Batavia’s popular monthly noontime book program, Books Between Bites, will begin its 37th season Thursday, Sept. 18 at the Batavia Public Library, 10 S. Batavia Avenue, from noon to 1 p.m.. The public is invited to attend these free programs, presented September through May, on the third Thursday of the month. Reservations are not required.
People are invited to bring their lunch and eat as they enjoy the program and discussion. Lunch items, beverages and baked goods can be purchased at Flyleaf Bakery Cafe, located just inside the library and adjacent to the meeting room. To pre-order for pick-up just before the program, please call 331-302-3480.
Books Between Bites was established in Batavia in 1987 by the late Lee C. and Betty Moorehead. The program has been continued by their daughter, Becky Hoag, in partnership and co-sponsorship with the Batavia Public Library.
The 2025-2026 season will open with Batavia’s mayor, Jeff Schielke. He will wear the mantle of resident historian and is devoted to finding and noting interesting things about Batavia and its people. He will share his discoveries of certain Batavians and the role some of them had in the actual writing of a published book.
The season will continue October 16 with Batavian Roger Breisch with a book that comes from a special place in his heart, Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai’i by Sara Kehaulani Goo. Roger recently met the author and will share that connection and her story of Maui and the extraordinary beauty and unbearable and tragic fragility that is Hawai’i.
November 20 Marnie Mamminga and Mary Parks will return to share the third and final book in their Finding Wisdom in Nature series. Songs of the Lake follows the award-winning The Woodpecker’s Song and The Wolf Song in Me. Parks will demonstrate the paper-tearing techniques she uses to create her lovely illustrations. Their three books will be available for sale and signing.
The December 18 program will feature Jim Benes, now retired in Batavia, who was long an editor with WBBM News Radio in Chicago. In 1980, he created a Christmas feature from past news articles about Christmas in Chicago entitled Christmas Past. Two book editions share his collection of stories and books will be available for sale and signing.
January 15, 2026, Naturalist Pam Otto will return to our program with a book gifted to her in her retirement from St. Charles Park District this past year. The Way of the Hermit: My Incredible 40 Years Living in the Wilderness by Ken Smith has been a great read as she explores her new life of “leisure”.
Karl Bruhn will return to the program February 19, 2026, to share a book that fascinates him. Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time by David Prerau weaves a tale of science, history, and politics and will be shared 17 days before we have to “spring forward.”
Lester Munson will return March 19 to discuss Christine Brennan’s new book On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports. The former sports writer and legal analyst turns his focus and perspective toward women’s basketball and the sensational star athlete, Caitlin Clark, and all she has brought to the explosive interest in her sport.
April 16 we will welcome Cynthia Wade, a Fox Valley resident and a life-long learner and veteran presenter. The Catcher was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg by Nicholas Dawidof contains sports, WWII history and is a study in human behavior. It tells the true story of Morris “Moe” Berg and his back story of espionage for the USA.
The 2025-2026 season will conclude May 21 with Daniel Russo, the president of the Batavia Public Library Board of Trustees and a senior docent at Geneva’s Fabyan Villa Museum. He will present Breaking Architectural Conventions and Societal Norms: a Discussion of Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. The book focuses on the years 1907 to 1914, when Frank Lloyd Wright was establishing his reputation as a ground-breaking architect and having a norm-breaking affair with a client, Mamah Borthwick.
For more information about Books Between Bites, visit the website booksbetweenbites.com, where a complete schedule and description of each program can be found.
—Books Between Bites