Central Book Club
The Central Lutheran Book Club meets monthly, 10 times per year, with a mission to share the love of books that invite thoughtful and provocative discussion, promoting critical thinking. Books are selected by the members that span all genres, including history, sports, religion, science, love, morality, and inclusion in all its forms. Instead of avoiding controversial subjects, we invite those topics to our table. All are welcome, always.
Monthly Gatherings
The Central Book Club meets in person on the second Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. Books are chosen by the group in advance and shared in weekly church communications, as well as here on this page. The group is led by volunteers with at least one pastor attending each gathering. We look toward faith and life in everything we read, across a variety of genres.
Hybrid (Zoom combined with in-person) meetings are an option; just let one of the organizers know at least three days in advance. Organizers are Carol Rieger and Cathy Fuller.
Upcoming Selections
November
Cultish: the Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .
December
Change the Recipe: Because You Can’t Build a Better World without Breaking Some Eggs by José Andrés
José Andrés is a chef, an entrepreneur, an author, a television host, and a tireless humanitarian leader across the globe. A Michelin-starred chef with more than forty restaurants, José is also the founder of World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit dedicated to feeding the hungry in the wake of natural and man-made disasters. His lifetime of experience—from kitchens to conflict zones—has given him a wealth of stories and teachable moments that are funny, touching, and insightful, all animated by the belief that food can bring us closer together and the conviction that each of us can change the world for the better.
January
Tinkers by Paul Harding
An old man lies dying… He is hallucinating, in death throes from cancer and kidney failure. A methodical repairer of clocks, he is now finally released from the usual constraints of time and memory to rejoin his father, an epileptic, itinerant peddler, whom he had lost seven decades before. In his return to the wonder and pain of his impoverished childhood in the backwoods of Maine, he recovers a natural world that is at once indifferent to man and inseparable from him, menacing and awe-inspiring.
Tinkers is about the legacy of consciousness and the porousness of identity from one generation to the next. At once heartbreaking and life-affirming, it is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature.
February
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
One of the most beloved and bestselling novels of spiritual adventure ever published, Ishmael has earned a passionate following.
It is the story of a man who embarks on a highly provocative intellectual adventure with a gorilla—a journey of the mind and spirit that changes forever the way he sees the world and humankind’s place in it.
In Ishmael, which received the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship for the best work of fiction offering positive solutions to global problems, Daniel Quinn parses humanity’s origins and its relationship with nature, in search of an answer to this challenging question: How can we save the world from ourselves?
March
The Blue Team by Peter Young
Unsung and humiliated, Thomas begins his freshman year of college on the bench. Determined to prove everyone wrong, he’s obsessed with becoming the next Larry Bird.
When Thomas falls in love with Jenae, the beautiful and altruistic volleyball player, a whole new world opens up to him. She introduces him to Ray, a middle aged alcoholic struggling to stay sober and off the streets. Thomas tries to help, giving him purpose beyond basketball.
But Thomas still dreams of greatness. When he punches a dirty opponent, he jeopardizes his career and his relationship with Jenae. Ray returns to the bottle and it feels like Thomas’ life is spiraling out of control.
About to lose everything, Thomas has to figure out who he is competing against and why.