Book Group

The St. Peter’s Book Group meets the first Tuesday of each month. The group reads both fiction and nonfiction books, most of which deal with moral or social issues. The list of 2025 books is below.

The St. Peter’s Book Group is set up to encourage readers to come and go as selections attract them. We welcome newcomers, occasional participants, and regular participants alike. To request the meeting location for the St. Peter’s Book Group, sign up to be added to the Book Group email list here.

Book Group Choices 2025

1. “Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride, for discussion in February. Historical fiction about a real neighborhood in Pottstown, PA. Features a fictional grocery store in a neighborhood of immigrants and African Americans.
2. “Death Comes For the Archbishop” by Willa Cather, for discussion in March. Historical novel about a French priest appointed bishop of territory in what is now southwestern United States. Set in 1800s.
3. “A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains” by Isabella Bird, for discussion in April. An Englishwoman’s travel journal from 1873.
4. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey. Novel about a mental hospital (basis for the well-known movie).
5. “Pope Joan” by Donna Woolfolk Cross. A historical novel. Suggests a woman was pope around 800, hiding her gender, sister of someone who was killed (she assumed his identity). Gives a lot of historical background.
6. “Fever” by Mary Beth Keane. A novel about Mary Mallon (aka Typhoid Mary). Shows why some people don’t trust public health authorities and shows a lot about working class life in U.S. around the turn of the 20th century
7. “I’m A Stranger Here Myself” by Bill Bryson. Short witty vignettes about American oddities written by an American returning here after 20 years abroad.
8. “My Friends” by Hisham Matar. Novel about three young men of Libyan heritage, living in exile in the UK (mostly). Themes of male friendship, family, and what it’s like to live in exile. Set in 1983-2015, set mostly in England and then Paris. Very short chapters. Elegant writing. Long listed for Booker Prize.
9. “Calamity of Souls” by David Baldacci. Fiction, a murder mystery. Black guy charged with murder, racially charged. Protagonist is defense lawyer, partners with another lawyer. Shows life in southern Virginia in 1960s. Mildred was a reader for the author before publication, giving advice on authenticity of setting.
10. “Moloka’i” by Alan Brennert. Historical novel about young Honolulu girl diagnosed with leprosy and sent to the leper colony on the island of Moloka’i. Set in 1890’s and early 20th century.
11. “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight” by Alexandra Fuller. Memoir of a white girl growing up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, set during and after apartheid there.