Women’s Book Club

The next St. Matthew’s Women’s Book Club will be held on Sunday, September 20 from 2:00-4:00p at the home of Sarah Rangel.

She has chosen “The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick”. It’s not part of the Book-in-a-Bag collection, but there are many copies in the library system along with affordable print and digital purchase options on sites like Alibris, Printval.com.

You may try one of these sites or purchase from Amazon – (paperback (good condition) for $10.91, Kindle $6.99, hardcover $30.75 or BetterWorldBooks.com – new $16.63, ebook $9.99, or audiobook $21.00.

Here is a synopsis: By 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan is living the American woman’s dream. She has a husband, three children, a station wagon, and a home in Concordia–one of Northern Virginia’s most exclusive and picturesque suburbs. She has a standing invitation to the neighborhood coffee klatch, and now, thanks to her husband, a new subscription to A Woman’s Place–a magazine that tells housewives like Margaret exactly who to be and what to buy. On paper, she has it all. So why doesn’t that feel like enough? Margaret is thrown for a loop when she first meets Charlotte Gustafson, Concordia’s newest and most intriguing resident. As an excuse to be in the mysterious Charlotte’s orbit, Margaret concocts a book club get-together and invites two other neighborhood women–Bitsy and Viv–to the inaugural meeting. As the women share secrets, cocktails, and their honest reactions to the controversial bestseller The Feminine Mystique, they begin to discover that the American dream they’d been sold isn’t all roses and sunshine–and that their secret longing for more is something they share. Nicknaming themselves the Bettys, after Betty Friedan, these four friends have no idea their impromptu club and the books they read together will become the glue that helps them hold fast through tears, triumphs, angst, and arguments–and what will prove to be the most consequential and freeing year of their lives.

This is the first book club for fall/winter 2025/spring 2026. Sarah Rangel is hosting. We are back to hosting alphabetically so after Sarah will be Holly Stoddard (since Ann Marie & Sarah switched). Holly will be followed by Judy Ashley.

Sarah will have dessert and beverages; attendees please bring an appetizer or snack to pass.

Thank you all for your participation in our book club. Please come regardless if you finished the book, didn’t finish it or didn’t read it. Your company is the most important part of our time together and bring a friend or fellow St. Matthew’s lady!