October has been deemed National Reading Group Month by the Women’s National Book Association. The initiative salutes reading groups and promotes the advantages of shared reading. To celebrate the occasion, check out JMRL’s new resource just for book groups: book club kits.

Each kit includes a tote bag filled with 10 copies of a book plus discussion questions and background information, such as author biographies and book reviews. The kit can be checked out for six weeks at a time. To place a hold, visit jmrl.org/bookclubkits, choose a title, and click on “request a hold.”

If you need help, please call the Central Library’s reference desk at 434.979.7151 x4.

The following titles are available as book club kits:

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins

House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by Anthony Shadid

Longbourne by Jo Baker

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker

True Grit by Charles Portis

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

New titles are being added soon, so be sure to check the book club kits webpage occasionally for an updated listing.