College Park Book Club

Literary Non-Fiction by Women is the Theme, Meetings Are Informal, Every Third Tuesday of Each Month

 

The first two books read by the College Park Arts Exchange Book Club: Non-Fiction by Women were ‘Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary’ and ‘The Stakes: America in the Middle East’ and in 2007 the group became official with a new theme; to read non-fiction by women authors. Around this time, a partnership with Vertigo Books of College Park kept the group engaged, giving them access to new books each month. Due to the pandemic, the book club went virtual and holds its meetings every 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7-8:30pm.

“The book club was the first CPAE program to go virtual during quarantine.  It helped us keep our community going and showed us how Zoom could really work – which led to CPAE hosting art classes and dance classes online,” said Melissa Sites, Executive Director of College Park Arts Exchange Book Club.

The club has a thriving partnership with its host, the College Park Community Library and has taken part for many years in the Annual College Park Book Festival, as well as co-sponsoring other book and art related events. Today, the six member group attends the club’s monthly meetings, and more follow along with the reading assignments. The members of the group range in age from early 20s to late 60s.

“Anyone can sit in, whether or not they have read the book!  We are very relaxed,” Sites said.

The selected books are assembled from a giant list of non-fiction titles by women authors twice a year. Then, the group picks the ones with the most popular votes and begin reading. The future plans for the book club is to return to in-person discussions at the College Park Community Library.  They’re not just a book club. In addition to discussing the books they’re reading, the group picks movies or documentaries with strong women leads to watch.

“We've met at the Old Greenbelt Theatre to watch such movies as Hidden Figures, Julie and Julia, or RBG -- movies related to books we've read,” Sites added.

Mark your calendar! The next two book selections are ‘In the Country of Women; A Memoir’ (July 20) and ‘Zora Neale Hurston: Folklore, Memoirs, & Other Writings.’ (August 17). For more information, contact: info@cpae.org. To get a full schedule of selected readings, visit: http://cpae.org/arts/course/book-club/