The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho hosted by Laurence and John Alexis
The next meeting of Kip’s Desert Book Club will be February 2, 2015, and we’ll be discussing Paulo Coelho’s The Valkyries.
I was really impressed with The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho, February’s book club selection, suggested by Laurence Geledan. About as far opposite from Deathwatch (last month’s book) as you are likely to find, it’s about Paulo’s spiritual quest through the Mojave desert searching for his personal guardian angel. What’s even better is that we will be discussing the book in a very special place, Mother House, a space Laurence and John Alexis have dedicated exclusively to spiritual practice.
To find Mother House from downtown Joshua Tree, drive north on Sunburst from Hwy 62, turn right on Golden, turn left on Border, keep an eye out for Pole and Del Oro roads, then turn left on Winters (sign on the left) and drive 1 1/4 mile on dirt road to Shangri La and turn left. Mother House will be on your right in less than a quarter mile - look for the big white book club sign to guide you to the correct driveway.
Monday, February 2, 2015, 7PM
Mother House
Joshua Tree, CA (see driving directions above)
This is the fifth meeting of Kip’s Desert Book Club.
See Book Club homepage for more information on this monthly gathering
PS - We’re going to give everyone the heads up on the Book Club selection for March a little early due to the deep nature of the book. We will be reading A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. It can be found on Amazon, used, Kindle, and as a radio-play for free on the net, which I will definitely check out. This is a Hugo award winning Science Fiction work set in the Utah desert over many centuries and might need a bit of time to digest before we can discuss it fully.
Every month from October 2014 until March 2020, Kip’s Desert Book Club gathered on the first Monday of the month at 7:00 pm in the home of a different resident of the Morongo Basin to discuss a book that in one way or another touches on the theme of “desert”.
Since the start of the pandemic, Kip has been hard at work making renovations to the kitchen and bathrooms at Copper Mountain Mesa Community Center, where he is the board President, and keeping their monthly USDA food drive alive. During this time, Kip’s Desert Book Club had largely been on pause, with the exception of a few virtual meetings. These virtual gatherings allowed us to welcome the participation of book club fans from beyond our local region.
Sixty-six books, more than seven years, and one pandemic later, Kip has decided to step back from being the primary book club organizer and join the rest of us as readers. Kip, we thank you for all the wonderful and eclectic desert books you’ve chosen over the years, as well as the unforgettable stories and knowledge you continue to share (if you know, you know!)
So, we are excited to announce that beginning in January 2022, our in-person book club will resume as the Desert Research Library Book Club (or DRL Book Club, for short). Each month, a member of the current Desert Research Library Artist Cohort will select a book from the library as that month’s book club selection.
