A Book Club Like No Other

When my friend Joan told me about a new book club, I was jubilant! I had never been in a book club and here was one that would meet in the Las Campanas clubhouse, less than a mile from where I live. My euphoric bubble burst when Joan added, “I’m afraid it’s filled.”

A few nights later, dinner companion Tori said, “Shirley, my Spanish professor at the community college told me that she’s facilitating a book club at Las Campanas. If you can join, you should. She’s fabulous!”

After a flurry of emails – first to facilitator Sharon Franco and then to the book club co-founder – I was invited to join the Las Campanas University Book Club when it was one-third of the way through a list of six books for its Saints and Sinners series. They had already discussed Camus’ The Fall and The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Next up for discussion: The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. “Our theme for the Saints and Sinners series is,” wrote facilitator Sharon Franco, “‘What does it take to be good?’ or maybe ‘What does it mean to be a good person in this complicated world?’ or maybe even, ‘If we’re not good, are we bad?’ Each of the six books we’ll be discussing will explore this theme in its own way, but each book has its own rich context, and we’ll definitely take that into account as well in our discussions.”

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