What we’re about
WHAT WE ARE ABOUT
This Meet Up is for Women of any age interested in a social book discussion. The women in this group seek deep meaning, expanding ideas, and social connection through book conversations. As we are in transition and trying to determine whether our members prefer in-person or virtual, we meet in person on the third Wednesday evening of each month (referred to as Book Discussion 1 ) at Palermo Restaurant, 791 Auzerais Ave., San José, CA 95126. We have a virtual option on the fourth Thursday of each month (referred to as Online Book Discussion 2 ) for those who prefer virtual, live out of the area, or do not make it off the waitlist for the in-person meet-up. Please check the event page for the Zoom link. We invite you to listen to or read the book in any media format that is convenient for you. Occasionally, we may also post opportunities to volunteer in the community or other bonus events that our members are interested in. Get ready for light-hearted and open-minded conversation. Cheers to your next page turned!
A NOTE ON COST
There is no required cost to join or attend our meet-up. We do ask those who feel they can if you might consider sponsoring a month of meet-up costs at $14.99 or a month of Zoom costs at $13.05 per month. This allows us to offer our Meet-Up events without a registration cost charged to members for each event attended. Please message Michelle Lee Walters if you are able to sponsor one of these options for a month**.** We thank you for your support & help in keeping this meeting accessible.
A NOTE ON COMMUNICATION
The gals who lead Women's Book Club, Wine, and Snacks are donating their time, energy, and knowledge for fun and for free. We appreciate all they do to keep us up and running, which is a lot more time, energy, and wisdom than you may think. Meet Up is paid to keep the software of this application, whether on the web, your phone, or tablet, running smoothly. Unfortunately, we cannot access your private contact information through your Meet-Up profile. We message our members through Meet Up. When you can not find our emails, you may want to search your email for: [email protected]. Our emails from Meet Up may be in your spam folder. If you have issues receiving emails or are unsure how to access something, please reach out to Meet-Up as they are the sole providers of this platform and the only ones who can help you work out kinks in their system. If you believe you just need some help navigating the web page or application, please message or speak with one of our volunteer leaders. We would be happy to help if you can make time for us outside the meeting. We want this to be accessible and fun for you and we are willing to make time to be sure the process is smooth for you.
A NOTE ON BOOK CHOICES
All the books we read are suggested and selected as a group. Feel free to message any organizers (Michelle, Jean, Sarah, Nicole, Christine, or Lucy) with your book suggestions for our next poll. Unfortunately, as of August 31, 2021, Meet Up has taken away the Poll function. You will receive a message by email through Women's Book Club Wine and Snacks to vote on our poll through an online poll service that is to be determined. Please check your email spam frequently if your Meet Up messages are not landing in your Inbox.
A NOTE ON THE TYPES OF BOOKS WE READ
We are not necessarily a fiction-only book club. We are a book club that relies on its members to suggest books and vote on which books they would like to read for the next five months through a poll. As the founder of this group, I have put a handful of nonfiction books on the poll, and the members do not vote for them. We rely on what the majority votes for. Hopefully, those of us who would like some nonfiction reads will suggest and vote for those suggestions.
If you have suggestions for books that you would like the group to read, feel free to share them with any of the organizers. However, please note that if your suggestions were received after the poll was published or if our poll leaders realized these books had been read or voted on in past polls, they may not make the list. But you should suggest them again anyway if you want the group to reread a past selection or if your suggestion was not taken the first time around. It has happened that the poll managers put a book on the poll again after it was suggested multiple times, even the ones we have already read.
A NOTE ON VIRTUAL VS IN-PERSON MEETINGS:
We have decided that as long as we have an ongoing interest in people registering for both our in-person meetings, which are labeled Book Discussion 1, and our virtual meetings, labeled Book Discussion 2, we will continue to offer both options every month for each book.
A NOTE ON NO-SHOWS
If you have reserved a spot for a meeting and cannot make it, we request you unreserve yourself or send a note to one of the organizers. If you give no notice and are a no-show, you will be flagged & after three no-shows, you will be removed from the group. We ask for this courtesy so those on the waitlist can join in your absence.
Last updated: July 25, 2024, by MLW.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Book Discussion 2: (Virtual) Erasure by Percival EverettLink visible for attendees
This December Book Discussion 2 will be on the third Thursday, December 19, 2024, due to the winter break season.
Our December book read is: Erasure by Percival Everett
If you'd like to attend in person rather than on Zoom, look for the in person meetup with the same book title.
Announcement:
- Last day for Book Recommendations.
- Look out for the POLL To OPEN: The POLL WILL BE RELEASED NO LATER THAN January 10, 2024.
- Check your Email for the poll link & Please vote.
- The email with the poll link most likely will come from our Meet Up email address:
[email protected] - The poll will end the weekend of March 1st, 2025.
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Notes for leader: Read & Erase/ then complete :-)The movie version was released last year and is available to stream. If you've seen it, it will be fun to compare and contrast.
Thelonious "Monk" Ellison's writing career has bottomed out: his latest manuscript has been rejected by seventeen publishers, which stings all the more because his previous novels have been "critically acclaimed." He seethes on the sidelines of the literary establishment as he watches the meteoric success of We's Lives in Da Ghetto, a first novel by a woman who once visited "some relatives in Harlem for a couple of days." Meanwhile, Monk struggles with real family tragedies―his aged mother is fast succumbing to Alzheimer's, and he still grapples with the reverberations of his father's suicide seven years before.
- Book discussion 1: (in person) The Berry Pickers by Amanda PetersPalermo Italian Restaurant, San Jose, CA
Our January book read is: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
Announcement:
- Look out for the POLL To OPEN:
- Check your Email for the poll link & Please vote.
- It most likely will come from our Meet Up email address:
[email protected] - The poll will end the weekend of March 1st, 2025.
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Notes for leader: Read & Erase/ then complete :-)A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a family, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years
July 1962. Following in the tradition of Indigenous workers from Nova Scotia, a Mi’kmaq family arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.
In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective.
Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.
For fans of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time. - Book Discussion 2: (Virtual) The Berry Pickers by Amanda PetersLink visible for attendees
Our January book read is: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
Announcement:
- Look out for the POLL To OPEN:
- Check your Email for the poll link & Please vote.
- It most likely will come from our Meet Up email address:
[email protected] - The poll will end the weekend of March 1st, 2025.
----------------------------------------
Notes for leader: Read & Erase/ then complete :-)A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a family, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years
July 1962. Following in the tradition of Indigenous workers from Nova Scotia, a Mi’kmaq family arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.
In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective.
Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.
For fans of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.
