St. Isaac Jogues Book Club

The Book Club aims to read a classic, a fiction, a non-fiction, and a religious-themed book each year. 

The book club members take turns selecting books for the group to read and the person who recommends the book typically hosts discussion questions about the book at the meeting.

2024-2025 Book List

September 17, 2024:

The Women by Kristin Hannah.
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

November 19, 2024

Dearie by Bob Spitz A biography of Julia Child. With access to Julia's diaries, letters, letters, etc., it chronicles Julia's friendships, struggles, and romance, plus her publications and TV career.

January 21, 2025

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
One evening Alicia's husband Gabriel returns home late from work and she shoots him 5 times in the face, then never speaks another word. Alicia's refusal to talk, or give any explanation, turns domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety.

March 18, 2025

The Gift of Years by Joan Chittister.   The world glorifies youth and degrades old age. The "Gift of Years" flies in the face of this conventional wisdom. It is a wonderful celebration of the blessings of growing older, clear-eyed and unsentimental about the reality of the aging process but showing us that our later years are a gift and not a burden.

May 20, 2025

My Cousin Rachael by Daphne DuMaurier. (1951)  Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. All goes well until Ambrose goes to Florence and falls in love and marries but there he dies suddenly. Jealous of this marriage, racked with suspicion, Philip prepares to meet his cousin's widow with hatred in his heart.  

Past Books Our Club Has Read

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara

Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

Not On Any Map: One Virgin Island, Two Catastrophic Hurricanes, and the True Meaning of Paradise by Margie Smith Holt

Parish Coffee:

In the Fall the book club hosts a Coffee after the 10:30 Mass on Sunday where the book club members provide a table of free books for the parishioners to take.

Contact the rectory for more information or use the form below to contact the group directly.