Making Good Trouble Book Club

We are meeting at the Influence Cafe, (3324 Secor Rd., Suite 2&3, Toledo). For a change of pace, this summer we have decided to read the speculative fictional novel, Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (299 pp. ISBN: 9780446675505). Written in 1993 as part of an unfinished trilogy, due to the untimely death of the author, the story takes place in years from 2025 to 2027. Olivia Butler’s story strangely parallels many of the themes we are currently witnessing today. Parable of the Sower won several book awards, including the 1994 New York Times Notable Book of the Year. The story centers on a journal written by Lauren Oya Olamina, an African American teenager, who in many ways would be labeled as “Woke” by some today. Themes include social chaos and anarchy caused by climate change and economic crisis, and a weak U.S. Government run by a small, elite group of corporations and influential wealthy Americans. 

We plan to read the chapters covering 2025 to 2026 for the July 20th meeting, and round it up by reading the final chapters representing 2027 in the journal entries for the August 24, 2026 book club meeting. 

Join us even if you have not had time to read it. We hope to cover several topics raised throughout the book that are relevant to our current situation.

There are plenty of copies available at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library https://toledo.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S218C2398199. 

We hope to hear what you are reading, whether fiction or non-fiction. Come up with some ideas for future books to read. We are trying to keep the books to a reasonable length, 250 pages or below. Books over 200 pages will be split up for more than one book club meeting.