Judy recommends 

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"The Gift of Forgiveness" by Katherine Schwarzenegger

"American Dirt" by Jeanine Cummins

"Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom

"The Marriage of Opposites"  by  Alice Hoffman

"The Giver of Stars"  by  JoJo Moyes

"The Gown"  by  Jennifer Robson

"The Dutch House"  by  Ann Patchett

Helen recommends 

"Where the Crawdads sing" by Delia Owens 

"Those who saved us" by Jenna Blum

"When we believed in Mermaids" by Barbara Oneil

Phyllis recommends 

"Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom

"Glory over Everything" by Kathleen Grissom 

Linda recommends 

"The Dutch House" by Ann Patchett 

"Year of Wonders" by Geraldine Brooks

Ellen recommends 

"Grant "by Ron Chernow

"The Girls of Atomic City" by Denise Kieran

"The Body" by Bill Bryson

"The Great Alone" by Kristen Hannah

"The Invisible Thread" by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski

Kate recommends 

Her website ! She posts discussion guides that are very relevant for an individual reader - without a group discussion— questions someone might want to mull over after reading a book!

Recommendations to learn more about Black Lives Matter Movement

"The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson

"Caste" by Isabel Wilkerson

"The Color of Law" by Richard Rothstein

"So You Want to Talk about Race" by Ijeoma Oluo

"Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

"I'm Still Here" by Austin Channing Brown

"The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

"Go Tell It on the Mountain" by  James Baldwin

"Light Bright damn near White" by Richard Lawrence 

"How to be an Antiracist" with the book guide 

"Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernardine Evaristo

"The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

 "Me and White Supremacy" by Layla F Saad

Recommended Novels by Black Woman Authors with notes by Kate

"Red at the Bone" by Jacqueline Woodson: This is the slimmest of the novels here and there’s a lot to process in few words including mother-daughter relationships, black wealth, identity

"Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernardine Evaristo: one of my favorite books in the past year likely because I love listening to the author speak— she is so proud to be an older woman. It is also the most unusual writing style, which I found easy to read though some may not

"Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi: a deep dive into history (1760 to 2000s) in a novel starting in where each section is written by the next generation. Racism, culture and choice shape the lives of individuals and the history of a people. 

"The Revisioners" by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton: medium length, interleaves past and present. A lot about trauma and strength passed across generations, the power of women, white entitlement, dementia, who we are at our core

"The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett: the novel is set from the 1950s to the 1990s and opens a conversation on the complexity of identity and how we all change in ways large and small