Mr. Carnegie’s Book Club, named in honor of Andrew Carnegie, the “Patron of Libraries,” meets at 6:30 p.m. the third Monday of each month at the Knox County Public Library, 502 N. Seventh St.
Led by library staff member Janet Kitchin, the book club was established in October 2021. Book clubs are staple programs of public libraries. They encourage a love of literature in a positive, nurturing environment. A book club is a reading group that usually consists of several people who read and talk about books based on a theme or reading list. Formal book clubs like ours meet regularly at a designated location. At Mr. Carnegie’s Book Club, readers can participate in a monthly discussion in person or remotely via a Zoom link. Every month, the library provides refreshments for the participants. That’s one of the benefits of in-person participation.
Readers take turns “hosting” the book club’s monthly discussions. Hosts lead discussions and select books for discussion. An option for hosts is to recruit a friend or family member to help lead the monthly discussion.
The next discussion is on January 16 at 6:30 p.m. Hosted by George Letts. He chose the western novel “The Cowboy and the Cossack” by Clair Huffaker. Set in Tsarist Russia in the 1880s, it’s about fifteen cowboys from Montana sailing to Vladivostok with a herd of 500 longhorns, ready to cross 1,000 miles through the Siberian wilderness. Cultures clash when a group of Cossacks, elite Russian horsemen and warriors show up to escort the cowboys to their destination. Visit the library’s Facebook page at kcpl.lib.in.us to view a promotional video featuring George Letts.
The library has multiple copies of this novel available for loan. When possible, the library obtains books for discussions from the Novel Conversations service provided by Indiana Humanities: https://indianahumanities.org/program/novel-conversations. Books discussed since our club started in 2021 include but are not limited to the following:
“A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles;
“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier;
“Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver;
“The Persian Pickle Club” by Sandra Dallas;
“All the Girls’ Last Meeting at the Gas Station” by Fannie Flagg;
“Less People Know About Us: The Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity” by Axton Betz-Hamilton;
“pride and prejudice” by jane austen a
“Anxious People” by Fredrik Backman.
In the evening at the monthly book club meeting, the new book for the next month is announced. Copies of the book are available to borrow that evening.
We look forward to welcoming you to Mr. Carnegie’s Book Club, where we will bond through our shared love of reading.