Newton Women's Forum upcoming events

(public invite) NWF Book Group at the Beach - Enormous Wings: A Novel by Laurie Frankel (8 Aug 2026)

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 15:30:00 GMT

Back by popular demand, in August we will meet at the beach to discuss Enormous Wings: A Novel by Laurie Frankel!

Location: A Member's Beach House

Potluck: We will have a potluck lunch starting around 11:30am and then we will head to the beach to discuss the book.

Beach: After lunch, we will head to the beach to discuss the book. There are some beach chairs available. You may want to bring your own, if you have them, to make sure there are enough. Don't forget your sunscreen, towel, and beach toys! The beach is a 3 minute walk from the beach house.

Attendees: This is a family event. If you are bringing small children or a wandering husband/spouse/partner/friend, please bring someone responsible along to watch him/her/them while we discuss the book at the beach!

(public invite) NWF Book Group - The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel (16 Sep 2026)

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 23:30:00 GMT

Join us for Book Group in September to discuss "The Candid Life of Meena Dave" by Namrata Patel!

Date: September 16, 2026 at 7:30pm

Location: A Member's Home

What to bring: Please bring an appetizer, dessert or wine/beverage to share. Feel free to bring a friend who wants to participate and learn more about our group.

A woman embarks on an unexpected journey into her past in an engrossing novel about identity, family secrets, and rediscovering the need to belong.

Meena Dave is a photojournalist and a nomad. She has no family, no permanent address, and no long-term attachments, preferring to observe the world at a distance through the lens of her camera. But Meena’s solitary life is turned upside down when she unexpectedly inherits an apartment in a Victorian brownstone in historic Back Bay, Boston.

Though Meena’s impulse is to sell it and keep moving, she decides to use her journalistic instinct to follow the story that landed her in the home of a stranger. It’s a mystery that comes with a series of hidden clues, a trio of meddling Indian aunties, and a handsome next-door neighbor. For Meena it’s a chance for newfound friendships, community, and culture she never thought possible. And a window into her past she never expected.

Now as everything unknown to Meena comes into focus, she must reconcile who she wants to be with who she really is.

(public invite) NWF Book Group - Netherland: A Novel by Joseph O'Neill (21 Oct 2026)

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 23:30:00 GMT

Join us for Book Group in October to discuss "Netherland: A Novel" by Joseph O'Neill!

Date: October 21, 2026 at 7:30pm

What to bring: Please bring an appetizer, dessert or wine/beverage to share. Feel free to bring a friend who wants to participate and learn more about our group.

In a New York City made phantasmagorical by the events of 9/11, Hans--a banker originally from the Netherlands--finds himself marooned among the strange occupants of the Chelsea Hotel after his English wife and son return to London. Alone and untethered, feeling lost in the country he had come to regard as home, Hans stumbles upon the vibrant New York subculture of cricket, where he revisits his lost childhood and, thanks to a friendship with a charismatic and charming Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, begins to reconnect with his life and his adopted country. Ramkissoon, a Gatsby-like figure who is part idealist and part operator, introduces Hans to an “other” New York populated by immigrants and strivers of every race and nationality. Hans is alternately seduced and instructed by Chuck’s particular brand of naivete and chutzpah--by his ability to a hold fast to a sense of American and human possibility in which Hans has come to lose faith.

Netherland gives us both a flawlessly drawn picture of a little-known New York and a story of much larger, and brilliantly achieved ambition: the grand strangeness and fading promise of 21st century America from an outsider’s vantage point, and the complicated relationship between the American dream and the particular dreamers. Most immediately, though, it is the story of one man--of a marriage foundering and recuperating in its mystery and ordinariness, of the shallows and depths of male friendship, of mourning and memory. Joseph O’Neill’s prose, in its conscientiousness and beauty, involves us utterly in the struggle for meaning that governs any single life.

If you are not feeling well, please stay home, and speedy recovery!

(public invite) NWF Book Group - Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki, Polly Barton (Translator) (18 Nov 2026)

Thu, 19 Nov 2026 00:30:00 GMT

Join us for Book Group in November to discuss "Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder" by Asako Yuzuki, Polly Barton (Translator)!

Date: November 18, 2026 at 7:30pm

What to bring: Please bring an appetizer, dessert or wine/beverage to share. Feel free to bring a friend who wants to participate and learn more about our group.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story

There are two things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination, but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew, and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a master class in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii, but it seems that Rika might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body. Do she and Kajii have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of a convicted con woman and serial killer—the “Konkatsu Killer”—Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance, and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.

If you are not feeling well, please stay home, and speedy recovery!

(public invite) Annual Holiday Book Exchange and Party! (16 Dec 2026)

Thu, 17 Dec 2026 00:30:00 GMT

In following our tradition, we will have a Book Group Holiday Party with a book exchange this year! Join us to celebrate on Wednesday, December 16th from 7:30 - 9:30pm. This will be a party with NO READING REQUIRED, so please come to celebrate and bring a festive savory or sweet holiday treat to share. There may be small prizes or take-aways!

For the book exchange, please follow the steps below:

1. Pull a high quality, used book off of your shelf (or find one in a Little Free Library around town or buy one in the library sale area). The key here is that the book should be high quality (i.e., you read and enjoyed it, or it gets good reviews) and that it is used (i.e., do not feel that you need to buy a new book). Please try not to bring a book that you know we read at a Book Group meeting in the past.

2. Wrap the book in plain brown paper or other light colored wrapping paper. A paper grocery store bag works well. On the OUTSIDE of each package, write a description of the book in 10 words or less. DO be creative. DO NOT indicate the title or author in your description.

3. Bring the wrapped book with you on 12/16. After drawing numbers, we will open the wrapped books in order together at the party. Feel free to steal a book from someone else when it's your turn, exchange with each other, or share the books after the exchange.

5. All are welcome to join the party and book exchange, even if you haven't attended book group in the past. In addition, feel free to bring other books that you no longer want for my Little Free Library out front or to share in a more informal book exchange.

Happy holidays and happy reading!!

If you are not feeling well, please stay home, and speedy recovery!