Sharing ideas, talking with other women and expressing ideas. These are the goals of the EveryWoman Book Club, group facilitator, Kathy Echols, said. On the fourth Thursday of every month, this club meets for lunch at noon and discusses the previous month’s book.

“What we are trying to do is reach out to faculty, staff and the community at large,” Echols said. “So much of what women get involved in is intense and work-related, so the EveryWoman Book Club gives us a chance to come together and read books written by women for women about women.”

She said the group is a way to partner women on campus with those in the community. The club is for faculty and staff of the University as well as graduate students and women from the community around campus.

“[The Women’s Resource Center] does so much with the undergraduate programs here at UA, so this was a way for the Women’s Resource Center to reach out to faculty, women in the community and female graduate students,” Echols said. “There are so many things for the undergraduate students to get involved in so we tend to promote the EveryWoman Book Club for women outside of the undergraduate program at the University.”

She also said this club is a good way for women to come together in a non-threatening environment and talk about books. The EveryWoman Book Club was created in an effort to empower women and bring them together to discuss their views.

“We have about eight people who are regular attendees, but we have more than 40 people on the e-mail list who receive information about the club,” Echols said.

The books are studied are as diverse as the women who make up the club, Echols said. The club sponsors books for different months, such as domestic violence month in October. She added that the club gives people a chance to read books and get used to topics that they would not usually be drawn to in a library.

“We read a variety of books,” Echols said. “What we find is that, regardless of genre, the books are about coming together as women in the community.”

Betty Wedgeworth works in the Department of Consumer Sciences and has been a member of the EveryWoman Book Club for three years.

“I enjoy the book club because I have found that the topics of the books are always very insightful,” Wedgeworth said. “The books are always written by female authors, but we cover a wide range of subjects.”

Jessi Hitchins has been coming to the monthly meetings for more than a year. She said that she enjoys the camaraderie of the group.

“The club is an opportunity to talk about your opinions with other colleagues from around the University,” Hitchins said.

She said what interested her most about the club was the opportunity to see differing points of view. We all read the same book and we get completely different things out of it, she said.

To join the club, potential members can call the Women’s Resource Center or e-mail Kathy Echols at [email protected].

**PULL OUT BOX**

What: EveryWoman Book Club

When: Fourth Thursday of every month

Contact: Kathy Echols, [email protected], or the WRC