Book Club

Everyone is welcome to attend the book club, whether you have read the book or not.

 Events are hosted either virtually or in person.

Book Club Selections for 2026

We have selected our choices for 2026. Our selections are light-hearted but thought-provoking and a change of pace from our usual biomedical topics. The books include one mentioned in an earlier North Central newsletter and another by an author whose work we have read before. They offer something for everyone--fiction (ethnicity and the publishing industry), language (something writers always fret about), and biomedical science (with some thought-provoking questions):

January 26, 2026: Yellowface by RF Kuang

• Yellowface is a satirical novel about writing and publishing. It relates the tale of June Hayward, a white author who takes her deceased Chinese American friend’s novel and gets it published as her own. The fictional book ‘s topic is a story about Asian Americans during World War I. The “fun” begins when June has trouble with her Korean American editor who thinks the book lacks a sufficient Asian perspective. Kuang is an Asian American author of multiple books of fantasy fiction, including Katabasis, her latest work. Those wishing a longer preview can see Read a Good Book? in the AMWA North Central Newsletter, April 2024.

April 27, 2026: Like: A History of the World’s Most Hated (and Misunderstood) Word by Megan C Reynolds

• This book presents an examination of the word, “like.” “The word is a preposition, but it has taken on new meanings—just listen to current conversations and you can, like, see what I mean. As a boomer, it reminds me a lot of the use of the word, “man.” Both are used in many more ways—comma, exclamation, verb, to name a few. Like contains much more about the word, and it was also reviewed in The New York Times Book Review in the Sunday New York Times August 10, 2025, p 8.

September 28, 2026: Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach

• Mary Roach’s latest book explores the advances and questions provoked in repairing the human body. Always interesting, Roach’s work provides multiple questions, only some of which have definitive answers. She has written many other single topic books (eg, Stiff [about cadavers], Bonk [sex], Grunt [soldiers], Fuzz [about nature], and Grunt [war]) as well as books about space travel (Packing for Mars) and the afterlife (Six Feet Over). At our January 26, 2015, book club meeting, we read her book, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal on (see AMWA North Central Newsletter Book Club Notes, February 2015 for a summary).

As always, one does not have to have read the book to attend. Everyone is welcome. Please note that 2026 is our 20th year of hosting the Book Club, so join us in celebrating it. Happy reading!

We are always looking for titles for the book club, so feel free to send us any selections you find noteworthy. We try to include a rotating schedule of writing or editing, biomedical, and fiction books, but we don’t always adhere to that order and often juggle titles to accommodate those books that make the news. 

In 2026, the North Central Chapter will celebrate our book club’s 20th(!) year. Congratulations to our first organizer, Mary Knatterud, PhD, for her steady guidance and active participation. As always, we hope to see you at one of our meetings! 

Contact

Please direct any suggestions for meeting times, places, and book selections to Paul Mamula at: paulpat@pclink.com