This month the Really Serious Oreo Cookie Book Club will celebrate our fifteenth year discussing non-fiction works of social, economic, political, and philosophical importance. I started this book club fifteen years ago after searching for a reading and discussion group, but mostly found groups devoted to fiction.
While I always enjoyed reading fiction and poetry, I thought a forum for discussing ideas in non-fiction books might appeal to those looking for a more hearty diet. So I started a monthly group devoted to non-fiction books only—and we have studied more than 100 significant, thought-provoking works over the past fifteen years.
At meetings, to balance our menu of serious books with something lighter, there are Oreo Cookies (or other equally appealing refreshments) to go along with the discussion. Hence, our name: The Really Serious Oreo Cookie (O.C.) Book Club.
Ours is a smaller group than the Shores book group primarily devoted to fiction, but always full of interest to those attending. Over the years, some of our members have moved away, some died, some decided the others didn’t pay them enough attention and left. But our group has endured. For more information on the club, you can contact me at nortlynne@cox.net.
Our Book List
To view the full list of notable works we have read in the past, go to niguelshores.org/2022/04/books-read-by- the-oreo-book-club/
Here is a sampling from our reading list this year:
■ Peril, Bob Woodward and Robert Costa
■ Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, Yuval Noah
Harari
■ The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, Michael Lewis
■ The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, Peter Frankopan
■ Making China Modern, Klaus Muhlhahn
■ Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of
American Intelligence, Amy Zegart
■ Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy, Henry Kissinger
Upcoming Meetings
Our book for discussion on October 27 at 2:00 p.m. will be This America of Ours: The Forgotten Fight to Save the Wild by Nate Schweber. And in November, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Naza- reth by Reza Aslan.
Come join our meetings. Like a good buffet—you won’t enjoy all the ideas, but you may find some very tasty.
—Norton Schwartz
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