On a Tuesday evening, members of the Audubon Book Club arrived at Kimberly Clarke Armatis' home to the sound of romantic French music and a mannequin dressed like Coco Chanel.
The table was set with cheeses, baguettes, pastries and other French fare.
The setting was an homage to the Chanel biography that the club had just read: "The Queen of Paris," by Pamela Binnings Ewen.
All book clubs require books, members and conversation, but the Audubon Book Club, like many local clubs, adds its own creative spin.
Armatis served sidecars, a favorite Coco Chanel cocktail, and along with her guests, donned a Chanel-inspired look. She even asked the author to take part in the club’s discussion. Ewen, who doesn’t live in New Orleans, accepted and joined the evening via Zoom.
Diverse and wide-ranging
Local book clubs are as diverse as the books they read. Some are small, shared among friends and acquaintances, and by invitation. Others are large, open to the public, and free. Many cover a wide range of books, but there are clubs that are genre- or niche-specific.
Women are credited with starting book clubs in the 18th century — when they largely were excluded from the workplace and higher education and spent most of their time at home. Several centuries later, TV celebrity Oprah Winfrey revolutionized book clubs by inspiring millions to read the books chosen for her book club.
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In New Orleans, the wealth of women’s book clubs include some that have hosted multiple generations of women in the same family. The Lit Group, started in the 1970s, has three members who were preceded by their mothers. The group is typical of many local book clubs in that it consists of 13 members, reads a book a month and meets at members’ homes. It is atypical in that every meeting has a guest speaker, usually someone from a local university with expertise in the subject. The addition of a speaker makes each meeting a “mini course” on the current book and helps keep the meeting focused. Books are chosen by committee and often around a theme such as Pulitzer Prize winners, Russian literature or Hispanic authors.
“One year we read each month a biography of an author and then a book by that author,” said member Jane Ferguson.
Ferguson says being part of the club has pushed her to read things she might not have read otherwise, a common refrain among book club members.
Reading and eating
Men’s book clubs offer the same intellectual outlet and shared community. The Epicurean Book Club, a group of 10 men, adds a gastronomic component to the experience. Usually, the member hosting the evening cooks a meal inspired by the location of the book being discussed. On occasion, they’ve invited guest authors.
Several members of the club, made up mostly of busy professionals, also take part in a second men’s book club. Now retired, former Major League Baseball player and local sportscaster, Ron Swoboda, values the camaraderie, intellectual exchange and culinary aspects.
“It’s such an interesting group; you can’t help but grow from that,” said Swoboda, who jokes that being in a close-knit book club with physicians is a plus.
“An internist and orthopedic surgeon are in this club, so I’m heavily invested in it,” he said.
Spouses Marjorie Nolan-Wheatley and Julian Wheatley belonged to multiple book clubs over the years. Julian’s doctorate in linguistics brought the couple to a variety of universities, and book clubs provided a place where the Wheatleys could get to know people.
When they returned to Marjorie’s native New Orleans after living all over the world, they joined a book club that includes couples and people from many countries.
Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s new novel, “The American Daughters,” published in February, really began in an archive 20 years ago.
Julian Wheatley finds the male and female mix a good balance for the club’s conversations which he described as “animated and with broad participation, particularly when lubricated with a glass or two of wine.”
As world travelers, the couple appreciates that the club’s choice of books reflects its international membership.
Bookstore clubs abound
Where you find books in New Orleans, you will find book clubs.
Baldwin & Co., a Black-owned independent bookstore and coffee shop in the Marigny with an emphasis on empowerment, literacy and community outreach, hosts a book club that prioritizes works by Black, indigenous and other people of color. There are over 100 registered members with about 50 at each meeting.
The store’s manager, Elizabeth Dowdy, said discussions “aim to expand perspectives and deepen members’ relationships with literature” and “the purpose of the book club is rooted in the spirit of cultivating a literary society in our community.”
Tubby & Coo’s, a queer-owned traveling independent book shop with pop-ups around town, hosts Tubby & Coo’s Queer Book Club monthly at Hi-Ballz on Canal Street. Tubby & Coo’s focuses on science fiction, horror, romance, fantasy, queer and diverse books and its Queer Book Club tries to cover a different genre monthly. Tubby and Coo’s has two virtual book clubs as well.
Blue Cypress Books on Oak Street, which sells new and used books, has two clubs: one for romance books and another for fantasy. Both were started by employee Jodi Laidlaw, and the response has been enthusiastic. The two clubs together have 315 members with an average of 50 people at each monthly meeting.
Laidlaw divides the large meetings into groups and introduces activities. Over the holidays, attendees made mini versions of books they’d read during the year as ornaments. Laidlaw says the “secret sauce” behind the success of the clubs is the fact that they “create a space for people to be people and to make room for genuine community.”
When Amor Towles was in Louisiana for the New Orleans Book Festival March 15-16, he took an hour to chat with Jan Risher. His books, "Rules of Civility," "A Gentleman in Moscow," "The Lincoln Highway," are all bestsellers. Towles' new book, "Table for Two" will be released April 2. The eight-part television series of "A Gentleman in Moscow," starring Ewan McGregor, debuts March 29 Paramount+.
“Our manager, LeeAnna Callon, says ‘You don’t need to know anyone to come but you’re probably going to leave with a lifelong friend,’” said Laidlaw.
Blue Cypress is also the venue for The Book Easy, a community led book club with a profemme focus.
Like most independent book clubs, the one that meets at the Garden District Book Shop picks its own books and is run by members. But Garden District Book Shop manager Amy Loewy says being connected to a bookstore draws a range of people, allows for year around meetings, and provides access to new books, authors and in-store events. The store is recently renovated and now includes a bar.
“Sometimes, a local author will be involved,” said Loewy.
Octavia Books is home to a sci fi book club and a general book club, both of which have grown over the years. The store also expanded its location Uptown on Octavia Street, and its additional square footage accommodates larger groups and events.
Among the library shelves
The New Orleans Public Library, with 15 library locations across the city, offers five monthly book clubs, including several general book clubs, a virtual one for mystery lovers that meets via zoom, and the new Bywater Book Club that launches in March. All of the clubs are listed on the NOPL’s events calendar. Information about the library’s book clubs is also found on a “New Year, New Hobbies” blog post on the NOPL website.
Book enthusiasts gather for a meeting of the Old Metairie Mystery Book Club at the Metairie Library on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. The group discussed the book "Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide" by Rupert Holmes. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The Jefferson Parish Library, which has 16 branches, has 10 monthly book clubs. The varied list includes one for French literature, several for mysteries, several for teens, and the Great Books Discussion Group devoted to classic works of literature. Some are run by library staff, others are patron-led.
This year is the 20th anniversary of One Book One New Orleans, a citywide book club that picks a book a year and works to improve literacy and access to books.
OBONO gives out about 550 free copies of the yearly read and develops an adult literacy curriculum around the book, hosts discussions, author readings and creative writing workshops at venues around the city,.
It gets the books to the ears of the blind and print handicapped via radio, and provides books to the incarcerated.
Putting books inside the Orleans Parish Prison is OBONO's newest initiative, with 100 books donated each month. Visiting authors come to speak, and a book club there has now become a big hit.
“Breaking down barriers is the name of the game,” said Megan Holt, executive director of OBONO.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Local universities, alumni associations, cultural, civic and community organizations (such as Alliance Francaise, The Jewish Community Center, Hadassah, and The Junior League), museums (NOMA’s monthly book club covers books related to its collections and exhibitions), nonprofits, churches, synagogues and other places of worship, and national book clubs with local chapters are all sources of book clubs and the enrichment they provide
“In a book club,” said Audubon Book Club founder Claire Webb, “you open your mind and continue to learn.”
RECOMMENDED BOOK CLUB READS
One Book, One New Orleans
"The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You," by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
"Black Creole Chronicles," by Mona Lisa Saloy
Audubon Book Club
"The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini
"To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee
The Epicurean Book Club
"Verite: Love at Center Court," by Rachel Blaufeld
Baldwin & Co.
"Heaven & Earth Grocery Store," by James McBride
"Let us Descend," by Jesmyn Ward
Jane Ferguson of The Lit Group
"The Prophets of Gentilly Terrace," by Gordon Peter Wilson
"The Bettencourt Affair," by Tom Sancton
Science Fiction Book Club at Octavia Books
"Mexican Gothic," by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
"All Systems Red," by Martha Wells
Book Club at Garden District Books
"The Big Door Prize," by M.O. Walsh
"The Marriage Portrait," by Maggie O’Farrell
Julian and Marjorie Wheatley
"Milkman," by Anna Burns
"Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress," by Dai Sijie (originally published in French in 2000)
"The Overstory," by Richard Powers