Age Group:
Adults- Registration is required for this event.
- Registration will open on May 18, 2026 @ 9:00am.
Program Description
Join us for an off-site book club at the historic Carnegie’s Restaurant in Greenfield! We’ll meet upstairs in the private Empire Room at Carnegie’s (100 W Main St., Greenfield). Registration is required.
This book club meets on the last Tuesday of every month and features popular titles selected by a rotating cast of HCPL librarians. HCPLibrary will provide bread & butter for each guest and a crudité platter to share; participants are welcome to purchase additional items from the Carnegie's menu.
On July 28, Outreach Manager Michael Schull (or "Mr. Mike," as Bookmobile visitors call him) will lead a discussion of Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Participants are encouraged to read the book in advance. Ask for a copy at the library’s Information Desk, or check out one of the library's many digital copies.
Remarkably Bright Creatures
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a luminous debut novel about a widow's unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium, and the truths she finally uncovers about her son's disappearance 30 years ago.
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in the Puget Sound over 30 years ago.
As she works, Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine, but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight tentacles for his human captors-until he forms an unlikely friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. As his affection for Tova grows, Marcellus must use every trick his old, invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.
Charming, compulsively readable, and full of wit, Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a beautiful exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope-a reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
August's book will be Dungeon Crawler Carl, with a discussion led by Media Services Librarian Jesse Keljo.
