On Tuesday, November 22nd, the HLAA-TC book club met to discuss the poignantly written memoir “A Loss For Words: The Story of Deafness in a Family” by Lou Ann Walker. We were joined by author Lou Ann Walker for a discussion of her book about her experience growing up as a hearing child with profoundly deaf parents. Lou Ann updated us on the happenings of her life since the memoir (the book was published in 1986) and lead a very interesting discussion about how those of us with hearing loss prefer to be called. With people attending here in Minnesota, and other states like California, Florida and Wisconsin, we had a wide range of answers of how people with hearing loss prefer to be called. This conversation was a good example of the conversations that we have at book clubs as we usually use the books and their themes as jumping off points for broader discussions (usually about hearing loss).

The next book we are reading is the novel “Rules for Visiting” by Jessica Francis Kane. The synopsis of the book from Amazon is: “A beautifully observed and deeply funny novel of May Attaway, a university gardener who sets out on an odyssey to reconnect with four old friends over the course of a year.”

We haven’t yet determined if we will still meet in December or move our book club to January (since our usual meeting time hits around the holidays). We are also still discussing as a group the next several books that we will read. If you would like to be involved in that discussion (and if you have suggestions for books for us to read, etc.), please email Laura Hagemann (HLAA-TC Social Media Specialist) at social@hlaatc.org 

About the HLAA-TC Book Club: The HLAA-TC Book Club meets every month throughout the year on the fourth Tuesday of the month (usually, unless otherwise stated). We alternate between reading fiction and nonfiction books each month and our selections often deal with hearing loss, deafness or disability. We are meeting virtually on Zoom and have had several authors and special guests join us to discuss the books. We meet on Zoom (with computer/AI captions). For more information about the book club and to request an upcoming meeting link, please email Laura Hagemann (HLAA-TC Social Media Specialist) at social@hlaatc.org