Virtual Books on Review 2021

Program: 10:00 a.m. – noon PT

Enjoy an hour of conversation with four authors, followed by audience Q&A. 

The Stanford Women's Club of the East Bay, founded in April 1921, has a long history of supporting East Bay undergraduate women at Stanford.  Early events included teas and student loans.  In recent years we have provided two to three scholarships annually.  Typically our annual Books on Review program is the primary funding source.  Please consider making a donation to our scholarship fund.  

If you would like to purchase books, please support our longtime independent bookstore partner, Orinda Books.  You may order books from them here.  Signed bookplates may be available for some books. A percentage of your purchase will be donated by Orinda Books to our scholarship fund.  If you don’t purchase through Orinda Books, please support your local independent bookstore. 

Here is more information on this year's books.

The Henna Artist, Alka Joshi, ’80

Lakshmi has escaped from her village and arranged marriage to the city of Jaipur, where she has become a henna artist, intricately decorating the hands and feet of wealthy clients.  Her livelihood is threatened when her husband suddenly appears, with her much-younger sister, whom Lakshmi has never met.  Set in a time of rapid change in India, Lakshmi’s story will beguile you.  A Reese’s Book Club pick.

Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession, and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California, Frances Dinkelspiel ‘81

This story of one of the biggest wine scandals ever, interwoven with the history of winemaking in California, will keep you hooked to the end—and provide fascinating information about wine along the way.  You may need a glass to sip as you read! A New York Times bestseller by an award-winning writer and journalist.

A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth, Dr. Daniel Mason, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry

Dr. Mason’s newest book (after The Winter Soldier and The Piano Tuner) is a collection of nine robust short stories, set mostly in the 19^th century.  Each story is a gem of character and style, told in a unique voice, “an enchanting cabinet of curiosities and wonders” (Kirkus). Dr. Mason is donating his proceeds to preservation of an endangered site in Brazil.  Dr. Mason is the 2020 recipient of the Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize.

Miracle Creek, Angie Kim ‘91

In rural Virginia, immigrants Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical device known as the Miracle Submarine, a pressurized oxygen chamber that claims to help heal people. But something goes terribly wrong, and the characters’ hidden lives complicate the investigation.  Winner of the Edgar Award for best first novel. 

Join us by Zoom on Thursday, January 28, 2021, at 10:00 a.m., for our 46^th Annual

BOOKS ON REVIEW!