Online book club
"Books may well be the only true magic."
― Alice Hoffman
Connect with the Athabasca University community through this enriching initiative designed in celebration of AU’s 50th anniversary.
Join the conversation, expand your bookshelf, and explore topics related to personal growth, lifelong learning, and professional development in a private online forum.
Participation in the alumni book club is free. Simply pick up a copy of the current book at your library, local bookstore, or online. The group will read a book every two months - choose one or all, whatever works for your schedule.
More information and how to join can be found here.
The Book of Longings
By Sue Monk Kidd
The Book of Longings is an audacious approach to history and imagines a world in which Jesus had a wife named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything. Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Ana’s pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome’s occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history.
Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus’s life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman’s bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her. It is a triumph of storytelling both timely and timeless, from a masterful writer at the height of her powers.
By clicking the Sign Up button you will be redirected to AU’s Online Book Club administered by PCB Guru. This is a third-party service and by signing up you will be subject to the third-party’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Athabasca University will not be managing your profile or individual services provided through PBC Guru. Athabasca University will have administrative access to the Online Book Club to manage the portal and content specific to Athabasca University, including the wording of auto-reply emails sent by the third-party to individual users. It will also have access to some personal information of users only for the purposes of evaluating user engagement. Athabasca University will not collect, use or disclose any user personal information for any other purposes. By signing up for this service, you acknowledge that Athabasca University is authorized to collect and use your personal information for the stated purposes. If you have any questions related to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, please contact Tara Friesen, Manager, Alumni and Community Engagement at tfriesen@athabascau.ca or 403.294.7319.
Updated October 17, 2021 by Digital & Web Operations, University Relations (web_services@athabascau.ca)