The Western Views Book Discussion Group is an offshoot from the Saturday Women of the West Group.
The group meets on the second Saturday of the month from 10 AM to noon in the Arapahoe Conference Room of Boulder's Main
Library unless otherwise noted. For more information
e-mail Bill at bill4gb AT gmail DOT com, or see the links at the bottom of this document.
Note: For people cautious of the continuing COVID-19 risk, we will
provide remote access to the conference room via the Jitsi Meet app on a phone or notebook or
https://meet.jit.si with a Firefox or Chrome browser.
2025 Schedule:
January 11, 2025: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (280 pages)
February 08, 2025: James, by Percival Everett (303 pages)
March 08, 2025: Billie, by Anna Gavalda (192 pages)
April 12, 2025: The Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith (172 pages)
May 10, 2025: Once There Were Wolves, by Charlotte McConaghy (272 pages)
June 14, 2025: Tell Everyone on this Train I Love Them, by Maeve Higgins (224 pages)
July 12, 2025: Make New Friends, in Maya Arad's The Hebrew Teacher ( ~100 pages)
August 09, 2025: True West: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America, by Betsy Gaines Quammen (295 pages)
September 13, 2025: The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich (464 pages)
October 11, 2025: News of the World, by Paulette Jiles (240 pages)
November 08, 2025: Yasodhara: A Novel about the Buddha's Wife, by Vanessa Sasson (298 pages)
December 13, 2025: Buddha, by Karen Armstrong (187 pages)
2024:
January 13, 2024: The Dig, by John Preston (261 pages)
February 10, 2024: River Sing Me Home, by Eleanor Shearer (336 pages)
March 09, 2024: Bridging Worlds: A Sherpa's Story, by Pemba Sherpa, James McVey (236 pages)
April 13, 2024: Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus (400 pages)
May 11, 2024: Three Short Stories from
The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen
“The Return”,
“Summer Night”, and
“A Day in the Dark”
June 08, 2024: The Heat of the Day, by Elizabeth Bowen (372 pages)
July 13, 2024: OMFG Bees, by Matt Kracht (128 pages)
August 10, 2024: Go as a River, by Shelley Read (320 pages)
Note: The August meeting will be in the Flatirons Conference Room.
September 21, 2024: The Country Girls, by Edna O'Brien (175 pages).
Interview with O'Brien.
Note: The September meeting is the third Saturday because the library is hosting the Jaipur Literary Festeval on the 14th.
October 19, 2024: Beautiful Country, by Qian Julie Wang (320 pages)
Note: The October meeting is a week later than usual because October 12 is Yom Kippur.
November 16, 2024: Three Short Stories “Ward No. 6”,
“In the Ravine”,
and “Betrothed”, by Anton Chekhov
If you prefer pdf files - http://sackett.net/ChekhovWard6.pdf (44 pages), http://sackett.net/ChekhovRavine.pdf (16 pages), and
http://sackett.net/ChekhovBetrothed.pdf (33 pages).
Note: The November meeting is the third Saturday because the library is hosting a Children's Book Festival on the 9th.
December 14, 2024: The Girl with the Louding Voice, by Abi Daré (368 pages)
2023:
January 14, 2023: The Pearl, by John Steinbeck (87 pages)
February 11, 2023: The Master, by Colm Toibin (1st half of 364 pages) [about Henry James] and
a short story by Henry James, “The Two Faces” (10 pages)
March 11, 2023: The Master, by Colm Toibin (2nd half of 364 pages) and
Henry James, “The Great Good Place” (16 pages)
April 08, 2023: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith (1st half of 493 pages)
May 13, 2023: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith (2nd half of 493 pages)
June 10, 2023: Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro (320 pages)
July 08 2023: Bluets, by Maggie Nelson (112 pages)
August 12 2023: All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, by Ayana Johnson and Katherine Wilson (Editors) (448 pages)
September 09 2023: Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (168 pages)
You can read this online at https://www.are.na/block/8657901
October 14 2023: Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver (first half of 560 pages)
November 04 2023: Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver (second half of 560 pages)
Note: The November meeting is on the first Saturday because the library is closed on Nov 11 for Veteran's Day.
December 09 2023: The Island of Missing Trees, by Elif Shafak (353 pages)
2022:
January 08: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou (288 pages)
February 12: Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly (368 pages)
March 12: Sons, by Pearl Buck (313 pages) [2nd in the Good Earth trilogy]
April 09: Hidden Valley Road, by Robert Kolker (377 pages)
Note: May through August Summer Break.
[Get started on Strangers in Their Own Land and work on your midterms!]
September 10: Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild (368 pages)
October 08: The Color Purple, by Alice Walker (301 pages) [1st in the Color Purple trilogy]
November 12: The Inn at Lake Devine, by Elinor Lipman (272 pages)
December 10: Home, by Toni Morrison (145 pages)
2021:
January 09: The Kites, by Romain Gary (320 pages)
February 13: White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo (192 pages)
Reference: Dr. DiAngelo talks about her book in Seattle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ey4jgoxeU
March 13: Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama (464 pages)
April 10: The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein (340 pages)
May 08: The Storm and Other Things, by Eugenio Montale (Arrowsmith translation of the Italian poems)
Links to translator's introduction and poems for discussion: http://www.sackett.net/MontalePoems.htm
June 12: Kinder Than Solitude, by Yiyun Li (352 pages)
July 10: Someone, by Alice McDermott (242 pages)
August 14: The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa (192 pages)
September 11: Rima in the Weeds, by Deirdre McNamer (313 pages)
October 9: Fludd, by Hilary Mantel (181 pages)
November 13: Dead Souls, by Nikolai Gogol (432 pages)
December 11: Kindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever, by Gavin Edwards (256 pages)
2020:
January 11: Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover (352 pages)
February 08: Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery, by Henry Marsh (320 pages)
March 14: My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante (331 pages)
April 11: The Library Book, by Susan Orlean (336 pages)
May 09: Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York, by Francis Spufford (320 pages)
June 13: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman (352 pages)
July 11: The Dark Flood Rises, by Margaret Drabble (336 pages)
August 8: Circe, by Madeline Miller (400 pages)
September 12: The World That We Knew, by Alice Hoffman (384 pages)
October 10: So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo (272 pages)
November 14: Stones for Ibarra, by Harriet Doerr (214 pages)
December 12: A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis, by Françoise Frenkel (288 pages)
2019:
January 12: Zama, by Antonio di Benedetto (224 pages)
February 09: Future Home of the Living God, by Louise Erdrich (269 pages)
March 09: Becoming, by Michelle Obama (426 pages)
Link to a Discussion Guide: http://www.sackett.net/ObamaBecomingGuide.pdf
April 13: Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren (304 pages)
May 11: Three stories from Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
“The Maid Servant's Story”,
“The Disappearance”, and
“Doors”.
Link to the 3 stories and a glossary (104 pages): http://www.sackett.net/DivakaruniMarriage.pdf
June 8: Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, by David Sheff (326 pages)
July 13: Death in Venice, by Thomas Mann (71 pages)
August 10: Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (176 pages)
September 14: Washington Black, by Esi Edugyen (352 pages)
October 12: Sing Unburied Sing, by Jesmyn Ward (289 pages)
November 09: Milkman, by Anna Burns (360 pages)
December 14: Why Religion?, by Elaine Pagels (320 pages)
2018:
January 13: All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (544 pages)
February 10: Without You, There Is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea's Elite, by Suki Kim
(If you have the edition subtitled “My secret life teaching the sons of North Korea's elite” here is a Reader's Guide)
March 10: Crossing to Safety, by Wallace Stegner
April 14: The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
May 12: Three from Best American Short Stories:
“Everything That Rises Must Converge”, by Flannery O'Connor (1962), http://www.sackett.net/FlanneryConverge.pdf,
“The Hermit's Story”, by Rick Bass (1999), http://www.sackett.net/BassHermitStory.pdf, and
“Silence”, by Alice Munro (2005), http://www.sackett.net/MunroSilence.pdf
June 9: Marjorie Morningstar, by Herman Wouk (564 pages)
July 14: The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom, by Helen Thorpe (416 pages)
August 11: The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes
September 8: Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky (448 pages)
October 13: Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger
November 10: Mrs. Osmond, by John Banville (reference: Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady)
December 8: The Small Woman, by Alan Burgess
2017:
January 14: Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (Stories), by ZZ Packer
February 18: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande
Note: This is the third Saturday of February.
March 11: Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik
April 8: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson
May 13: H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald
June 10: The Bachelor of Arts, by R.K. Narayan
July 8: Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward
August 12: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (first half of the book)
September 9: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (second half of the book)
October 14: The End of Your Life Book Club, by Will Schwalbe
November 18: Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card (science fiction)
Note: The November meeting is the third Saturday because the library is closed on Nov 11 for Veteran's Day.
December 9: Lila, by Marilynne Robinson
2016:
January 9: The Wives of Los Alamos, by TaraShea Nesbit
February 13: The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough
March 12: Searching for Caleb, by Anne Tyler
April 9: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
May 14: The Burgess Boys, by Elizabeth Strout
June 11: Our Souls at Night, by Kent Haruf
July 9: The Secret Chord, by Geraldine Brooks
August 13: My Life On The Road, by Gloria Steinem
September 10: The Winter of Our Discontent, by John Steinbeck
October 8: To Live, by Yu Hua
November 12: The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto, by Pico Iyer
December 10: Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng
Here is a reading group guide: http://www.sackett.net/NgEverythingGuide.pdf
2015:
January 10: Across a Hundred Mountains, by Reyna Grande
February 14: Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk, by Ben Fountain
March 14: Soldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and At War, by Helen Thorpe
April 11: Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson
Note: The April meeting was at the Meadows Branch Library.
May 9: Glass Cage: Automation and Us, by Nicholas Carr
June 13: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, by Haruki Murakami
July 11: The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd
August 8: The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert
September 12: Frog Music, by Emma Donoghue
October 10: Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields, by Wendy Lower
November 14: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown
December 12: A God in Ruins, by Kate Atkinson
For a flyer of upcoming discussions for you to post and/or give to friends:
http://www.sackett.net/WesternViewsFlyer.pdf
For one group member's favorites from the above list, see
http://www.sackett.net/FavoritesBillWesternViews.htm
For more info go to Boulder Public Library's
http://research.boulderlibrary.org/ReadingRoom/BookGroups
This is
http://www.sackett.net/WesternViews.htm. Last Updated December 11, 2024.