As of January 2023, Book Group is not active.

History

The book discussion group had its first meeting on November 12, 2015: to get us rolling, each member talked about about a book they had enjoyed or were currently reading, sharing information, ideas, and recommendations.

Unlike most book clubs, we didn’t choose a specific book for discussion. Instead, we selected a topic or theme, so that each participant could choose something that interested them to discuss, as well as find possible new authors or titles that they would enjoy reading. Fiction, nonfiction, coffee table books, reference tomes, children’s picture books: everything was eligible!

2017 Topics and Resources

Meeting topics for 2017 included:

  • January: Curl Up with a Good Book (reading for a rainy winter)
  • February: Jane Austen (Check out our handy book and resource list!)
  • March: Spring Cleaning Book Swap
  • April: Food, Glorious Food
  • May: Biographies
  • (on hiatus for Summer months)
  • September: reorganization meeting
  • October: Histories
  • November: Biographies
  • December: Food (including holiday favorites!)

2016 Recommended Books

(alphabetically by author)

  • Rennie Airth, River of Darkness (Kathryn)
  • Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (Kaleda)
  • Jean-Dominque Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Iris)
  • Betty Goerke, Chief Marin: Leader, Rebel, and Legend (Deni)
  • Laurence Gonzales, Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why (Linda)
  • Lucredia Grindle, Villa Triste (Muriel)
  • Kent Haruf, Our Souls at Night (Karen)
  • Gary Kamiya, Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco (Eleanor)
  • Karl Pillemer, 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans (Cliff)
  • John Ross, Murdered by Capitalism: A Memoir of 150 Years of Life and Death on the American Left (Wanda)
  • Bob Santos, Gary Iwamoto, The Gang of Four: Four Leaders, Four Communities, One Friendship (Deni)
  • Will Schualbe, The End of Your Life Book Club (Iris)
  • John Steinbeck, East of Eden (Pat)
  • Velma Wallis, Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival (Pat)

Our Holiday Themed selections from the December meeting:

  • Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory (Kathryn)
  • Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (Iris)
  • Tom Hegg, A Cup of Christmas Tea (Kathryn)
  • Tom Mula, Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol (Eleanor)
  • David Sedaris, Holidays on Ice (Eleanor)

2016 Summer Reads

(suggestions from our July meeting)

  • Richard Ford, Independence Day (Deni)
  • Alice Hoffman, Green Angel (Iris)
  • Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness (Shelley)
  • Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss (Shelley)
  • Helen Simonson, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand (Shelley)

Not impressed with several “Summer Must Reads” lists she found, Eleanor put together her own eclectic selection:

  • Jacqueline Alio, Women of Sicily: Saints, Queens & Rebels
  • Jane Austen, Persuasion
  • Andrea Camilleri, Inspector Montalbano series
  • David Duchovny, Bucking F*cking Dent
  • Grady Hendrix, My Best Friend’s Exorcism
  • Guy Gavriel Kay, Children of Earth and Sky
  • Patricia A. McKillip, Kingfisher
  • Naomi Novik, League of Dragons
  • Tim Powers, Medusa’s Web
  • William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar