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 next book is The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage by Richard Rohr. He is an acclaimed author of things spiritual.
Here is a bio and review from Amazon: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In his first major work since The Universal Christ, one of our most prominent spiritual voices offers a wholehearted and hope-filled model for the world today, grounded in the timeless wisdom of the Hebrew prophets.
“Richard Rohr is one of the great Christian spiritual masters of our time. Of any time.”—James Martin, SJ, author of Come Forth
How do we live compassionately in a time of violence and despair? What can we do with our private disappointments and the anger we feel in such an unjust world? In his most personal book yet, Richard Rohr turns to the writings of the Jewish prophets, revealing how some of the lesser-read books of the Bible offer us a crucial path forward today.
Drawing on a century of biblical scholarship and written in the warm, pastoral voice that has endeared Rohr to millions, The Tears of Things breathes new life into ancient wisdom. It paves a path of enlightenment for anyone seeking a compassionate way of living in a hurting world.
The book is available on Amazon, the Library and at Levin & Co.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6th at 7:00 p.m.. If you would like to host you may email Linda Maxwell here.
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 Breatures by Shelby Van Pelt
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 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 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, by Mike Yankowski
Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
Zealot, Reza Aslan
Updated on March 24, 2025