CONTEMPORARY WOMEN WRITERS BOOK GROUP

                                                           

The Contemporary Women Writers Book Group began in January 2005 and has been meeting monthly for over 10 years.   The book group is led by me,  Joan Ennis, Reference Librarian,  at the Northfield Public Library.  We meet the third Tuesday of the month, at 7:00 pm  We usually meet in the library meeting room, but we are temporarily meeting at All Saints Church on the corner of Washington and 5th Street until the library is reopens after construction.  About ten members were the first members of the group, many of whom are still vital members.  Over the years, many new members have joined.  We usually have eight to ten people at a meeting.  Some members come very regularly and some attend sporadically, depending on other events in their busy schedule.
We select books with enough copies in the SELCO system for the group.  I will request copies for members if they ask me, or members can request their own copies.

How do we select titles?  Everyone is encouraged to suggest titles.  For each suggestion, I check the number of copies available.  I email a list of suggestions to all members and ask for feedback, and then we discuss titles at a meeting.
We begin each meeting with  background material on the author and the book, and begin the discussion.  Everyone contributes to the discussion. 
We meet every month, and in December, we have a holiday gathering at a member's home.
A few years ago we began a fun activity.  For each book we read, we think of what the main characters would want for a holiday gift!  It's a fun way to review the books for the year.

Last week we choose titles for the next twelve months.  The titles are:

September 2015   The Wives of Los Alamos by TaraShea Nesbit
October 2015       A Man Called Ove  by Fredrik Backman
November 2015   All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
December 2015   Holiday gathering
January 2016       The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
February 2016     The Children Act by Ian McEwan
March 2016         A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren
April 2016           Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
May 2016            To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
June 2016            The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books by Azar Nafisi
July 2016             The Turtle Warriors by Mary Relindes Ellis
August 2016        The Arsonist by Sue Miller.

The group is ALWAYS open to new members.  If you have questions about the group or want to be on the email list, please contact me at 645-1802, or joan.ennis.ci.northfield.mn.us