The Laid-Back Book Club
The Laid-Back Book Club is our virtual book club for Harvard Diggins Library adult patrons. There are no meetings, no deadlines, just good books and prizes! We have 12 book selections, one for every month, for our patrons to read and enjoy in a variety of genres. Log your reading in your Beanstack account as “activities” to earn badges and raffle tickets towards the end-of-the-year grand prize and participate in occasional discussions in our private Facebook group. You can read ahead, read behind, read on-schedule, skip book selections, and read completely at your own pace. A limited number copies of the current reading selection will be available at the library for checkout every month, but you are welcome to request copies on your own PrairieCat account as well.
Here’s how you can participate:
- Read any of our book selections anytime of the year! See below for a list of the book selections.
- Create a Beanstack account or download the app from your device’s app store to track your reading.
- Join our private Facebook group for occasional discussions and announcements about the current book selection.
- NEW! Stop by the Circulation Desk at the Library to pick up a reading guide for the 2023 book selections. The reading guide has space to jot down notes for discussion prompts, quotes, additional reading recommendations, and more. You can choose to pick up a complete booklet, or request individual sheets for the book you are currently reading. Click here to download the complete reading guide.
Questions? We’re happy to help! Contact Leticia at adultservices@harvard-diggins.org
The 2023 Laid-Back Book Club Selections:
- January – Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
- February – One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
- March – The Farm by Joanne Ramos
- April – Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
- May – Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Mathew Sullivan
- June – Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
- July – The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
- August – The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- September – Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
- October – Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
- November – There There by Tommy Orange
- December – Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
2023 BONUS BADGES: Earn extra badges for participating in our monthly virtual author visits with Illinois Libraries Present. To register for these events, visit our events calendar:
- Wednesday January 11, 7pm – Ross Gay, author of Inciting Joy
- Wednesday February 8, 7pm – Kwame Alexander, author of The Crossover
- Wednesday March 1, 7pm – Mary Roach, author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
- Tuesday April 4, 7pm – Danny Trejo, actor and author of Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood
- Tuesday April 25, 7pm – Will Shortz, crossword editor for the New York Times
- Saturday May 6, 10am – Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author of children’s graphic novels including the Lunch Lady series and the Star Wars Jedi Academy series
- Wednesday May 17, 7pm – Jonathan Van Ness, author, hairstylist, and television personality on “Queer Eye”
- Tuesday June 6, 7pm – Jesmyn Ward, author of Salvage the Bones (rescheduled)
- Wednesday June 21, 7pm – Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass
Past Laid-Back Book Club Selections:
2022:
- January – Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
- February – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- March – An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
- April – Beartown by Fredrik Backman
- May – Circe by Madeline Miller
- June – Recursion by Blake Crouch
- July – How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
- August – Radium Girls by Kate Moore
- September – The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
- October – Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
- November – The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
- December – An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
2022 BONUS BADGES: Earn extra badges for participating in our monthly virtual author visits with Illinois Libraries Present
- Wednesday January 26, 7pm – Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night
- Wednesday February 16, 7pm – Jasmine Guillory, author of The Wedding Date and The Proposal
- Wednesday March 30, 7pm – Jenny Lawson, author of Broken and Furiously Happy
- Wednesday April 27, 7pm – Nick Offerman, author of Where the Deer and the Antelope Play
- Wednesday June 22, 7pm – Chef Kwame Onwuachi, author of Notes From a Young Black Chef
- Wednesday September 14, 7pm – Marlee Matlin, author of I’ll Scream Later
- Wednesday November 16, 7pm – Caitlin Doughty, Author of From Here to Eternity
- Tuesday December 13, 7pm – Shauna Sever, Author of Midwest Made
2021:
- January – The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
- February – Confess by Colleen Hoover
- March – Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
- April – Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
- May – The Dry by Jane Harper
- June – Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik
- July – The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
- August – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
- September – The Escape Room by Megan Goldin
- October – The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
- November – The Unseen World by Liz Moore
- December – Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio
