Frogs Book Clubs Follow a Long History
by Gioia Caiola Forman, FROGS Board Member and Green Spring Master Gardener
On an unseasonably warm day in mid-November, I met with one of the two FROGS book clubs at Green Spring.
Members of FROGS Book Group meeting in the garden.This group, Group 2, was taking advantage of the weather and the beauty of Green Spring and meeting outdoors on the picnic tables across from the Long Border garden. Their leader is Elizabeth (Liz) Promen, a FROGS board member and retired Fairfax County librarian.
The other group, Group 1, is led by Susan Voss, a FROGS board member and retired lawyer who also spent her career surrounded by books. Both discussion leaders are no strangers to book clubs and jumped at the idea of leading one at Green Spring. These fabulous ladies frequently sit in on each other’s group and read the books they’re discussing.
The Green Spring Book Club originated when former FROGS president Sarah Monroe shared information about a long-running book group at the Adkins Arboretum in Ridgely, Maryland. It has been ongoing for over 15 years.
One morning at 7 a.m. a Constant Contact message was e-mailed to all FROGS members soliciting membership for a book club. By 9 a.m. so many had signed up that two book groups were formed, with membership limited to 15 members each.
The groups meet six times a year and have explored a variety of topics. Liz Promen shares, “… the books deal with all kinds of subjects related in some way to a broad concept of gardens, nature, and the environment.” A few samples of the books discussed include A Clearing In the Distance by Witold Rybczski, The Thief at the End of the World by Joe Jackson, and The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohleben.
FROGS Book Group enjoying an afternoon at Green Spring.
Book clubs are very popular but are not new. The most famous modern-day book club is The Oprah Winfrey Book Club started in 1996. However, Winfrey was not the only famous woman to organize a book club. In 1634, Anne Hutchinson organized a women’s group to examine weekly sermons. Their meeting venue was more “blue” than “green” since they met while aboard a ship headed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. I can only imagine how unenthusiastically these women were met when they arrived in the new colony, expounding their thoughts about weekly sermons delivered by men.
Book clubs offer interested minds the opportunity to share and discuss ideas. Susan Voss told me, “I have been impressed by the enthusiasm of our group who often find articles, interviews, and programs related to the books we read.”
The great philosophers such as Socrates, Xenophon, and Plato met in 400 B.C. to discuss varied texts. I don’t suppose these gentlemen ever discussed “fluff.” I would have loved to be in the group that Benjamin Franklin founded in 1727 when he invited his literature-loving men friends to become part of his discussion group. In 1842, Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe met to discuss their favorite authors and their ideas for an international copyright law.
In early December I went to photograph Group 1. Some were a bit late because they were chatting on the way to the Green Spring Library. Their enthusiasm discussing Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier was readily apparent.
Liz Promen, left, and Susan Voss, right, lead the FROGS Book Groups. The New York Times reports an estimated 5 million Americans belong to a book club. Even more belong to online reading groups. If you are interested in being one of millions in a book club, there are now some openings in the Green Spring groups. Just contact Susan Voss at
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. You must be a FROGS member to be eligible, but all are welcome to join FROGS; just call 703-642-5174. The groups will meet again in February. Group 1 will be discussing, The Golden Thread, by Kassia St. Clair. Group 2 will undertake English Pastoral by James Rebanks.
The author thanks Susan Voss and Liz Promen for their input for this article. She just finished reading one of the FROGS selections, Finding the Mother Tree; Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, by Suzanne Simard. She highly recommends it.
Photo Credit: All photos taken by Gioia Caiola Forman.
