For book lovers who want to enjoy an evening of discussion, insight and laughter, the Lincoln County Public Libraries offers book discussion groups in the Libby and Troy.

The informal meetings are free and open to everyone. Refreshments will be provided and no advance registration is necessary. Copies of the featured books will be available for 10-day checkout four weeks before the scheduled discussion.

After a break in December, the discussion groups resume in January with books that focus on a variety of topics.

The group in Troy will discuss “Full-Court Quest: the Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School, Basketball Champions of the World,” by Linda Peavy. Winner of the 2008 Montana Book Award, the work is a nonfiction account of the group of young women from the Fort Shaw Indian School who became a successful basketball team and a popular “attraction” at the 1904 World’s Fair.

The Troy discussion is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21.

In Libby, the book group will read “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins with the discussion slated for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Set in a dystopian future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the 12 districts against one another, 16-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

In February, the book group in Libby will read the novel, “People of the Book” by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks. The discussion will take place at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23. The book is a fictionalized account of the turbulent history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated manuscript which has survived into the 21st century thanks to people of various faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. Hanna Heath, a manuscript conservator hired to restore the manuscript in 1996 Sarajevo, finds and pursues clues to crucial moments in the book's history.

The group in Troy will meet to discuss “We Need to Talk About Kevin” by Lionel Shriver at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18. In this novel, a mother tries to come to terms with the actions of her son, Kevin, who massacred classmates and teachers in his high school. Told through a series of introspective letters to her estranged husband, the reader sees the brutal, compelling emotion that accompanies a Columbine-esque tragedy.

In March, the Troy book discussion group will be read the nonfiction book “The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman. The work provides a study of what would happen to Earth if the human presence was removed. Weisman examines our legacy for the planet, from the objects that would vanish without human intervention to those that would become long-lasting remnants of humankind. The discussion will take place at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 18.

The Libby group will meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23 to discuss the novel “We Need to Talk About Kevin.”

The last discussion groups of the spring will be held at the libraries in April. On Thursday, April 22 at 5 p.m., the Troy book group will discuss “The Hunger Games.” The Libby group will read “The World Without Us” for discussion on Tuesday, April 27 at 6  p.m.

For more information on the book discussion groups, call the Libby Library at 293-277 or the Troy Library at 295-4040. Or, go online to www.lincolncountylibraries.com and look under the events calendar.