Erie Reader Book Club: July 2025

Harper Collins

This month, the Erie Reader Book Club will be meeting to discuss the book Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, a multi-layered coming-of-age story, in correspondence with our 40 Under 40 issue.

SUNDAY, JUL. 27

The Erie Reader Book Club will be reading and discussing the novel Tom Lake by Ann Patchett in correspondence with the 40 Under 40 Erie Reader issue.

Pinning down a "theme" for the 40 Under 40 issue as it translates to a book club setting is no easy task – with individuals from all walks of life doing vastly different things in our community, there seems to be no truer connection than that of their youth. With all being at such pivotal points in their lives, books that fall into the coming-of-age category are the perfect fit.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett is exactly that – a mother's coming-of-age story, retold years later to her own children when they are at a pivotal point in their own lives. Set in the spring of 2020, Lara's three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While out picking cherries, the girls beg Lara to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a now-famous actor with whom Lara once shared a stage and a romance with at a theater company called Tom Lake.

As Lara tells the story of her past, her daughters begin to examine their own lives and their relationship with her mother, as well as reckoning with what they thought they knew about the world as it seems to fall apart around them. Both nostalgic for the past and hopeful for the future, the compelling narrative and insight into familial dynamics within Tom Lake creates the perfect coming-of-age story that spans and speaks to generations. 

1 p.m. // Werner Books and Coffee, 2608 Liberty St. // Free to join, cost of book not included // For more info: wernerbooks.com