2022-2023 Book Club Schedule
COVID-19 UPDATE: Until further notice, Book Club meetings will be held over Zoom. See details, below!
Meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month (unless otherwise noted**), September through June. For additional information or to join the book club email list, contact Joanne Mortimer at BookClub@smithclubofcleveland.org.
September 21, The Book of Form and Emptiness, by R. Ozeki, 548 pgs., Moderators: Joanne Mortimer and Nancy Duff-Boem; Host: Nancy Duff-Boehm
October 12, Thomas and Beulah, by R. Dove, 79 pgs., Moderator/Host: Virginia Dawson
November 9, Horse, by G. Brooks, 413 pgs., Moderator: Kathy Abramczyk, Host: Susan
December 14, The Old Man and the Sea, by E. Hemingway, 127 pgs., Moderator: J Bryan
January 11, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by K.M. Richardson, 309 pgs.
February 8, Where the Crawdads Sing, by D. Owens, 370 pgs., Moderator: Nancy Duff-Boehm
March 8, The Sweetness of Water, by N. Harris, 358 pgs., Moderator: J Dalton-Robinson
April 12, The Satanic Verses, by S. Rushdie, 546 pgs., Moderator: Yin Mei and Yen
May 10, Play: Becoming Dr. Ruth, by M. St. Germain, Moderator: Rachel Lerner-Ley
June 14, A Separate Peace, J. Knowles, 200 pgs., Moderator: D Collier, Host: Diane Collier
SMITH READS BOOK CLUB – an online book club exclusively for the Smith community offering a variety of ways to discuss books, including a discussion forum and live webinars that will be announced throughout the year. To join, you simply need to register.
BOOKS DISCUSSED DURING 2021-2022
**September 14, I Forgot to Remember: A Memoir of Amnesia by Su Meck (NF 304 pgs)
October 13, The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Que Mai, Moderator: Yen Izanec
November 10, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Moderator: Joanne Mortimer
December 8, The Water Dancer by Ta‐Nehisi Coates, Moderators: Juanita Dalton‐Robinson, Ginnie Dawson
January 12, The Vixen by Francine Prose, Moderator: Eileen Gold
February 9, Sister Noon by Karen Joy Fowler, Moderator: Kathy Abramczyk
**March 5 – 24, Antigone ‐ A Play at the Cleveland Playhouse, Adapted by Emily
Mann. Attend the play at your discretion (live starting 3/5, via live stream starting 3/21). Moderated discussion led by Rachel Lerner‐Ley (’08), tentatively 3/24. Click here to purchase tickets. Contact Joanne Mortimer for 15%-off code.
April 13, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, Moderator: Mittie Jordan
May 11, Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguri, Moderators: Betsy Sampliner, Marilyn
Langmack, Amy Miller
June 8, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson, Moderators: Judith Bryan, Yen Izanec
BOOKS DISCUSSED DURING 2020-2021
September 9, Educated by Tara Westover; Moderator: Joanne Mortimer
October 14, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Butler (F 290 pgs.); Moderator: Nancy Duff-Boehm
November 11, Varina by Charles Frazier; Moderator: Eileen Gold
December 9, Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout; Moderator: Suzy Hartford
January 13, Come to Me by Amy Bloom; Moderator: Juanita Dalton-Robinson
February 10, Book of Ages: The Life and Opinion of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore; Moderator: Ginnie Dawson
March 10, Crazy Brave / An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo; Moderator: Marilyn Langmack
April 14, The Overstory by Richard Powers; Moderator: Judith Bryan
May 12, Hamnet by Maggie O-Farrell; Moderator: Pat Ashton
June 9, Tough Love by Susan Rice; Host: Mittie Jordan
BOOKS DISCUSSED DURING 2019-2020
September 11, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (NF memoir 304 pgs); Host: Susan LaPine
**October 16, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (F 352 pgs); Host: Ruth Berger, Moderator: Juanita Robinson
November 13, Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow (NF 291 pgs); Host: Marilyn Langmack, Moderator: Ruth Berger
December 11, Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (F 210 pgs); Host: Judith Bryan, Moderators: Judith Bryan and Joanne Mortimer
January 8, Elegy for Iris by John Bayley (NF memoir 275 pgs) and Jackson’s Dilemma by Iris Murdoch (F 249 pgs); Host: Pat Ashton, Moderator: Pat Ashton
February 12, Becoming by Michelle Obama (NF autobio 448 pgs); Host: Nancy Duff Boehm, Moderators: Kathy Abramczyk and Joanne Mortimer
March 11, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney (F 284 pgs); Host: Ann Herbruck, Moderator: Marilyn Langmack
CANCELLED: **April 15, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WWII by Sonia Purnell (NF 368 pgs); Host: Betsy Sampliner, Moderator: Caroline Morgan
**May 13, UPDATED: PLAY: A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (CLICK HERE TO READ ONLINE or CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON YOUTUBE); Host: Joanne Mortimer. RSVP: Please email Susan LaPine and Joanne Morimer for Zoom online video meeting details! Scmoozing @ 7:00, discussion @ 7:30.
June 10, The Pioneers by David McCullough (NF 352 pgs); Host: Eileen Gold, Moderator: Ginnie Dawson
BOOKS DISCUSSED DURING 2018-2019
September 12, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
October 10, Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, F 340 pgs.
November 14, Play: “Sweat” by Lynn Nottage (DPS acting edition); Available online HERE, on Amazon/Kindle or via the CWRU library.
December 12, The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories by Penelope Lively F 202 pgs.
January 9, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 244 pgs
February 13, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann NF 400 pgs.
March 13, My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
April 10, The Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig F 480 pgs.
May 8, Warlight by Michael Ondaatje (F) 305 pgs.
June 12, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee F 496 pgs.
BOOKS DISCUSSED DURING 2017-18
September 6, The Book of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henriquez
October 11, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles and Their Secret World War, Paul Kinzer
November 1, When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi
December 13, The Makioka Sisters, Junchiro Tanizaki
January 10, Last Orders, Graham Swift
February 7, Hillbilly Elegy, J D Vance
March 14, A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
April 11, The Girl Who Wrote in Silk, Kelli Estes
May 9,The Summer Before the War, Helen Simonson
June 13,The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
BOOKS DISCUSSED DURING 2016-17
A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, Jung Chang
The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes
Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Story of America’s First Poet, Charlotte Gordon
Mothering Sunday, Graham Swift
Terrible Virtue: A Novel, Ellen Feldman
A Man Called Ove: A Novel, Fredrik Backman
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, Erik Larson
The Little Paris Bookshop, Nina George
The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, Simon Wiesenthal
BOOKS DISCUSSED DURING 2015-16
The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View From the Future, Naomi Oreskes & Erik Conway
Absolution, Patrick Flanery
The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, Joseph Ellis
Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee
Our Souls at Night, Kent Haruf
The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Atul Gawande
Some Luck, Jane Smiley
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee Williams
The Beet Queen, Louise Erdrich
BOOKS DISCUSSED during 2014-15
Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do (Issues of Our Time), Claude Steele.
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Behind the Beautiful Forever, Katherine Boo
Vintage Munro: Nobel Prize Edition, Alice Munro
Absolution, Patrick Flanery
All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
Everything I Never Told You, Celeste NG
Duel With the Devil, Paul Collins
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Edward Albee
BOOKS DISCUSSED during 2013-14
My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor
Transatlantic: Wings Across Space and Time, Colum McCann
Orange is the New Black. Piper Kerman ’92
How Georgia Became O’Keefe, Karen Karbo
The Yellow Birds, Kevin Powers
The Dinner, Kevin Koch
The Celestials, Karen Shepard
The Calligrapher’s Daughter, Eugenia Kim
And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini
Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour, Lynne Olson
BOOKS DISCUSSED during 2012-13
Destiny of the Republic, Candace Millard
Waiting for Snow in Havana, Carlos Eire
The Buddha in the Attic, Julie Otsuka
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov or Once we Were Brothers, Ronald Balson
The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje
The Greater Journey, David McCullough
Canada, Richard Ford
The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach