If you enjoy reading and discussing what you have read then you should join the DMA Book Group. The group meets on the second Wednesday of each month (September – June) at 2:00 p.m. – 3 00 p.m. in the Lillian Gade Conference Room on the second floor of the Darien Community Center located at 274 Middlesex Road in Darien. This gives us the flexibility to allow DMA members who choose to participate remotely to do so.  The room is equipped with video for remote participants.

Monthly book selections include both nonfiction and fiction and cover a wide range of authors and topics, with a primary focus on history, geopolitics, science, technology, the arts, and past and present literary masterpieces. Recent authors have included, among others, Ernest Hemingway, Ron Chernow, Candice Millard, Henry Kissinger, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Kati Marton, David McCullough, Walter Isaacson, and Isabelle Allende.

The common thread of all the books selected for discussion is a combination of outstanding writing and intellectually challenging and satisfying material. The Book Group is a highly engaged, well informed and thoughtful group and the discussions bring to bear the many talents, lifetime experiences and perspectives of the participating members.

The Darien Library supports the activities of the Book Group by furnishing up to 10 copies of many of the chosen books. That said, in light of the broad range of DMA book selections, the Library is not always able to supply our group with multiple copies and, in those situations, members need to obtain copies from other local libraries or by purchasing their own copies. Marianne Paterniti and Pat Sheary are our Library contacts.

In cases where the Darien Library supplies the books, participants may pick them up in the reserve section of the Library (behind the front desk). Copies of the book are checked out to the DMA; you just need to pick up a copy; it is not required to check out the books individually.  Because the DMA group is large, there are often not enough copies for the entire group. To mitigate this challenge, the Library puts out our selection two months in advance so people can read and return for another DMA member. Don’t let a book sit idle on your bed table. Read and return it for someone else. 

All who are intrigued by our regularly announced book selections are heartily encouraged to join our group for what will assuredly yield some interesting and fascinating insights and exchanges of views. To get on the Book Group’s distribution list contact co-chairs Rick Agresta or Jim Phillips.