A Kaleidoscope of Monarchs and Books To Fall For (With Videos!)

Books for Book Clubs

How do you know it’s fall? For me, the days are shorter, the nights are longer, and a kaleidoscope of monarch butterflies returns to Prince Barranca and Ocean Avenue Park near my home. By late October, the blooming dahlias provide nectar for the orange butterflies, and as they finish, the brilliant crimson poinsettias take over to offer sustenance. Next out my window are flocks of the beautiful cedar waxwings eating berries from native shrubs, and at night various owls move through or establish their nesting territories.  

As the days grow colder, and we snuggle in to comfy couches with cozy blankets, or settle in to a hot bubbly bath, fall is time to break out the books– and not just school books, but books for pleasure — or maybe they will be both!

Each semester, my classes embark on a book club. In small groups which I form based on information from students, they read a book together, present about it, and write about it. Books are available for free for checkout from the college library, and I’ve encouraged them to spend some time looking at the options as well as researching the books via reviews, and to talk to classmates they might want to work with about which books to read together. As a hybrid class, this can be challenging! 

I will form about 3-5 member small groups based on what they tell me about their preferences about the following books which focus on their personal stories and experiences: 

• Violence Girl by Alice Bag (2011)
  
• Boy About Town by Tony Fletcher (2014)
  
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013)
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (2007)
  
• Bad Indians by Deborah Miranda (2012)
  
• Threads of Awakening by Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo (2022)
• Animal Bodies by Suzanne Roberts (2022)
  
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed (2012)
  
• The Nature Fix by Florence Williams (2017)
  

The first two are about music, specifically the punk music scene in the 70s. In Violence Girl, Alice Bag discusses her Los Angeles experiences with the influential band, The Bags (click for video trailer); get a taste of Alice’s music below:

In contrast, in Boy About Town, Tony Fletcher describes his life as a teenage music journalist in London; the title, which comes from a Jam song by Paul Weller, may or may not be about Tony (click to hear the song and see the lyrics).  Here’s Tony reading from Boy About Town:

There are two books about the Native American experience, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013) which is a Ventura College One Book One Campus text this year

and  Bad Indians by Deborah Miranda (2012) shown below reading from her book:

Threads of Awakening  is by Ventura County artist and Buddhist Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo (2022): 

Lake Tahoe college teacher and writer Suzanne Roberts, who grew up in Ventura County, explores death, desire, and other difficulties in our Animal Bodies, her 2022 memoir while inWild, Cheryl Strayed (2012) also discusses grief when her mother dies and she decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Her book was made into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon:

The Nature Fix by Florence Williams (2017) urges readers to get outside also as she travels the globe learning about various research projects which support getting fixed by nature. 

Finally, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by novelist Barbara Kingsolver (2007) describes her family’s experience farming and making it on their own. 

After watching the videos, researching the books, and considering formats for books that you prefer, contemplate:

1. Which book is your first choice to read and why?
2. Which book is your second choice to read and why? 
3. Which book do you NOT want to read and why? 
4. Who would you like to work and read with?
5. Who would you prefer NOT to work and read with?
6. Which is more important to you: the BOOK or the GROUP of people you work or read with? 

F23 Books for Book Clubs

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What memoir published in the previous 10-15 years do you think we should read?