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.
June 2026
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
Suffused with the history and landscapes of the American West―its otherworldly flora and fauna, its rugged loggers and bridge builders―this extraordinary novella poignantly captures the disappearance of a distinctly American way of life.
It tells the story of Robert Grainer, a day laborer in the American West at the start of the twentieth century―an ordinary man in extraordinary times. Buffeted by the loss of his family, Grainer struggles to make sense of this strange new world. As his story unfolds, we witness both his shocking personal defeats and the radical changes that transform America in his lifetime.
September 2026
Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America by Beth Macy
From one of our most acclaimed chroniclers of the forces eroding America’s social fabric, her most personal and powerful work: a reckoning with the changes that have rocked her own beloved small Ohio hometown.
Paper Girl is a gift of courage, empathy, and insight. Beth Macy has turned to face the darkness in her family and community, people she loves wholeheartedly, even the ones she sometimes struggles to like. And in facing the truth—in person, with respect—she has found sparks of human dignity that she has used to light a signal fire of warning but also of hope.
October 2026
The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, and the Minimum Wage by Kirstin Downey
“Kirstin Downey’s lively, substantive and—dare I say—inspiring new biography of Perkins . . . not only illuminates Perkins’ career but also deepens the known contradictions of Roosevelt’s character.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR Fresh Air
One of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s closest friends and the first female secretary of labor, Perkins capitalized on the president’s political savvy and popularity to enact most of the Depression-era programs that are today considered essential parts of the country’s social safety network.