Book Club - VSDC - Veg Society of DC
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VSDC BOOK CLUB

The Veg Society of DC (VSDC) Book Club meets once each month, usually the last Wednesday at 7:30 pm. Since March 2020 the group has primarily been meeting online. Our books alternate between fiction and nonfiction, and can be about any topic. VSDC members and friends who have read at least half the book are welcome.

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An RSVP is required to attend. See the DC Area Vegan Meetup site for our upcoming meeting dates and to RSVP! Any questions, send Beth a message via Meetup.

THE VSDC BOOK CLUB
CELEBRATES 32 YEARS IN 2024!

BOOK SELECTIONS

At the end of each Book Club meeting, participants vote on whether they would recommend the book — yes, no, or “other.” We started asking this question at the April 1993 meeting. (Votes before then may not reflect all the participants.)

2024

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January This Is How It Always Is Laurie Frankel   10   0    0
February Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest Suzanne Simard   7   0    1
March West with Giraffes Lynda Rutledge   13   0    1
April The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics Daniel James Brown   9   0    1
May The Grammarians Cathleen Schine   5   2    3
June The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating Elisabeth Tova Bailey   14   1    0
July Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A Novel Gabrielle Zevin   8   2    2
August Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Robin Wall Kimmerer   12   1    2
September Bewilderment Richard Powers   7   1    3
October Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World Christian Cooper        
November Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Robert C. O'Brien        

2023

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy Jamie Raskin   14   0    2
February March Geraldine Brooks   2   2    3
March Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents Isabel Wilkerson   9   0    0
April Stella Peabody’s Wild Librarian Bakery and Bookstore: A Novel-in-Stories Stacy Russo   0   1    3
May What the Constitution Means to Me Heidi Schreck   9   0    1
June Trust Hernan Diaz   6   1    3
July The Girl with Seven Names: Escape from North Korea Hyeonseo Lee   6   0    1
August Intimacies Katie Kitamura   6   1    1
September An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us Ed Yong   7   0    0
October The Violin Conspiracy Brendan Slocumb   6   0    0
November The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War Ben Macintyre   8   0    0

2022

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January Such a Fun Age Kiley Reid   5   2    1
February Healthy at Last: A Plant-Based Approach to Preventing and Reversing Diabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses Eric Adams   12   0    0
March The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett   8   1    3
April The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer   8   0    2
May The Night Watchman Louise Erdrich   3   1    0
June Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World’s Most Successful Insects Jonathan Balcombe   11   0    0
July Beastly Things: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery Donna Leon   8   0    0
August Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future Elizabeth Kolbert   8   1    2
September The Seed Keeper Diane Wilson   7   0    0
October Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law Mary Roach   6   2    3
November Kindred Octavia E. Butler   9   0    0

2021

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote Elaine Weiss   5   0    0
February Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk   6   0    0
March How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky and Daniel Zieblatt   9   0    0
April Frankenstein Mary Shelley   8   0    0
May The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe Gayle Tzemach Lemmon   9   0    0
June All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot   8   2    1
July Our Symphony with Animals: On Health, Empathy, and Our Shared Destinies Aysha Akhtar   11   0    0
August Hamnet Maggie O’Farrell   3   1    2
September The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Thomas Kuhn   0   2    1
October The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek Kim Michele Richardson   5   0    0
November Fun Home Alison Bechdel   6   0    1

2020

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January Charlotte’s Web E.B. White   8   0    0
February The Year of Living Biblically A.J. Jacobs   4   1    0
March It Can’t Happen Here Sinclair Lewis   2   2    0
April Bringing Down the Colonel Patricia Miller   6   0    0
May The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway   5   2    0
June The Vegetarian Crusade Adam Shprintzen   7   0    0
July Conversations with Friends Sally Rooney   3   2    2
August We Are the Weather Jonathan Safran Foer   14   1    0
September The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan   8   0    0
October How to Survive a Pandemic Michael Greger   11   2    0
November Homegoing  Yaa Gyasi   8   0    0

2019

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January Always Too Much and Never Enough Jasmin Singer   8   0    1
February The Plot Against America Philip Roth   7   0    0
March Lab Girl Hope Jahren   4   0    1
April The Immortalists Chloe Benjamin   3   0    1
May Esther the Wonder Pig: Changing the World One Heart at a Time Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter with Caprice Crane   7   0    0
June There There Tommy Orange   2   0    0
July Killers of the Flower Moon David Grann   5   0    0
August An Unnecessary Woman Rabih Alameddine   1   1    0
September North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail Scott Jurek and Jenny Jurek   4   1    3
October The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck   7   0    0
November Small Fry Lisa Brennan-Jobs   4   2    2

2018

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton   3   0    0
February The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds Michael Lewis   6   1    1
March The Green and the Red Armand Chauvel   1   1    0
April How to Create a Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach Tobias Leenaert   11   0    1
May The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead   5   0    0
June Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady Susan Quinn   6   0    0
July Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel   0   2    0
August Ageless Vegan: The Secret to Living a Long and Healthy Plant-Based Life Tracye McQuirter and Mary McQuirter   10   0    0
September The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy   2   0    0
October Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? Frans de Waal   3   1    1
November Less Andrew Sean Greer   2   1    1

2017

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January Meatonomics David Robinson Simon   5   0    2
February The Vegetarian Han Kang   5   1    3
March Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption Bryan Stevenson   7   0    1
April Redeployment Phil Klay   2   1    0
May The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness Sy Montgomery   7   2    3
June The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams   10   0    2
July What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of our Underwater Cousins Jonathan Balcombe   8   0    1
August Scoop Evelyn Waugh   1   1    1
September The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Charles Darwin   1   4    1
October The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood   8   1    0
November Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City Matthew Desmond   9   0    0

2016

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January Off the Reservation Glen Merzer   4   1    4
February Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End Atul Gawande   6   0    3
March My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante   5   0    1
April Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II Vicki Croke   3   0    3
May Leaving Time Jodi Picoult   5   2    1
June The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Elizabeth Kolbert   7   0    3
July Jerry’s Vegan Women Ben Shaberman   2   2    2
August The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically Peter Singer   8   1    3
September The Bear Went Over the Mountain William Kotzwinkle   3   2    2
October The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls   3   0    1
November Dietland Sarai Walker   2   2    2

2015

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January Defiant Daughters: 21 Women on Art, Activism, Animals, and the Sexual Politics of Meat Kara Davis and Wendy Lee, eds.   3   0    4
February The Rosie Project: A Novel Graeme Simsion   3   0    1
March The Lucky Ones: My Passionate Fight for Farm Animals Jenny Brown   10   0    1
April Dog On It Spencer Quinn   3   4    3
May A Fighting Chance Elizabeth Warren   8   1    0
June The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry Gabrielle Zevin   5   0    1
July The Lusty Vegan: A Cookbook and Relationship Manifesto for Vegans and Those Who Love Them Ayinde Howell and Zoe Eisenberg   1   3    5
August The Adventures of Vivian Sharpe, Vegan Superhero Marla Rose   7   0    0
September Will Travel for Vegan Food Kristin Lajeunesse   8   1    3
October Lord of the Flies William Golding   4   1    3
November The Astronaut Wives Club Lily Koppel   4   1    4

2014

RECOMMEND?
MONTH TITLE AUTHOR YES NO OTHER
January Where’d You Go, Bernadette Maria Semple   7   0    3