UMRA Book Club I

The UMRA Book Club has been meeting regularly since March of 2011. We meet at 2 p.m. on the third Friday of every month at the 1666 Coffman Building on Larpenteur Avenue near the St. Paul Campus. Presently we are meeting online via Zoom.

We are eclectic readers, our books being from all time periods, fiction and nonfiction, and from various genres. We plan our book schedule for the coming year at our December meeting. 

See all 
UMRA events.

Contact Pat Tollefson for more information ([email protected]). A list of all the books we have read is available from Pat as well. 

The UMRA Book Club I is full at the present with a short waiting list. Contact us to get on the wait list. Or see Book Club II.

 
 

Share your upcoming events. Submit event information in the Event Submission form

For Book Notes in addition to those from Book Club I (below), see the Book Notes page.

Upcoming Events

The Bohemian Flats, book cover

‘The Bohemian Flats’ by Mary Relindes Ellis

Event date:

UMRA’s Book Club I will discuss The Bohemian Flats by Mary Relindes Ellis when it meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 20. Jim Lewis will lead the discussion. 

Rin Tin Tin, book cover

'Rin Tin Tin' by Susan Orlean

Event date:

UMRA’s Book Club I will discuss Rin Tin Tin by Susan Orlean when it meets via Zoom on Friday, April 17. Diane Madson-Kay will lead the discussion. 

See Past Events

Book Notes

Where Rivers Part, book cover

Book Notes | ‘Where the Rivers Part’

Event date:
UMRA’s Book Club members learned a great deal about Hmong traditions, traumas, and relationships from acclaimed St. Paul author Kao Kalia Yang’s 'Where the Rivers Part.' A tribute to her mother, this lyrical and complex book won the 2025 Minnesota Book Award in the memoir category.
52 Loaves, book cover

Book Notes | ‘52 Loaves’

Event date:
In William Alexander’s humorous memoir, readers are taken on a wild ride as he searches for the recipe and technique to replicate—from scratch—the “perfect bread.” He tries his hand at growing, harvesting, and threshing the wheat, attends a kneading conference in Maine, and even enrolls in a week-long bourlangerie class at the École Ritz Escoffier in Paris.

See Past News and Notes