Dotters Book Club
The Dotters Book Club was started in the winter of 2017, when Elizabeth de Cleyre was new to Eau Claire and wanted to make some friends. Becca at Red's Mercantile graciously offered to host it at the shop, and we quickly outgrew the space. Friends were made, and the idea for an indie bookstore was born!
For 2017, we read fiction or nonfiction written by a female author each month. We created a reading recommendation guide based on our 2017 Book Club Reads.
For 2018, we read books written by authors of color. Unfortunately, women and minorities are wildly underrepresented in publishing. By varying our reading habits, we're expanding our worldview and perspectives, and showing publishers that there is a demand for narratives as diverse as the globe itself. We created a reading recommendation guide based on our 2018 Book Club Reads.
For 2019, we read books by women, translated books, and books by authors of color. Here are the books that we read:
FEBRUARY 2019: History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
MARCH 2019: Any Man by Amber Tamblyn
APRIL 2019: The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore
MAY 2019: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
JUNE 2019: The Emissary by Yoko Tawada
JULY 2019: Hotel Silence by Audur Ava Ólafsdóttir
AUGUST 2019: A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
SEPTEMBER 2019: Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot
OCTOBER 2019: If You See Me, Don't Say Hi: Stories by Neel Patel
DECEMBER 2019: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
In 2020, we diversified our genres. We read essays, novels, and memoir.
FEBRUARY 2020: The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by Esmé Weijun Wang
MARCH 2020: Severance by Ling Ma
APRIL 2020: Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
MAY 2020: Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottam
JUNE 2020: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
JULY 2020: The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Story by Kao Kalia Yang
SEPTEMBER 2020: She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore
OCTOBER 2020: Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden
DECEMBER 2020: The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantú
We enjoyed the way genre shaped our discussions in 2020, so we'll continue to explore essays, fiction, and memoir, focusing on BIPOC writers.
FEBRUARY 2021: All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks
MARCH 2021: Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
APRIL 2021: A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
MAY 2021: Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong
JUNE 2021: These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card
JULY 2021: Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
AUGUST 2021: The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
SEPTEMBER 2021: Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washington
OCTOBER 2021: The Yellow House: A Memoir by Sarah M. Broom
DECEMBER 2021: The Mountains Sing by Nguyên Phan Quê Mai
Members of our Book Club voted and here are our choices for 2022:
FEBRUARY 2022: The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
MARCH 2022: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
APRIL 2022: The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir by E.J. Koh
MAY 2022: What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon
JUNE 2022: The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
JULY 2022: Dog Flowers: A Memoir by Danielle Gellar
AUGUST 2022: The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
SEPTEMBER 2022: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
OCTOBER 2022: Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford
DECEMBER 2022: Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Members of our Book Club voted and here are our choices for 2023:
FEBRUARY 2023: White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue...and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation by Lauren Michele Jackson
MARCH 2023: Sula by Toni Morrison
APRIL 2023: Tastes Like War: A Memoir by Grace M. Cho
MAY 2023: White Magic: Essays by Elissa Washuta
JUNE 2023: Last Summer of State Street by Toya Wolfe
JULY 2023: Poet Warrior: A Memoir by Joy Harjo
AUGUST 2023: Seen & Unseen: Technology, Social Media, and the Fight for Racial Justice by Marc Lamont Hill & Todd Brewster
SEPTEMBER 2023: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
OCTOBER 2023: Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land by Toni Jensen
DECEMBER 2023: Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuaysi
Members of our Book Club voted and here are our choices for 2024:
FEBRUARY 2024: Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America by Gregory D. Smithers
MARCH 2024: Assembly by Natasha Brown
APRIL 2024: Local: A Memoir by Jessica Machado
MAY 2024: Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution by Elie Mystal
JUNE 2024: A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
JULY 2024: How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
AUGUST 2024: We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, & Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian
SEPTEMBER 2024: The Trees by Percival Everett
OCTOBER 2024: Burn the Place: A Memoir by Iliana Regan
DECEMBER 2024: The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai
Members of our Book Club voted and here are our choices for 2025:
FEBRUARY 2025: The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape by Katie Holten
MARCH 2025: The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling
APRIL 2025: Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
We have Dotters Book Club Subscription Boxes!
If you'd like to follow along with what we're reading each month, find us on Instagram @dottersbooks. If you'd like to join us in Eau Claire, email us at dottersbooks@gmail.com.