Book Club Selections

Contact botanicalbooksabq [at] gmail [.] com for information on how to attend.
Meetings are at 4:00 pm are a hybrid of zoom and in-person or may be strictly zoom, depending on health concerns or inclement weather. All “movie meetings” will be in-person only at the Albuquerque Garden Center because it is not possible to stream a movie over zoom.

A list of possible discussion questions/topics may be found here.
And, a reminder. I do check the links when I post the summary and sometimes I go back and recheck them, but links change or break with discouraging regularity. Please let me know if you notice one that doesn’t work. And, you can always try typing in some words related to the topic. That does result in a hit surprisingly often. Thanks for your patience with our ever-changing technology.

 

2026
January 5: The Age of Wood, Roland Ennos
February 2: Tree Story, Valerie Trouet
March 2: the mountain knows the mountain, Philip Connors
AND The Burning Season, Caroline Starr Rose
April 6: Big Lonely Doug, Harley Rustad
May 4: The Ghosts of Evolution, Connie Barlow
June 1: movie and potluck – Rosemary and Thyme (episodes 7-8)
July 6: An Orchard Invisible, Jonathan Silvertown
August 3: The Seed Detective, Adam Alexander
September 14: The Rarest Fruit, Gaëlle Bélem
October 5: Oranges, John McPhee
November 9: The Fruit Hunters, Adam Leith Gollner
December 7: movie and potluck – The Fruit Hunters

2025
January 6: The Tree (aka The Secret Life of Trees) parts I & II, Colin Tudge
February 3: The Tree (aka The Secret Life of Trees) parts III & IV, Colin Tudge
March 3: The Botanist’s Daughter, Kayte Nunn
April 7: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants, Stefano Mancuso
May 5: Thus Spoke the Plant, Monica Gagliano
June 2: movie and potluck – Rosemary and Thyme (episodes 5-6)
July 7: The Garden Against Time, Olivia Laing
August 4: My Garden (Book), Jamaica Kincaid
September 8: The Brother Gardeners, Andrea Wulf
October 6 October 13: The Plant Hunter, T.L. Mogford
November 3: House Plants, Mike Maunder
December 8: movie and potluck – The Little Shop of Horrors

2024
January 8: The Man Who Planted Trees, Jim Robbins
February 5: The Wild Trees, Richard Preston
Mar 4: At the Edge of the Orchard, Tracy Chevalier
April 1: Eating Dirt, Charlotte Gill
May 6: Brave the Wild River, Melissa Sevigny
June 3: movie and potluck – Rosemary and Thyme (episodes 3-4)
July 1: The Gardens of Los Poblanos, Judith Phillips
August 5: Agave Spirits, Gary Paul Nabhan
September 9 September 16: The Pearl Plot, Vicky Ramakka
October 7: The True History of Chocolate, Sophie Coe (chapters 1-4)
November 4: The True History of Chocolate, Sophie Coe (chapters 5-8)
December 9: movie and potluck – The Remarkable Baobab

2023
January 9: The Sixteen Trees of the Somme, Lars Mytting
February 6: The Long, Long Life of Trees, Fiona Stafford
March 6: Elderflora, Jared Farmer
April 3: The Arbornaut, Meg Lowman
May 1: Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World, William Alexander
June 5: Plants and Crime, Alan Graham
July 10: movie and potluck – Rosemary and Thyme (episodes 1-2)
August 7: Damsons – An ancient fruit in the modern kitchen, Sarah Conrad Gothie
September 11: The Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak
October 2: The Book of Difficult Fruit, Kate Lebo
November 6: The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean
December 4: movie and potluck – Adaptation

2022
January 10: Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino
February 7: The Legacy of Luna, Julia Butterfly Hill
March 7: Mesquite, an Arboreal Love Affair, Gary Paul Nabhan
April 4: How I Became a Tree, Sumana Roy
May 2: The Journeys of Trees, Zach St. George
June 6: movie and potluck – A Little Chaos
July 11: Gardens of New Spain, William Dunmire
August 1: Fruit from the Sands, Robert N Spangler, III (through “The Wheats”)
September 12: Fruit from the Sands, Robert N Spangler, III (from “The Legumes)
October 3: Cumin, Camels, and Caravans, Gary Paul Nabhan
November 7: The Botanist and the Vintner, Christy Campbell
December 5: movie and potluck – Greenfingers

2021
January: The Plant Messiah, Carlos Magdalena
February:  Demons in Eden, Jonathan Silvertown
March: Sproutlands, William Bryant Logan
April and May: The Story of Corn, Betty Fussell
June: Movie: My Passion for Trees, Judi Dench
July: Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land, Gary Paul Nabhan
August: Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
September: Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard
October and November: The Cabaret of Plants, Richard Mabey
December: movie and book – Fantastic Fungi

2020
January: How Plants Work, Linda Chalker-Scot
February: Replenish, Sandra Postel
March: The Cactus Plot, Vicky Ramakka
April: The Food Explorer, Daniel Stone
May: (no meeting due to covid)
June: Gathering the Desert, Gary Paul Nabhan
July: Movie and book: Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan
August: The Rose Rustlers, Greg Grant and William Welch
September: Orchid Fever, Eric Hansen
October: Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
November: Brilliant Green, Stefano Mancuso
December: Movie and book: The Private Life of Plants, David Attenborough

2019
June: The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben
July: Paradise Lot, Eric Toensmeier
August: Gardening for a Lifetime, Sydney Eddison
September: What a Plant Knows, Daniel Chamovitz
October: A Garlic Testament, Stanley Crawford
November: The Triumph of Seeds, Thor Hansen
December: Movie: Dare to be Wild, Mary Reynolds

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