Circle Time: A Book Club Podcast Lauren Chapman, Michelle Phillips, and Olivia Marelic

You can now join the Circle Time Bookclub Podcast Group on Goodreads! Check out the page here.

Our first novel on the podcast! This is the second book in a series published in the 1990s by ecofeminist leader Starhawk. It tells the story of a young woman named Maya protesting the Vietnam War and trying to stay true to herself amidst all the pressures of family, peers and adulthood. Discussion topics include:-when did we become such non-fiction heads??-personal communion with nature and how to write about it -is personal revolution a worthwhile cause? Or are we simply leaving others...

Welcome back to another Circle Time! In this episode, Lauren shares from Negotiating with the Dead: Writers on Writing by Margaret Atwood. We put on our English class hats and talk about our ideas about writers, our experiences with fiction vs nonfiction, and get a little existential about being human and our desires to be remembered. Whew!

Olivia begins this conversation by giving an overview of what this book is about and who this book might be written for (probably not for us). We then dive into a discussion about qualities that make up a "life partner" and how those traits may be overlooked by some people because of smaller annoyances or distractions in the initial dating phase. We talk about how awkward and weird dating is or can be, but how necessary those parts are to form relationship with someone. We try to differentiat...

We keep unpacking Communion with a deeper discussion of queerness and how it doesn't go away, even when you're in a straight-presenting relationship. Further, we discuss the experience of reading bell hooks' work and how truly impactful it is.

Book three in bell hooks' series on the big-L Love. This book spells out the challenges women face in finding and keeping love in a patriarchal society. From identifying "feminist" men who would never actually date a feminist, to challenging the idea that women are inherently nurturing, bell hooks gives us a lot to chew on. This episode gives an overview of the book, touching on multiple topics and concepts. More on queerness and hooks' impact in next week's episode!