Book Club I

Book Club I to meet February 18, 2022

Laura Ericksen will lead the discussion of The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah when the UMRA Book Club I meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 18.

Book notes | Have You Seen Luis Velez?

Event Date: November 19, 2021, at 2:00 PM

This inspiring book by the prolific American author Catherine Ryan Hyde conveys a hopeful theme that also underlies her first novel, "Pay It Forward."

Book notes | Braiding Sweetgrass

Event Date: October 15, 2021, at 2:00 PM

In Braiding Sweetgrass, author Robin Wall Kimmerer, a trained botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, shows how other living things like plants offer us lessons to live by. The culture of gratitude is a key theme.

Book Club I to meet December 17

The UMRA Book Club I will identify books and discussion leaders for our 2022 monthly meetings when we meet via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, December 17.

Book notes | Marcel’s Letters

Event Date: September 17, 2021, at 2:00 PM

Marcel’s Letters, by Minnesota author and graphic designer Carolyn Porter, is a fascinating journey from a small river town to war-torn Europe.

Book notes | House on Endless Waters

Event Date: August 20, 2021, at 2:00 PM

When Yoel Blum travels from his home in Israel to Amsterdam, where he was born, he begins a journey of finding out the many things his mother kept from him, which leads to a new understanding of who he is.

Book notes | Just Mercy

Event Date: July 16, 2021, at 2:00 PM

Although at times emotionally difficult, Just Mercy is an important book about the problems of our legal system and the amazing work of the Equal Justice Initiative.

Book notes | The Big Burn

Event Date: June 18, 2021, at 2:00 PM

The Big Burn is an educational, breathtaking story about the largest wildfire in U.S. history, the men whose heroic actions worked to save people and land, and President Teddy Roosevelt’s embattled efforts to “save America.”

Book notes | Caste

Event Date: May 21, 2021, at 2:00 PM

Author Isabel Wilkerson weaves her experiences and those of others with fact and history to help the reader grasp the extensive impact the caste system has had, and continues to have, in India and the United States.

Book notes | The Color of Water

Event Date: April 16, 2021, at 2:00 PM

The Color of Water is James McBride’s tribute to his remarkable mother. He skillfully alternates chapters relating his life story growing up in New York City projects with chapters conveying his mother’s life, told in her voice.

Book notes | The Year of Magical Thinking

Event Date: March 19, 2021, at 2:00 PM

In what is considered a classic book about mourning, author Joan Didion describes her experiences with grief after the death of her husband, including several instances of magical thinking.

Book notes | The Night Watchman

Event Date: February 19, 2021, at 2:00 PM

The16th novel by Minnesota author Louise Erdrich, discussed by UMRA Book Club I at its February meeting, is a stellar depiction of reservation life and the consequences of relocation in the mid 1950s.

Book notes | One Hundred Years of Solitude

Event Date: January 15, 2021, at 2:00 PM

The UMRA Book Club discussed One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez at its January meeting. It was a difficult read for some.

Book Club to meet February 21

Stephanie Daily will lead a discussion of Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin (initially scheduled for discussion in January) when the UMRA Book Club meets at 2 p.m. on Friday, January 17, at 1666 Coffman in Falcon Heights.

Overwhelming and wonderful

Event Date: November 20, 2020, at 2:00 PM

Interwoven with exquisite descriptions of the countryside, Christy Lefteri’s novel about the Syrian Civil War draws readers into the bombed city of Aleppo and the agonizing decisions families facing war must make.