Groups to Join
Membership is not required to participate in groups at the Athenaeum. All are welcome!

Several groups take summer breaks. Please check the dates under each group.

La Tertulia
La Tertulia does not meet in June and July 2025.

Meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesday
2nd Tuesdays online—5:00 to 7:00 PM
4th Tuesdays in person—6:00 to 8:00 PM

La Tertulia is a group of people interested in keeping their Spanish speaking skills in practice.

 

Book Group
Meets the 2nd Saturday
from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM—hybrid
Sign up here for Zoom link only
(Registration for in-person attendance is not required)


Open discussion meeting on wide variety of fiction and non-fiction works, new and classics.

Check out what we’ve read over the years here:
SA Book Group List 2024–2016

Upcoming discussions:

2025

Jan. 11:
Rebecca or Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier (reader’s choice)

Feb. 8:
How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith

Mar. 8:
West with Giraffes by Linda Rutledge

Apr. 12:
James by Perceval Everett

May 10:
Heartbeat of the Wild by David Quammen

June 14:
Children of Men by P. D. James

July 12:
Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body  by Rebecca Taussig

Aug. 9:
Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera

No September meeting

Oct. 11:
Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Nov. 8:
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Dec. 13:
Persuasion —or reader’s choice— by Jane Austen

 

 

 

 

Nathaniel Bowditch with the Boston Athenaeum

Nathaniel Bowditch (1773 – 1838) achieved international recognition for his contributions to mathematics, business, and astronomy, but is best known for The New American Practical Navigator, published in 1802 and still in print today. Join the Nathaniel Bowditch Group to study this polymath. Meetings will be on the third Monday of the month at 6pm on Zoom, possibly with occasional outings to the Boston Athenaeum and the Salem Athenaeum or other institutions with pertinent holdings.
Faciliated by Scott Guthrey.

Please email carolyn@salemathenaeum.net to sign up or make inquiries.

Next meeting: May 19
Discussion of History and Bibliography of The New American Practical Navigator and The American Coast Pilot by John F. Campbell

 

Any Book Group
Sign up here
Meets bi-monthly on Third Thursdays
Next meeting: March 20 at 7:00 p.m.—online
An online book discussion group for readers of all genres.

 

Monday Evening Conversations
Meets the 2nd Monday at 7:00 PM—Online
Sign up here
Topics for discussion are wide open, but must be amenable to good conversation.

 

Reappraisal Reading Circle
Meets Bi-monthly on Third Wednesdays—hybrid
at 7:00 PM Sign up here
Open meeting discussing the works of a prolific, popular author of the past whose works are held in quantity by the Athenaeum.

Past Reading Circle Authors 2015-2025

2025–26 Discussions:

Sep 17
Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)
Scottish novelist, poet, and historian.

Nov 19

Alexandre Dumas, pere (1802–1870)
French playwright and author of historical adventure novels.

Jan 21, 2026

Margaret Deland (1857–1945)
American writer of poetry, short stories, and realistic novels. Sometimes called the American Mrs. Humphry Ward.

Mar 18
Warwick Deeping (1877–1950)
English author of short stories and best sellers.

May 20
Elizabeth Goudge (1900–1984)
English writer of fiction and children’s books.

June 17
Selection meeting for 2026–27

 

Upcoming Events

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