Interest Groups

MOST groups continue offering virtual access upon request. If you are uncomfortable or unable to attend the group in person, contact adultprograms@gpl.org to arrange for a zoom link to attend the group virtually! Please check the Calendar for individual dates and details.

• Dungeons and Dragons

  Enjoy Dungeons and Dragons but need a group to play with? Ever wondered what all the fuss is about with this game that continues to be popular after 50 years of play? Join a small group with an experienced Dungeon Master to guide you!
  

  Group meets every other Saturday from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.

  Made possible by the Groton Public Library Endowment Trust.

• GPL Supper Club

  

  This group meets monthly to explore a different theme in food based on flavor, culture, or type of food! Dishes may be from your own recipe collection, a cookbook, or online. Bring a dish to share and enjoy the unique bond that forms over a shared meal and conversation!

  	September 12, 2024 Scrumptious Salads
  	October 3, 2024 Travel Memories
  	November 7, 2024 Slow Cooker and Pressure Cooker Celebration
  	December 12, 2024 TBD

  
  
  

• Let's Talk About...

  

  Come together with a small group of members of the Groton Community to practice discussing challenging and often divisive topics. The goal of these conversations is not to debate or change one another's opinions, but to build understanding of one another and find ways to strengthen our community. Each month will feature a different topic.
  

  	September 3, 2024 Calling in and Calling Out
  	October 1, 2024 Democracy, Extremism, and Outliers
  	November 5, 2024 The Search for Purpose (Take 2)
  	December 3, 2024 Political Dysfunction and Reform
  	January 7, 2025 Climate Change

• Spice Club

  

  Each month will feature a different spice or spice mix from around the world. The spice kit will include a small amount of the spice, some recipes, and a bit of history or context around the spice's use around the world. There will also be additional resources from our collection listed for further exploration.

  This is a passive program. GPL will provide the resources for you to explore. There is not, however, a live or virtual meeting connected
  with this group at this time. Feel free to share about your experience via email to adultprograms@gpl.org or via our Facebook or Instagram accounts.

  Please check the Calendar for individual dates.
  

  	September 2024 Ajowan
  	October 2024 Mahlab
  	November 2024 Anise Seed
  	December 2024 Vanilla
  	January 2025 Sansho and Sichuan Pepper

  Generously supported by the Groton Public Library Endowment Trust.

• GPL Knitting & Crochet Group

  

  The knitting and crochet group meets weekly, on Thursday afternoons throughout the year, between 1:30 - 3:30pm. Other needlecrafts or handcrafts are welcome. This is an informal gathering. Feel free to come and go within the time period as your schedule allows. This is a time for self-directed work on our own projects with casual conversation, but members are willing to share tips and ideas.
  

  Meetings are held in the library, usually in the Community Room on the lower level. In nice weather, the group may decide to meet outdoors, gathering in the garden behind the library. Check the Calendar for individual dates and any last-minute decisions about meeting location based upon the weather. Contact Susanne for more information.
  

• Trivia Tuesday

  

  Answer weekly trivia questions with a different theme or focus each week! Please check the Calendar for individual dates.

  Signing up for this event signs you up for the entire series and allows for the questions to be emailed to you.

• Plant Powered Group

  

  Interested in exploring plant-based eating? Trying to include more fruits and vegetables in your diet? Want to expand your vegetarian or vegan options? Join a group of Groton area locals to discuss plant-based eating every other month. The group is welcoming of everyone, regardless of their place in the journey of plant-based eating.
  

  Each month the group will focus on a different topic to guide discussion.

  	October 8, 2024 Pot Luck Explorations of Tempeh and Seitan
  	December 10, 2024 Plant-Based Soup Swap
  	February 11, 2025 TBD
  	April 8, 2025 TBD
  	June 10, 2025 TBD

  
  

• Foreign Film Favorites

  

  Explore cultures from around the world through award-winning, internationally produced films. This is a great opportunity to gather with others to watch the film and then stick around for a lively discussion after!

  Se

  	September 24, 2024 Une Belle Course (France) A seemingly simple taxi ride across Paris evolves into a profound meditation on the realities of the driver, whose personal life is in shambles, and his fare, an elderly woman whose warmth belies her shocking past. Charles (Dany Boon) is a taxi driver in Paris, and he is having a very bad day. Some pressing personal debts are due, he's in danger of losing his driver's license to numerous traffic infractions, and his marriage, like Charles himself, is strained to the point of snapping. A quick fare in the suburbs seems like an easy distraction. Enter Madeleine (Line Renaud), an immaculately groomed 92-year-old woman, who informs Charles that the trip today will not be a direct one. She is moving into a care home and would like to make some stops along the way, predicting that this might be her last car ride through the city. Initially exasperated and grumbling, Charles is slowly lured in by her warm charm and directness, fascinated by the stories she wants to tell. Their ride takes them through the momentous locations of her life and we discover that she has had a shocking and very dramatic journey indeed. Their short friendship is sure to have a lasting impact as Madeleine listens to Charles confess his own worries, all of which she absorbs with candor and clarifying humor. Boon, an actor best known for his comedic work, creates a dramatic portrait of a frustrated man facing a personal crisis of epic proportions. His darker, sharper edges allow Renaud (renowned for decades in France as a singer) to shine as the pure shimmering light that is Madeleine. She reminds us that inside every seemingly benign elderly woman we might pass on the street is a warrior, a nurturer, and a spirited adventurer.
  	October 29, 2024 Paradise Now (Palestine) The story of what may be the last 48 hours in the lives of two Palestinian men who have been recruited as suicide bombers. When they are intercepted at the Israeli border, a young woman who discovers their plan causes them to reconsider their actions.
  	November 26, 2024 Yesterday (South Africa) After falling ill, Yesterday learns that she is HIV positive. With her husband in denial and a young daughter to tend to, Yesterday's one goal is to live long enough to see her child go to school. Set against the awesome, harsh landscapes of South Africa.
  	No December Meeting
  	January 28, 2025 Our Little Sister (Japan) Three sisters, Sachi, Yoshino and Chika, live together in the city of Kamakura, Japan. When their father, absent from the family home for the last fifteen years, dies, they travel to the countryside for his funeral and meet their shy, teenage half sister. Bonding quickly with the orphaned Suzu, they invite her to live with them. Suzu eagerly agrees and a new life of joyful discovery begins for the four siblings.
  	February 25, 2025 The Sea Inside (Spain) Ramón Sampedro wants to end his life because a diving accident 28 years before that turned him into a quadriplegic. For most of those years he made the most of it: writing, developing a close relationships with his family, who all help to care for him. While grateful to his family and friends for their help, Ramón was always an active person. He has come to see his life as frustrating and pointless and wishes to die with what remains of his dignity. Gené is a friend who works with a "Right to Die" organization who introduces Ramón to Julia, a lawyer he hopes will help him persuade the courts to let him end his own life. As Ramón and Julia work together on his case, Ramón finds himself falling in love with his attorney, but Ramón remains convinced that the greatest gift to him would be an end to his life.
  	March 25, 2025 Trash (Brazil) When two trash-picking boys from Rio's slums find a wallet in amongst the daily detritus of their local dump, little do they imagine that their lives are about to change forever. But when the local police show up, offering a handsome reward for the wallet's return, the boys, Rafael and Gardo, realize that what they've found must be important.
  	April 29, 2025 Children of Heaven (Iran) A young boy, Ali, loses his sister Zahra's school shoes. In order to stay out of trouble, the two come up with a plan to share Ali's shoes, but they must keep it a secret from their parents.
  	May 27, 2025 The Gods Must Be Crazy (South Africa) An empty Coke bottle drops from the sky near Xixo, an African San hunter, but after it causes trouble to the group, he tries to return the bottle to the gods who must have dropped it.

  Sponsored by the Groton Public Library Endowment Trust.
  

• Los Literarios: Spanish Literary Society

  This group is dedicated to people who love reading and speak Spanish. Los Literários isa small group who meets online every second Friday of the month to talk about whatever people are already reading. No assigned reading!

  The books and articles you read don’t need to be in Spanish. Only the discussion is in Spanish. Classics, mysteries, biographies, children’s books, you name it -- discussion on any genre are welcome.

  This is a space to talk about what people have been reading, recite a poem, read a passage of our latest read, recommend our favorite book ever, and hopefully even inspire you to comment on other books based on what you hear.

  During a meeting, you may choose to stay quiet and enjoy the discussion, or share your thoughts on a book magazine article, an author, a poem you love – anything, really.

  This group is inspired by “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” a historic novel by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer based on the German invasion of Guernsey during World War II. The book describes a group of islanders who, starved and abused by the Nazis, found solace in a literary group where everyone picked whatever book was available and talked about it at the next meeting.

  These were people with varied levels of education who felt empowered by being together and around books. They found in books and in each other the strength to endure hardship. The bravest also found in their little society the courage to speak up, choose love over prejudice and fight for what they believed.

  September 13

  October 11

  November 8

  December 13

  January 10

  February 14

  March 14

  April 11

  May 9

  June 13

  Sponsored by the Groton Public Library Endowment Trust. Presented in partnership with the Bigelow and Nashua Public Libraries.

• Deadly Prose Mystery Writer's Group

  

  Are you writing a mystery? A thriller or suspense novel? Are you thinking about writing one? Join this group for helpful advice and encouragement from others who love all forms of mystery genre. Share your work in-progress and cheer on others.

  The group meets the first and third Wednesday of each month as a virtual meeting from 5:00 - 7:00pm.
  

  September 4, 18

  October 2, 16

  November 6, 20

  December 4, 18

Looking for the Spanish Conversation Group? It's under Lifelong Learning.