Get Ready to Read and Join Us for Discussion!
Our book group will be reading an exciting variety of fiction and non-fiction this year. Join us for any or all of these discussions. We will have our meetings at UUCM after church on second Sundays at 12:30 PM in the Channing Room. You are welcome to bring a snack or lunch to these meetings. We will also offer the option of joining by Zoom, but please give at least 1 week’s notice so we make sure to have equipment ready to welcome you.
Upcoming Selections
July 14, 2024: Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s by Tiffany Midge, 2019, 216 pages
This powerful and compelling collection of musings on life, politics and identity of a Native woman in America, artfully blends sly humor, social commentary and meditations on love and loss.
Presenter is Susan Merrill
August 11, 2024: Bewilderment by Richard Power, 2021, 288 pages
The archeologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine year-old Robin. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals.. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mothers brain. With its soaring descriptions of the natural world, its tantalizing vision of life beyond, and its account of a father and son’s ferocious love, Bewilderment marks Richard Powers most intimate and moving novel. At its heart lies the question, How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful imperiled planet?
Presenter is Jo Waters
September 8, 2024: Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown, 2021, 336 pages
In Atlas of the Heart, we explore eighty seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human and walk through a new framework for cultivating meaningful connection.
Presenter is Claire Leve
October 13, 2024: Meeting skipped due to special presentation in honor of Indigenous People’s Day
November 10, 2024: Search: A Novel by Michelle Huneven, 2022, 400 pages
A sharp and funny novel of a congregational search committee, told as a memoir with recipes. Dana is a restaurant critic and food writer and a longtime member of a progressive Unitarian Universalist congregation in Southern California. Under pressure to find her next book idea, she’s asked to join the church search committee for a new minister and agrees, resolving to secretly pen a memoir, with recipes , about the experience. The memoir, Search, follows the travails of the committee and their candidates —and becomes its own media sensation.
Presenter is Susan Merill
December 8, 2024: The History of Us by Tribal Chairman Richard B Johnson, 2018, 325 pages
The History of Us is about what daily life was like for the local Nisenan for thousands of years until about 1850. It relies on past Research by scholars and interviews with living tribal members. Did you know nursing mothers chewed poison oak so their babies would have immunity? Part two describes the changes after 1850 when gold was discovered and “this was the beginning of the great downfall of our Nisenan culture.” Both parts, one happy and one tragic, can help us understand our neighbors, the Nisenan, who still live among us.
Presenter is Cynthia Burton
January 12, 2025: I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger, 2024, 386 pages.
This book is based on the myth of Orpheus, the musician who traveled to the underworld to rescue his wife, but it’s set in an all-too-possible future. I chose to read this book because I love the author’s way with words. Had I known it was “dystopian” I might have had second thoughts, so I am glad I didn’t know. But, it is so much more than that! Beautiful writing, yes, and also engaging characters, a bit of an adventure story, a poignant description of living with grief and a complete refusal to give in to despair. It strikes me as a rather UU book in its determination to see the world as it is while centering on love, connection and hope, with the belief they will ultimately prevail.
Presenter is Cheryl Morris
February 9, 2025: The Postcard by Anne Berest, 2024, 480 pages
Who wrote the Postcard? That is the mystery embedded in this poignant, multigenerational story of the Holocaust and its survivors.
Presenter is Keith Johnson
March 9, 2025: Greta and The Great War by Adan Ehrlich Sach, 2024, 224 pages
A young girl wanders the streets of Vienna following the Great War. She does not speak. A neurologist concludes the girl has no exposure to language and writes her story for a medical journal, but gets a letter from a sanitarium patient who says he is wrong. The writer is the young girls father and sends along a collection of 26 bedtime stories to tell her of the times in Vienna.
Presenter is Theresa Houtman
April 13, 2025: Poetry RX by Norman E. Rosenthal, 2021, 380 pages
This fascinating book explores the concept of poetry as a healing modality, coupled with poignant bio regarding renowned poets from global backgrounds across the centuries and infused with current vignettes from contemporary issues. This is one of several books I would bring to a desert island.
Presenter is Judith Gropp
Meeting in person in the UUCM Channing Room
and on Zoom
2nd Sundays at 12:30pm
To ensure we have equipment set up to welcome you, please provide at least one week’s notice if you’ll be joining via Zoom.
Click to Join Zoom Meeting
or Join by phone: (669) 900-9128
Meeting ID: 927 1111 8322 #
Passcode: 472984
For questions, please contact Books@uugrassvalley.org.