they are reading. If you are passionate about books and reading, you’re welcome to come along!

  • Ballyhaunis

    The Book Club meets once a month (usually the first Wednesday of the month) in Ballyhaunis Library at 8:00pm. 

    ** The next Book Club meeting is on Wednesday, April 3 at 8pm.  The book for discussion will be Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson. **

    Books previously discussed in Ballyhaunis Library Book Club:
    Star Rating (1-5)

    February 2024
    So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan  3.5 stars

    January 2024
    The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas  3.5 stars

    December 2023
    Dear Reader by Cathy Rentzenbrink  3 stars

    November 2023
    Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter  3 stars

    October 2023
    Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? by Seamas O'Reilly  4.5 stars

    September 2023
    The Red Bird Sings by Aoife Fitzpatrick  3.5 stars

    July/August 2023
    Still Life by Sarah Winman  
    3.5 stars

    June 2023
    The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell  
    4 stars

    May 2023
    This is Happiness by Niall Williams  4 stars
     

    April 2023
    The Island of Missing Trees
    by Elif Shafak  3.5 stars

    March 2023
    Dracula
    by Bram Stoker  3 stars

    February 2023
    The Maid by Nita Prose 3
    ½ stars

    January 2023
    The Rose Code
    by Kate Quinn  4 stars

    December 2022
    Trespasses
    by Louise Kennedy 4 stars

    November 2022
    Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus   4 stars

    October 2022
    Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan   3.5 stars

    May 2020
    The Guest List  by Lucy Foley. 

    April 2020
    A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

    March 2020
    Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner 2.5 stars

    February 2020
    Case Histories by Kate Atkinson 4 stars


    January 2020
    A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 4 stars 
     
    December 2019
    The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor 3 stars 

    November 2019
    The Salt Path by Raynor Winn.
     4 stars 

    October 2019
    Fever by Mary Beth Keane4 stars 


    September 2019
    Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume 4 stars 

    June 2019
    A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne 3 stars

    May 2019
    The Dry by Jane Harper. 3 stars  

    April 2019
    Rain on the Wind by Walter Macken. 4 stars 

    March 2019
    The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout 4 stars 

    February 2019
    Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds 3 stars

    January 2019
    The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark  2½ stars

    December 2018
    The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. 3 stars

    November 2018
    Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. 4½ stars

    October 2018
    Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult 4 stars 

    September 2018
    The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris 3½ stars

    June 2018
    Everything I Never told You by Celeste Ng. 4 stars 

    May 2018
    I Found My Tribe by Ruth Fitzmaurice 3 stars

    April 2018
    The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James 3 stars 

    March 2018
    The Scandal by Fredrik Backman 4 stars 

    February 2018
    The Coroner's Daughter by Andrew Hughes 3½ stars 

    January 2018
    Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty 3½ stars 

    December 2017
    Holding by Graham Norton  4 stars 

    November 2017
    The Unseen by Roy Jacobsen 4 stars 


    October 2017
    Sacred Country by Rose Tremain 3½ stars 

    September 2017
    Anything is Possible  by Elizabeth Strout 4 stars 

    June 2017
    City of Thieves by David Benioff 3½ stars

    May 2017
    The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy 3 stars

    April 2017
    Solar Bones by Mike McCormack 4 stars 

    March 2017
    Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte  4½ stars

    February 2017
    The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 831/Years Old by Hendirk Groen 4½ stars

    January 2017
    The Drowned Detective by Neil Jordan 2½ stars

    December 2016
    My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 4 stars

    November 2016
    The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton 3½ stars

    October 2016
    Butcher's Crossing by John Williams 3 stars

    September 2016
    The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon 3 stars

    June 2016
    Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson 3 stars

    May 2016
    The Children of the Rising by Joe Duffy 4 stars 

    April 2016
    A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler 3½ stars

    March 2016
    Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak 4 stars 

    February 2016
    Without a Trace by Lesley Pearse 2½ stars

    January 2016
    The Ballroom Café by Ann O'Loughlin 2½ stars

    December 2015
    Tender by Belinda McKeon 2½ stars

    November 2015
    All the Light we Cannont See by Anthony Doerr 4 stars

    October 2015
    The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd 4 stars

    September 2015
    Us by David Nicholls 3 stars

    July 2015
    Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey 3 stars

    June 2015
    Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail Cheryl Strayed by Cheryl Strayed.  stars

    May 2015
    The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 4 stars 

    April 2015
    The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler 3 stars

    March 2015
    A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki  stars

    February 2015
    Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 4 stars
     

    January 2015
    Academy Street by Mary Costello  stars

    December 2014
    I Know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou 3 stars


    November 2014
    The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith 3 stars

    October 2014
    We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler 3 stars

    September 2014
    Small Island by Andrea Levy 4 stars

    August 2014
    Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent  stars

    July 2014
    The Undertaking by Audrey Magee 4 stars

    June 2014
    Burial Rites by Hannah Kent 3 stars

    May 2014
    Longbourn : a novel of pride and prejudice below stairs by Jo Baker 3½ stars 

    April 2014
    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck  4½ stars

    March 2014
    Last Orders by Graham Swift. 2½ stars.

    February 2014
    All Quiet on the Western Front  by Erich Maria Remarque.  4 stars

    January 2014
    The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín. 3 stars

    December 2013
    The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright. 2 stars

    November 2013
    Call of the Lark : a memoir by Maura Mulligan 3 stars

    October 2013
    Staring at Lakes : a memoir of love, melancholy and magical thinking by Michael Harding 3 stars

    September 2013
    Strumpet City by James Plunkett 5 stars

    August 2013
    Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead 2 stars

    July 2013
    The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce 4 stars

    June 2013
    The Snowman by Jo Nesbo 3 stars

    May 2013
    The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan 3½ stars 

    April 2013
    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 4 stars

    March 2013
    Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin 4 stars

    February 2013
    The Dinner by Herman Koch 3 stars

    January 2013
    Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb 3½ stars 

    December 2012
    The Glass Castle by Jennnette Walls 4 stars

    November 2012
    Serena by Ron Rash 4 stars

    October 2012
    This Side of Brightness by Colum McCann 3 stars

    September 2012
    Burning Bright by Ron Rash 4 stars 

    August 2012
    One Day by David Nicholls 3 stars

    July 2012
    Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 3½ stars 

    June 2012
    Foster by Claire Keegan 3 stars

    May 2012
    The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka 3 stars

    April 2012
    Incendiary by Chris Cleave 3 stars

    March 2012
    Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. 4 stars

    February 2012
    Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence3½ stars

    January 2012
    The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt. 4 stars

    December 2011
    The Vault by Ruth Rendell  2 stars

    November 2011
    Mr. Golightly's Holiday by Salley Vickers 3 stars

    October 2011
    Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 3 stars

    Septmeber 2011
    When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman 3 stars

    August 2011
    The Hungry Ghosts by Anne Berry 3 stars

    July 2011
    The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 4 stars

    June 2011
    Skippy Dies by Paul Murray  2 stars 

    May 2011
    Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson  3 stars

    April 2011
    Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert 3 stars

    March 2011
    Julius Winsome by Gerard Donovan
     4 stars

    February 2011 
    Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 
     4 stars  

    January 2011
    The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd  3 stars 


    December 2010
    Room by Emma Donoghue   4 stars  

    November 2010
    A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith   4 stars  

    October 2010
    The Postmistress by Sarah Blake  
    3 stars 

    September 2010
    Old School by Tobias Wolff   
    3 stars 

    August 2010
    44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith   2½ stars

    July 2010
    The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa   3½ stars

    June 2010
    The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre   
    3 stars 

    May 2010
    That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo  
    3 stars 

    April 2010
    Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout   
    4 stars
       
    March 2010
    Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann  
    3 stars 

    February 2010
    Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen   
    4 stars

    January 2010

    Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden   2½ stars

    December 2009
    Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy  4½ stars

    November 2009
    The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne   3 stars

    October 2009
    The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer  3 stars

    September, 2009
    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson   3½ stars

    August, 2009
    Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver  4 stars

    July, 2009
    The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga  3 stars

    June, 2009
    The Road by Cormac McCarthy  4 stars


    May, 2009
    Stealing Water: A Secret life in a South African City by Tim Ecott  3½ stars

    April, 2009
    A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole  3 stars

    March, 2009
    The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold.   2½ stars

    February, 2009
    The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry.   4 stars


    January, 2009
    A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  4 stars

  • Castlebar

    Castlebar Library Book Club meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 8pm upstairs in Castlebar Library.  ** The April 2024 meeting of the Book Club will be on Tuesday, April 9 **

    Currently Reading: 

    Good Behaviour by Molly Keane  (for our April 2024 meeting)

    Past reads:

    Book Club previous selections (star rating 1 - 5)

    March 2024
    This Plague of Souls by Mike McCormack  3 stars

    February 2024
    Prophet Song by Paul Lynch  5 stars

    January 2024
    Various books of members own choice, including: Kala by Colin Walsh; Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith; Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry; The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams; The Paris Wife by Paula McLain; A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley; Saturday by Ian McEwan; So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan; Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver; Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry; Haven by Emma Donoghue; A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows; Bleak House by Charles Dickens; Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane; Open Up by Thomas Morris; The Woman in Black and other Ghost Stories by Susan Hill (specifically “The Small Hand” story); Water by John Boyne; When All is Said by Anne Griffin; The Country Will Bring Us No Peace by Matthieu Simard; Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield; Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano; Beyond the Sea by Paul Lynch; The Stranger in the Seine by Guillaume Musso; When They See Me by Gill Perdue.

    December 2023
    Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp  4 stars

    November 2023
    How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney  3 stars

    October 2023
    The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright  3 stars

    September 2023
    The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende  4 stars

    August 2023
    Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk  4 stars

    July 2023
    The Red Bird Sings by Aoife Fitzpatrick  4 stars

    June 2023
    The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy  4 stars

    May 2023
    The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver  4 stars

    April 2023
    The Trees by Percival Everett  4 stars

    March 2023
    Bournville by Jonathan Coe  3 stars

    February 2023
    Leviathan by Paul Auster  4 stars

    January 2023
    Various books of members' own choice, including Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout; Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo; Lessons by Ian McEwan; Leviathan by Paul Auster; We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole; A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann ni Ghriofa; The Tartar Steppe by Dinoa Buzzati; Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver; Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart; This is Happiness by William Wall; The Trust by Hernan Diaz; Time and Tide by Charlie Bird; The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell; Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale; Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.

    December 2022
    There's Been a Little Incident by Alice Ryan  3 stars

    November 2022
    The Colony by Audrey Magee  5 stars

    October 2022
    Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead  4 stars

    September 2022
    Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus  4 stars

  • Kiltimagh

    Kiltimagh Library Book Club meets on the third Wednesday of every month at 7pm in the library (this is occasionally subject to change).

    **The next meeting of Kiltimagh Book Club is on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 7pm and the book for discussion is Dear Reader by Cathy Rentzenbrink**

    Check Events page for next meeting.

  • Castlebar Library Book Club Previous Selections
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