Central Unitarian Church’s Book Group meets the first Thursday evening of every month at 7:00 pm in the Lounge. Members select the titles to read and engage in lively and thought-provoking discussion. The range is broad and topics related to personal and social issues.

Past books include:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
The paths of a blind French girl and a German boy collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.
Four sisters—Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and the survivor, Dedé—speak across the decades to tell their own stories, from hair ribbons and secret crushes to gunrunning and prison torture, and to describe the everyday horrors of life under Trujillo’s rule in the Dominican Republic.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.
From National Book Award winner Ron Chernow, a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
This brief book, which takes the form of a letter to the author’s teenage son, comes to grips with what it means to be black in America today. The title is from a quotation by Richard Wright; the chief literary influence is James Baldwin; Coates’ personal inspiration is Malcolm X; the crucible of the piece is Howard University; and behind it are the writings and attitudes handed down by Coates’ father, publisher Paul Coates. Like Baldwin, Coates is both furious and judicious. There is awesome beauty in the power of his prose and vital truth on every page.