Jen Oshman

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Join Me! The Warmth of Other Suns Book Club

As I promised on social media on June 4, I’m putting together both an in-person and an online book club to read The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson. Get the Kindle version and start reading right away! Though long (it’s an epic story after all), it’s a life-changing page-turner. You can read a review I wrote back in 2016 here. Back then I said it was the best book I read all year. Now I call it my favorite book ever. I so hope you’ll join me and many others as we learn more about American history together. May God use it to inform our present moment and even change our future.

In-Person Book Club Information

If you live near Parker, Colorado I’d love to have you over to my house on Sunday, August 9th, from 6pm to 8pm. Email me for my address. We are going to use the Reading Group Guide created by Wilkerson on her website. In order to have a fruitful discussion when we meet, I would ask that you read the entire book and take time to journal answers to all 15 of Wilkerson’s questions in the Group Guide. Please bring your book and your journal to the group discussion. In addition to Wilkerson’s 15 questions please respond to the following two questions:

1) How does your personal family history compare or contrast to the family histories in the book? How did your family history shape your life today (where you live, your education, your career, your health, your socioeconomic status, etc)?

2 ) Knowing that God ordained that you would live in the United States in 2020 (Acts 17:26-27) and knowing his requirement that we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with him (Micah 6:8), what action might you take as a result of reading this book?

Please RSVP to me by email to let me know you’re coming—I’m so glad you’re going to come!


Online Book Club Information

Let’s gather from around the nation and even around the world to discuss this epic work! I’m offering two options for our online gathering:

Monday morning, August 10, 2020 at 9:00AM MST

Tuesday evening, August 11, 2020 at 5:00PM MST

*Note these times are MST - Mountain Standard Time. Make sure to do the math for your time zone!

Please email me to let me know which online meeting you’d like to attend and I’ll reply with the Zoom link.

We are going to use the Reading Group Guide created by Wilkerson on her website. In order to have a fruitful discussion when we meet, I would ask that you read the entire book and take time to journal answers to all 15 of Wilkerson’s questions in the Group Guide. In addition to Wilkerson’s 15 questions please respond to the following two questions:

1) How does your personal family history compare or contrast to the family histories in the book? How did your family history shape your life today (where you live, your education, you career, your health, your socioeconomic status, etc)?

2 ) Knowing that God ordained that you would live in the United States in 2020 (Acts 17:26-27) and knowing his requirement that we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with him (Micah 6:8), what action might you take as a result of reading this book?

In order to facilitate an efficient Zoom discussion I will be assigning questions in advance to meeting attendees. So, if you plan to join in an online meeting, email me to let me know which one, and when I reply with the Zoom link I will also let you know which question(s) you’ll be answering over Zoom for the whole group. My goal is to keep the conversation moving and everyone engaged on Zoom. I know it can be a challenging platform, but I think with some advance preparation we can use it well!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. I can’t wait to see you online!

Don’t forget to RSVP by email to let me know which group you’d like to attend!