Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
At the KPBS San Diego Book Festival (kpbs.org/sdbookfestival) , we brought together three organizers from very different book clubs to talk about the communities they've built around reading. Enid Sherman has been meeting with the same group of women for 25 years. Mimi Phung started the North County Vietnamese Book Club to connect with other Vietnamese people and better understand her own heritage. And Courtney Geilenfeldt's cookbook club brings people together around a different cookbook and a shared meal each month. Their stories get at a bigger question: What makes a group of people become a community? They talk about the friendships that have grown from their clubs, the conversations that happen around the books and the moments when a monthly gathering becomes something people can't imagine giving up. Plus, they share some favorite books and advice for anyone thinking about starting a book club of their own.
Guests:
• Courtney Geilenfeldt (instagram.com/diningwithcourt/) , University Heights Women's Walk (instagram.com/universityheightswomenswalk/) Cookbook Club
• Mimi Phung, North County Vietnamese Book Club
• Enid Sherman, Books, Bagels and Broads
• Kristin and Nancy, Chapter Three Book Club
• Krystal, Silent Book Club, San Diego (instagram.com/silentbookclubsandiego/)
• Chih, The Lemon Literary Society
• Joseph, book club member
• Stephanie, Mission Valley Reads (sandiego.gov/public-library/news-events/bookclubs) and Bibliobibuli
Sources:
• Federal Data on Reading for Pleasure: All Signs Show a Slump (arts.gov/stories/blog/2024/federal-data-reading-pleasure-all-signs-show-slump) (Sunil Iyengar, National Endowment for the Arts, 2024)
• The decline in reading for pleasure over 20 years of the American Time Use Survey (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12496190/) (Jessica K Bone, Feifei Bu, Jill K Sonke, Daisy Fancourt, iScience, 2025)
• APA poll reveals a nation suffering from stress of societal division, loneliness (apa.org/news/press/releases/2025/11/nation-suffering-division-loneliness) (American Psychological Association, 2025)
At the KPBS San Diego Book Festival (kpbs.org/sdbookfestival) , we brought together three organizers from very different book clubs to talk about the communities they've built around reading. Enid Sherman has been meeting with the same group of women for 25 years. Mimi Phung started the North County Vietnamese Book Club to connect with other Vietnamese people and better understand her own heritage. And Courtney Geilenfeldt's cookbook club brings people together around a different cookbook and a shared meal each month. Their stories get at a bigger question: What makes a group of people become a community? They talk about the friendships that have grown from their clubs, the conversations that happen around the books and the moments when a monthly gathering becomes something people can't imagine giving up. Plus, they share some favorite books and advice for anyone thinking about starting a book club of their own.
Guests:
• Courtney Geilenfeldt (instagram.com/diningwithcourt/) , University Heights Women's Walk (instagram.com/universityheightswomenswalk/) Cookbook Club
• Mimi Phung, North County Vietnamese Book Club
• Enid Sherman, Books, Bagels and Broads
• Kristin and Nancy, Chapter Three Book Club
• Krystal, Silent Book Club, San Diego (instagram.com/silentbookclubsandiego/)
• Chih, The Lemon Literary Society
• Joseph, book club member
• Stephanie, Mission Valley Reads (sandiego.gov/public-library/news-events/bookclubs) and Bibliobibuli
Sources:
• Federal Data on Reading for Pleasure: All Signs Show a Slump (arts.gov/stories/blog/2024/federal-data-reading-pleasure-all-signs-show-slump) (Sunil Iyengar, National Endowment for the Arts, 2024)
• The decline in reading for pleasure over 20 years of the American Time Use Survey (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12496190/) (Jessica K Bone, Feifei Bu, Jill K Sonke, Daisy Fancourt, iScience, 2025)
• APA poll reveals a nation suffering from stress of societal division, loneliness (apa.org/news/press/releases/2025/11/nation-suffering-division-loneliness) (American Psychological Association, 2025)
