The Late Bloomers' Club and The Art of Community - Book Reviews | Ep 46

Three book reviews this week! Learn which one I couldn't finish, which one was sweet, and which one gave me more tools for community building.

Lady Violet Investigates by Grace Burrowes
The Late Bloomers' Club by Louise Miller
The Art of Community: Seven Principles for Belonging by Charles H. Vogl

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If you're a woman who appreciates connecting with other women in community with vulnerability and compassion, please join us in the Solidarity Sister! Facebook group at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/716800349946338/

The Solidarity Sister! Book Club has begun and runs through the end of May. We're reading Brené Brown's Gifts of Imperfection over a period of 15 weeks, and connecting via Zoom and Marco Polo. Find more info in the FB group. Sign up at https://forms.gle/ZHpfhd8hwCpw6NL2A

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IG: @solidaritysister.kristinwilson 

Transcript

Kristin: 0:07

Hello and welcome to another book review episode of Solidarity Sister with Kristin Wilson. I put out three episodes a week here. Mondays are for book reviews, Wednesdays are for interviews, and Fridays are for mini sodes. Those could include sneak peeks of upcoming interviews or snippets of wisdom from previous ones. or anything that life has been teaching me lately that someone else might also benefit from. Sometimes, these episodes come out late, because I do still have seven kids at home, and every day is unpredictable. I'm super grateful for the opportunity to put out this podcast, however imperfectly, and I am especially grateful to you for listening. If you've listened to episode 45, you'll know that I am starting to slow down my frenzied audiobook phase. I'm still listening to books for sure, but I've spent a lot more time listening to praise or worship music lately, think K Love or Strive to Be, and spending less time in books. I'm also trying to prioritize being more present when my family is around and not be so sucked into an audiobook that I'm not paying as much attention to them as I think they deserve. Rather than 8 books a week, I think I'll be listening to 3-5 books a week instead moving forward. This week I started reading Lady Violet Investigates by Grace Burroughs. I had high hopes for this book and was excited when my name came up on the waitlist through my public library. I enjoy Regency romances and I love some intrigue so this description drew me in. From Amazon. Lady Violet Belmain emerges from two years of mourning, less than enthusiastic about resuming her place in polite society. She's talked into attending a country house party by her French physician friend, Hugh St. Sevier only to find that the house party guests are preyed upon by a mysterious thief. McKeith, Marquis of Dunkeld. Violet once considered Sebastian her closest confidante, but war and the passing years have changed him. Nonetheless, when Sebastian's valet, another veteran, comes under suspicion, Violet, Saint Sévier, and St Sevier must work together to discover the true culprit, lest an innocent man be sent to the gallows for crimes he did not commit. I was eager to find a new series to enjoy. That is until I couldn't finish the book. I got 55 percent of the way in before finally accepting because I rarely abandon a book. That the whole thing was falling flat for me. I didn't feel invested in the character or the story. And I was just done. I'd love to be able to recommend this one, but it gets a pass for me. The Late Bloomers Club by Louise Miller is my second book review of the week from Amazon's description. A delightful novel about two headstrong sisters, a small town's efforts to do right by the community and the power of a lost dog to summon true love. Nora, the owner of the Miss Guthrie Diner, is perfectly happy serving up apple cider donuts, coffee, and eggs any way you like them to her regulars. And she takes great pleasure in knowing exactly what's the usual. But her life is soon shaken when she discovers she and her free spirited younger sister Kit stand to inherit the home and land Of the town's beloved cake lady, Peggy Johnson. Kit, an aspiring and broke filmmaker, thinks her problems are solved when she and Nora find out Peggy was in the process of selling the land to a big box developer before her death. The people of Guthrie are divided. Some want the opportunities the development will bring while others are staunchly against any change and they aren't afraid to leave their opinions with their tips. Time is running out and the sisters need to make a decision soon, but Nora isn't quite ready to let go of the land. Complete with a charming farmhouse, an ancient apple orchard, and the clues to a secret life that no one knew Peggy had. Troubled by the conflicting needs of the town, and confused by her growing feelings toward Elliot, the big box developers rep, Nora throws herself into solving the one problem that everyone in town can agree on. Finding Peggy's missing dog, Freckles. Freckles. When a disaster strikes the diner, the community of Guthrie bands together to help her and Nora discovers that doing the right thing doesn't always mean giving up your dreams. I really enjoyed this book. It was small town sweet. I loved the community feel. I enjoyed getting to know Nora and Kit and Kit's boyfriend, Max, who has a really interesting backstory. I love to see how the members of the town supported each other. It was a feel good read for me and I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is looking for a feel good read for themselves. And finally, I loved The Art of Community. Seven principles for belonging by Charles Vogel. From the Amazon description for that one, this book is a guide for leaders seeking to build a community to strengthen the community they already have, or who may not think of themselves as community leaders, but who are envisioning a group they hope to create. These communities can be formal with official memberships and administrations or informal tied by shared values and commitments. Some people think communities happen by accident, or have to emerge organically. But Charles Vogel emphasizes that there are solid time honored principles for consciously building them. Drawing on 3, 000 years of tradition, Vogel lays out seven enduring principles that every community of every kind must master to be effective and supportive. He describes each principle's purpose and provides extensive hands on tools for implementing them. He also helps leaders ensure that their communities remain healthy, And life affirming and not degenerate into rigid cults. It's no secret that with a podcast centered on community, that I'm feeling drawn to learn more and more about what makes a strong community. Charles Vogel has so much to offer in this book. He talks about a weekly dinner that has been a huge avenue for creating community in his own life. And it doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but it's actually a really, really beautiful thing that grew to be much larger than I think he at first anticipates. I especially loved the way that he talked about even in this own close to home example, the different roles that people play in being part of that dinner community and kind of compared that to how we all have roles to play in every community. There are people who have the ability to be an enforcer, to invite some are more in the inner circle, some on the outer circle. And it's just really fascinating to me to get. In depth and looking at what community looks like in that way. He also shares about working with the founder of Twitch around what gives that platform a community feel and how that community can be strengthened. I love that. He talks about all different types of communities from online to in real life, to religious, to business oriented, to hobby centered, to friendships while bringing out the universal principles of community building that relate to them all. One thing to note is that he differentiates between a group and a community by saying that a community is more relationship focused. A community is a group of individuals who share mutual concern for each other's welfare. So whereas in a group, people might come together just to share something about an activity or be together in that way, but they don't really have a concern for one another. He would not consider that community in a community. People are growing friendships and they care about the welfare of one another. Vogel talks about the importance of knowing the values held by a community as well as the role of storytelling in community. Strong communities will have an origin story to them. As I want to enhance and build the Solidarity Sister community, both online and in real life, this book gave me a lot to consider. If you're interested in community building, this one is definitely worth the read. I can hardly believe that the Solidarity Sister Book Club is winding down. We only have five weeks left. This week we'll be discussing Guidepost seven, cultivating play and rest, letting go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self worth. We meet via Zoom from 7-7:30 p. m. Mountain Standard Time on Thursdays. See the show notes for the form to join or get into the Facebook group where the link is always posted. Thank you for being part of the Solidarity Sister community. We needed you.