OystHERS Summer Book Club 2025
Growing up in Midcoast Maine, we could find our Nana sitting in the driver's seat of her truck: heat cranked, lit cigarette on her lips, eyeing down a mystery novel. We could find our Mum curled upstairs in her bed breezing through a historical fiction piece, or our Aunt introducing us to cult-classics like Carrie by Stephen King, or better yet– his wife Tabitha King’s works One on One & Pearl. With the influence of strong women in our life being life-long readers, we have also become life-long readers. By starting our Summer Book Club, we hope that we can influence others to find peace and escape the world with a good read. Our 2025 Summer Book Club is unique because it features four different literary works by four different Maine women.
HOW TO GET YOUR BOOKS:
Option 1: You may purchase all four books from OystHERS by e-mailing info@oysthers.com. This option comes with a complimentary OystHERS tote bag. You may order this option through the month of April, and pick up your book bundle at the bar during operating hours throughout the month of May– we will ship it to you for an extra $20. Or, you may order spontaneously in May if books are still available. OystHERS will work directly with writers to purchase books to ensure they are supporting each writer to their best capacity. The book bundle is $85 and includes the complimentary tote bag, and will only be available for purchase through the month of April, and pick up during the month of May.
Option 2: You buy the books on your own! We recommend supporting your independent book store, but most books are available on authors websites. Independent bookstore in Bath: Mockingbird Book Shop offers 20% off if you purchase your books through them!
Option 3: Your local library! Books are available at Patten Free Library in Bath and Laura E. Richards Library in Georgetown.
You may participate in the Summer Book Club even if you are not local, live far away, or are only in Maine for a couple days/weeks. If you are local, feel free to attend OystHERS Raw Bar & Bubbly once a month for First-Tuesday Evening Meet-Ups. On the first Tuesday of each month, we will have themed cocktails/mocktails + possible author visits or related events from 5:30-7pm. No sign up is required or necessary, unless you wish to purchase the book bundle from OystHERS in April.
July 1st to mingle & discuss The Ghost Trap 5:30-7pm
August 5th to mingle & discuss Downeast 5:30-7pm
September 2nd to mingle & discuss The In-Betweens 5:30-7pm
October 7th to mingle & discuss The Road to Dalton 5:30-7pm
*Book Club Members who attend these meetings will receive one complimentary beverage from OystHERS*
YES, YOU MAY PICK AND CHOOSE THE BOOKS YOU READ. If you have already read a certain book, if you are a late comer, or if you feel like life can only allow you time for a couple books, you may pick and choose throughout the summer and attend when you wish! You can also participate by not attending anything at all by reading the books on your own accord. If you have already read a book prior, you can still come to the meet-ups!
THE BOOKS:
June: The Ghost Trap by K. Stephens (Fiction)
The haunting story of a young lobsterman who is forced to choose between right and wrong when his girlfriend suffers a traumatic head injury and a rival lobstering family sabotages his gear, sparking a deadly trap war. Written with sensitivity and rich description, this is a piercingly accurate depiction of a small Maine lobstering community.
July: The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna by Mira Ptacin (Memoir/Religion)
They believed they would live forever. So begins Mira Ptacin’s haunting account of the women of Camp Etna—an otherworldly community in the woods of Maine that has, since 1876, played host to generations of Spiritualists and mediums dedicated to preserving the links between the mortal realm and the afterlife.
August: Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America by Gigi Georges (Narrative Nonfiction)
In Downeast, Gigi Georges follows five girls as they come of age in one of the most challenging and geographically isolated regions on the Eastern seaboard. Their stories reveal surprising truths about rural America and offer hope for its future.
September: The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring (Fiction)
https://www.shannonlbowring.com/
In most small towns, the private is also public. In the town of Dalton, one local makes an unthinkable decision that leaves the community reeling. In the aftermath, their problems, both small and large, reveal a deeper understanding of the lives of their neighbors, and remind us all that no one is exactly who we think they are.