Book Club

Love to read? In the grand tradition of passing on a great book to a friend, we invite you to share and discuss your reading experience with fellow book lovers. Our Book Club meets on the third Thursday of each month at 10am in The Other Cup, September through May. Even if you haven’t read the book we’re discussing, you may still enjoy the conversation. You are welcome to arrive at 9:30am for fellowship; our discussion begins at 10am. All are invited to participate in our book club: a beloved group that has been a part of life at Saint Barnabas for over 30 years. Read Below for this month’s book reading. Questions? Please email Karen Talus  

Below is the Book Read Schedule for 2023-2024,

Please take note!

Sept. 21: We have options: we only need to choose one of the below three books for September.  All are welcome to join us, even if you haven’t read the books that we will be discussing.

Fresh from the Absalom Jones commemoration, your informal planning committee met in February and agreed we needed to read more about the Black experience in America, and we came up with three different books we’d like to discuss. They reflect three different perspectives—one is a historical artifact, one is a contemporary consideration, and one is a modern novel. Three presenters are enthusiastic about these choices. We realize this is a departure from our usual format, and we don’t expect Book Club members to read all three volumes—

Choose one, or just come for the discussion!

1- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Fiction, 384 pages

2- How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, Nonfiction, 352 pages

3- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, Historical Fiction, 313 pages

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Oct. 19: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, 192 pages

Dr. Frankl’s personal account of his time in Nazi concentration camps, and his insightful exploration of the human will to find meaning in spite of the worst adversity, Nonfiction/Holocaust History/Psychotherapy.

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Nov 16: Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story by Wilfred M. McClay, Nonfiction/American History, 504 pages

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Dec 21: 2 books

1- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb, Memoir, 432 pages

2- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: A Christmas Holiday Book for Kids by Barbara Robinson, Children’s Classic, 128 pages

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Jan. 18: The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum, 336 pages

Each chapter centers on a mysterious death by poison that is investigated by Chief Medical Examiner Charles Norris and Toxicologist Alexander Gettler, the duo set the justice system on fire with their trailblazing scientific detective work, triumphing over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice.

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Feb 15: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, Mystery-Vintage British Crime Fiction, 496 pages

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Mar 21: The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin, a story about an extraordinary friendship, 322 pages

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Apr 18: Mary Jane Safford, MD: Indomitable Mite by Elizabeth Coachman, MD. – Biography of 19th-century physician, writer, feminist, progressive reformer, and lecturer Dr. Mary Jane Safford, Medical/Feminist Pioneer, 174 pages

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May 16: The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs by H. Alan Day with Lynn Wiese Sneyd, U.S. State & Local History/Memoir, 264 pages – Foreword by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor – Mr Day’s story of Mustang Meadows Ranch in the Sand Hills of South Dakota-the first Government sponsored wild horse sanctuary established in the United States

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Questions? Please email Karen Talus