NOVEL NIGHT
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Picture
Photo: Todd Cross

Host a Dinner!

Show your support for the Library by hosting a dinner for Novel Night 2023! 
Host independently or with friends, at home or at another location! The 15th Novel Night will be held September 30, 2023. This is the largest and most fun event in town, and it's a critical fundraiser for the Town of Pelham Public Library.
For more information, contact  Jessica Pearson 

    Host Interest Form - Novel Night 2023
    Provide your contact information below.  If you are uncertain of other details, we are happy to help with book and theme ideas, menu inspiration, or connect you to a co-host!

    12 minimum for one set of hosts and 24 minimum for two sets of hosts, etc.

    What type of party you will host? If you are uncertain at this time, feel free to skip boxes.  We are happy to help you figure out details.
    Colleen Ring and Jessica Pearson would be happy to help you with choosing a book. Feel free to ask questions by contacting them at their emails above.
Submit

FAQs & Tips for Hosts

FAQs

Where should I host a dinner?

Most NN dinners take place at people’s homes, either inside or outside. You can also choose to host at a local restaurant or venue. Also, hosts may opt to host a party at different venue - previous venues have included the Bartow Pell Mansion, for example. Please reach out to us to learn more about these opportunities, which are perfect for groups who would like to host a larger dinner party.
​

How many guests will I be expected to host?
Parties of 36 or more tend to be most popular among guests, and we ask that parties at people’s homes have a minimum of 24 guests. If your space is too small for the number of guests you want to host, we can help pair you with a co-host, or you can have your party at the NY Athletic Club, indoors or outdoors. Co-hosting is a great way to host a Novel night dinner!

I want to host, but I don’t really want to have a big party inside of my home. What can I do?
Consider hosting an outdoor party this year.   You may also choose to host a party at your home, a co-host's home, or another venue. Let the venue take care of the food, alcohol, and space, while you focus on decor.  

I want to host, but I don’t want to go it alone. What should I do?
Team up with some friends and host a dinner party together! We can also pair you up with hosts, too. 

I’ve never attended Novel Night in the past. Should I host a dinner party?
Yes! The library needs our support, so your generous offer to host a party is very meaningful. Have you ever hosted a party before? If you answered ‘yes,’ you are the perfect candidate to host a Novel Night dinner. Remember, the NN dinners are held from 6 to 9, and then all guests head to the After Party. Your NN dinner may be shorter than many of the soirees you’ve hosted in the past. Hosting a party is the perfect way to get involved in our Pelham community. 

How do I choose a novel for my theme?
The sky's the limit. The only stipulation is that the book you choose must not have been used in the past six years.  Your book can be fiction, nonfiction, or a play. Please contact us if you would like help in choosing a book, or if you want to know whether your choice has been used recently.

Should my meal and decor be in keeping with the novel/theme I choose?
Yes, hosts usually create a menu and decorate their space in ways that complement the chosen novel. You don’t need to spend a lot of money!  Some of the most atmospheric and evocative dinner settings have been created cleverly yet inexpensively.  For example, at The Jewel in the Crown, guests were greeted at the door with saffron-colored floral garlands; at The Official Preppy Handbook, the hosts built a tennis court backdrop, and served cocktails out of the back of a Volvo station wagon; and at Kill Me Now, the hosts replicated the awning from CBGB's and hung it outside their front door. Your guests will appreciate your creativity and our committee members are here to help with ideas and resources. 

Is my dinner considered a charitable contribution to the Library? 
We believe so, but please check with your accountant.

Can I tell my friends I'm hosting?  

You may tell people you're hosting, but we ask you not to tell them what book you're doing.  Secrecy is part of the mystique and excitement surrounding Novel Night.  Once tickets have been purchased and guests assigned to dinners, the secrecy isn't as strict, but please don't tell anyone the details of your decor, meal, costume... The gasps of delight when your guests arrive will be worth it!

How is the money raised through Novel Night used by the Library?
​When you host a Novel Night dinner or purchase a ticket to Novel Night, you are giving to a great cause: the library. Help us host an epic Novel Night 2023, so that we can donate as much money as possible to the library.

Novel Night is the main fundraiser for the Friends of the Pelham Public Library. Each Novel Night must earn enough money to enable the Friends to support the Library for two years. Funds raised through Novel Night are used to support library programming for adults and children, to fund essential purchases like new furniture and computers, and to ensure patron access to electronic information and technology. Here are some examples of the programs and resources that the library provided to the community over the last year:
  • Summer Reading Program
  • ​The Second-Friday Book Club
  • Increased purchases of electronic materials on OverDrive
  • ​The Wellness Program
  • The Crafty Adults Sessions
  • ​The Kids Cartooning Program
Tips on Hosting

 Your guests may be feeling festive!  
Plan on three to four drinks per guest.


While an open bar is required of the hosts, the contents of the bar are up to you. 
Some hosts streamline their bars by serving beer, wine, and one or two select cocktails that work with their novel's theme.  Some hosts offer a full open bar.
 

All guests are expected at the Afterparty around 9:15. 
​As it's sometimes difficult to wind down your dinner party (guests are having such a great time!), we recommend closing the bar at 8:45. .
​

We can help you find a venue, caterer, food truck, music, a book for your theme, and anything else you need help with.

** We strongly recommend hiring servers so that you can enjoy your party **
Picture
Photo: Len Elmer
Picture
Photo: Liz Farrell
Picture
Photo: Eldar Shuminov.
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Photo: Dominique Shuminov
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Photo: Dominique Shuminov
Picture
Photo: Todd Cross

Need help choosing a book?* Let these Friends' favorites inspire you...
​FOR ART LOVERS
Ninth Street Women/Mary Gabriel
The Mayor of Leipzig/Rachel Kushner
Edie: An American Biography/Jean Stein
​Lust For Life/Irving Stone
Luncheon of the Boating Party/Susan Vreeland

Girl with A Pearl Earring/Tracy Chevalier
The Goldfinch/Donna Tartt
The Birth of Venus/Sarah Dunant
​

BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS
Vile Bodies/Evelyn Waugh
The Picture of Dorian Gray/
    Oscar Wilde
Great Expectations/Charles Dickens
Orlando/Virginia Woolf
Trust Exercise/Susan Choi
This Side of Paradise/F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Secret History/Donna Tartt


SCIENCE FICTION
Dune/Frank Herbert
Metropolis, by Thea von Harbou
2001: A Space Odyssey/
     Arthur C. Clarke
The Fifth Season/N.K. Jemisin
A Wrinkle in Time/Madeline L'Engle
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/Douglas Adams
Ender's Game/Orson Scott Card


ROAD TRIPS
Canterbury Tales/Geoffrey Chaucer
Wild/Cheryl Strayed
On the Road/Jack Kerouac
Gulliver's Travels/Jonathan Swift
A Motor Flight Through France/Edith Wharton
Parable of the Sower/Octavia Butler


FOR FOODIES
Breakfast at Tiffany's/Truman Capote
​Eat, Pray, Love/Elizabeth Gilbert
How to Cook a Wolf/M.F.K. Fisher
Kitchen Confidential/Anthony Bourdain
​The Tummy Trilogy/Calvin Trillin

Cork Dork by Bianca Boske

​THE WILD WEST
Giant/Edna Ferber
The Last Picture Show/Larry McMurtry
True Grit/Charles Portis
Little Big Man/Thomas Berger
Little House on the Prairie/Laura
     Ingalls Wilder
Roughing It/Mark Twain
The Grapes of Wrath/ John Steinbeck
All the Pretty Horses/Cormac
     McCarthy

Riders of the Purple Sage/Zane Grey


PREHISTORY-MIDDLE AGES
Beowolf
Joan of Arc/Kathryn Harrison
Clan of the Cave Bear/Jean Auel
Creation/Gore Vidal
The Name of the Rose/Umberto Eco


ROCK ON
David Bowie: Starman/Paul Trynka
Kim Gordon/Girl In A Band
Kill 'Em & Leave: Searching for James
  Brown.../James McBride

Between a Heart and a Rock Place: A Memoir/Pat Benatar
Just Kids/Patti Smith

ANCIENT WORLDS
The King Must Die/Mary Renault
I, Claudius/Robert Graves
Metamorphoses/Ovid
The Greek Myths/Robert Graves
Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff
A Midsummer Night's Dream/William
    Shakespeare


VICTORIAN
Little Women/Louisa May Alcott
Oliver Twist/Charles Dickens
Vanity Fair/William Makepeace Thackeray
Middlemarch/George Eliot


EUROPE & GREAT BRITAIN
Wolf Hall/Hilary Mantel
The Hunchback of Notre- Dame/Victor Hugo
A Tale of Two Cities/Charles Dickens
Pride & Prejudice/Jane Austen
Death in Venice/Thomas Man
​Wuthering Heights/Emily Bronte

​
THE SPORTING SCENE
A Necessary Spectacle: Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggs, and the Tennis Match that Leveled the Game/Selena Roberts
The Sun Also Rises/Ernest Hemingway
Raging Bull/Jake LaMotta
The Hunger Games/Suzanne Collins
Friday Night Lights/H.G.Bissinger
The Flamethrowers/Rachel Kushner
ON BROADWAY
The Berlin Stories [Cabaret]/  
     Christopher Isherwood
Pygmalion [My Fair Lady]/
     George Bernard Shaw
Tevye the Milkman [Fiddler on the  
     Roof]/Sholem Aleichem
Anna and the King [The King and I]/ 
    Margaret Landon


WHY GROW UP?
Mary Poppins/ P.L. Travers
Peter Pan/J. M. Barrie
Madeline/Ludwig Bemelmans
Pippi Longstocking/Astrid Lindgren
The Secret Garden/Frances Hodgson Burnett


ALL-AMERICAN
​Moby-Dick/Herman Melville
Washington Irving's stories [e.g.,  Rip Van Winkle, Legend of Sleepy Hollow]
​Loon Lake/E. L. Doctorow
America Day By Day/Simone De Beauvoir
The Price of Salt/Patricia Highsmith
​There is Confusion/Jessie Fauset
Hamilton: The Revolution/Lin Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

​
AROUND THE WORLD

Under a Tuscan Sun/ Frances Mayes
The Beach/Alex Garland
In a Sunburned Country/Bill Bryson
Chocolat/Joanne Harris
A Moveable Feast/Ernest Hemingway
My Brilliant Friend/Elena Ferrante

 
ADVENTURE
Treasure Island/Robert Louis Stevenson
Around the World in 72 Days/Nellie Bly
The Perfect Storm/Sebastian Junger
Into Thin Air/Jon Krakauer
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea/Jules Verne


GOTHIC, NOIR & HORROR
Tales & Verse of Edgar Allan Poe [The Raven, The Cask of Amontillado, etc.]
The Maltese Falcon/Dashiell Hammett
Fledgling/Octavia Butler
Double Indemnity/James M. Cain

Wuthering Heights/Emily Bronte
Psycho/Robert Bloch
Severance/Ling Ma
​Dracula/Bram Stoker
Frankenstein/Mary Shelley




2018 Hosts

​Claire & Geoffrey Allen
Nandini Anandu & Sanjay Naik
Stephanie & Jay Anderson
Sandy & Brad Angevine
Jennifer & Trabue Bland
Nilsa & Thierry Bollier
Sam & Jim Cooper
Kate Coyne & Ron Martucci
Ginette & Matthew Dean
Jennifer DeLeonardo & Adam Frey
Julianna & Peter DePaola
Chris & Rick Emerson
Michaela & Matthew Evans
Ashley & Dan Gagnier
Ricki Gardner & Will Cayanagh
Lorri & Matt Gorman
Helena Grubesic & Steve Hutchinson
Belinda & Chris Gunster
​Michelle & Lee Hambright
Margo & John Hastings
Jessica & Ted Hopper
Sharene & Matt Jones
Aimee & Matthew Kaplan
Andrée & Harvey Kelly
Shayna Klopott & Michael Frankel
Elizabeth & Gavin Leckie
Ida Lo & Henry Chao
Holly & Brian Mellstrom
Valerie & Mike Micciche
Maura Monaghan & Chris Morris
Thumper Moyle & Jonathan Friedman
Monica & Terry Mullan
Theresa & Tommy O’Halloran
Liam & Dan O’Neil
Dawn & James Pintauro
​Debra & John Puchalla
Gretchen & Brad Pursel
Susan Quintin Jeanne & David Radvany
Jennifer & Joe Reda
Kristen & Jason Roberts
Sandy & Adam Roman
Lexi & Gerald Russello
Judy Shampanier & Mike Bowen
Annsley & Greg Slawsky
Tyson & Tim Stevens
Leah & Chris Tahbaz
Jennifer & Philip Upton
Elizabeth Wagner & Terry Hults
Deborah Winstead & Darius Kingsley
Laura Woods & James DiLorenzo
Margaret & Jim Young
Colleen & Joe Zale

2016 Hosts

​Clive J. Anderson
Stephanie & Jay Anderson
Sandy & Brad Angevine
Pina & Patrick Basu
Nilsa & Thierry Bollier
Jenny & Chris Buchholz
Kristen & Sid Burke
Sun Sun Chung & Mark McNulty
Mary & Tim Comerford
Irmeli & Lou Corsi
Kate Coyne & Ron Martucci
Rachel & Doug Cullen
Julie & Jim Fair
​Ricki Gardner & Will Cavanagh
Maura Monaghan & Chris Morris
Anne & Geoff Nixon
Karyn & Todd Nordstrom
Julie & Patrick Normoyle
​Margo & John Hastings

James & Laura Hupprich
Tiffany Kary & Dennis Berman
Kate & Charlie Kerr * Elizabeth & Tom Lavin
Scott & Lucy Lichtenberg
Luguang Luan
Rosemary Maggiore & Kevin Christiana
Elizabeth Massie
Amy & Curt Middleton
Eileen & Ethan Miller
Anthea Perkinson & Shaun Gurl
Kate Pringle & John McCormick
Dominique & John Polito
Xenia Protopopescu & Robert Bourne
Debra & John Puchalla
Sylvia & Ian Rowe
Lexi & Gerald Russello
Nancy Silberkleit
Lauren & Mark Stanich
Debra & Charles Stern
Paula Wood & Josh Wallach
Laura Woods & James DiLorenzo
​Margaret & Jim Young
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  • Home
  • Sponsorship
  • Host!
  • 2021 Partners
  • 2021 Dinners
  • FAQs
  • Press
  • Contact
  • More
    • 2016 Novel Night
    • 2014 Novel Night
    • 2012 Novel Night
    • Media Policy