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PACG Book Club for April 2021

2/28/2021

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PACG Book Club for April 2021 - Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

Our April 2021 book will be Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. We will meet via Zoom on Monday, April 19th at 5:30 pm.

Here is a description of the book from Goodreads:


"The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.”

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity."

This book fits in well with our theme of racial justice. Contact me by clicking on my name for a Zoom link to the April PACG Book Club meeting.

Alta Price

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PACG Book Club for March 2021

1/24/2021

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PACG Book Club for March 2021
Monday, March 15th at 5:30 pm via Zoom

Monday, March 15th at 5:30 pm via Zoom - The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
From the Goodreads link above: "Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s  grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman."

Louise Erdrich is an important Native American author. The PACG Book Club decided to read and discuss this book to expand on our racial justice theme by including Native American issues and authors.

Contact Alta Price for the Zoom link.

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PACG Book Club for January and February 2021

12/27/2020

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PACG Book Club for January and February 2021
Mondays, January 18th and February 15th at 5:30 pm via Zoom

We have decided to include some books in 2021 on environmental justice, the intersection of racial justice with environmental issues. After consultation with leaders of the PACG Environmental Forum, we chose our January book. Our February book was suggested by one of our PACG Book Club members. It furthers our interest in learning more about Africa and pairs nicely with our January selection.

Monday, January 18th at 5:30 pm via Zoom - Unbowed by Wangari Maathai

From Goodreads: "Hugely charismatic, humble, and possessed of preternatural luminosity of spirit, Wangari Maathai, the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and a single mother of three, recounts her extraordinary life as a political activist, feminist, and environmentalist in Kenya.

Born in a rural village in 1940, Wangari Maathai was already an iconoclast as a child, determined to get an education even though most girls were uneducated. We see her studying with Catholic missionaries, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the United States, and becoming the first woman both to earn a PhD in East and Central Africa and to head a university department in Kenya. We witness her numerous run-ins with the brutal Moi government. She makes clear the political and personal reasons that compelled her, in 1977, to establish the Green Belt Movement, which spread from Kenya across Africa and which helps restore indigenous forests while assisting rural women by paying them to plant trees in their villages. We see how Maathai’s extraordinary courage and determination helped transform Kenya’s government into the democracy in which she now serves as assistant minister for the environment and as a member of Parliament. And we are with her as she accepts the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in recognition of her “contribution to sustainable development, human rights, and peace.”

In Unbowed, Wangari Maathai offers an inspiring message of hope and prosperity through self-sufficiency."


Monday, February 15th at 5:30 pm via Zoom - How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
From Penguin Random House: "In his short life, the Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution, leading movements in North America, South America, the African continent, and the Caribbean. In each locale, Rodney found himself a lightning rod for working class Black Power. His deportation catalyzed 20th century Jamaica’s most significant rebellion, the 1968 Rodney riots, and his scholarship trained a generation how to think politics at an international scale. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People’s Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney would be assassinated.

In his magnum opus, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Rodney incisively argues that grasping “the great divergence” between the west and the rest can only be explained as the exploitation of the latter by the former. This meticulously researched analysis of the abiding repercussions of European colonialism on the continent of Africa has not only informed decades of scholarship and activism, it remains an indispensable study for grasping global inequality today."

Contact Alta Price for a Zoom link to either PACG Book Group discussion; specify which month you want to attend.

Happy reading!

Alta Price


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PACG Book Club for December 2020 - The Rosie Project

11/22/2020

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PACG Book Club for December 2020 - The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

We will discuss The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion via Zoom on Monday, December 21st at 5:30 pm. The following information is from the Goodreads website:

An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.


Contact Alta Price for a link to the meeting.
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PACG Book Club for November 2020 - Sapiens

11/3/2020

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PACG Book Club for November - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Monday, November 16th at 5:30 via Zoom


This month we will be reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind  by Yuval Noah Harari. Here is a link from the Sapiens website with more details: 

Homo sapiens rules the world because it is the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in its own imagination, such as gods, states, money and human rights.

Starting from this provocative idea, Sapiens goes on to retell the history of our species from a completely fresh perspective. It explains that money is the most pluralistic system of mutual trust ever devised; that capitalism is the most successful religion ever invented; that the treatment of animals in modern agriculture is probably the worst crime in history; and that even though we are far more powerful than our ancient ancestors, we aren’t much happier.  

By combining profound insights with a remarkably vivid language, Sapiens acquired cult status among diverse audiences, captivating teenagers as well as university professors, animal rights activists alongside government ministers. By 2018, over 10 million copies have been sold, and the book has been translated into nearly 50 languages.

Click on Alta Price for a Zoom link to the meeting.
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PACG Book Club for August and September 2020

7/26/2020

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PACG Book Club for August and September 2020

​Monday, August 17th at 5:30 pm via Zoom: The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

This is an important book for those concerned about racial equality to read and discuss. If you don't have time to read the book and join our discussion, we suggest you listen to the interview with the author described below.

In an 8 minute interview, NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with author Richard Rothstein about his new book, The Color of Law, which details how federal housing policies in the 1940s and '50s mandated segregation and undermined the ability of black families to own homes and build wealth.


Note: We will skip the October Book Club discussion. We want to choose a book for November at our October discussion. Please come with suggestions!

Monday, September 21st at 5:30 pm via Zoom: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe was published in 1958. Considered his masterpiece, it is the most widely read novel in modern African literature.

Quoting from a teaching guide at Penguin Random House:

"Things Fall Apart 
tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a "strong man" of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first story traces Okonkwo’s fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives. It provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo’s world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries.

These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing the life of nature, history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. Things Fall Apart is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience as seen from within."

Sounds good, doesn't it?


Click on my name here Alta Price for a link to the Zoom meeting. Please tell me whether it is the August or September discussion that you want to attend so I send you the correct link.

Alta Price
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PACG Book Club for May 2020 - Sherlock Holmes

4/25/2020

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PACG Book Club - Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Monday, May 18th at 5:30 pm via Zoom

​The PACG Book Club will meet in May via Zoom, using Alta Price’s Zoom license. Contact her if you need instructions on how to use Zoom. Also, please RSVP to Alta to let her know you are coming so she can send you a special invitation (by email) from inside the Zoom meeting in case you have trouble joining the meeting.

Click on Alta Price to RSVP or with questions. 

The PACG Book Club is reading selected stories from Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. We will also discuss the documentary “How Sherlock Changed the World,” which is available for free on Amazon Prime. The film interviews modern day forensic scientists about the impact the Sherlock Holmes stories had on the development of our modern methods of crime scene investigation.

Reading selections:

The Sherlock Holmes - the Ultimate Collection kindle book is available for 99 cents. It is very lengthy, but includes all of the Sherlock Holmes stories and novellas, in order of publication.  Feel free to choose your own version, as long as it includes the stories below. We are choosing selections that pair nicely with the documentary. The stories are:
  • A Study In Scarlet  - because it is referenced in the documentary 
  • The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia  - this one was the actual first story that Conan Doyle got published about Holmes (it was re-published in this book again later) 
  • The Memoirs of Sherlock Homes - the Final Problem  - Conan Doyle kills off his detective in this story so that the author could write other books he was more interested in
  • The Hound of the Baskervilles - due to public outrage over the loss of their hero, Holmes, Doyle revives his detective
  • The Return of Sherlock Holmes - The Adventure of the Empty House - Doyle explains what happened at the Reichenbach Falls in the Final Problem

The documentary:

"How Sherlock Changed the World" has two episodes, each about 55 minutes in length. If you have an Amazon Prime account, you can watch them for free. If not, they cost $2.99 apiece. I also found them free at PBS, although I think that is only if you contribute a certain amount to Public TV. Again, contact Alta if you have trouble finding the documentary. 

We will discuss both the book and the documentary, but if you don’t have time to read and watch, feel free to join the discussion anyway. 


Click on Alta Price to RSVP or with questions. 
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PACG Book Club for April - July 2020

3/22/2020

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PACG Book Club for April - July 2020

Hello Readers!

The PACG Book Club usually takes off the summer months as people travel for vacation or are busy with summer activities. However, with the coronavirus epidemic keeping many of us confined to home, and PACG's ability to use online video conferencing with Zoom, we decided we should keep meeting as a way to combat social isolation and boredom. So we have books selected for the next four months. After two years of reading mostly books with a racial justice theme, we are trying some other genres.

To come to any particular PACG Book Club discussion, contact Alta Price and ask for an email invitation to the Zoom meeting. Please specify the name and date of the meeting (e.g., book club on April 20th).


Monday, April 20th at 5:30 pm via Zoom: Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold

This is the first novel in the award-winning Vorkosigan series, dealing with the initial meeting of the main protagonist's parents, 17 years before Miles Vorkosigan first appears in one of the novels. This is Alta Price's favorite science fiction series, and seems like a good place to jump in. It is also a quick read.

Monday, May 18th at 5:30 pm via Zoom: Sherlock Holmes by Sir Author Conan Doyle

​
We may suggest specific stories to read in this series, possibly scheduling an additional Zoom meeting to view a documentary on the impact these stories had on the development of forensic science. Check back for updates.

Monday, June 15th at 5:30 pm via Zoom: The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story by Aaron Bobrow-Strain


After a two month break from social justice reads, this story brings us a true life depiction of immigration issues dealing with our southern border. 

Monday, July 20th at 5:30 pm via Zoom: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi


This Young Adult fantasy novel was a New York Times #1 bestseller. It is also a quick read. Although it is the first book in a trilogy, and the third book has not been published, we felt progressives would enjoy the richly imagined West Africa setting. 

See you online, readers!

Alta Price


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Book Club Discussion of "Honky" by Dalton Conley - December 7th at 10:30 am

11/12/2019

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A Discussion of Honky  by Dalton Conley - 
Saturday, December 7th at 10:30 am

Davenport Main Public Library
321 N Main St, Davenport, IA (map)


Book Club

Everyone is welcome at our PACG Book Club discussions. We meet in the small community room on the Lower Level (LL) of the Davenport Main Public Library. We are continuing our theme of reading and discussing books about racial justice.

In December we will be discussing Honky by Dalton Conley. (Note: You can pick up a copy of our January book, Underground Railroad, from Alta at the December book discussion or at the PACG Holiday Party on December 5th.)

Find a list of our books for upcoming months at this PACG Blog post.

Contact Alta Price with questions or to arrange to get a copy of our January book.

Alta Price
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PACG Book Club for  October - December of 2019 and January - March of 2020

9/8/2019

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PACG Book Club Selections for October of 2019 - March of 2020

The PACG Book Club will continue this year with our theme of racial justice. Our book discussions are held on the first Saturday of the month at 10:30 am at the Davenport Main Public Library, 321 N Main St, Davenport (map). We meet in the small community meeting room on level LL, unless noted otherwise. Everyone is welcome. Come even if you have not read the book. Contact Alta Price if you have questions.

The following are our selections for the next six months. Some of the later ones may change, so check back here as it gets closer to March.

October - Thursday, October 10th at 6 pm, UUCQC (map) Board Room
We are not meeting in October. The PACG Book Club invites everyone to join the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Quad Cities (UUCQC) for discussion of White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. We will discuss the book at our November book discussion.

November - Saturday, November 2nd at 10:30 am - White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

December - Saturday, December 7th at 10:30 am - Honky by Dalton Conley
(Note: You can pick up a copy of Underground Railroad from Alta at the December book discussion or at the Holiday Party.)

January - Saturday, January 4th at 10:30 am - Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
(Note: Return your library copy of the book to Alta at the meeting.)

February - Saturday, February 1st at 10:30 am - The Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B. Du Bois (or anything by W.E.B. Du Bois)

March - Monday, March 16th at 5:30 pm - They Can't Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery


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