READING CIRCLES
One annual theme. Multiple literary lenses.
THE 2026-2027 ANNUAL THEME
THE WORLDS WE MAKE
Belief, influence, relationship, and the forces that shape how we live.
The Ladies' Literary Club Reading Circles form one ongoing literary program. The Circles remain from year to year; the annual theme changes. Each Circle chooses works that illuminate that year's shared question through a different form of reading.
For 2026-2027, all four Circles will encounter The Worlds We Make from their own direction. Members may join one Circle or several, carrying ideas from one room into another.
The Four Reading Circles
CIRCLE 01 | IDEAS & INQUIRY
Non-Fiction Circle
Interdisciplinary nonfiction across science, history, psychology, culture, technology, nature, society, and human behavior.
Each year: Five primary books are selected to investigate the annual theme from distinct disciplines and points of view.
The experience: The deepest curriculum of the Reading Circles: guided reading, historical and intellectual context, companion materials, Questions Worth Carrying, and an optional Scholar's Path for members who want to go further.
CIRCLE 02 | INHERITANCE & ENDURING LITERATURE
Classics Circle
Enduring works whose language, characters, ideas, and social worlds continue to shape cultural thought.
Each year: Classics are chosen because they illuminate the annual theme - not simply because they are books we are supposed to have read.
The experience: Rich literary discussion supported by concise historical context, author background, and selected companion texts.
CIRCLE 03 | CONTEMPORARY & MODERN FICTION
Fiction Circle
Exceptional contemporary and modern fiction chosen for literary quality, emotional depth, imagination, and the conversations it can open.
Each year: Novels are selected through the lens of the annual theme while remaining broad in genre, style, setting, and voice.
The experience: A welcoming, discussion-centered Circle with thoughtful guides and room for many forms of fiction when the book is right for the year.
CIRCLE 04 | ESSAYS, STORIES & MORE
Short Form Circle
A flexible Circle for essays, short stories, poetry, speeches, journalism, letters, plays, and other brief forms.
Each year: Selections create concentrated, varied entry points into the annual theme and allow the Club to respond to voices and ideas that do not require a full-length book.
The experience: Lower reading commitment, high variety, and lively discussion - ideal both for regular members and for readers looking for an accessible way into the Club's annual conversation.
One Theme, Different Books
The annual theme is not a reading list that every Circle repeats. It is a shared intellectual frame. Each Circle chooses the works best suited to its own form, and each book is selected because it brings a meaningful perspective to the year's theme.
· NON-FICTION tests the theme through ideas, evidence, history, science, and systems.
· CLASSICS asks what earlier generations understood, imagined, normalized, or challenged.
· FICTION explores the theme through character, story, place, consequence, and imagination.
· SHORT FORM brings many voices and forms into the conversation in concentrated doses.
A Shared Literary Year
Because the Circles are reading toward the same annual theme, ideas can travel beyond a single group. A question raised in a classic may reappear in a contemporary novel. A nonfiction argument may alter the way a short story is read. Different books can lead members into the same larger conversation without requiring everyone to have read the same text.
The result is a literary community with many points of entry and one sustained intellectual season - a program that can change completely each year while retaining a clear identity.
ONE THEME. FOUR CIRCLES. MANY WAYS OF SEEING.
The books change. The conversation continues.