Rainy Day Readers at St. Paul's Church
Our Rainy Day Readers book club was started in 2014 at St. Paul's Church. We meet monthly to enjoy a lively discussion on a thought-provoking range of books from classics to new releases, from non-fiction to fiction, from Sonoma County to the world, uncovering historical, social, and theological insights with every read.
We invite you to join us! To view upcoming featured books, and the time and location of our next gathering, view our calendar here. Or peruse the list of books we've enjoyed listed below to find your next read.
Current Book Selection
Our January 2026 selection is Roxy Reincarnated by John Linker. The author is a former English teacher from Healdsburg High, and will be joining us at our discussion of his book!
Here are the Amazon book notes: Roxy, Reincarnated by John Linker is a collection of short stories woven together by lessons, cosmic and earthly, about relationships and the possibilities of life when we listen to ourselves. A father deals with the fallout from his daughter's party, a high school football star re-thinks his goals, a young woman realizes her place in the world while gliding down the face of a perfect Northern California wave, an octogenarian photographer discovers a secret about the past through his camera, and an art student is transfixed by watery, mysterious images depicting the natural world produced by a rising star in the painting world. The final story, "Roundabout," begins with a teenage girl introducing her boyfriend to her father, and ends with a cosmic surprise.
This book was published in May of this year. It looks like it is not available at the Library yet, but it is available on Amazon and Levin & Co will have a few copies in 2 weeks. It is in paperback at $16.00.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, January 7th at 7:00 - 8:30. If you would like to host please let us know! Please note, this is the night after the White Elephant exchange party on Epiphany, Tuesday, January 6th.
Books We've Enjoyed
A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman
A Story Like the Wind, Laurens Van Der Post
A Tale For the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
A Year of Biblical Womanhood, Rachel Held Evans
All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
An Unfinished Love Story, Doris Kerns Goodwin
At the Water’s Edge, Sara Gruen
Becoming, Michelle Obama
Born A Crime, Trevor Noah
Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown
Cutting For Stone, Abraham Verghese
Dinners With Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships, Nina Tottenberg
Dusty Roads: Meet the Hidden Figure Who Really Ignited the Women's Movement, Elaine Rock
Educated, Tara Westover
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly
Hillbilly Elegy, J. D. Vance
Historical Travels Through Sonoma County, John Crevelli (TBA)
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, Kristin Kobes du Mez
James, Percival Everett
Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus
Lying Awake, Mark Salzman
News of the World, Paulette Jiles
Our Southern Home, Waights Taylor Jr.
Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen
Polio & Me, Ken Dalton
Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt
Roxy, Reincarnated, John Linker
Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen
So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo
Sunflowers, Sheramy Bundrick
Tattoos on the Heart, Greg Boyle
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
The Awakened Brain, Lisa Miller, PhD
The Book of Hope, Dr. Jane Goodall
The Book of Joy, Bishop Desmond Tutu & the Dalai Lama
The Book of Longings, Sue Monk Kidd
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Kim Michele Richardson
The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese
The Dearly Beloved, Cara Wall
The Dog That Talked to God, Jim Kraus
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, James McBride
The Last Bus to Wisdom, Ivan Doig
The Lemon Tree, Sandy Tolan
The Library Book, Susan Orlean
The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles
The Once and Future King, T.H. White
The Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
The Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
The Reason I Jump, Naoki Higashida
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old, Hendrik Groen
The Soul of an Octopus, Sy Montgomery
The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage, Richard Rohr
The Woman Behind the Collar, Joy Carroll Wallis
The Women, Kristin Hannah
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Under the Overpass : A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America, Mike Yankowski
When God Shows Up, Craig Douglas Claudin
Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
Zealot, Reza Aslan
Updated on November 13, 2025
