Book Club in a Box for Local Groups

Abilene Public Library has made it easy for patrons to host their own book clubs. Referred to as Book Club in a Box, this service includes 7-8 books in each set, discussion questions, reviews, and a list of other books that read like that title. Feel free to browse through our available sets below.

1001 Ideas That Changed the Way We Think Book Cover1001 Ideas That Changed the Way We Think, editor Robert Arp

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  • Summary: A comprehensive guide to the most interesting and imaginative thoughts from the finest minds in history. Ranging from the ancient wisdom of Confucius and Plato to today's cutting-edge thinkers, it offers a wealth of stimulation and amusement for everyone with a curious mind. A perfect read to lead to many great discussions.

BloodlessBloodless by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

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  • Summary: On Nov. 24, 1971, D.B. Cooper hijacked Flight 305 with a fake bomb, collected a ransom of $200,000, and parachuted from the plane. 50 years later, Agent Pendergast takes on a bizarre case: in the city of Savannah, GA, bodies are found with no blood, reviving tales of the infamous Savannah Vampire. As the mystery rises, Pendergast and his partner, Agent Coldmoon, race to understand how these murders are connected to the only unsolved skyjacking in American history.

Bookshop on the CornerThe Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

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  • Summary: Nina is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion...and also her job. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more. Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile -- a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.

Call Sign Chaos Book CoverCall Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead by Jim Mattis

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  • Summary: This is the account of Mattis’s career, from wide-ranging leadership roles in three wars to ultimately commanding a quarter of a million troops across the Middle East. Along the way, Mattis recounts his foundational experiences as a leader, extracting the lessons he has learned about the nature of warfighting and peacemaking, the importance of allies, and the strategic dilemmas now facing our nation. 
     

The Christie Affair Book CoverThe Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

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  • Summary: Nina de Gramont's The Christie Affair is a beguiling novel of star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder-and a brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. Every story has its secrets. Every mystery has its motives. Dive in to see if you can uncover them all.


The Club Book CoverThe Club by Ellery Lloyd

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  • Summary: Envisioned as a luxurious home-away from-home for VIPs, The Home Group is a collection of celebrity members clubs across the globe where the rich and famous can party hard and crash out in its five-star suites, far from the prying eyes of fans and the media. But behind the scenes, tensions are at breaking point. As things get more sinister by the hour and the body count piles up, some of Home's members begin to wish they'd never RSVP'd at all.

Dictionary of Lost Words Book CoverThe Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

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  • Summary: Before the lost word, there was another. It arrived at the Scriptorium, the old address crossed out and Dr. Murray, Sunnyside, Oxford, written in its place. It was Da's job to open the post, sit on his lap, and help him ease each word out of its folded cradle. He'd tell me what pile to put it on and sometimes pause, cover my hand with his, and guide my finger around the letters, sounding them into my ear. He'd say the word, and I would echo it, then he'd tell me what it meant.

DogtrippingDogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure by David Rosenfelt

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  • Summary: David Rosenfelt's "Dogtripping" is moving and funny account of a cross-country move from California to Maine, and the beginnings of a dog rescue foundation.


Durrells of Corfu Book CoerThe Durrells of Corfu by Michael Haag

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  • Summary: Who are the Durrells? Why did they go to Corfu and what happened to them after they left? [This book] describes the family's upbringing in India and the crisis that brought them to England and then Greece. It recalls the genuine characters they encountered on Corfu as well as the visit of American writer Henry Miller. And Haag has unearthed the story of how the Durrells left Corfu, including Margo's and Larry's last-minute escapes before the war.

Four Winds Book CoverThe Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

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  • Summary: Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman's only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

Gilead Series Book CoverGilead; Home; Lila; Jack by Marilynne Robinson

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  • Summary: In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, a kind of last testament to his remarkable forebears. Returning to Gilead to care for her dying father, Glory Boughton is joined by her long-absent brother, with whom she bonds throughout his struggles with alcoholism, unemployment, and their father's traditionalist values.

Greenlights Book CoverGreenlights by Matthew McConaughey

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  • Summary: Drawing on the Academy Award-winning actor's journals and diaries from the last 40 years, this book presents a uniquely McConaughey approach to achieving success and satisfaction.  "I've been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five."

How Stella Learned to Talk Book CoverHow Stella Learned to Talk by Christina Hunger

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  • Summary: A true story and simple guide to teaching a dog to talk from a speech-language pathologist who has taught her dog to communicate using simple paw-sized buttons associated with different words.


In My Dreams I Hold a Knife Book CoverIn My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

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  • Summary: Jessica plans to return to Duquette University for her 10 year reunion. She's the most successful of her friends, and she's ready to flaunt her achievements. 10 years ago, Heather, one of their own, was murdered, fracturing the close knit group. And then another friend was accused of committing the act, shattering whatever friendly feelings remained. Jessica thinks she's coming back to campus to bask in a wave of glory. She and her friends have no idea that someone has set an elaborate trap to catch the real killer and close the cold case for good.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue Book CoverThe Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

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  • Summary:  France, 1714. In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever-- and cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Addie LaRue's life will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art. After nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore. He remembers her name-- and everything changes. How far will she go to leave her mark on the world?

Judges ListThe Judge's List by John Grisham

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  • Summary: As an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, Lacy Stoltz sees plenty of corruption among the men and women elected to the bench. Now, the man hiding behind the black robe is not taking bribes, but he may be taking lives. Lacy is ready for a change and meets Jeri Crosby, whose father was murdered 20 years earlier in a case that remains unsolved. Jeri has a suspect whom she has become obsessed with, and has stalked for two decades. The man is always one step ahead of law enforcement...he is a judge in Florida. 

Layla Book CoverLayla; Without Merit; Ugly Love; Confess; Reminders of Him; Regretting You; Verity by Colleen Hoover

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  • Summary: This book club in a box contains 7 stand alone titles of Colleen Hoover covering topics including family secrets, relationships, assault and battery, women ex-convicts, mothers and daughters, romance, and more.

The Lost Apothecary Book CoverThe Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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  • Summary: Welcome to the lost apothecary. Hidden in 18th-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. Nella's dark world is no place for her newest patron, a precocious 12-year-old girl named Eliza Fanning, but their unexpected bond sparks a string of consequences that echoes through the centuries.

Memphis Book CoverMemphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

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  • Summary: In the summer of 1995, 10-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father's violence to her mother's ancestral home in Memphis. Half a century ago, Joan's grandfather built this majestic house for her grandmother, only to be lynched, days after becoming the first Black detective in Memphis, by his all-white police squad. This wasn't the first time violence altered the course of Joan's family, and given who lives inside this house now, she knows it won't be the last.

Midnight LibraryThe Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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  • Summary: Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?' A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time. 

One Italian Summer Book CoverOne Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

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  • Summary: Over the course of one summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue. Rebecca Serle's next great love story is here, and this time it's between a mother and a daughter with a novel about how we move on after loss, and how those we love never truly leave us.

Paris Apartment Book CoverThe Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

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  • Summary: Jess needs a fresh start. She's broke and alone, and she's just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn't sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him, but he didn't say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up, to find a very nice apartment, he's not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother's situation, and the more questions she has.

Poldark: a Novel of Cornwall, 1780-1820 by Winston Graham

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  • Summary:  Poldark is a series of historical novels by Winston Graham, published from 1945 to 1953 and continued from 1973 to 2002. The series comprises 12 novels: the first seven are set in the 18th century, concluding in Christmas 1799; the remaining five are concerned with the early years of the 19th century and the lives of the descendants of the previous novels' main characters. Graham wrote the first four Poldark books during the 1940s and 1950s. 

Redeeming LoveRedeeming Love by Francine Rivers

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  • Summary: Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside. Then she meets Michael Hosea, a man who seeks his Father's heart in everything. Michael obeys God's call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel's every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw.

Who Were the Navajo Talkers Book CoverWho Were the Navajo Code Talkers by James Buckley Jr.

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  • Summary: By the time the U.S. joined WWII in 1941, the fight against Nazi and Axis powers had already been under way for two years. In order to win the war and protect its soldiers, the US Marines recruited 29 Navajo men to create a secret code to send military messages quickly and safely across battlefields.