The Book Group meets monthly to discuss a wide variety of books (history, fiction, mysteries and more) exploring instances of grace and spirituality. Meetings are usually on the third Wednesday of the month at 1:00 p.m. in the Library. A diverse selection of books has attracted a loyal following – “State of Wonder” by Ann Patchett, “Sarah’s Key” by Tatiana De Rosnay, “The Tiger’s Wife” by Tea Olbreht, “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” by Eric Metaxes, and “Caleb’s Crossing” by Geraldine Brooks.
February 19, 1:00 p.m. The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers by Bridgett M. Davis
Set against the backdrop of Detroit in the 1960's and 1970's, the story of the life of a one-of-a-kind matriarch whose business in the Numbers made her daughter's dreams come true.
The World According to Fannie Davis is Bridgett Davis's unforgettable coming of age in a family with a secret. The upper middle class splendor in which she and her siblings so happily lived was made possible by her mother's business in the Numbers, the informal lottery that powered African American communities across the United States. A poignant and revealing examination of how one family lifted itself out of poverty and into a completely different life, for good and bad, The World According to Fannie Davis introduces us to an unforgettable matriarch, and her daughter, whose ways of understanding still resonate today.
Offering a daughter's perspective on her larger-than-life mother, Bridgett Davis traces her family's story as part of the Great Migration, showing how her mother and father arrived in Detroit from Tennessee carrying with them not just their own hopes but also those of their families. A child gifted with extraordinary powers of perception and understanding, Davis breaks the code of secrecy around her mother's business and in so doing reveals both her mothers' extraordinary sacrifices as well as her seemingly endless generosity. We come to understand just how keenly Fannie Davis believed in the power of money, and family, to make the world right.
Moving, suspenseful and emotionally rewarding, The World According to Fannie Davis will change the way you understand the lengths a mother will go to provide for her family, and the way those sacrifices resonate over time, offering not just a moving portrait of one American family, but also a new way of understanding Detroit.
March 18, 1:00 p.m. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism byRobin DiAngelo
The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.
Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, anti-racist educator Robin DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what can be done to engage more constructively.
For a listing of books we're read over the years, click here.