Thursday Night Book Club

Come join us at the Royal Oak Public Library's monthly Thursday night book club meeting. Copies of the book are available at the reference desk and on Libby. You can also request a copy of the book through the catalog here or contact the event organizer.

February book: The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson

Maggie Banks's life is a bit of a mess. After losing a job and moving back home with her parents, she's desperate for a new Life Plan. So when her best friend asks for help running her struggling bookstore in the quaint town of Bells River, Maggie jumps on the opportunity. She doesn't even like books, per se, but anything's better than obsessively checking job boards from her childhood bedroom. It turns out Maggie's not prepared for small-town life. More specifically, the strict rules enforced by the local historical society: the bookstore is only allowed to sell "classics". But with a town full of people looking for fresh stories, Maggie knows she'll have to get creative to keep the store afloat.

And so begins Maggie's underground book club: fun, goofy, and totally against the rules. Catering to the stories folks actually want to read and making fun of the stuffy "classics", Maggie falls in love with books and realizes the power stories have to build community. But with a historical society itching to catch her and shut her down for good, and a budding relationship with an adorably strait-laced inspector weighing on her conscience, everything starts to fall apart. And just as Maggie feels herself becoming a part of the community, she unearths a town secret that could ruin everything. She'll have to figure out what's more important: the books that formed a small town's history, or the stories poised to change it all.