Happy Hour Books
An opportunity to discuss faith, life and theology while enjoying a beverage and some comradery.
The Happy Hour Book Group usually meets at 5pm once a month midweek at a time convenient to participants.
Our meeting place has been the Rose & Crown pub in Palo Alto or on the front patio at church (where it’s bring your own beverage to share). Contact Pastor Bernt for details.
Readings tend to be short and in-depth books or essays. Sometimes we don’t get a chance to finish the reading, but we come anyway to enjoy a meaningful conversation while sipping a favorite beverage.
Current book, January 2025: For the new year we’ll think about the topic of productivity, attentiveness. Readings include: 1).
Oakland resident Jenny Odell’s post “How to do Nothing,” including images & videos. 2). Burned out? Start here. Podcast interview of Oliver Burkeman with Ezra Klein. 3). Cal Newport: he has a blog entry on a Lutheran pastor who embraces slowness, with some links to background ideas.
Some of the authors and books we’ve read in the past:
- Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
- Low Anthropology by David Zahl.
- When in Romans by Beverly Gaventa.
- On Christian Freedom and Commentary on the Magnificat by Martin Luther
- Who is God? and Jesus: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Bauckham
