JMRL blog

Brown Baggers had a timely discussion of Culpability (2025) by Bruce Holsinger on September 17th. (Brown Baggers previously read The Gifted School by Holsinger, who lives in Charlottesville and is a UVA professor.)  “Culpability” has had huge success due to being an Oprah Winfrey Book Club pick and also due to the relatability of the […]

November 9-21 2026 Join JMRL with its 9th annual Food Drive! While JMRL no longer has fines we still have friends and neighbors in need. Bring items to any branch to give your support. Most Needed Items (No glass please): CANNED FRUITS & VEGETABLES (low sugar/sodium) PROTEINS (nut butters, canned tuna/chicken, canned or dry beans) […]

The American Shakespeare Center partners with JMRL to provide free tickets to library card holders. HOW TO REDEEM YOUR TICKETS: Visit: https://americanshakespearecenter.com/seasons/fall-2026/ Select Your Show: Choose from the eligible dates listed for each show. Select Your Seats: Limit two tickets per library card holder. WITCH CULTURE PASS DATES Enter the Code: 6rdWg4q9 (Click APPLY at […]

On September 3, Books on Tap met to discuss Book Lovers by Emily Henry. The group had read Henry’s book, People We Meet on Vacation last summer. While opinions were mixed, as usual, most agreed it was nice to have an easy read, a beach read, to end the summer.  The group includes several die-hard […]

On Thursday, August 20th, the Central Library Brown Baggers met to discuss Charlottesville: An American Story by Deborah Baker.  Published in 2025, “Charlottesville” provides local history and background as well as numerous details on the planning and players involved during the August 11th and 12th, 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.  Baker covers many […]

On August 6, Books on Tap met to discuss What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. Born in England, McEwan is a celebrated British author. What We Can Know, published in 2025, is a dystopian novel set in 2119. The story follows Thomas Metcalfe, a professor of the history and literature of the 20th and […]

Summer is winding down at JMRL even though it’s still hot outside! Although the Summer Reading Challenge is over, there’s still time to collect your prize books from any JMRL branch before August 31.  Over 7,100 participants read almost 7 million minutes over the course of the 10 week challenge! More than 9,500 prizes have been […]

On July 2, a dedicated group braved the scorching heat to discuss The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali at Books on Tap. Kamali is an Iranian-American who was born in Turkey and has lived in Iran and Germany. Originally published in 2024, The Lion Women of Tehran is her third book. The book […]

A smaller group of Brown Baggers turned up to discuss “Ficciones” by Argentinian writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. “Ficciones”, originally published in Spanish in 1956, is a collection of 17 short stories that proved to be a challenging read for our group. Just one of our group managed to get through all 17 stories […]

Central Library’s Brown Baggers book group read and discussed The Wind Knows My Name (2023) by Isabel Allende on June 18th.  Allende is a Chilean-American, prolific author who writes in Spanish and her works tend to be historical fiction with a bit of magical realism. “The Wind Knows My Name” tells the story of a […]

Books on Tap discussed Starling House by Alix E. Harrow on Thursday, June 4th at Random Row.  The author grew up in Kentucky, and currently lives in Central Virginia.  Starling House was a Reese’s Book Club selection and was shortlisted for several literary awards. Set in a poor, mining region in Kentucky, Starling House tells […]