The Wednesday Night Book Group meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. via Zoom. A simultaneous in-person option at the church is generally offered from March through November. Conversations center around literary perspectives, personal connections, and application to UU principles. Members vote on the selections for the upcoming year from a wide range of genres. See the attached 2026 reading list below.
Discuss books chosen by the group including fiction, non-fiction, contemporary or old. All are welcome to join the meeting – in person and sometimes online. Contact Patti Ulwelling for Book Group meeting details.
January 14 Horse by Geraldine Brooks, historical fiction, 401 pages, 2022
A sweeping historical novel that interlaces the story of the legendary racehorse Lexington with the lives of those connected to him across centuries. It explores themes of race, art, and science through the intertwined narratives of an enslaved groom in the 1850s and modern-day researchers uncovering the horse’s legacy. -Rosie Kapp
February 11 Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy, fiction, 298 pages, 2025.
A family on a remote Island in the Arctic are the caretakers of the world’s largest seedbank. This is a novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, ferocious love and the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears. -Nora Vrakas, Lisa Larson
March 11 – There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Gladstone, nonfiction, 420 pgs, 2025.
This is an immensely powerful and essential book, infuriating and heartbreaking, written with an insight and empathy that deserves every major literary award. Most importantly, this book reveals failing systems, systemic inequalities, and a general lack of public awareness. -Barbara Holzhauer
This is an immensely powerful and essential book, infuriating and heartbreaking, written with an insight and empathy that deserves every major literary award. Most importantly, this book reveals failing systems, systemic inequalities, and a general lack of public awareness. -Barbara Holzhauer
April 8 The Seed Keeper, by Diane Wilson, fiction, but incorporates history, 359 pages, 2021.
The story tells of a Dakota woman who returns home to confront her past and protect her family’s ancestral seeds. It explores themes of family, heritage, and the deep connection between Indigenous people and the land. -Marilyn Swanson
May 13 The Measure by Nikki Erlick, fiction, 353 pages. 2022.
Every adult on the planet receives a box with contents indicating how many years they will live – would you open it? This creative, thought-provoking novel raises existential questions and explores how knowing your life length (or choosing not to know) could affect relationships, categorize people in new (potentially discriminatory) ways, and influence society. -Jennifer Vallier
June 10 My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem, memoir, 251 pages, 2015.
Gloria Steinem – writer, activist, organized and inspiring leader – now tells a story she has never told before, a candid account of her life as a traveler, a listener and a catalyst for change. A moving, funny and profound story of Gloria’s growth as well as the growth of a revolutionary movement for equality and the story of how surprising encounters on the road shaped both. -Patty Stevenson
July 8 When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of (Other) Animals, by Jeffrey Masson, 291 pages, 1994.
Examines and challenges the perspective that emotions are exclusive to our species & offers diverse examples and extraordinary stories of animal love, joy, anger, empathy, loneliness, etc. This national bestseller exploring the complex emotional lives of animals was hailed as “a masterpiece” by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and as “marvelous” by Jane Goodall. -Deanna Forsythe
August 12 How to Read a Book by Monica Wood, fiction, 280 pages, 2024.
It is a novel about second chances, unlikely friendships, and the life changing experience of sharing stories. -Mollie Conrad
September 9 The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, historical fiction, 448 pages, 2024.
The story draws on the real-life diary entries of Martha Ballard, a brilliant post-civil war midwife and healer, who finds herself investigating a murder after a body is discovered frozen in the Kennebec River and navigating the legal system to bring about justice following a brutal rape that shakes her small community. The page-turner award-winning novel brings to life themes of power, gender, secrets, and strength of determination. – Patti Ulwelling
October 14 The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali, historical fiction, 327 pages, 2024.
Coming of age story for 2 Iranian girls from different socioeconomic backgrounds growing up in the years leading up to the Iranian Revolution. An evocative read and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism and political activism. -Jennifer Vallier
November 11 The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt by Chelsea Hunt, fiction, 309 pages, 2024.
An enchanting story of a woman who must use the magic of the fantastical plants that adorn her home to thwart the dark plots of the men around her. It’s the perfect modern day fairytale about women taking control of their lives with a little help from the magic within. -Lisa Larson
December 9 Reading List Scheduling Meeting and Celebration