SWE-Detroit PD Book Club

The group reads one book a month alternating between a nonfiction book (often on technical or women's issues) and a work of fiction by a woman author. The books are chosen two months in advance by a consensus or vote of the members attending the meeting. One member volunteers to write a review of one of the books for the Detroit Direction (the SWE-Detroit newsletter). When available, reviews are posted on the web page.

There are currently about a dozen members in the group. If you are interested in joining, or want more information, please send an email to swe-books-request@umich.edu. Although the book club is sponsored by SWE, book club members do not need to be members of SWE, women, or engineers (they don't even need to read the books!)

Below are some of our members as we celebrated our Tenth Anniversary!

Here is a list of the books we have read or are planning to read month by month, with a link to the reviews where available. On our potential books page, you can see a list of books we are considering for future months as well as make suggestions and comments about the books. Books that are reviewed are rated from one to five stars, with five stars indicating that "nobody should go through life without reading this book."

October 26, 2008

Love Marriage, by V.V. Ganeshananthan

September 28, 2008

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel

August 24, 2008

Middlemarch, by George Eliot.

July 27, 2008

In Code: A Mathematical Journey, by Sarah Flannery and David Flannery

June 22, 2008

A Clean Slate, by Laura Caldwell

June 1, 2008 note date change due to memorial day

Arc of Justice, by Kevin Boyle

April 27, 2008

Ines of My Soul, by Isabel Allende

March 23, 2008

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, by Atul Gawande ****1/2

February 24, 2008

My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult ****

January 27, 2008

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan

December 2, 2007

Those Who Save Us, by Jenna Blum

October 28, 2007

Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Woman of DNA, by Anne Maddox

September 23, 2007

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen ****1/2

August 26, 2007

Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Alison Weir

July 22, 2007

The Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

June 24, 2007

Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, by John Cornwell

May 27, 2007

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, by Louise Murphy ****

April 29, 2007

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond

Our 11th anniversary!

March 25, 2007

The Beekeeper's Apprentice, by Laurie R. King

February 25, 2007

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder

In conjunction with Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads

January 28, 2007

On Beauty, by Zadie Smith

December 3, 2006

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford

October 22, 2006

The Twentieth Wife, by Indu Sundaresan ***

September 24, 2006

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, by Ruth Reichl ***1/2

August 27, 2006

In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Garcia Alvarez

July 23, 2006

The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, by John M. Barry

June 26, 2006

Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters

May 21, 2006

The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd, by Richard Zacks

April 23, 2006

A Thread of Grace, by Mary Doria Russel

Our 10th anniversary!

March 26, 2006

The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time, by Jonathan Weiner ****1/2

In conjunction with Ann Arbor Reads

February 26, 2006

I Am Madame X, by Gioia Diliberto

January 22, 2006

Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Advisor to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia, by Janet Wallach ****

December 4, 2005

The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin

October 23, 2005

We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese, by Elizabeth Norman

September 25, 2005

The Jane Austen Book Club, by Karen Joy Fowler

August 28, 2005

Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer, by Lynne Cox

July 24, 2005

Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett

June 19, 2005

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, by Jon Krakauer *****

May 22, 2005

The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri ***1/2

April 24, 2005

A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League, by Ron Suskind ***** / ****1/2

March 20, 2005

Vintage Munro, by Alice Munro

February 27, 2005

The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, by Maria Rosa Menocal

Note: This book was a finalist for the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti Reads.

January 23, 2005

The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi, by Jacqueline Park

December 5, 2004

No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs, by Naomi Klein ***1/2 (or **?)

October 24, 2004

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

September 26, 2004

Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole, by Jeri Nielsen ***1/2

August 22, 2004

The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory

July 25, 2004

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There, by David Brooks

June 27, 2004

The Comfort Woman, by Nora Okja Keller

May 23, 2004

Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do, by Kate White

April 25, 2004

Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys

Our 8th anniversary! We will at Zanzibar Restaurant for dinner at 6pm.

March 28, 2004

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations about Race, by Beverly Daniel Tatum

In conjunction with Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti Reads

February 22, 2004

Their Eyes were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

January 25, 2004

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World, by Michael Pollan ****1/2

November 23, 2003

The Eagle Catcher, by Margaret Coel ***1/2

October 26, 2003

Seabiscuit: An American Legend, by Laura Hittenbrand ****1/2

September 28, 2003

Confessions of a Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella.

August 24, 2003

Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, by Jerry Mander

July 27, 2003

Nectar in a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya ****1/2

June 22, 2003

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, by Eric Schlosser *****

May 18, 2003

Big Stone Gap, by Adriana Trigiani ** (or ****?)

April 27, 2003

The Lexus and the Olive Tree, by Thomas Freidman

March 30, 2003

Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen, by Alix Kates Shulman

February 23, 2003

Abraham Lincoln's DNA, by Phillip Reilly (in conjunction with Ann Arbor Reads)

January 26, 2003

We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates **** 1/2

November 2002

The Way We Never Were, by Stephanie Coontz

October 2002

The Mixquiahula Letters, by Ana Castillo ***

September 2002

Foreign Correspondence, by Geraldine Brooks

August 2002

So Big, by Edna Ferber ****

July 2002

Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich ****1/2

June 2002

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, by Ann B Ross **** 1/2

May 19, 2002

Spooked: Espionage in Corporate America, by Adam L. Penenberg and Marc Barry

April 28, 2002

None to Accompany Me, by Nadine Gordimer

March 24, 2002

Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences,

by Edward Tenner

February 24, 2002

Cat on the Edge, by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

January 27, 2002

Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians, by Noam Chomsky

December 2, 2001

Crows Over a Wheatfield, by Paula Sharp ****

October 28, 2001

Galileo's Daughter, by Dava Sobel

September 23, 2001

Music and Silence, by Rose Tremain ****

August 26, 2001

Blue Highways: A Journey into America, by William Least Heat-Moon ***

July 22, 2001

Behind the Scenes at the Museum, by Kate Atkinson

June 24, 2001

The Serpent and the Rainbow, by Ward Davis

May 20, 2001

Stones from the River, by Ursula Hegi

April 22, 2001

We Are Our Mothers' Daughters, by Cokie Roberts

March 25, 2001

Tara Road, by Maeve Binchy

February 25, 2001

La Salle: Explorer of the North American Frontier, by Anka Muhlstein

January 21, 2001

Ahab's Wife, by Sena Jeter Naslund ****

November 19, 2000

Serendipity: Accidental Discoveries in Science, by Royston M. Roberts ** 1/2

October 29, 2000

The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende

September 24, 2000

Trespassing: My Sojourn in the Halls of Privilege, by Gwendolyn Parker *****

August 27, 2000

The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant *****

July 23, 2000

Failure is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words, by Lynn Sherr ****

June 25, 2000

Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding **** 1/2

May 21, 2000

Difficult Conversations : How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, Roger Fisher ****1/2

April 16, 2000

Chocolat, by Joanne Harris

March 26, 2000

Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt **** 1/2

February 27, 2000

The Gift of Fear, by Gavin De Becker

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowlings

January 23, 2000

The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work, by Richard Carlson ***1/2

December 5, 1999

The Alphabet Versus the Goddess, by Leonard Shlain ****

Tracks, by Louise Erdrich

October 24, 1999

Wait Till Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Zenzele: A Letter for my Daughter, by J. Nozipo Mraire

September 26, 1999

Walking Out on the Boys, by Frances K. Conley

Winona's Web: A Novel of Discovery, by Priscilla Cogan

August 22, 1999

Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback, by Robyn Davidson

Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson

July 25, 1999

The Wealthy Barber, by David Chilton

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez

June 27, 1999

24 Years of Housework... And the Place is Still a Mess, by Pat Schroeder **** 1/2

A Patchwork Planet, by Anne Tyler

May 23, 1999

Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt, by Harvey Mackay

Prince and the Pilgrim, by Mary Stewart

April 25, 1999

Pythagorus' Trousers: God, Physics and the Gender Wars, by Margaret Wertheim

Blanche on the Lam, by Barbara Neeley

March 28, 1999

The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership, by Sally Helgesen

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

February 21, 1999

Witness for the Defense, by Elizabeth Loftus

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells

January 24, 1999

How Men Think: The Seven Essential Rules for Making It in a Man's World, by Adrienne Mendell

Mother Earth, Father Sky, by Sue Harrison

November 22, 1998

A Midwife's Tale, by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich *** 1/2

God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy

October 25, 1998

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James Loewen

Murder in the House, by Margaret Truman

September 27, 1998

The Ditchdigger's Daughters, by Yvonne Thornton **** 1/2

Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier

August 30, 1998

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, by Jon Krakauer ****

The Shipping News, by E. Annie Proulx

July 26, 1998

Personal History, by Katharine Graham

The Beans of Egypt, Maine, by Carolyn Chute

June 28, 1998

Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with t he Mass Media, by Susan J. Douglas ***

The Servant's Tale (A Medieval Mystery), by Margaret Frazer

May 31, 1998

True North, by Jill Ker Conway

The Love Letter, by Cathleen Schine

April 26, 1998

What Do You Care What Other People Think, by Richard Feynman

The Stone Diaries, by Carol Shields

March 22, 1998

Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman

I Was Amelia Earhart, by Jane Mendelsohn

February 22, 1998

Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and their Journey, by Isabel Fonseca

On the Pulse of Morning, by Maya Angelou

January 25, 1998

The Futures of Women: Scenarios for the 21st Century, by Pamela McCorduck and Nancy Ramsey ***

Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood ****

November 23, 1997

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

October 26, 1997

It Takes A Village And Other Lessons Children Teach Us, by Hillary Rodham Clinton ***

Servant of the Bones, by Anne Rice

September 28, 1997

Einstein's Wife, by Andrea Gabor ****1/2

Gone to Soldiers, by Marge Piercy *****

August 24, 1997

Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, by Jean P. Sasson ****

The Frequency of Souls, by Mary Kay Zuravleff

July 27, 1997

How Could You Do That? : The Abdication of Character, Courage, and Conscience, by Dr. Laura Schlessinger ***1/2

The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver

June 22, 1997

The Cuckoo's Egg, by Clifford Stoll ****

The Kitchen God's Wife, by Amy Tan

May 18, 1997

How To Work A Room, by Susan Roane

Oaths and Miracles, by Nancy Kress

April 27, 1997

Diamond in the Buff, a Jill Smith Mystery, by Susan Dunlap

They Used to Call Me Snow White... But I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor, by Regina Barreca ***

March 23, 1997

The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison

Motherhood Reconceived: Feminism and the Legacy of the 60's, by Lauri Ummansky.

February 23, 1997

How to Lead Work Teams, by Fran Rees.

Sleeping at the Starlite Motel, by Bailey White.

January 26, 1997

Downsize This!, by Michael Moore *****

The Deep End of the Ocean, by Jacquelyn Mitchard

December 1996

no meeting

November 24, 1996

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, by Mary Bray Pipher ****

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, by Fannie Flagg.

October 27, 1996

Juggling : the Unexpected Advantages of Balancing Career and Home for Women and their Families, by Faye Crosby *****

The Price of a Child, by Lorene Cary *****

September 29, 1996

The Pursuit of WOW, by Tom Peters ***1/2

Hard Laughter, by Anne Lamott

August 25, 1996

They Don't Get It, Do They? : Communication in the Workplace--Closing the Gap between Women and Men, by Kathleen Kelley Reardon ****

Object Lessons, by Anna Quindlen

July 28, 1996

Failing at Fairness : How American Schools Cheat Girls, by Myra Sadker and David Sadker ****1/2

Objects in Mirror are Closer than they Appear, by Katharine Weber

June 23, 1996

To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Engineering Design, by Henry Petroski

Angels and Insects, by A. S. Byatt

May 19, 1996

The Dilbert Principle, by Scott Adams

Moo, by Jane Smiley