The BotMASS Book Club

Join the BotMASS Book Club #

Welcome to BotMASS Book Club! We're a friendly group that meets monthly to discuss great books—everyone's welcome. We meet at 1:00 PM Central Time (CT) on the fourth Sunday of each month.

No preparation needed—just read (or start reading!) the book and join the discussion.

We are fully remote - we meet on your device (see below). Some of us live in Madison, Wisconsin.

Upcoming Book Discussions #

September 27 – Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (any translation)

October 25 – The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

November 22 – Red Rising #1 by Pierce Brown (Nominee for Goodreads Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction, 2014)

December 27 – Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

January 24 – A Different Kind of Tension: New and Selected Stories by Jonathan Lethem

February 28 – TBD (Jim Sheufelt will choose—suggestions welcome!)

How to Join Remotely #

We meet via Signal video chat (free, private, and easy to use).

If you are not on Signal yet: #

1. Install Signal

• Desktop (Windows/Linux/macOS) or Mobile (App Store/Google Play).
• Tip: Use the same phone number for desktop and mobile to sync contacts.

2. Email Evan to get added
   Send an email to atom_box [at] hotmail [dot] com with the subject line "BotMASS Book Club".
   Note: I check email sporadically—send your request at least 3 days before the meeting to ensure access.
3. On the day of the meeting
   Open Signal, tap the group name (BotMASS Bookclub), and click the camera icon to join the call.
4. In between meetings
   Text the group in the Signal chat to share comments on the book or ask questions.

Ready to join? Email Evan today!

About the name #

Why BotMASS? We started as a short story reading club. The first few meetings all focused on stories from Penguin's Book of the Modern American Short Story

Past Meetings #

December 2024
Raymond Carver: Bicycles, Muscles, Cigarettes
Lauren Groff: The Midnight Zone

January 2025
The Hermit's Story, by Rick Bass
The Last Thing We Need, by Claire Vaye Watkins

February 2025
The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich
The Fix by Percival Everett

March 2025
Ursula K Le Guin: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Sunday, April 20
Raymond Carver: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, 159 pages

Sunday, May 18
Percival Everett: James, 302 pages

Sunday June 15
Samantha Harvey: Orbital, 207 pages

Sunday August 3 (postponed from July because nobody was done with the book yet)
Richard Powers: The Overstory 502 pages

Sunday, August 17
Silk by Alessandro Baricco, Guido Waldman (Translator )
91 Pages
LINK
Optional: The Egg by Andy Weir. Out of print short story. Where to find?

Sunday, September 21
Heartwood by Amity Gage
320 pages
LINK

Sunday, October 26
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
528 pages - non fiction
LINK

Sunday, November 23
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus (Translator)
160 pages
LINK

Sunday, December 28
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
331 pages
LINK

Sunday, January 25
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
382 pages, non fiction
LINK

Sunday, February 22
Semiosis (Semiosis #1) by Sue Burke
333 pages, science fiction
LINK

Sunday, March 22
North Woods by Daniel Mason
365 pages
LINK

Sunday, April 26
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
195 pages
LINK

Sunday, May 24
When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams
208 pages, non fiction
LINK

The Arrival by Shaun Tan and The Cicada by Shaun Tan
132 pages - graphic novel
LINK

Sunday, July 26
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
355 pages - fiction

August 23 Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

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