The PA3 book club meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month (except July, August & December) from 7-8:30 pm at one of several locations on campus, at a private home in Princeton and/or via Zoom. If a holiday or major Princeton event falls on a fourth Wednesday, meetings are moved up or back one week, give or take a day or two.
Selections alternate, with occasional exceptions, between fiction and non-fiction, and the authors or books typically have a Princeton connection. Book club meetings are open to all PA3 members and their spouses/partners, and no RSVP is necessary. Book titles are announced in PA3's monthly newsletter and posted on this page and under "Upcoming Events" on the homepage.
If you would like to be added to the PA3 book club mailing list, or to receive the location or Zoom link for an upcoming meeting, or if you have questions, please email Chip Jerry '69 or Arlen Hastings '80.
Authors whose names appear in orange participated (or will participate) in the discussion.
- UPCOMING: April 26, 2023 - Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo, by Boris Fishman '01
- TBD - A History of Data Visualization and Graphic Communication, by Michael Friendly *70 and Howard Wainer *68
- March2023 - Every Day the River Changes: Four Weeks Down the Magdalena, by Jordan Salama '19
- February 2023 - The Prodigal Daughter, by Mette Ivie Harrison *95
- January 2023 - How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future, by Maria Ressa '86
- November 2022 - Storm, by George R. Stewart 1917
- October 2022 - South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, by Prof. Imani Perry
- September 2022 - Tender Is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald 1913
- June 2022 - Translating Myself and Others, by Prof. Jhumpa Lahiri
- May 2022 - Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult '87 S86 h16
- April 2022 - Lessons from the Edge: A Memoir, by Marie Yovanovitch '80
- March 2022 - The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid '93
- February 2022 - American Urbanist: How William H. Whyte's Unconventional Wisdom Reshaped Public Life, Richard K. Rein '69
- January 2022 - Them, Prof. Joyce Carol Oates
- November 2021 - The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, Michael Lewis '82
- October 2021 - Beloved, Prof. Toni Morrison
- September 2021 - Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, Prof. Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony & Cass Sunstein (Kahneman interview here)
- June 2021 - The Optimist's Daughter, Eudora Welty h88, Belknap Visiting Professor in the Humanities 1985
- May 2021 - Men on Horseback: The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution, Prof. David A. Bell *91
- April 2021 - Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami h08
- March 2021 - The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, Joshua Hammer '79
- February 2021 - Harbor of Spies, Robin Lloyd '73
- January 2021 - White Girls, Hilton Als, Presidential Visiting Scholar 2020-21
- November 2020 - The Weight of Ink, Rachel Kadish '91
- October 2020 - Thinking, Fast and Slow, Prof. Daniel Kahneman
- September 2020 - Trump Sky Alpha, Mark Doten, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Lewis Center for the Arts
- June 2020 - The Perpetual Now, Michael Lemonick, Visiting Lecturer
- May 2020 - Refuge, Dina Nayeri '01
- April 2020 - Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond, Lydia Denworth '88 S87 (a special joint event with the Princeton Women's Network of Princeton Book Club)
- February 2020 - Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do About It, Richard Stengel '77 P20 P23
- January 2020 - Death in the Off-Season, Francine Barron Mathews '85 P17
- November 2019 - Working, Robert Caro '57
- October 2019 - Family Lexicon, by Natalia Ginzburg, translated from the Italian by Jenny McPhee, Lecturer in Creative Writing
- September 2019 - The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, David Treuer '92
- June 2019 - Home, Prof. Toni Morrison
- May 2019 - The Second Kind of Impossible, Prof. Paul Steinhardt
- April 2019 - Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Hodder Fellow at Princeton, 2005-06
- March 2019 - Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers, Prof. Brian Kernighan
- February 2019 - Self Portrait with Boy: A Novel, Rachel Lyon '05
- January 2019 - Why Religion? A Personal Story, Prof. Elaine Pagels
- November 2018 - The News from the End of the World, Emily Jeanne Miller '95
- October 2018 - Blowing America's Mind: A True Story of Princeton, CIA Mind Control, LSD and Zen, John Selby '68 & Paul Jeffrey Davids '69
- September 2018 - The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington 1893
- June 2018 - The Control of Nature, John McPhee '53
- May 2018 - The Final Club, Geoffrey Wolff '66
- April 2018 - Truth or Truthiness: Distinguishing Fact from Fiction by Learning to Think Like a Data Scientist, Howard Wainer *68
- March 2018 - Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, Prof. Yiyun Li
- February 2018 - Exit West, Mohsin Hamid '93
- January 2018 - An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and an Epic, Daniel Mendelsohn *94
- November 2017 - Camino Island, John Grisham
- October 2017 - Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, A. Scott Berg ’71
- September 2017 - I'd Die for You and Other Lost Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, ed. Anne Margaret Daniel *99
- June 2017 - The Incidental Oriental Secretary and Other Tales of Foreign Service, Richard L. Jackson ’62
- May 2017 - Small Great Things, Jodi Picoult ’87 S86 h16
- April 2017 - The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds, Michael Lewis ’82
- December 2016 - Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance
- November 2016 - After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead, Prof. Alan Blinder '67
- September 2016 - Middlesex, Prof. Jeffrey Eugenides
- June 2016 - Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
- May 2016 - Digging to America, Anne Tyler
- April 2016 - The Great Escape, Prof. Angus Deaton
- March 2016 - The Fisherman, Chigozie Obioma
- January 2016 - Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon
- December 2015 - The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri
- November 2015 - The Interestings, Meg Wolitzer
- September 2015 - Wilson, A. Scott Berg '71
- June 2015 - Devo’s Freedom of Choice, Evie Nagy ’98
- May 2015 - Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, Susan Cain ’89
- April 2015 - The Fifth Gospel, Ian Caldwell '98
- March 2015 - Would You Kill the Fat Man?, David Edmonds
- February 2015 - Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer '99
- December 2014 - Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Wife, Queen Noor '73
- November 2014 - The Surrendered, Prof. Chang-Rae Lee
- October 2014 - Independence Day, Richard Ford
- September 2014 - The Alchemist, Paolo Coehlo
- November 2013 - The Accursed, Prof. Joyce Carol Oates (precursor to and inspiration for the book club)