This year’s groups are: 

The Poetry Group, formed in response to customer requests, will meet at 10 AM the second Tuesday of the month.  

June 10--local poet LouAnn Muhm will meet with us to discuss and read from her new book, “Breaking the Glass.” Breaking the Glass is a book of fierce heart and strong hands, glinting recognition, and hard-won perceptions. Its poems cut through surface consciousness, bringing the reader to unexpected and moving comprehension. Vulnerable with longing, fully alive, LouAnn Muhm's words ring resonantly true. 
 

July 8--a discussion of the poetry of Emily Dickinson. “The Poems of Emily Dickinson” will be available at the store—or bring that volume of her poetry from your bookcase. Ralph Franklin, the foremost scholar of Dickinson's manuscripts, has prepared an authoritative one-volume edition her poems with her spelling, punctuation, and capitalization intact.  

August 12—poets from the local group Twigs will meet with us to read and discuss the poetry in their recent book, “Twigs.” 

Faith Talk, led by Pastor Gary Walpole, will meet the second Tuesday of the month at 7PM, June through September. The focus of the group will be timely—the relationship between faith and politics. Gary has selected three books, each written from a different theological perspective, as resources. (It’s not necessary to buy or read these books to participate in the group.)

“The Great Awakening,” by Jim Wallis. The Great Awakening offers rules of engagement for a politics that transcends partisanship, embracing common values for the common good.

“Souled Out,” by E.J. Dionne. Declaring that 'the era of the religious Right is over,' Dionne looks to history, tradition, teachers and texts to reassert both progressive and conservative views on how religion can play a legitimate role in matters of economics, social justice and morality. 

 

“God and Empire,” by John Dominic Crossan. Crossan surveys the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and discovers a hopeful message that cannot be ignored in these turbulent times. 

The Wednesday Morning Women’s Group will meet every other week at 9 AM. Their picks are:

May 21 “Eight Women, Two Model Ts, and the American West,” by Joanne Wilke.

In 1924, eight young women drove across the American West in two Model T Fords. In nine weeks they traveled more than nine thousand over unpaved miles “without a man or a gun along.” The story of the trip is woven together with family stories. Author Joanne Wilke will join us by phone.

 

June 4 “The Latehomecomers,” by Kao Kalia Yang. In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to the U.S. When she was six years old, Yang's family immigrated to the U.S., and she evocatively captures the challenges of adapting to a new place and a new language. Kalia will meet with us.
 

June 18--“Space Between Us,” by Thrity Umrigar. Set in modern-day India and witnessed through two compelling and achingly real women, the novel shows how the lives of the rich and the poor are intrinsically connected yet vastly removed from each other, and vividly captures how the bonds of womanhood are pitted against the divisions of class and culture.

July 2 “When Madeline was Young,” by Jane Hamilton. When Aaron Maciver’s beautiful young wife, Madeline, suffers a head injury in a bicycle crash, she is left with the mental capabilities of a six-year-old. In the years that follow, Aaron and his second wife care for Madeline with deep tenderness and devotion as they raise two children of their own. Hamilton offers an honest and exquisite portrait of how a family tragedy forever shapes the boundaries of love. 

July 16 “The Tenderness of Wolves,” by Stef Penney. In 1867, a man is murdered in Dove River, a tiny isolated settlement in Canada. One by one, searchers set out from Dove River, following tracks across desolate territory. Penney deftly weaves adventure, suspense, revelation, and humor into an epic tale. 


July 24 “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,” by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver recounts the year her family ate only what they could grow on their farm in Virginia or buy from local sources. This will be a joint meeting with the evening group. We’ll have a potluck—please bring local food. Call the store the place, time, and directions.
 

July 30 “Truck,” by Michael Perry. "All I wanted to do was fix my old pickup truck," says Michael Perry. "That, and plant my garden. Then I met this woman." 
 

August 13 What is the What,” by David Eggers. An epic novel about the lives of two boys during the Sudanese civil war. It's straightforward and unflinching, yet full of unexpected humor and adventure amid the madness of war.
 

August 27 June 18 “Loving Frank,” by Nancy Horan This fictional account of the affair between Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright portrays an independent, educated woman at odds with the restrictions of the early 20th century.
 
September 17 “Fall to Grace,” by Kerry Casey. Kerry will join us either in person or by phone. Note: the meeting will be a week later than usual. We’ll meet for a potluck lunch. Call the store (218-732-7565) for time and directions.