A few days after the ornaments are packed up and the confetti is swept away, local adults can mix themselves a cocktail and enjoy stimulating discussion during the Summit County Library’s Sips ‘n’ Stories Book Club.
The virtual program, for ages 21 and older, pairs books with drinks, and is scheduled for the first Thursday of each month, said Kimball Junction Branch Manager Shaylee Phelps.
“At the beginning of each meeting, we’ll do a drink-mixing demonstration,” she said. “It takes about five minutes to mix the cocktails while we wait for latecomers. Once everyone is on, we’ll dive into the discussion.”
The book that will be talked about on Jan. 4, is Eowyn Ivey’s “The Snow Child,” a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The story takes place in Alaska in the 1920s, and follows a childless couple whose lives change after meeting a young girl, named Fiana, and her red fox who seemingly emerge from the frozen wilderness.
“For the past couple of years we did some fun, holiday, romantic comedy books,” Phelps said. “This year we decided to go in a different direction so we could have different types of conversations.”
Registration for the Sips ‘n’ Stories Book Club is required, according to Phelps.
“We do that because we want to make sure all the participants are aged 21 or older,” she said. “Once people register, we will provide them a Zoom link.”
Registration is now open at thesummitcountylibrary.org/adultprograms.
Phelps and Kamas Valley Branch Assistant Chloe Jones Fryer select the books together, trying to find reads that tie into the season.
“We’ll also sometimes choose books based on the time of year,” Phelps said. “We have read books that tie into Black History Month, Pride Month, Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month,” Phelps said.
Sometimes the librarians will throw in a book that isn’t tied to anything, according to Phelps.
“So, next month we’ll read Gabrielle Zevin’s ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.’“
To help book club readers gain access to the books, Phelps and Fryer tap into recommendations by the Utah State Library Division.
“They have a book buzz section that has a huge list of book-club sets consisting of 15 copies of books that we can order,” Phelps said. “Our club can read the books and have a discussion, and then we’ll send the books back to the state library when we’re finished.”
The book buzz not only helps Phelps and Fryer select the books for the club. It is also budget friendly.
“We don’t have to purchase a book for everyone,” Phelps said.
Most of the Sips ‘n’ Stories Book Club selections are also available in ebook and audio book formats through the Libby app — libbyapp.com.
“People can just go on and check them out that way,” Phelps said. “However, not every title is available. But most of them are.”
Once the librarians select a book, they think about a cocktail.
“Sometimes we choose a book that one of us has read and there may be a cocktail in the book that we’ll try to recreate,” Phelps said. “When we read and discussed the ‘Invisible Life of Addie LaRue’ by V. E. Schwab, … I had read the book beforehand, (and) I knew that there was a lot of champagne. So we thought it would be fun to pair it with a Pinot French ’75.”
Sometimes the cocktails play off the different seasons and holidays.
“For the January discussion, we decided to do a cran-spiced martini,” Phelps said. “We thought since it was the holidays and cranberries are popular that this would be a good cocktail.”
With every cocktail, there is an accompanying mocktail for those who prefer not to consume alcohol.
“So, the mocktail this time around will be a sparkling cranberry limeade,” Phelps said. “And if some readers don’t find those appealing, they can join with their own drinks of choice.”
Phelps proposed the Sips ‘n’ Stories Book Club idea a few years ago to Daniel Compton, Summit County Library’s director.
“I had been looking at different programming, and I came across some boozy book clubs that other libraries were doing,” she said. “Those were a little different because they were in different states that had different liquor laws.”
Some libraries were allowed to serve alcoholic drinks in their buildings, and others held discussions at local bars or breweries, according to Phelps.
“Of course, we can’t serve alcohol in county buildings, but to make sure hosting a club like this was fine, we reached out to different legal experts,” she said. “We finally decided to host the club on Zoom, which made things so much easier and safer, because people won’t be drinking and driving.”
Zoom also made the program more accessible, Phelps said.
“People who are traveling out of town can join from wherever they are,” she said. “We had one person join us from the airport while they were waiting for their plane.”