Maricopa Book Club talking books

Members of the Maricopa Book Club meet each month for the purpose of talking books.

The discussion is lively, filled with “well-told” and “interesting point of view,” a sharing of ideas and opinions, as well as personal experiences relative to the book at hand.

The group meets the fourth Monday evening of each month at the home of Gerry Ryan. Ryan began the group several years ago. “Originally we would get a library set of five or six books, and that was enough for our group,” she said.

Presently, with at least 15 members each meeting and sometimes more, as well as 30 on the contact list who may not be able to attend meetings, the group gets their books at the library, from Secondhand Pages or online. If members choose not to keep the books, they donate them to the Friends of the Library’s book sales or take them back to Secondhand Pages.

Because many of the club’s selections are non-fiction, members have the opportunity to learn about many “different countries and different times,” according to Ryan. Selections are based on group consensus. “We talk about possible books and take suggestions,” says Ryan. Some of the members may have read the book or have heard about it and hope to read it.

May’s selection was “Lazy B: Growing up on a cattle ranch in the American Southwest” by first female Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and her brother H. Alan Day. The Lazy B ranch was located in southeastern Arizona with its holdings spilling over into New Mexico near Lordsburg. According to club members, the book provided an excellent account of ranch and cowboy life and a fascinating look at the very varied personalities of the ranch’s horses. Actual photos are included in the book, which Ryan called “wonderful pictures.”

Longtime Maricopan Mary Lou Smith has met O’Connor and shares many of the same friends. “It was interesting to me that she (O’Connor) felt so inadequate at the private school she attended where students were from richer families,” said Smith, who also noted that O’Connor’s father “gave them huge responsibilities as kids.”

The selected book for next month is “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer” by James L. Swanson. It will be up for discussion at the Maricopa Book Club’s June 22 meeting.

If you go:

What: Maricopa Book Club (new members welcome)
When: Fourth Monday each month, 6-7 p.m.
Where: Call Gerry Ryan (520-568-3591) for more information and directions to the meeting site in Rancho El Dorado.

Photo by Joyce Hollis