Red Fern expands book clubs with employees’ favorites
The employees at Red Fern Booksellers have their own favorite books to read, and now some of them are sharing those favorites with monthly book clubs at the store.Since opening in 2023, Red Fern has hosted a number of book clubs, including an ongoing one on contemporary issues, but owner Harley Hamilton and employee Jerzee Mullins decided it was time to expand.”We’ve been doing this for almost a year and half, and we’ve built this community,” Mullins said. “(Maybe) people want to hear what we like to read.”The store has had a table of staff recommendations for a long time, and she said it is always a popular stop for people browsing.A variety of genres and subjects for Red Fern’s book clubsMullins said one thing that is making these new book clubs fun is that it offers people a variety of options on what to read.”Harley likes literary fiction and almost serious kind of books, that really make you think,” she said. “I don’t really know where I want to go with my book club (yet).”The first meeting, taking place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, will be Hamilton’s pick of “Playground,” by Richard Powers. Hamilton said he has been a fan of Powers’ work, which is sometimes described as speculative fiction and explores how humanity relates to nature and technology, particularly artificial intelligence.”This new one takes place in the oceans on island nations,” he said.Mullins has the next book club, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, and will look at Jessica Knoll’s “Bright Young Women,” a fictionalized account of the Ted Bundy murders told from the perspective of women connected to the victims.”In my last semester of school, I learned about (Bundy),” she said. “I knew about him, but didn’t realize how crazy he really was.”She said in that class, professor Melissa Rohrer, also the chair of the English department at Kansas Wesleyan University, mentioned the book as a possible selection for the class to read, but they ran out of time, so Mullins read it on her own.The Hamilton and Mullins plan to each host a club every month, with a new new book discussed each meeting and both have already decided their next selection, with Hamilton choosing Marjan Kamali’s novel “The Lion Women and Tehran” and Mullins choosing Pagan Kennedy’s non-fiction work “The Secret History of the Rape Kit.”Other book clubs and studies also happening at Red FernIn addition to Harley and Jerzee’s Book Clubs, Red Fern will continue to host the Contemporary Issues Book Club, with the next addition happening at 2 p.m. on Feb. 8 and discussing Tim Madigan’s nonfiction book “The Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.”Employees Jamie Branda and Christi Nuding are also set to begin a book study over “Atlas of the Heart,” a nonfiction book by Brené Brown that looks into connections of humankind.”It’s not like reading a novel and talking about it,” Hamilton said of the study. “You have to work on yourself.”As of now, Branda said the study will be scheduled soon and Red Fern will announce when that will happen.For now though, people can visit Red Fern Booksellers website for more information about these book clubs, and can order on the website or in person any of the books set to be discussed at the clubs.
