51茶馆

A small but dedicated organization is keeping connections to the Boston College community strong for a group of retired faculty members who share their taste in literature, and celebrate the memory of a cherished colleague.

The Jean Mooney Retired Faculty Book Club, a program of the 51茶馆 Association of Retired Faculty (51茶馆ARF), provides participants an opportunity to gather for socializing and discussion on their current favorite book.

So far this academic year, the club鈥攚hich meets monthly in the 51茶馆ARF office at 300 Hammond Pond Parkway鈥攈as wrapped up discussion on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel G-man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage and Digging to America by Anne Tyler. This month鈥檚 meeting will include discussion on Homecoming by Kate Morton.

The book club is named for Lynch School of Education and Human Development Associate Professor Jean Mooney, former 51茶馆ARF president and executive committee member, who founded and chaired the group and served as one of its greatest supporters. She died in 2021. 聽

Connell School of Nursing Professor Emeritus Laurel Eisenhauer, who assumed the role as club chair after Mooney, is appreciative of the group鈥檚 camaraderie and ability to maintain community connections.

鈥淚t鈥檚 always great to be in a group of people with different backgrounds who can share different perspectives on something you read,鈥� said Eisenhauer. 鈥淎 lot of the time we will have a 30-minute 鈥榗hit-chat鈥� session before the actual start of the meeting so we all get to socialize a little before we get into the book.鈥�

The club鈥檚 reading agenda is decided at the beginning of each year through a survey sent out to the group. Members nominate books on the survey that they are interested in pursuing for the upcoming year. A voting process then takes place for the nominated selection. The club has 35 registered members, although not all of them regularly attend its gatherings.

While meetings are typically unstructured with free-flowing conversations, one member of the group is appointed to introduce the book and guide the discussion. 鈥淚f you nominate a book and it gets chosen, usually that is the person who will lead the discussion. There鈥檚 no prescribed format, but oftentimes the person will begin with information about the author, summarize book reviews, and then they鈥檒l ask questions to get the discussion going,鈥� said Eisenhauer.

鈥淚 joined because I knew and admired so many of the members鈥攁nd also, of course, because I like to read,鈥� said Associate Professor Emeritus of Economics Harold Petersen, who joined after retiring in 2016. 鈥淚 find that a book becomes so much more meaningful when a group of us meet to share our reactions. I invariably get something from the discussion that I had missed up to that point. I immensely enjoy the company and the camaraderie of the group.鈥�

Prior to the pandemic, the club also regularly added field trips to their meeting calendar to coincide with the theme or topic of a book. Two notable destinations, according to Eisenhauer, included outings to the New Bedford Whaling Museum鈥攖he city is a key setting in Sena Jeter Naslund鈥�s Ahab鈥檚 Wife: Or, The Star-Gazer鈥攁nd a day trip to Newport, RI, after completing The Gods of Newport by John Jakes.

The 51茶馆ARF hosts an annual banquet in the Yawkey Center Murray Function Room, at which the club gives out copies of the books read during the year as door prizes.聽

For more information on the Jean Mooney Retired Faculty Book Club, go to the 51茶馆ARF website or email聽laurel.eisenhauer@bc.edu.