Battle of the Book Clubs!
When: Friday, April 11th, 2025 - 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Where: Duxbury Free Library
How Do I Sign Up? Tickets will be on sale on this website in early October. Follow our social media accounts for updates.
What Are The Books?
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer
The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth
Details?
Teams should be 4-8 people. If you have a larger book club, you can split up into multiple teams.
You don't have to have an official book club! Grab a few friends and read together.
It is not required for everyone to read every book - you can divide and conquer.
The four books should be read by April 11th to be ready for the trivia game!
Questions will be divided into categories/themes - like “pub style” trivia.
The library will be stocking copies of the book selections! Don’t forget - you can always download the e-book and audio book versions on Libby with your library membership.
Team costumes are encouraged (but not required!)
An Author Talk with Novelist Jennifer Weiner
You’re invited to a glimmering conversation with New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner as we chat about the signature emotional depth of her books that have been inspiring readers toward self-discovery for decades. Hearing from the queen of fun herself, we’ll chat with the author about her New York Times bestselling novels, Good In Bed, In Her Shoes, Big Summer, The Breakaway and many more.
Additionally, in a special preview, Weiner will briefly discuss her forthcoming novel (due out on April 8, 2025) The Griffin Sister’s Greatest Hits. Set in the world of pop music, The Griffin Sister’s Greatest Hits is about sisters, motherhood, young love, and the dreams we chase.
Sisters Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were born just a year apart but could not have been more different. Zoe, blessed with charm and beauty, yearned for fame from the moment she could sing into a hairbrush. Cassie was a musical prodigy who never felt at home in her own skin and preferred the safety of the shadows.
On the brink of adulthood in the early 2000s, destiny intervened, catapulting the sisters into the spotlight as the pop sensation the Griffin Sisters, hitting all the touchstones of early aughts fame—SNL, MTV, Rolling Stonemagazine—along the way.
But after a whirlwind year in the public eye, the band abruptly broke up.
Two decades later, Zoe’s a housewife; Cassie’s off the grid. The sisters aren’t speaking, and the real reason for the Griffin Sisters’ breakup is still a mystery. Zoe’s teenage daughter, Cherry, who’s determined to be a star in spite of Zoe’s warnings, is on a quest to learn the truth about what happened to the band all those years ago.
As secrets emerge, all three women must face the consequences of their choices: the ones they made and the ones the music industry made for them. Can they forgive each other—and themselves? And will the Griffin Sisters ever make music again? Register now for what will most certainly be a dazzling conversation!
About the Author: Jennifer Weiner is a #1 New York Times bestselling author whose books have spent over five years on the New York Times bestseller list, with more than 11 million copies in print in 36 countries. She is the author of the novels Good in Bed (2001) and In Her Shoes (2002), which was turned into a major motion picture starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine. And the author of That Summer (2021); The Breakaway (2024); and The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits (forthcoming 2025) . She is also the author of The Littlest Bigfoot middle-grade trilogy, Her nonfiction collection Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing (2016), was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.
Alfred Hitchcock Film Studies Series: "Shadow of a Doubt"
A free event in the Merry Room of the Duxbury Library!
How Women’s Liberation Transformed America: In Conversation with Clara Bingham
Join us for a transformative conversation with award-winning journalist and author, Clara Bingham, as she chats with us about her new book, The Movement: How Women’s Liberation Transformed America, 1963-1973.
The Movement is a comprehensive and engaging oral history of the decade that defined the feminist movement, including interviews with living icons and unsung heroes. The Movement is the first oral history of the decade that built the modern feminist movement. Through the captivating individual voices of the people who lived it, The Movement tells the intimate inside story of what it felt like to be at the forefront of the modern feminist crusade when women rejected thousands of years of custom and demanded the freedom to be who they wanted and needed to be.
This engaging history traces women’s awakening, organizing, and agitating between 1963 and 1973 when a decentralized collection of people and events coalesced to create a spontaneous combustion. From Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique to the underground abortion network the Janes, to Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign and Billie Jean King’s 1973 battle of the sexes, Bingham artfully weaves together the fragments of that explosion person by person, bringing to life the emotions of this personal, cultural, and political revolution. Artists and politicians, athletes and lawyers, Black and white, The Movement brings readers into the rooms where these women insisted on being treated as first-class citizens and, in the process, changed the fabric of American life.
Music: Golden Lane and Irish Step Dancers
A free event in the Merry Room of the Duxbury Library!
Power of Reset and How to Change What’s Not Working with Author Dan Heath
Are you ready to for a revolutionary guide to fixing what’s not working—in systems and processes, organizations and companies, and even in our daily lives? Join us for an enlightening conversation with bestselling author Dan Heath as he talks with us about his newest book, Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working.
Changing how we work can feel overwhelming. It can feel like trying to budge an enormous boulder. We’re stifled by the gravity of the way we’ve always done things. We spend so much time fighting fires—and fighting colleagues—that we lack the energy to shift direction but with the right strategy, we can move the boulder.
In Reset, Heath explores a framework for getting unstuck and making the changes that matter. The secret is to find “leverage points”: places where a little bit of effort can yield a disproportionate return. Then, we can thoughtfully rearrange our resources to push on those points. Heath weaves together fascinating examples, ranging from a freakishly effective fast-food drive-thru to a simple trick from couples therapy to an inspirational campaign that saved a million cats.
What if we could unlock forward movement—achieving progress on what matters most—without the need for more resources? The same people, the same assets…but dramatically better results. Yesterday, we were stuck. Today, we reset.
In this talk, you’ll learn:
Why the feeling of progress can be your secret weapon in accelerating change;
How leaders can uncover and stop wasteful activities;
Why your team’s motivation is often squandered—and how to avoid that mistake;
How you can jumpstart your change efforts by beginning with a “burst.”
Register now for your reset!
Author: Mike Bernard "Gaelic & Garlic: A Boston Love Story"
A free event in the Merry Room of the Duxbury Library!
Alfred Hitchcock Film Studies Series: "Vertigo"
A free event in the Merry Room of the Duxbury Library!
Music: Sparrow Blue (American Roots Music)
A free event in the Merry Room of the Duxbury Library!
Dystopian Tropes from an Indigenous Perspective: In Conversation with Waubgeshig Rice
You’re invited to a riveting conversation with bestselling author Waubgeshig Rice to chat about his newest book Moon of the Turning Leaves, the hotly anticipated sequel to the bestselling novel Moon of the Crusted Snow.
It’s been over a decade since a mysterious cataclysm caused a permanent blackout that toppled infrastructure and thrust the world into anarchy. Evan Whitesky led his community in remote northern Ontario off the rez and into the bush, where they’ve been living off the land, rekindling their Anishinaabe traditions in total isolation from the outside world.
As new generations are born, and others come of age in the world after everything, Evan’s people are in some ways stronger than ever. But resources in and around their new settlement are beginning to dry up, and the elders warn that they cannot afford to stay indefinitely.
Evan and his fifteen-year-old daughter, Nangohns, are elected to lead a small scouting party on a months-long trip to their traditional home on the north shore of Lake Huron—to seek new beginnings and discover what kind of life—and what dangers—still exist in the lands to the south.
Moon of the Turning Leaves is Rice’s exhilarating return to the world first explored in the phenomenal breakout bestseller Moon of the Crusted Snow: a brooding story of survival, resilience, Indigenous identity, and rebirth. Register now for a thrilling conversation!
Valentine's Day Collection Pick Up
Our Valentine’s Day Collection ends January 26th! We are offering 3 pick-up opportunities for the Valentine’s Day Embroidery Collection! Stop by the lower level lobby to pick up your items.
Wednesday, 2/5 - 3 to 5pm
Thursday, 2/7 - 5 to 7pm
Saturday, 2/8 - 10 to 12pm
Valentine's Day Collection Pick Up
Our Valentine’s Day Collection ends January 26th! We are offering 3 pick-up opportunities for the Valentine’s Day Embroidery Collection! Stop by the lower level lobby to pick up your items.
Wednesday, 2/5 - 3 to 5pm
Thursday, 2/7 - 5 to 7pm
Saturday, 2/8 - 10 to 12pm
Valentine's Day Collection Pick Up
Our Valentine’s Day Collection ends January 26th! We are offering 3 pick-up opportunities for the Valentine’s Day Embroidery Collection! Stop by the lower level lobby to pick up your items.
Wednesday, 2/5 - 3 to 5pm
Thursday, 2/7 - 5 to 7pm
Saturday, 2/8 - 10 to 12pm
How We Create Pandemics, From Our Bodies to Our Beliefs with Smithsonian Curator Sabrina Sholts
Join us for this enlightening presentation with Smithsonian curator Sabrina Sholts as she talks about how the very fact of being human increases our pandemic risks—and gives us the power to save ourselves.
The COVID-19 pandemic won't be our last—because what makes us vulnerable to pandemics also makes us human. That is the uncomfortable but all-too-timely message of The Human Disease: How We Create Pandemics, From Our Bodies to Our Beliefs, which travels through history and around the globe to examine how and why pandemics are an inescapable threat of our own making. Drawing on dozens of disciplines—from medicine, epidemiology, and microbiology to anthropology, sociology, ecology, and neuroscience—as well as a unique expertise in public education about emerging infectious diseases, biological anthropologist Sabrina Sholts identifies the human traits and tendencies that double as pandemic liabilities, from the anatomy that defines us to the misperceptions that divide us.
Weaving together a wealth of personal experiences, scientific findings, and historical stories, Sholts brings dramatic and much-needed clarity to one of the most profound challenges we face as a species. Though the COVID-19 pandemic looms large in Sholts's account, it is, in fact, just one of the many infectious disease events explored in The Human Disease. With its expansive, evolutionary perspective, the book explains how humanity will continue to face new pandemics because humans cause them, by the ways that we are and the things that we do. By recognizing our risks, Sholts suggests, we can take actions to reduce them. When the next pandemic happens, and how bad it becomes, are largely within our highly capable human hands—and will be determined by what we do with our extraordinary human brains. A presentation you don’t want to miss, register now!
About the Author:
Sabrina Sholts is a biological anthropologist and Curator of Biological Anthropology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Her research explores intersections of human, animal, and environmental health in the past and present. She received her PhD in Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara and was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley in Integrative Biology and at Stockholm University in Biophysics and Biochemistry. Sholts has published widely in academic journals including American Journal of Biological Anthropology, Environmental Health Perspectives, JAMA, PNAS, Scientific Reports, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and Nature Ecology & Evolution, and written for popular audiences in Scientific American and Smithsonian Magazine. She was named as a World Economic Forum Young Scientist in 2019. In addition, she was Lead Curator of the exhibition Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World at the NMNH (2018-2022) and a scientific advisor for the related exhibition Épidémies: Prendre soin du vivant at the musée des Confluences in Lyon, France (2024-2025).
NSRWA: North and South Rivers Watershed Association
A free event in the Merry Room of the Duxbury Library!
An Inside Look at Working with a Literary Agent: A Conversation with Seth Fishman
You’re writing a book (or thinking about it), but what happens next? Join us for an inside look into working with an agent and the beginning stages of the publishing process with Seth Fishman, Vice President and Literary Agent at The Gernert Company.
The Gernert Company represents more than 500 authors and is a full-service literary agency with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Their client list is as broad as the market and they represent fiction, both literary and commercial (such as Liz Moore, John Grisham, Louise Penny, Cixin Liu), as well as general nonfiction and practical nonfiction genres.
In this presentation, Fishman will deep dive into what happens after you’ve signed with a literary agent. He will cover many topics, including but not limited to:
What agents are and are not looking for,
How to submit your work to an agent and when,
What to expect after you've both said "yes!" to working together,
What you can look forward to as you ready your work with an eye towards submitting to publishers, including the revision process and so much more.
This extended, 90-minute presentation, includes 30 minutes of Q&A. This is the year to make all of your publishing dreams come true. To learn about this beginning stage of the process, register now!
About the Author: Head of the Los Angeles office, Seth is a Vice President and agent at The Gernert Company, which he joined in 2010 after beginning his career as an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. Born in Midland, Texas, he graduated from Princeton University and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. His interests are wide-ranging, but in particular he's looking for the new voice, the original idea, the entirely breathtaking creative angle in both fiction and nonfiction. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children, and is the author of the award-winning picture book, A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars, along with Power Up and The Ocean In Your Bathtub, as well as two YA books.
Alfred Hitchcock Film Studies Series: Notorious"
A free event in the Merry Room of the Duxbury Library!
Conversation with NYT bestselling author, Amanda Montell
In a delicious blend of cultural criticism and personal narrative that explores our cognitive biases and the power, disadvantages, and highlights of magical thinking, Amanda Montell now turns her erudite eye to the inner workings of the human mind and its biases in her most personal and electrifying work yet.
“Magical thinking” can be broadly defined as the belief that one’s internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world: think of the conviction that one can manifest their way out of poverty, stave off cancer with positive vibes, thwart the apocalypse by learning to can their own peaches, or transform an unhealthy relationship to a glorious one with loyalty alone. In all its forms, magical thinking works in service of restoring agency amid chaos, but in The Age of Magical Overthinking, Montell argues that in the modern information age, our brain’s coping mechanisms have been overloaded, and our irrationality turned up to an eleven.
In a series of razor sharp, deeply funny chapters, Montell delves into a cornucopia of the cognitive biases that run rampant in our brains, from how the “halo effect” cultivates worship (and hatred) of larger-than-life celebrities, to how the “sunk cost fallacy” can keep us in detrimental relationships long after we’ve realized they’re not serving us. As she illuminates these concepts with her signature brilliance and wit, Montell’s prevailing message is one of hope, empathy, and ultimately forgiveness for our anxiety-addled human selves. If you have all but lost faith in our ability to reason, Montell aims to make some sense of the senseless. To crack open a window in our minds, and let a warm breeze in. To help quiet the cacophony for a while, or even hear a melody in it.
I Am Nobody’s Slave: An Author Talk with Pulitzer Prize Finalist Lee Hawkins
We welcome you to our conversation with journalist and author Lee Hawkins as he talks to us about the examination of his family’s legacy of post-enslavement trauma and resilience in this riveting memoir, I Am Nobody's Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free.
I Am Nobody’s Slave tells the story of one Black family's pursuit of the American Dream through the impacts of systemic racism and racial violence. This book examines how trauma from enslavement and Jim Crow shaped their outlook on thriving in America, influenced each generation, and how they succeeded despite these challenges.
To their suburban Minnesotan neighbors, the Hawkinses were an ideal American family, embodying strength and success. However, behind closed doors, they faced the legacy of enslavement and apartheid. Lee Hawkins, Sr. often exhibited rage, leaving his children anxious and curious about his protective view of the world. Thirty years later, his son uncovered the reasons for his father’s anxiety and occasional violence. Through research, he discovered violent deaths in his family for every generation since slavery, mostly due to white-on-Black murders, and how white enslavers impacted the family’s customs.
Hawkins explores the role of racism-triggered childhood trauma and chronic stress in shortening his ancestors' lives, using genetic testing, reporting, and historical data to craft a moving family portrait. This book shows how genealogical research can educate and heal Americans of all races, revealing through their story the story of America—a journey of struggle, resilience, and the heavy cost of ultimate success. Register today to join the conversation!
The Magic of Found Family: In Conversation with Author TJ Klune
Come have a magical moment with New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune as he chats about his Cerulean Chronicles, with special emphasis on his newest in the series, Somewhere Beyond the Sea.
If you’re new to the Cerulean Chronicles, that’s okay! Let us lay the groundwork. Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea introduces us to Linus Baker. A by-the-book caseworker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world. Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light. The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place―and realizing that family is yours.
Klune’s most recent book in the Cerulean Chronicles, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, welcomes us back for Arthur’s story.
Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one. He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there. Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. Together, they will do anything to protect the children. But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.
Valentine's Day Embroidery Fundraiser
Show your love this Valentine’s Day with a cozy, embroidered sweatshirt that gives back! Featuring three unique design options, this sweatshirt isn’t just adorable —it’s about making a difference.
100% of proceeds from your purchase will benefit the Friends of the Duxbury Free Library, helping to fund programs, resources, and initiatives that inspire our community and enrich lives through the power of reading and learning.
Why You’ll Love It:
- Beautiful and customizable embroidery detail
- Soft and comfy fabric to keep you warm and comfortable
- Three beautiful designs perfect for Valentine’s Day
- A meaningful way to support the Duxbury Free Library and its valuable programs
Be part of something bigger this season of love—your purchase supports the Duxbury Free Library community at the heart of Duxbury ❤️
Order yours today and share the love!
Conversation with Author TJ Klune of The House in the Cerulean Sea
Come have a magical moment with New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune as he chats about his Cerulean Chronicles, with special emphasis on his newest in the series, Somewhere Beyond the Sea.
If you’re new to the Cerulean Chronicles, that’s okay! Let us lay the groundwork. Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea introduces us to Linus Baker. A by-the-book caseworker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world. Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light. The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place―and realizing that family is yours.
Klune’s most recent book in the Cerulean Chronicles, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, welcomes us back for Arthur’s story.
Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one. He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there. Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. Together, they will do anything to protect the children. But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.
Merchandise Pick-Up for Fall Fundraiser
This is pick up for those who purchased from our Fall Fundraiser via Custom Ink, which ended on November 21st. If you chose to have your items shipped to your house, you are all set! This is only for those who selected free pick up. We will be located in the downstairs lobby with your items!
Merchandise Pick-Up for Fall Fundraiser
This is pick up for those who purchased from our Fall Fundraiser via Custom Ink, which ended on November 21st. If you chose to have your items shipped to your house, you are all set! This is only for those who selected free pick up. We will be located in the downstairs lobby with your items!
Music: John Muratore (Classical Guitar)
A free event in the Merry Room of the Duxbury Library!
Merchandise Pick-Up for Fall Fundraiser
This is pick up for those who purchased from our Fall Fundraiser via Custom Ink, which ended on November 21st. If you chose to have your items shipped to your house, you are all set! This is only for those who selected free pick up. We will be located in the downstairs lobby with your items!
Alfred Hitchcock Film Studies Series: "Strangers on a Train"
A free event in the Merry Room of the Duxbury Library!