In 1975, Connie Kiosse and Pat Becker decided to form a book club. The two had met four years before at the University of Illinois at Chicago and has gone on to found Feminist Voice, one of Chicago's first feminist newspapers. The paper folded two years later, but the two weren't ready to give up.
"We were looking for some ways to keep our feminist activity going," said Becker. "The book group seemed like a good idea."
Forty years later, the Chicago Women's Reading/Book Group is going strong. Past and present members, family members, and friends all met Sunday at Women and Children's First Bookstore in Andersonville to celebrate four decades of women reading work by women.
Neither Kiosse nor Becker could imagine that the group would last as long as it did. In the beginning, they questioned what would happen when they ran out of women writers to read. "Neither one of us could imagine the feminist explosion of women's writing. Throughout the years, it was a question we were often asked," Kiosse said. "They don't ask that anymore."
The group, which currently includes 12 members, meets once a month to discuss a book suggested by one of the members. Over the decades they've read everything from non-fiction to poetry, discussing both a book's literary merit and personal impact.
"It's almost like having season tickets to the opera in that you would see operas you wouldn't normally go to," said Heidi Hoppe, a member for 27 years. "So you read books that you wouldn't normally select for yourself." Over the years those books have included Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead as well as works by Amy Tan, Maya Angelou and other famous feminist authors.
While the books are what brought them together, it's the relationships they've built which many members attribute to the groups longevity. "We've been through marriages, divorces, children, breakups, get togethers," said Becker. "Every meeting has books, friendship, and food. And usually a little wine."
