WWW RI Women’s Book Club: The Light We Carry

[CREDIT: Pixabay] The first Women’s Wilderness Weekend RI Women’s book club in February will discuss ‘The Light We Carry,’ by Michelle Obama.

The focus of our book selections for the WWW RI Book Club centers on Women authors writing about women’s stories, connections, history, nature, and overcoming adversity.

Anyone in the WWW of RI community is welcome to participate regardless of your attendance at our weekend events.

WWW RI Book Club Rules:

• Please obtain a copy of the book, either by borrowing from the library, borrowing from someone you know, or purchasing. Read the book on your own during the month. Audio books are good too. We will meet at the end of the month to discuss the book.

• Suggestions are highly welcome. Jessy, our book club coordinator, has selected the first book to get us started and added a couple of tentative selections for upcoming months. Please let us know what you are interested in.

• Please read the book, or at least attempt to read it so you can contribute to the discussion.

• Everyone reads at their own pace, and that is fine. If you finish the book in two days or only get half way through, anyone with interest in the book club can be included.

Any and all conversation is welcome at the book discussions but please be courteous and kind. You can disagree with someone, but always do it respectfully. 

You do not need to participate every month to be part of the book club. Read what interests you and attend when you can.

Now-February’s book

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama

The Light We Carry – By Michelle Obama

There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life’s big challenges, but Michelle Obama believes that we can all locate and lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. In The Light We Carry, she opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much?

Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles—the earned wisdom that helps her continue to “become.” She details her most valuable practices, like “starting kind,” “going high,” and assembling a “kitchen table” of trusted friends and mentors. With trademark humor, candor, and compassion, she also explores issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, encouraging readers to work through fear, find strength in community, and live with boldness.

“When we are able to recognize our own light, we become empowered to use it,” writes Michelle Obama. A rewarding blend of powerful stories and profound advice that will ignite conversation, The Light We Carry inspires readers to examine their own lives, identify their sources of gladness, and connect meaningfully in a turbulent world.

Discussion for this book will take place Feb. 25th at 3 p.m., location to be determined.

Please reach out to jessyjakul@gmail.com to be included.

Suggestions for future months:

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant