Book Club Seeking New Members
The Eastside Audubon Book Club is a small group of folks who combine their love of the natural world with their enjoyment of reading. We are happy to announce we are looking for new members.
The group meets monthly on the third Tuesday from 7-9pm to discuss the book of the month. Our discussion is facilitated by the member who originally suggested that month's title. We currently use a combination of meeting venues: outdoors in the summer, library meeting rooms late spring and early fall, and via Zoom the rest of the year. The club is now in its seventh year. During all that time, we have never missed holding our monthly meeting!
Book selection occurs three times a year. During the selection process, members rotate proposing up to three titles each for the next round of reading. We then vote on the slate of books for the next four months. One title is chosen from each presenting member's list of proposals.
What do we read? As long as nature is a prominent theme, any book of any genre is eligible. The result is incredibly eclectic. Titles have included fiction, nonfiction, essay, mystery, autobiography/memoir, science, natural history, poetry. As one might expect from a group with "Audubon" in its name, about 25% of our books involve birds. However, the entire biotic community is open to our literary adventures.
Over the years, we have read books on animals and plants and those that are neither. Fin, fur and feathers, vertebrates and invertebrates, living things great, small and microscopic, mobile and immobile: all have been included. Being very much a part of nature, humans have not been left out of the mix. As well, our literary journeys have not been limited to the organic world. Our books have also explored the inorganic realm. The four classical elements - earth, air, fire, water - serve as a useful metaphor for those explorations. Through more than six years of titles, we have traversed the intersections of nature with racism, sexism, politics, social justice, psychology, spirituality, economics, medicine.
Take a look at our upcoming titles for the next four months. They are typical of the variety in the books our club reads.
