First Presbyterian Church 1793
Book Club
The dates for the Book Club meetings are chosen by the participants.
Contact the church office to be placed on the email list.
Polls are sent out to schedule the date and time for each month's discussion.
Book Club
January - April 2026
Used copies of each book are available in the church office
March 6, 2026
Date to be Announced
Marsha Nolf's Home
Catcher in the Rye
By
JD Salinger
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is a classic 1951 coming-of-age novel narrated by the cynical and alienated 16-year-old Holden Caulfield, who recounts his experiences over a few days after being expelled from prep school, railing against the "phoniness" of the adult world while struggling with themes of innocence, identity, and loss. The book is famous for its distinctive voice, its critique of societal superficiality, and its frequent challenges due to profanity and mature themes, making Holden an iconic figure of teenage rebellion.
After Easter
Date to be Announced
Marsha Nolf's Home
The Poisonwood Bible
By
Barbara Kingsolver
The story is told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it--from garden seeds to Scripture--is calamitously transformed on African soil.
The novel is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of the twentieth century: the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the insidious progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy. Against this backdrop, Orleanna Price reconstructs the story of her evangelist husband's part in the Western assault on Africa, a tale indelibly darkened by her own losses and unanswerable questions about her own culpability. Also narrating the story, by turns, are her four daughters--the teenaged Rachel; adolescent twins Leah and Adah; and Ruth May, a prescient five-year-old. These sharply observant girls, who arrive in the Congo with racial preconceptions forged in 1950s Georgia, will be marked in surprisingly different ways by their father's intractable mission, and by Africa itself. Ultimately each must strike her own separate path to salvation. Their passionately intertwined stories become a compelling exploration of moral risk and personal responsibility.
Date to be Announced
Marsha Nolf's Home
The Frozen River
By
Ariel Lawhon
Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.
Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.
Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.
