Please join us Wednesday, October 28, at 5:30 PM at the FI Library for a discussion of Kate Westbury’s novel, The Oxford Guide to Scandal & Lies.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME! Have you read this book? Come chat with us!
Bring a friend along, whether they’ve read the book or not.
If so inclined, do BYOB and bring a nibble to share.
Fishers Island Library
October 28, 2026 @ 5:30-7:00
Set in Oxford, England, 1951
352 pages, 3.93 Goodreads Rating
Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Romance
“Set against the backdrop of post-WWII Oxford University, The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies is the irresistible debut from Kate Westbury that seamlessly layers mystery, romance, and a dash of academia to introduce the Crown’s newest undercover operatives.” ~ Goodreads
How to become a Fishers Island Library Book Club member?
Just come to a meeting, and you will be added to the contact list, or contact Abby McCall or Ann Banks, Easy! “Bring a friend who’s read the current book or someone who is interested in joining us. There’s always room for more readers at the library.” — Abby
Book Club books are chosen by various members. Find who’s picking what next. The group generally meets at the Library, now on the 4th Wednesday of the month, with a few exceptions. Why the 4th Monday – so as not to conflict with ICB and the FIS BOE meetings.
Exciting Plans for 2026
| Date | Book | Selector | |
| THURSDAY, January 22 | The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater | Jane Ahrens | The author visited us at the Library this evening! |
| Wednesday, March 5 | Master, Slave, Husband, Wife by Ilyon Woo | Staley Sednaoui | Absolutely amazing true life story! Date moved due to the Feb Blizzard |
| Wednesday, March 25 | The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto by Elizabeth Hyman | Rosanna Anderson | 5 courageous Polish Jewish girls – leaders of the resistance to the Nazi oppressors – in their own voices from their journals |
| Wednesday, April 22 | Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Bella Burden | Diane Baker | A true story, this time from Martha’s Vineyard & NYC |
| May 27 | Happy All The Time by Laurie Colwin | Abby McCall | A witty, charming story about two best friends, who fall in love with very different women, in 1970s NYC |
| June 24 | Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) | Sarah Malinowski | A tale of friendship set amidst the stark beauty of the Southwest |
| July 22 | Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters by Edward J. Larson | The Group Regulars | On the 250th anniversary of American independence, this study of the ideas and battlefield sacrifices of 1776–by a Pulitzer Prize–winning scholar–could not be more timely. |
| August 26 | Whistler by Ann Patchett | The Group Regulars | Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made and the choices that were made for them. Excellent writing and a compelling story. |
| September 23 | Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy | Terry McNamara | Breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love… |
| October 28 | The Oxford Guide to Scandal & Lies by Kate Westbury | Abbie McCall & Group | “A delightfully fresh take on historical mystery, done with cleverness and style. Ginevra and Sidney are some of the most likeable characters I’ve met in a long time.” ~ author Kristen Perrin |
| November 25 | Date will be changed for Thanksgiving conflict | ||
| December 23 | Date to be confirmed/ may just have holiday cookies? |
A possible book choice for January 2027 is The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. Assigned in November, with December a ‘no Book Group homework’ month.
Book Club members volunteer to suggest books one to two months ahead to read in these months. If you want to help pick a book for a month, please contact Abby McCall. Find all our book title selections below in the book galleries. Other book recommendations are at the bottom of this page.
Please be sure to bring your calendars so that everybody can pick a month this year to choose a book that inspires them. As always, the library has copies of the books if needed. As we make our monthly choices, the library has or can get copies of all the books. You can also get them via LIBBY with your library card and on tape. Many are on Audible.
2026 Book Club Choices:
We had so much fun meeting and chatting with author Maggie Stiefvater in January to discuss her book THE LISTENERS and all sorts of things. Thank you all for coming!
Anyone who missed the February meeting – in which we discussed MASTER, SLAVE, HUSBAND, WIFE – missed an intimate and thoughtful discussion of America during the tense years leading up to the Civil War. Critically, this true story was told through the lens of an enslaved couple who escaped captivity in Georgia to travel north to Philadelphia, and eventually Canada and also to England, dressed as a white farmer and her enslaved servant. Their story was truly unbelievable and absolutely riveting. Not to mention terrifying.
March found us discussing THE GIRL BANDITS OF THE WARSAW GHETTO with a few new readers. So nice! An amazing book, written with so much taken directly from the girls’ and others’ own journals and interviews. What tenacity and courage these Polish Jewish women and men showed in the face of their Nazi oppressors!
2025 Book Club Choices:
Library Book Club selections in the past (A few covers are missing):
Please invite friends who might also be interested.
There are many book lovers on the island, and bringing the group together is so nice. The more readers, the better, and some people are unable to join on any given month. Please feel free to forward this to anyone else you can think of. All are welcome.
- We convene our Book Club on the 4th Wednesday of each month whenever possible.
- Feel free to BYOBeverage and a snack to share if you like.
- For those of you who prefer e-books, please use the library’s app on its website.
- If you want to buy gently used books—as opposed to borrowing from the library or listening to them on tape—you might try ordering from Thriftbooks.com or AbeBooks.com. The BAM bookstore in Waterford also has reduced-price books, many of which are recycled.
Live-brary Card/Libby App
A Fishers Island Live-brary Card and the Libby App allows one (one may need a NYS address) to become a member of the Suffolk County/New York Library system and borrow digital and audiobooks for free. All our book club books thus far have been available to borrow online or in an audible format.
Fishers Island Library website: http://www.filibrary.org
Contact Librarian Ann Banks with Library questions.
Other recommendations by FI Library Book Club members:
A
Bastard Out of Caroline by Dorothy Allison
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
C
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
One Woman Show by Christine Coluson
Eleanor Roosevelt by Lance Wiesen Cook
Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes
E
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
F
Century Trilogy – historical fiction by Ken Follett
G
All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle
The Pirate’s Wife, The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd by Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos
H
Act of Oblivion, a historical novel by Robert Harris
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Secret Life of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
Verify by Colleen Hoover
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
J
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
K
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Writers and Lovers by Lily King
Euphoria by Lily King
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
All But My Life by Gerda Weissman Klein
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Mrs. Queen Takes a Train Ride by William Kuhn
L
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Eric Larsen
Interpreter of maladies stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Spy that Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
M
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall
On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel
Eleanor by David Michaelis
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray
God of the Woods by Liz Moore
N
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
P
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Franklin & Lucy by Joseph E. Persico
The Shell Seekers by Rosamond Pilcher
A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell
R
The Last Night by Luanne Rice
S
Love Story by Erich Segal
Endless Love by Scott Spencer
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Dracula by Bram Stoker
T
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
V
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
W
Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Still Life by Sarah Winman
Z
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
