The Finger Lakes Effect Book Club is a free book club for anyone who loves this part of New York. We read one book at a time, each one with a Finger Lakes connection.
What we’re reading
Now reading
The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic
by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny
The stories behind the suitcases found in the attic of Willard State Hospital, on the east shore of Seneca Lake.
Or ask at your local Finger Lakes bookstore. The Amazon link is an affiliate link, which earns Finger Lakes Effect a small commission at no cost to you.
How it works
I pick a book with some tie to the Finger Lakes, and you read it at your own pace. There’s no chapter schedule and nobody’s checking.
While we’re in a book, I send a book club email every few weeks. Some are a quick check-in, some are a question to think over, and some are built around the book itself. For our first book, members sent in their favorite spot from its pages so we could pick a place to meet up.
These emails only go to book club members, and they’re separate from the weekly Finger Lakes Effect newsletter. Reply to any of them and it comes straight to me.
What counts as a Finger Lakes book
There has to be a Finger Lakes thread in there somewhere:
- Set here. Novels and memoirs that take place around the lakes.
- Written here. By an author who lives here or grew up here.
- About something here. A place, a person, a piece of local history.
Novels, history, memoir, science and oddballs are all fair game. If I have to work a little to justify the connection, that usually makes for a good email.
Books we’ve read
- 111 Places in the Finger Lakes That You Must Not Miss by Michael Turback (Amazon | WorldCat Library)
How to join
1. Get the weekly Finger Lakes Effect email. The book club runs on the same list, so you need to be subscribed first. Already getting it? Skip to step 2.
2. Join the book club. Enter the email you subscribed with and tell me how you like to read. That’s the whole form.
What happens after you join
Within a day you’ll get a welcome email with what to expect. After that you’ll get the book club emails as they go out, starting with the next one. If it turns out it’s not your thing, reply to any book club email and I’ll take you off the book club list. Your weekly newsletter keeps coming either way.
Got a book in mind?
I keep a running list of books members suggest, and our current book came off that list. Suggest a book here.
Quick answers
Does it cost anything? No, it’s free.
Do I have to live in the Finger Lakes? No. If you love it here, you’ll fit right in.
Do I have to come to meetups? No. Meetups are a bonus, and plenty of members just read along.
What if I fall behind? You’re not behind. You’re reading at your own pace.
See you out there!
Adam