Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road

What Book Groups Are Saying About “A Long Way From Iowa”

January 7, 2024 at 5:15 pm 1 comment

Clockwise, starting at left: My sister, one of my first (and most enthusiastic) readers; my sister’s book group in Minneapolis; my friend Noble with her book group in Seattle; more enthusiastic readers outside the Red Wheelbarrow bookstore in Paris, at the book launch.

I’m thrilled that my new memoir, A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France has been selected for discussion by four different book groups. Two in Minnesota (one in Minneapolis, and one in Red Wing); one in Seattle; and one in Washington DC.

March 2023 Minneapolis The first book group to read and discuss A Long Way From Iowa was my sister’s group in my hometown of Minneapolis. And yay! (and pshew!) they liked it! They said the book made them think about their own mothers and grandmothers, and that “it started a discussion of mother-daughter relationships, and demonstrated the strength of ordinary women.”

October 2023 Seattle It was such a pleasure to visit this group! You know how some book groups don’t really talk about books, they mostly drink wine and eat food instead? Well this group does both! I was super impressed with the number of details they remembered from reading the book, and the insightful questions and comments they made. We talked about the book over a wonderful meal; and I answered some of their questions about the book, but also about the publishing process. For example, they wondered why I chose to self-publish. (There is so much to say about this: I need to write a post about it soon. Stay tuned!)

April 2024 Washington DC I will have to get up at 1:00 in the morning in order to join this group, which meets online at 7:30 pm local time in Washington DC. (And no: there is no way I will be able to just stay up that late: ask anyone in my family!) So I will sleep a few hours, and then get up, make myself presentable and coherent, and join the group via Zoom. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to talk about the book with a book group sponsored by Politics and Prose, my favorite bookstore in Washington DC.

One of the things I love most about talking to people who have read the book is learning what kinds of memories/insights/reflections about their own lives, and their own families, were sparked by reading the book. 

Will your book group be the next to put A Long Way From Iowa on your list? Please let me know if you are planning to read it, and if so let me know if you’d like me to visit your group. Or just let me know what kinds of conversations were generated in discussing it. I’d love to hear about them!

Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.

Entry filed under: A Long Way from Iowa. Tags: book clubs, Book Groups, books, France, intergenerational, memoir, Midwest, Mothers and Daugthers, travel, women, womens lives, Writers, writing life.